# residential lighting control



## Control Freak (Mar 8, 2008)

What's up fellas?
I do mostly commercial installs and was just wondering if anyone knew of a pretty reliable but cheap lighting control panel for a house. I usually install lutron graphic eye systems and microlites and such not too familiar with the residential automation scene! Thanks for the help.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

Control Freak said:


> What's up fellas?
> I do mostly commercial installs and was just wondering if anyone knew of a pretty reliable but cheap lighting control panel for a house. I usually install lutron graphic eye systems and microlites and such not too familiar with the residential automation scene! Thanks for the help.


How cheap is cheap. A very limited system is the Aurora made by Lutron or for the more expensive version you can go Radio Ra. The Ra is pricey but not as bad as the Homeworks system.


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## mahfuz (Jun 27, 2009)

thats good.


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Dennis Alwon said:


> How cheap is cheap. A very limited system is the Aurora made by Lutron or for the more expensive version you can go Radio Ra. The Ra is pricey but not as bad as the Homeworks system.


 I've heard a lot of people hate radio ra. Do you like it Dennis?


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

william1978 said:


> I've heard a lot of people hate radio ra. Do you like it Dennis?


I have not used radio ra but I have used Homeworks which is similar but has more features than RA. I have installed an Aurora system and it does fine for what it is.

I am curious as to why people hate Radio Ra. I have not heard much bad about it other than it is more limited then Homeworks.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Control Freak said:


> ,,,was just wondering if anyone knew of a pretty reliable but cheap lighting control panel for a house?


Multi-gang switchbox. Can't get any cheaper or more reliable than that. 

Here's an interesting one from a church:


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## Toronto Sparky (Apr 12, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> Multi-gang switchbox. Can't get any cheaper or more reliable than that.
> 
> Here's an interesting one from a church:



Must have been a very old church. Any churches I've worked in lately would not have afforded a chunk of brass like that..


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Churches are funny to work in. You need to learn a whole new set of architectural terms to sort out the panel schedule. I never really knew what words like nave, narthex, transept, apse, ambo, chancel, and undercroft meant until I started to do a lot of church work. There's a few more that I can't think of right now. They all refer to parts/rooms/areas of the building.


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## NolaTigaBait (Oct 19, 2008)

There's a church that i did work in...it had all low voltage lighting throughout...I didn't know where to begin.... It's kinda overwhelming when you open the panel.


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## user4818 (Jan 15, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> Here's an interesting one from a church:


This is obviously British or from some other British influenced place. The "400 V" is a dead giveaway. Oh, and the completely foreign looking toggle setup too. :laughing:


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Dennis Alwon said:


> I am curious as to why people hate Radio Ra. I have not heard much bad about it other than it is more limited then Homeworks.


 I used to work with a guy that has installed radio ra systems in houses and I'm not sure exactly why he hates it so much. I going to ask him next time I see him. I was at a supply house and someone brought radio ra up and every one in there said it was a pain in the ass to work with. I would like the oppertunity to install it once just to see what all the fuss is all about.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

william1978 said:


> I used to work with a guy that has installed radio ra systems in houses and I'm not sure exactly why he hates it so much. I going to ask him next time I see him. I was at a supply house and someone brought radio ra up and every one in there said it was a pain in the ass to work with. I would like the oppertunity to install it once just to see what all the fuss is all about.


The install is basically a retro fit. Nothing special and you wire the house the same as usual. Then there is a bit of programming but I had heard it is not that hard.


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Dennis Alwon said:


> The install is basically a retro fit. Nothing special and you wire the house the same as usual. Then there is a bit of programming but I had heard it is not that hard.


 I'm just going to have to install one of those systems myself. Maybe those others where blowing smoke up my a$$.


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## Kevin J (Dec 11, 2008)

Radio Ra is not a bad system. Just takes a little time and tracing of wires to retrofit. They have some good starter kits and it has some nice features.


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## Larry Fine (Oct 24, 2007)

MDShunk said:


> I never really knew what words like nave, narthex, transept, apse, ambo, chancel, and undercroft meant until I started to do a lot of church work.


Well, if you get angry with someone while in a church, you can always say "Kiss my apse!"


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