I think i’ve exhausted all of the materials I could find in the forums and the documentation. I really think this might be a common use-case for Lutron Caseta users, so once I figure this out I plan to do a detailed write-up.
What I’m trying to seems like it should be easy: I have three Lutron Caseta dimmer switches that are all part of the same light group. What I would like to have happen, is for each individual light switch to control the lighting of the entire group, so if bring up the brightness of one light, the other lights should brighten to the same level. And if I turn off one light, all other lights in the group should turn off.
Here are some quirks I have learned about Lutron Caseta dimmers:
They are considered “lights” not switches in HASS
I had to add a three second transition to the default light group using light_profiles.csv (thanks to this post so that the lights “dim up” the same way that an individual Caseta dimmer does when it’s manually turned off/on.
I have found a few posts that should do what I want (like this one) but all of the solutions either only worked with two lights (and I couldn’t figure out how to modify them to work with three) or they incorporate sensors that I don’t have.
The closest i’ve been able to get is to have Node Red trigger the light group using a switch when the light state of any light turns on or off. The problem with this approach is that the lights go on in stages: the light for the switch you press first “dims up” (these switches take about 3 seconds to do that effect) and then once that light is at full brightness, the other lights go on. It appears that the “on” or “off” state is not triggered until after the light gets to its final brightness setting.
I’m really not tied to doing this in Node Red, and I feel like there must be an easier way… Please, oh gods of HASS, you are my only hope.
I don’t have the answer, but I might have some input that others can incorporate into their thinking. Some users seem to be able to integrate their Pico remotes with HA. I presume this requires the Lutron Caseta Smart Bridge “Pro”. I don’t have the Pro version, which I believe is why I don’t see any Pico entities in my HA. Apparently the Pro bridge is more feature-rich; perhaps it has the solution to your problem already built in. I’ve once called Lutron support and they were quite helpful. Maybe call them for specifics.
But as I speculate… assuming you have a Pro bridge, perhaps you could assign the three dimmers to the one Pico somehow …if not in Lutron Caseta’s UI, natively, then perhaps the Pico would create an entity you could tie everything to in your HA or Node Red automations/scripts. So, any wall dimmer you adjust would concurrently send that info to the Pico entity, which would relay the commands to the other two dimmers.
Again, just trying to add some fodder. Maybe someone else can build off of this rough Pico concept.
I did get the Pro version! (thanks in part to reading up about HASS before my purchase) and I have a pico remote I could test with…
But if I understand you correctly, that pico remote woulfd only be for the automation, and it just seems like a bit of a waste… (but don’t get me wrong, if that’s how to make it work, I’ll do it )
The Pico would be primarily for automation. Of course, if you were to find a location where the Pico would serve a purpose, you could use it. For instance, if you were to find a suitable location to mount it to the wall, in which case you would essentially have a fourth dimmer switch. There are mounting brackets you can purchase for such a purpose. There are also stands.
This is assuming I am indeed onto something with my Pico idea in the first place. I hope I am. I encourage others to weigh in.
I’m still new to automations and Node Red. I’m wondering, perhaps there is a helper entity that you can create instead of sacrificing the Pico. I’m going to take a seat and see if anyone with more knowledge chimes in.
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