what did you end up going with? I’m deciding between RA3 and Caseta for a remodel. thanks
Hi there. I haven’t exactly committed yet as my condo won’t be available for closing/delivery until around January 2024, but I’ll need to lock in a choice soon enough.
That said, I started the RA3 training via Lutron’s training portal, and based on what I learned there, I’m pretty sure I’ll need to go RA3: my condo unit is long (as opposed to wide), and based on RA3’s radio coverage design standards, I’ll need two Radio RA3 Processors spaced appropriately apart (PoE-powered, ceiling mounted). Because I’ll need two processors, and probably can’t use one, Caseta likely won’t be viable for me. I’ve heard there are hacks where you can control two Caseta hubs with Home Assistant and work around Caseta’s 75 device limitation, but that hack won’t ‘just work’ for a future homeowner. RA3 would work however since it’s not HA-dependent.
Even so, I think this will work out for the better in my particular case - RA3 allows for more devices and it supports the aesthetically-nicer looking Maestro devices, which Caseta doesn’t. As much as I love tinkering and the hobby of automation, I prefer the software side of things, and I’d rather pay the extra $ for hardware that ‘just works’.
FWIW, I cross-posted this question on the r/Lutron subreddit, and got some pretty great insight/context into RA3’s pros and cons (lots of pros, and the only real con - although it’s a big one - is price). Hopefully you’ll find this useful:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Lutron/comments/12e1sxm/home_assistant_users_whats_the_point_of_ra2_or/
Common consensus is that RA3 is on average about 3 times the price of Caseta. Ouch.
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Thanks for posting that link and the entire discourse there. I was reading over your OP and thinking, wow, you sound exactly like me and what I’m looking to figure out.
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FYI, I use both.
Why? Well I started with Caseta and replaced all light switches out with Caseta but found zwave and Zigbee motion sensors didn’t fit my bill.
So I took the class, bought an RA2 and 10 occupant sensors. 10 year battery BTW.
And, it just works 100 percent of the time. Zero issues. Been running this for years.
One of these days I may buy some switches…
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I favor RA2, RA2 Select, and RA3, but for completeness I would like to mention that over that past few years Lutron has added support for their lightning-fast vacancy/occupany sensors to Caseta and also offers a dedicated wireless repeater module.
You still can run into the device limit, but at least range and features is slightly improved.
For RA3, add last year’s outdoor plug module (identical to the Caseta version) and this week’s brand new, first ever for Lutron, the Lutron Lumaris LED tape light.
Other than price, of course, the tape light looks awesome with two different ranges of white color temperature, easy install with clip on connectors, and even includes an integrated LED/driver module and power supply so nothing to DIY at the LED/strip/controller level.
The Lutron app allows setting variable white color temperature and there is some built-in automation for changing the color temperature automatically during the day.
Child’s play for advanced HA or other sophisticated automation systems, but really nice as a “plug and play” easy solution for those not into more advanced programming.
Oh, and chalk it up to marketing or whatever, but the new Lutron LED tape light is only for RA3 and HomeWorks. Not available for Caseta systems - at least nothing announced and I wouldn’t put it past Lutron as using this a wedge for why “RA3 is different than Caseta” for dealers and well-heeled customers to make the choice easier 
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Interesting. I need to investigate more of what Lutron’s new products are.
As for their occupancy sensors and Caseta. Are they exposed vis telnet to be read by automation systems? I thought they were not?
Coming from a similar background, here are some other differences I’ve found in my own research:
- RA3 is a 2.4GHz mesh topology, not a 400MHz hub-spoke topology. Hopefully this reflects Lutron’s long-term research into what offers the most reliability & distance, not just a way to save costs (the older A Band parts had to be tuned for different frequencies in different countries).
- All RadioRA hubs and extenders are PoE capable. Caseta hubs require you to either wire extra power outlet, use janky adaptors, or place the hubs in a suboptimal spot for RF propagation.
- RA hubs have lots of options for shelf- and flush-mounting.
As for the advantages discussed in your (excellent) Reddit thread, one worth highlighting here on the HA forum is how ramping up a complex scene over direct RF is much smoother & better synchronized than having HA coordinate multiple devices over IP.
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PS if you want to get into the RA3 ecosystem, you can find used RA2 (non-Select) dimmers and switches on eBay for similar cost to new Caseta equivalents.
All that said, I will probably stick to Caseta myself. I’m fine buying PoE → USB adaptors, sticking to plain white trim, no keypads, and single phase dimming tech – how often are you gonna change from MLV to ELV on the same circuit, anyway? A big driver of this is that Diva designs are finally available in quantity; I really hate the UX of the original Caseta dimmers (no paddles, only flat buttons).
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I think RA3 is a different protocol and certain systems (Elk’s M1) isn’t supporting it. Do we know for a fact that Home Assistant will be able to control Radio RA3 devices and if so which hub is required? Thanks!
The Lutron Caseta integration indicates that it supports not just Caséta, but also RA2 Select, Radio RA3, and Homeworks QSX.
Unfortunately, this integration name is quite confusing (and misleading) because it not only supports Caseta, but also those additional 3 product lines. It’s also confusing because there is another (separate) HASS integration named just Lutron that supports only RadioRA 2 
.
So, in summary, at least at the time of writing:
-
The HASS Lutron Caseta integration supports the following Lutron product lines and is reported as used in 5,891 HASS installations:
- Caseta
- RA2 Select
- RadioRA 3
- Homeworks QSX
-
The Lutron integration only supports RadioRA 2 (and not RA2 Select) and is reported as used in only 129 installations.
Ideally, IMO, both integrations should merge and just be named Lutron to avoid this confusion for HASS users.
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As for which hub is required, RadioRA 3 has its own PoE-powered hub that needs to be installed (most people usually install it in a central location in the ceiling).
Lutron terminology calls this hub/device a ‘processor’: Lutron RadioRA 3 All-in-One Processor. Other RadioRA 3 system devices can be found on their website.
You’d be able to purchase this hub (‘processor’) directly from Lutron and install it yourself after completing the RA 3 online course.
I am finally getting around to messing with my RadioRa3 processor. I can’t seem to get HA to connect to it. I setup the login and password for the integration but I still get an error?
Unknown error
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py", line 1344, in do_open
h.request(req.get_method(), req.selector, req.data, headers,
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1331, in request
self._send_request(method, url, body, headers, encode_chunked)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1377, in _send_request
self.endheaders(body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1326, in endheaders
self._send_output(message_body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1085, in _send_output
self.send(msg)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1029, in send
self.connect()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 995, in connect
self.sock = self._create_connection(
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/socket.py", line 852, in create_connection
raise exceptions[0]
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/socket.py", line 837, in create_connection
sock.connect(sa)
TimeoutError: [Errno 110] Operation timed out
I found another thread that said to use Casetta but it asks for you to push a black button on the back of the bridge - which isn’t there for Radio RA3.
EDIT:
Hey! Just found the button on the inside of the unit behind the cover! Yay me! Looks like its working! Awesome!
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Any notions on whether or not the integration is local? I’ve seen conflicting information on Reddit, where some are saying that Caseta’s integration is but since RA3 is kinda “exclusive” I haven’t found information on it. I’m not as concerned about internet propagation delay, I’m more concerned about “Internet is out, my automations are not working!” 
Anyone with RA3 and HA confirm if this integration is 100% local or not?
I don’t believe this requires the cloud because I don’t have anything open for RadioRa3 to work from outside my home and when setting up I provide the local IP to the processor. Not sure if this helps but I can try pulling the plug on my internet and seeing what happens at another time? Again I don’t have the processor connect to the internet or setup to work with Lutron’s cloud - I don’t think?
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The integration is 100% local. It communicates with the RA3 server via telnet.
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Any chance you can post a photo of the black button? I’m not able to connect my Lutron Ra 3 to Home Assistant. I saw your comment and got excited. I took the cover of my Ra 3 bridge, but I don’t see a black button anywhere! Help?
front button is all I see on that device?
Is RA2 or RA3 better for local-only HA integration if one has to pick?