the definitive Grafik Eye master thread!! - Page 11

I'm in Montana. I found some of the Belden 4 conductor for around .32 a foot

Let me know if I need to start a new thread:
Can anyone point me to an electrician or service that can install a Graphic Eye in Mckinney TX? I've called a few places and had no luck.

Any suggestions besides this site to continue my learning curve?


Nope


Do you mean Space and GE mixed, or two GE's?


Are there more controls than are shown on the Lutron website?


I didn't see them on the Lutron site. Did I miss something


[/quote]

I assume you mean the 3506 vs the 3106, correct?

Hi all,

I just purchased a new Grafik Eye 3104 off of eBay and was shopping around for accessories at a reasonable price and found Hank's Electric Supply at www.hankselectric.com

You might want to give it a try if you need Grafik Eye accessories.

Regards,
TCIII

I purchased my Grafik Eye from Hanks Electric and found them very dependable with good prices.

Hi atver,

Thanks for the response.

Looks like I made a good choice for a supplier of Grafik Eye components.

I purchased a metal four gang wall box, 50 ft of two twisted pair cable and one of the wired SeeTouch keypads.

The SeeTouch keypad is being dropped shipped from Lutron. Will Lutron have me send the keys caps back for engraving since there was no method of specifying what to engrave on the keys on Hank's Electric website?

I plan to do a bench top check out of the Grafik Eye and the SeeTouch keypad before installation in my new home theater.

Regards,
TCIII

[quote=Thomas J. Coyle]Hi atver,

The SeeTouch keypad is being dropped shipped from Lutron. Will Lutron have me send the keys caps back for engraving since there was no method of specifying what to engrave on the keys on Hank's Electric website?

No. They will send you a new front. It's very easy to snap off the original one to replace it with the new engraved one.

The engraving documents are on the Lutron website, and I think it's .30 cents a letter plus a set up fee, the amount of which escapes my feeble memory .

Ok, I'm finally getting ready to take the plunge. The one last item I'm struggling a bit with is whether to get the 3106 or the 3506 since I've found at least one internet merchant selling them for the same price. The 3106 is all I probably need for now since I'm not ready to plunk even more money down for the GRX-PRG or GRX-232 to program the 3506. It might be nice to have this option however in the future. My question is whether the 3506 has everything the 3106 has plus more. Just wondering if I'd be giving up anything in the near term by going with the 3506. Appreciate any feedback others might have that considered both units.

I plan on picking up the 3506.

Two Question:

Has anybody posted their lighting layout (diagram) on the forum? If so, got a link?

Lastly, has anyone done business with www.electricsuppliesonline.com ?

My local supplier's prices are through the roof compared to theirs.

Thanks,
Winkelmann

Winkelman,

In my opinion, www.hankselectric.com has better pricing than even www. electricsuppliesonline.com.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

I just picked up a 3506 from www.dimmers.net On their website they didn't have this model listed but I phoned their customer service number and spoke to JR who was able to get me one at a great price matching one of the other low internet merchants I found. Unit was drop shipped direct from Lutron and took only 2 days to arrive (excluding Xmas holiday & weekend). JR was great to deal with and I also ordered a wallstation from him. They were also the only place I could find the special Lutron cable to wire up a wall station that I could buy by the foot (only needed 35 feet).

Incidently I love the 3506. I'm controlling it from a Harmony 880 remote and the setup is excellent for the money. I opted for the 3506 to give me more fine grain control of the lighting levels (1% increments) and future control from PC should I ever want to get more sophisticated. Cost wasn't that much more than the 3106 I was considering. The unit is nicely designed and built. Installation was relatively easy. I liked that the terminal screws for the wire connections came all the way out faciltating sliding a wire in and then tightening down. Their other dimmers have screw terminals that loosen only and require wrapping a wire around the screw terminal which can be a real pain with 12 guage wire. A 3 1/2 inch deep box is a must. I have the nail on version which is slightly tapered in the back reducing some of the volume.

The 3100 series are also dimmable in 1% incremnts. However since it's display does not reflect that (having only the 6 or is it 7 indicator lights) it's not as easy to work with.

Thank you for all your hard work. This forum is great. One question, what is the purpose of the NTGRX-4M? For turning off all the lights the NTGRX-4S seems to have an "all off". Do I need a NTGRX-4M at the entrance to turn them all on again or can a simply use scene 1 on the NTGRX-4S?

Thank you for all your hard work. This forum is great. One question, what is the purpose of the NTGRX-4M? For turning off all the lights the NTGRX-4S seems to have an "all off". Do I need a NTGRX-4M at the entrance to turn them all on again or can a simply use scene 1 on the NTGRX-4S?

Yes.

Huh... which question were you answering?

Could someone tell me if Grafik Eye would work in this scenario and which model I would need.? I want to control the lights in a room in my basement I am turning into a media room. Right now in that room i have 3 light switches side by side on the wall, one controls the sconces(4), 1 controls the front 4 recessed ceiling cans and the other controls the back 2 recessed cans plus the recessed can at the bottom of the stairs just before you enter the room proper( cased opening, no door ). I have another switch there on the wall that used to control the ceiling fan which has been taken down and i plan to use that wiring for some type of rope lighting under the riser.

I'd like to have 4 zones of lighting in the room, each zone matching one of the original 3 switches plus the 4th being the rope lighting and I'd like to be able to just hit a button on my Universal Remote MX-850 and have these zones respond in unison to different levels, i.e. all off except rope lighting at minimal level when I hit play for DVD or all on when I hit stop, etc..

I don't expect to expand beyond the above. Screen is fixed, no windows. It would be nice if there was a way to have a switch at the bottom of the stairs that if I hit it it would turn all the lights on so I could enter room and Find the remote!!

Sorry for being longwinded, I'm new to this and wanted to make sure I gave adequate info.

Thanks,

krfuquamd

krfuquamd,

A Grafik Eye 3104 will work with what you have in mind. It has four zones and a minimum of four scenes. It is designed for a four gang extra deep wallbox.

You can use a SGRX-4S at the bottom of the stairs to turn on the first scene before you enter the room. It is hardwired to the 3104 using a four wire cable.

The 3104 will have to mounted out in the media room where the built-in IR sensor can be seen. Otherwise you can hardwire a GRX-IRI remote IR sensor to the 3104 so the 3104 can be mounted elsewhere.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
TCIII

Thanks TCIII, sounds perfect for what I want to do. Do you recommend a particular place to purchase these items online??

krfuquamd,

I purchased my 3104 off of eBay for a very reasonable price. The selection varies with time. The eBay stores selling the Grafik Eye dimmers and accessories are way over priced!

However, www.hankselectric.com and www.dimmers.net both have very good discount prices on the 3000/4000 series of dimmers and their accessories.

If Hanks Electric does not carry a Lutron Grafik Eye item, they can special order them.

Regards,
TCIII

I'm planning on using low voltage lighting in my lighting scheme. For one of my zones I'll have recessed lights that goes around the room in the soffits. How does this work with a 3104?

Just started researching lighting options.

Anyone have a pic of a Pelv cable ? Also, if I chose to have one wall plate, does the pelv cable connect directly to the wall plate and the wall plate directly to the light ? if so, the wall plate will need its own line rather than coming off the controller ?

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I believe you can use standard cat5 cable for PELV.

Here's a wiring diagram, in color to boot!

 

ge_wiring.pdf 212.3642578125k . file

that's great. Thanks

What does the power booster do , and why is it for zone 2 in the diagram ?

I think the booster is primarily for magnetic transformers like those used for some low voltage and florescent light fixtures. But, we don't use florescent for theaters... do we?

no, no...we don't

In that diagram the booster is NOT for a magnetic transformer. HERE is my original post where I posted the diagram. This booster is to spread the lighting load to more circuits off of the main breaker panel in order to meet local code requirements.

While Cat5 will "work", you should check with your local building inspector to see if it is acceptable for your area. See the 4th post in this thread, here, for a listing of the part numbers for the correct wire to use.

Has anyone used Grafik Eye to control and dim LED rope light?? I've purchased the 3104 and would like to zone 4 be the rope lighting under the lip of the riser and riser steps. LED rope light appeals to me because it lasts a long time and it generates little if any heat. I called Lutron and they said i needed a LUT-LBX which is needed because the rope lighting pulls such a small current I guess. Does anyone have any experience with this? I could just use incadescent rope lighting but wanted to consider LED if possible. The LED rope I'm looking at is 120V 1/2".

Thanks

krfuquamd