Frequently Asked Questions
about the RadioRA Home Dimming System
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| Consumer Design and Assistance Hotline |
| Contact the RadioRA toll-free hotline at 1.877.610.7410 for personal
assistance in choosing and designing your own RadioRA system. |
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GENERAL INFORMATION
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INTEGRATION
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TECHNICAL
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INSTALLATION
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GENERAL INFORMATION
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| Q1: What is RadioRA? |
| RadioRA is a whole-home dimming system that
uses radio frequency communication. RadioRA helps manage and monitor
house lighting for convenience, security, and energy savings.
RadioRA sets the mood for daily activities by recalling lighting
scenes. RadioRA uses radio signals for communication, which means
the system is installed without any additional wiring.
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| Q2: Can RadioRA be installed in my existing home? |
| Yes, RadioRA is designed to retrofit into any existing
home. RadioRA uses radio signals, so that no extra wires are needed for the system
to work. RadioRA dimmers and switches are direct replacements for existing switches
and dimmers.
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| Q3: How big of a house can RadioRA cover? |
| Lutron modeled a "worst case" home, including
construction techniques such as cement, metal studs, stone walls and foil wrap.
It was determined that in this worst case world, a conservative range for the
RadioRA RF signal repeater is 30 feet. Assuming the average height of a room
is ten feet, a repeater could cover six floors (three floors above the repeater
and three floors below it) or a 60 foot diameter sphere (30 foot radius). The
coverage area of a repeater is approximately 2,800 square feet per floor. Using
four RadioRA repeaters, you could cover a floor as large as 10,000 square feet.
Using the Chronos system bridge and timeclock with six repeaters, you could
cover as much as 17,500 square feet.
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| Q4: What components make up a RadioRA system? |
| A RadioRA system is made up of local lighting
controls (dimmers, switches, and shade controls), master controls, and RF signal
repeaters. Local lighting controls provide standard dimming or switching of your
lighting and must be installed for any lighting that you want to be part of your
system. Master controls can operate any or all of the lights and window treatments
in the RadioRA system, allowing you to control and monitor lighting scenes. LEDs
beside each button on a master control indicate whether a scene is active or
lights in a particular room are on. RF signal repeaters ensure that the system
communicates reliably and maintains the signal range. Repeaters also enable system
setup, giving each home a unique digital code and allowing the homeowner to add more
RadioRA devices in the future. System packages provide everything needed for a
complete system. Additional components may be added as necessary for your home.
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| Q5: What types of lighting can RadioRA control? |
| RadioRA switches are rated to handle any type of lighting up to 8A,
but interfaces are available for larger loads. RadioRA dimmers directly control up to 1000W of
incandescent, 1000VA of magnetic low-voltage (MLV), 500W of electronic low-voltage (ELV), and 5A
of fluorescent (requires Lutron Tu-Wire dimming ballasts). There are also interfaces available to
dim larger loads of incandescent, MLV or ELV, and an interface to dim up to 16A of fluorescent
using Lutron 120V dimming ballasts.
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| Q6: Can I upgrade/expand my existing RadioRA system? |
| Yes, you can add all types of RadioRA devices at any time.
However, they must be within the appropriate distance of an RF signal repeater: 60 feet for
another repeater or Chronos, 30 feet for all other RadioRA devices (except accessory dimmers
and accessory switches). Adding more components must not cause the RadioRA system's limits to
be exceeded.
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| Q7: Where can I buy RadioRA or get more information? |
| For more information, call the RadioRA design and sales assistance
hotline at 1.877.610.7410. To buy RadioRA, use Where to Buy to find a RadioRA Preferred Systems
Provider near you. You may also use Literature Request to receive more information.
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| Q8: Is RadioRA available outside the US and Canada? |
| Yes. Where to Buy also includes an international search by country.
If no specific distributors are available in that country, please call the closest Lutron office,
which will be provided. They can help you determine how and if a RadioRA system can be properly
installed in your country.
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INTEGRATION
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| Q9: Can RadioRA integrate with other systems in my home? |
| Yes, a number of system enhancement interfaces are available
for interfacing RadioRA to other systems in the home. Individual interfaces are available for
RS-232, infrared, and contact closures. The Chronos system bridge and timeclock has several of
these functions built into one device, including an RS-232 port, three contact closures, an
astronomical timeclock, and an RF signal repeater.
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| Q10: Can I control my window treatments with RadioRA? |
| Yes. RadioRA has a Sivoia and Sivoia QED control (RA-SVC-),
which wires directly to the electronic drive unit. AC shades may also be controlled using a
RadioRA switch and a relay (see Application Note #47).
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| Q11: Can I control my RadioRA system with a handheld remote control (e.g. universal TV remote)? |
| Yes. Using the RadioRA infrared interface,
you can control your RadioRA system with the provided Lutron infrared remote
control. Or, the infrared RadioRA commands can be programmed to a learning or
programmable remote control. See our remote control FAQ for a list of some
compatible remotes, or call Lutron technical support at 800.523.9466 for
inquiries about a specific remote control.
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| Q12: Can I activate my lights from my security system? |
| Yes. The multi-function entry master control, the Chronos system
bridge and timeclock, and the switch closure interface all have security contact closure inputs,
which allow your security system to activate your lighting. Typically, interior lights are
programmed to turn on to full brightness, and exterior lights flash to attract attention upon
security system activation. RadioRA devices will be "locked out" whenever the security system is
activated, so that lights may not be turned off from dimmers, switches, or master controls. To
learn more about how to connect and program RadioRA devices to be triggered by security system
activation, please see Application Note #59: Interfacing RadioRA to Security and Fire Alarm Systems.
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| Q13: Can RadioRA control my lights when I'm not home? |
| Yes. With the RadioRA Chronos system bridge and timeclock, lighting changes
can be activated based on time of day, sunrise, or sunset. And with the built-in "away" mode, lighting
changes can be scheduled to occur while you are away, making the home appear occupied. The Chronos "away"
mode also uses random time shifts from day to day to simulate a more natural schedule.
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| Q14: What can the Chronos system bridge and timeclock do for my system? |
| The astronomical timeclock can activate scenes at specific
times of day, or relative to sunrise and sunset. Chronos can also be used as a system bridge
to expand a RadioRA system to 64 zones of light and 24 master controls. In addition, Chronos
provides an RS-232 port and contact closure inputs for integration with third-party devices.
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TECHNICAL
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| Q15: Is RadioRA a power line carrier product? |
| No, RadioRA uses radio signals for communication.
Power line carrier products use your home's electrical wiring for communication,
which is susceptible to false signals and interference generated by other appliances
turning off and on. RadioRA is not susceptible to power line interference and false
signals, which can cause erratic system behavior.
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| Q16: Will other equipment in my home or neighboring homes interfere with my RadioRA system? |
| RadioRA operates at a frequency different from most remote controls,
cellular/portable phones, and other wireless devices. The RadioRA communication protocol ensures that
any device operating at the same frequency will not affect the lighting on your system. Also, your
system will not affect other RadioRA systems. During startup, your system searches for other systems
in the area and creates a unique system code to prevent cross-system interaction.
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| Q17: What happens to a RadioRA system after a power outage? |
| RadioRA has non-volatile memory, which maintains all system
addressing and master control programming during a power outage. After a power outage, the
memory restores all system lighting exactly as it was before the power failure.
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| Q18: Can lightning or power surges harm RadioRA in any way? |
| RadioRA devices use sophisticated protection circuitry to help
guard against lightning and surges. While it is true that nothing will survive a direct lightning
strike, RadioRA will remain unharmed by normal electrical storms and static electricity.
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| Q19: What is the range of the car visor remote transmitter? |
| The RadioRA car visor transmitter (RA-VCTX-WH) has a typical range of 150
feet. It can control both lighting and your garage door(s) from this distance.
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| Q20: Will other RadiorRA visor controls open my garage door? |
| No. Each RadioRA visor control is coded with a unique serial number.
During installation and setup, the multi-function entry master control learns which visor controls
are in the system. Communications from all other RadioRA visor controls are ignored.
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INSTALLATION
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| Q21: What are the system limits for RadioRA? |
A single RadioRA system can have up to:
. 32 dimmers and switches* (do not count accessory dimmers and accessory switches)
. 14 master controls and system interfaces
. 4 RF signal repeaters (1 minimum)
By using the RadioRA Chronos system bridge and timeclock, the system can be expanded to:
. 64 dimmers and switches (do not count accessory dimmers and accessory switches)
. 24 master controls and system interfaces
. 6 RF signal repeaters (plus Chronos)
*Dimmers and switches also include GRAFIK RA units, GRAFIK Eye interfaces, and Sivoia controls.
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| Q22: Where do I put my RadioRA devices? |
| All RadioRA devices must be within 30 feet of an RF signal
repeater in any direction, including up and down. (This does not include accessory dimmers
or accessory switches, which can be located anywhere.) Multiple repeaters are used to cover
larger areas. The RadioRA repeaters can be placed under sofas, in closets, or on top of
furniture in order to reach all devices on different floors. Repeaters must be within 60
feet of each other.
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| Q23: How do I program my system? |
| RadioRA master controls are programmed manually
using button presses. Certain combinations of buttons are used to enter programming mode,
then the lights are adjusted at each dimmer for each master control button. This simple
process is described in detail in the RadioRA Setup Guide and the Chronos Setup Guide. No
computer is required, and changes can be made at any time.
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| Q24: What would be typical master control programming? |
| Buttons on master controls can activate a single light or a group of
lights. You would typically program master control buttons to work with your daily activities. For
example, if you always turn on the same set of lights when you enter your home at night, you could
set up a single master control button in the entryway to turn on all of these lights, instead of
walking around to each dimmer. Or, if you like the lights in the family room to be a certain way
for viewing movies, with some lights bright, some lights dim, and some lights off, you would program
a single button on a master control to make all of the lighting in the room go to this "scene"
when pressed. Buttons can also be set up to monitor a group of lights. A button can be programmed
such that if there are any lights on in a particular "room," the LED beside the button will be on.
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| Q25: What are "Room" buttons? What are "Scene" buttons? |
| Master control buttons can be programmed as "room" buttons or "scene"
buttons. "Room" buttons are used to monitor the on/off status of a group of lights. A press of a "room"
button will turn all of the lights in the room on. As long as any of the lights assigned to the button
are on, the LED for that button is on. "Scene" buttons are used to create a mood or atmosphere in a room.
When a "scene" button is pressed, each light assigned to the button goes to its predefined level. If
any of the lights are adjusted, the LED will go out. Whenever a "room" or "scene" button's LED is on,
another press of the button will turn the assigned lights off.
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| Q26: Can I reduce "wall clutter" by using only master controls to control my system? |
| Yes, but any lighting you want on your RadioRA system must still be
controlled by a RadioRA dimmer, switch, or Grafik RA. To reduce "wall clutter," these devices may be
hidden in closets, your basement, an attic, or anywhere out of sight that is still within 30 feet of
an RF signal repeater or Chronos. You may then use wall-mounted master controls at all room entry
points and tabletop master controls in key areas for control over your entire RadioRA system.
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