Remote Control Lighting

[Jayhawk2222]

Hey Guys need some help,

I want to be able to control the lights in my theater from my remote control. I have a marantz rc 5200. I was wondering what light switches I would need. I have 2 lights that would need dimmers, both 2 way. And one on-off switch for a 3 way light.

I looked on smarthome and x10 and stuff and i just find their stuff to be a little confusing.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks alot

Mark

[brickie]

Did you check into Lutron..Many here use it with great success.

brickie

[Jayhawk2222]

Yea i think theres Lutron units on smarthome site, im jut ocnfused as to what i actually need for this. As in what hardware is needed.

Thanks for the help

Mark

[ion-man]

Jayhawk2222, try the Lutron 3- way dimmers with remote, Maestro I think. Should work with any remote. This is the one I 'm considering getting in a few days from HD and maybe a Graffic Eye unit as well. If you pull the trigger before then, post your impression as will I when I do.

[SpecialK-MD]

I have X10 in my home. Not a bad system, but can be problems with interference from existing electronic equipment. Still working on filters and signal boosters. BUT, I have got a macro on my Home Theater Master that will (with one button press) set inputs on my receiver and TV, turn on DVD player, and dim the X10 lights and start the X10 fan.

[tvuong]

How do you program your X10 to your remote? I have the X10's little keychain size remote that turn on/off, dim my lights, but I could not get my Marantz RC2000 remote to learn it. Thanks

[Rich Wiegard]

Yeah I'd be interested in hearing how you programmed your Home Theatre Master remote for the X10 lights as well. That's the remote I'll be getting in a few weeks when the rest of my system comes in. It'd be GREAT if that remote can control the lights too. Does it do X10 only or does it also do Lutron? And which of those 2 would be less expensive, more reliable, etc...

Thanks!
Rich

[reedl]

The X10 has a device that takes RF codes and transmits those codes across the power lines.

I use it in my theater to turn on-off the lights in the theater, and outside the theater also.

Reedl

[SpecialK-MD]

Originally posted by tvuong
How do you program your X10 to your remote? I have the X10's little keychain size remote that turn on/off, dim my lights, but I could not get my Marantz RC2000 remote to learn it. Thanks

The Home Theater Master has preprogrammed device codes. X10 is one of the set. You should be able to download the codes (if they don't already exist in your RC2000) from www.remotecentral.com. That's provided your RC2000 is downloadable.

The reason the RC2000 can't learn from the keychain is because the keychain is RF and the RC2000 is IR. Once you program the codes into the RC2000, your modules are still expecting electrical signals to control them. That's where this comes in: http://www.smarthome.com/4040.html

[SpecialK-MD]

I can't comment on Lutron as I have no experience with this system.

[tvuong]

Originally posted by SpecialK-MD
The Home Theater Master has preprogrammed device codes. X10 is one of the set. You should be able to download the codes (if they don't already exist in your RC2000) from www.remotecentral.com. That's provided your RC2000 is downloadable.

The reason the RC2000 can't learn from the keychain is because the keychain is RF and the RC2000 is IR. Once you program the codes into the RC2000, your modules are still expecting electrical signals to control them. That's where this comes in: http://www.smarthome.com/4040.html
Thanks. That's what I'm looking for.

[klutzo]

I have an X10, which is RF and a phillips pronto. It works not badly, but I do get lots of intereference. Sometimes lights turn on, off at times, sometimes the keypresses don't work that well.

Mind you I'm in a townhome, so it may be that other people in the complex have lots of RF noice generated.

I do have an IR lutron, and the quality is quite nice... However line of sight is of course required.

Does Lutron make an RFlike? or something not line of sight?