[Goodonebales]

Hey guys,

I just purchased a Harmony One last night, and have been setting it up. I love it. Anyways, in my basement, I have 3 zones of lighting, controlled from 3 separate switches in a single gang box. Is there any way to have some sort of lighting control system that controls the 3 lights separately and is controlled by the Harmony One? Also, would it be possible to have the lights on different dimmer settings?

-Scott

 

[Beerstalker]

The Harmony One is IR only so your cheapest options is to go with IR switches. I personally use the Lutron Maestro switches and I am very happy with them. The one problem with this would be that all 3 switches will respond to the same IR commands. So if you hit the all on button all three light switches will turn all of the lights on. If you hit the all off buttons, all three switches will turn all the lights off, if you hit the dim button all three light switches will dim the lights a little.


However, depending on how you use your lights this still may work. The light switches all have a memory setting that you can set at any level. So you could set one switch to have it's memory all the way on, one switch all off, and one switch half way. Then when you hit the memory button on your remote it will set each of them to that level.


If this is not good enough then I think you have to step up to the Spacer system which gets more expensive. I am not familiar with how it works so I can't tell you much about it.


Both of these IR solutions require line of sight somewhat. I have found that the Lutron IR sensors are very sensitive and they respond to signals bounced off my white walls well. However if you have dark colored or cloth walls it might not work as well if the switches are not within sight.


Also you could look into a way to convert your IR signal into an RF signal to control different light switches. Others here know more about that then I do so I'll leave that to them.

 

[krisandsridhar]

Beerstalker,


A quick question on the sensitivity of Maestros. My swithces will be behind the seating position on the left sidewall. I have black wall/cloth/etc. in front. Do you think I can get the IR signal to bounce from the screen (not walls) and get it back all the way to switches on the left sidewall.


Thanks!

 

[shanmike]



Quote:
Originally Posted by krisandsridhar /forum/post/15500692


Beerstalker,


A quick question on the sensitivity of Maestros. My swithces will be behind the seating position on the left sidewall. I have black wall/cloth/etc. in front. Do you think I can get the IR signal to bounce from the screen (not walls) and get it back all the way to switches on the left sidewall.


Thanks!

I have a similar setup (2 dimmers ganged) and I doubt you'll get reliable operation if they're behind you.


Excellent suggestion to use the memory position for control of levels for watching movies etc...the button that the Harmony One has for this is called Scene 1.

 

[krisandsridhar]

Ok thanks for the quick response. I am thinking of using the Next Gen Remote Extender to help redirect the IR signal. Anyone know if the this extender is strong enough to send IR signals across the room, about 10-12 feet? Thanks!

 

[Beerstalker]

I would say get the switches and try them with your Harmony first. My switch respods very well to IR signals bouncing off white painted walls, I assume a screen would work decent also.

 

[firebrick]

Not trying to hijack, but if you had the harmony 890 which has rf, would you still need line of sight to work the maestros?

 

[Beerstalker]

Yes because the Maestro switches use IR.


If you have the 890 you can look for Z-wave light switches that will work without line of sight.