Lutron Caseta Original Smart Dimmer Switch, LED Dimmer Switch, 150W, Single-Pole/3-Way, No Neutral Required, Works with Alexa, Apple Home, Ring, & Google Home, PD-6WCL-WH, White

Transformed A “Dumb” 1985 Home Into A Modern Lighting Experience
I got hooked into home automation after solving a few very basic quality of life issues that dramatically improved a few problems in our home. I debated heavily between smart bulbs and smart switches before I purchased anything. After trialing these Lutron Casetas, I’m going (almost) all-in with Lutron!I own a 1985 home and was interested in modernizing the general lighting experience as one of my next projects. Lutron has an excellent reputation in the smart switching market and after using them, it’s for a very good reason.These switches are a perfect addition where you want manual push-button light dimming capabilities. They can act as “fast” on/off, graduated dimming to specific levels or in my case, can be highly automated with external home automation platforms. They can also be used in 3-way applications, however, this requires the addition of a Pico remote. This makes sense to me so you don’t get “smart tech fighting smart tech” in your lighting circuits.When do you want to avoid a dimming switch? In applications such as pumps, fluorescent ballasts, garbage disposals, most outdoor security lighting, locations you might use a smart bulb and ceiling fans. Basically, anything that isn’t designed specifically to be electrically dimmed or lowered in voltage. These applications are better served by Lutron’s on/off switches or even dumb on/off switches.The installation of these switches are fairly straight forward. You need a basic understanding of electricity, including the “load” wire and the “hot” wire. These particular Lutron switches don’t require a neutral wire, but if you’re going into smart switches, be aware that some models require it. I strongly recommend using Wago connectors for your retrofit, they are light years beyond traditional wire nuts. Other than this, installation is straight forward and requires only a few basic hand tools. I had a little bit of difficulty in “tight” switch boxes, but made it work as these are generally fairly slim smart switches.If you have appropriate dimming-capable bulbs, you will immediately be greeted by a super-fancy “dim-on” and slightly slower “dim-off” function when you press the on or off buttons. This is a “luxurious” experience out of the box and is one of the reasons I went Lutron.Let’s talk about bulbs. If you’re still pondering a smart bulb for your particular lighting application, this dimming switch might not be for you. In general, this switch will work best with a “dumb” bulb that can be properly dimmed. Smart bulbs don’t handle the dimming effect properly, they aren’t really “compatible” from a technology standpoint. So you really have to figure out your strategy going in and you might be better served by Lutron Aurora or Lutron’s true on/off switches. Likewise, I’ve discovered in my installations that I needed to change some of my bulbs to ones that can be dimmed. You’ll know this is the case if you have problems with “strobing” on power off or bulbs that don’t fully turn off. In my case, this didn’t really irk me because I’m adding dimming functions where it has never existed before.Pairing this dimming switch with the Lutron hub is crazy easy. Just press a button while you’re adding the switch in the app. Likewise, I use Home Assistant as my home automation platform. Adding these switches was equally easy there. The current integration is super slick and requires very little actual effort.I have three rules for “critical infrastructure” in my home, which I’d classify lighting as exactly that. First, the technology must work intuitively, like a normal light switch would. Second, it has to work without any fancy “server smarts” or special networks in place. Lastly, it has to integrate with a home automation solution of my choice, I don’t want to be forced into a particular cloud solution or app. These Lutron switches fit exactly these criteria and is part of the reason I didn’t go with smart bulbs.For examples of how I use these smart dimming switches? I have motion activated lighting in my bathrooms, closets, entryway and stairwell. I no longer need to proclaim, “Turn the lights off” as I can now make that decision in an automated and unobtrusive way. I use the dimming functions to turn my bathroom lights on to heavily dimmed level during certain hours, so I’m not “blasted” by bright light if I use the bathroom at 3AM. I can keep a low power and dimmed “always on” outdoor security light, and then light everything up to full blast when my security camera’s AI analysis detects a human. (No more rain or snowfall triggering a lighting “disco palace” in my outdoor lighting!) I also can much better tune the “mood” of my room lighting using scene concepts with this and other technologies.If you’re in the market for smart switches, these should definitely be up for your consideration. A common complaint is that they are expensive, but they are incredibly reliable, fast and operate without any other technologies. They will add value to your home since they are true “infrastructure” and you can claim “home automation ready” should you go to sell your home. I am very glad I went the Lutron route overall and this review explains a bit of why I went “all in” with Lutron’s smart switching.

Lutron Caseta Smart Home Dimmer Switches – Happy!
Lutron Caseta Smart Home Dimmer Switches – Happy!I had recently been experiencing flickering with my lights on a random and more regular basis. My research indicated to me that it can be the switches causing this. As a result, I thought I’d look for new switches to see if that would resolve my flickering issues.My research led me to the Lutron Caseta Smart Home Dimmer Switches. So I purchased what was needed for my open area in my house which includes our kitchen, dining space, and family room.In our kitchen, we have 3 light groups. Our main group has 7 ceiling lights with 2 switches. We then have 2 pendant lights over our island with 1 switch. Our 3rd group, we have 1 pendant light over our sink with 1 switch.In our dining area, we have 6 ceiling lights with 3 switches.In our family room area, we have 4 ceiling fan lights with 1 switch.Based on my research, I determined what I needed to purchase to replace my switches noted above. I purchased 5 new switches, 3 remotes with 3 wall plate brackets, plus the smart bridge.The single switches were very simple to install.I then had a case where I had a 3-way switch scenario and a 4-way switch scenario. I worked on the 3-way switch one first – I was bad and failed to mark the wire that was connected to the different color screw when disconnecting the old switch – my failure to follow the directions Lutron provides. 🙁 This resulted in not connecting the wires properly on switch the first time. The lights would come on but I could not turn them off or dim them. After turning the breaker switch back off, I did some research to figure out my problem. This is when I discovered my mistake noted above. I then figured out which wire I should have marked. I then reconnected the wires accordingly to the switch. I then tried it again. This time I had success which allowed me to turn the lights off, dim the lights, and of course turn the lights back on.In my next case with the 4-way switch, I took what I had learned from the 3-way switch mistake I made and applied it for this situation as provided in the instructions by Lutron for a 4-way switch case. This time I took the proper step to mark the necessary wires as noted in the instructions. In following the directions better this time, I had success on my first attempt. :)The remotes replaced switches in a number of cases. I was able to pair those easily with its intended light group/switch.I added the smart bridge to my network, installed the Lutron app, and was able to pair everything in the app to all of my lights that I installed the new switches for. So in addition to using the switches, I am now able to use the app to turn the lights on/off, dim the lights, and creates scenes.Finally, I added the skill needed for Alexa to work with my new light setup. Now, I can just tell Alexa to turn a specific light on/off, dim the light, plus I can have Alexa apply a scene that I have setup. It is very slick.I am very impressed with these light switches. They are very simple to install. It is simple to pair the light switch remotes. It is simple to set up and configure the smart bridge. It is simple to configure to work with Alexa. I give Lutron an A+ for the ease of installing these lights.In doing all of this, my 10-year-old son helped me with all of this, and by the end, he was doing a lot of this by himself with little guidance from me. It was a great learning experience for my son and I. I explained the dangers of electricity and making sure we proceed very cautiously, plus this should never be something he attempts to do on his own. Safety is of the utmost importance in dealing with electricity. I have changed light switches in the past and worked/helped on some remodels, but I am in no way an electrician … novice with some exposure.In the end, it appears my light flickering has disappeared, at least up to this point. It is early yet – just a few days, but it is very promising. This was the goal of the upgrade to fix the light flickering. I love it so far. Thanks to Lutron for making this all so simple.Additionally, I would like to note that if you are not comfortable with this DIY install, please get help from an electrician. Better safe than sorry.

El apagador inteligente lutron es un excelente producto, el costo es alto, pero vale la pena si lo que quieres es tener una casa inteligente.

El dimmer viene my bien protegido en su caja, yo ya sabia que estaba comprando pero ojo les explico para que no se equivoquen , en este producto solo viene el dimmer, no viene el control pico ni tampoco una placa para la pared, para que funcione de manera inteligente y poder controlarlo con el celular es necesario haber adquirido anteriormente el bridge que se vende por separado.Funciona sin el bridge pero no van a poder usarlo con el celular, es decir lo instalan y funciona como cualquier apagador común y corriente.Habiendo dicho lo anterior me encanto, funciona excelente tanto en la aplicación de lutron como con homekit de apple, se puede ajustar el rango máximo de atenuación lo cual es muy practico.Hasta el momento no he tenido problemas de conexión o que la aplicación no me reconozca el apagador todo perfecto.

I’ve been using those dimmer for years, and they are solide, responsive and always up and running.Make sure however that your LED lights support them well, otherwise you will hear some noises or flickering.