One Lutron GrafikEye for two rooms?

[rowlandhills]

I want to have GrafikEye controlled lighting circuits in two rooms, but I only need three channels for each. It's a lot cheaper to get one 6-channel system rather than two 3-channel systems, but I'm not sure whether it would work.

Does anyone know if it's possible to programme a state as "channels 4-6 to values x,y,z...no change to chanels 1-3"?

This would allow me to use channels 1-3 for one room and channels 4-6 for another.

Thanks.

[jlcrawford]

I looked into this and generally it was not considered a good idea - in the room without the grafic eye controller you would only have access to scenes but you would also be controlling the scenes in the main room.
I think you would compromise the flexibility of the device - so I decided it wasnt the way for me.Also when you price the extra control switch to link to the other room it works out fairly expensive.

[rowlandhills]

Well, the actual GrafikEye will be in another room anyway, as they're pretty ugly. So it's either a question of 2 scene selectors and 1 GrafikEye or 2 scene selectors and 2 GrafikEyes.

[neilball]

If you remote mount the GraffikEye and use keypads in the room then it will work fine. You can set the scene ranges on the keypads so that they control different scene blocks i.e. keypad 1 controls scenes 1-4, keypad 2 controls scenes 5-8. You then just need to ignore (i.e. not change the state) of any circuits that are not in the room you want to control.

[nickt]

Don't all the keypads have an "all off" button? So how would you turn the lights out in just one room?

--Nick

[neilball]

Good point, I'll check the documentation and post back later.

[TTT]

If you can hide the dimming part away somewhere (which sounds like what you want to do) then there are other systems out there which may be more suitable/cost effective in you situation. One I know (there are others too) is the Clipsal C-Bus system where you essentially network a combination of keypads (or touchscreen or a mixture of both) with some combination of dimming modules or other outputs and you can then select which outputs any given input alters. This also offers the possibility of "global" control where a keypad in one room affects lighting in another. I mention Clipsal as they offer a vast range of keypad options and there is bound to be one that fits in! Any more questions, feel free to PM me.

[sijones]

Hi,

Nickt is correct. Most accessory controls have an 'Off' button and this turns all zones off. If they are two totally separate rooms then you are better off using two GRAFIK Eyes.

There have been exceptions where I have used one GRAFIK Eye for two rooms. Some examples are:

1. For a bedroom and ensuite bathroom,

and

2. To control two rooms that were linked together. i.e. access to the second room was only available from the first room.

Regards,

Steve

[neilball]

Yep, Steve's spot on, the off command switched all channels on the Graffik Eye

If the cost of two units is getting too high then why not look at the iLight Zen as an alternitive. I've not priced them myself but have heard from a number of sources that it is priced to undercut the Graffik Eye and so could go some way towards helping with the problem.

Other possible alternitives could be the new Leax Scenemaster 4, a 4 channel dimmer that fits a double back box. Total circuit load is 2kW and the units can be networked.

Mode are also about to launch something similar so it may be worth waiting a week or 2 to see what develops.

[rowlandhills]

Thanks for all the comments guys. Sounds like I'll have to bite the bullet and buy two grafik eyes if that's what I want!

well...guess i'm a lill bit to late with my comments: I installed many 6-Zones Grafiks for two rooms. It works fine if you install the Grafik in a cupboard and use two additional keypads (one for each room) such as the NTGRX-4S-NM. Adress both keypads on a seperat Sceneblock (1-4 and 5-9). Program for example scene 4 and scene 9 as the Light off scene. Use the "unaffected zones" option. It works fine and looks fine.
Btw: I designed an additional tool to control up to four shades or curtains, screens, motorized windows and more with the Grafik. It does not consume zones! Have fun with your GrafikEye. Best regards Tecna24

[ZippyCat]

Tecna24 is correct in saying you can use a single 6 zone GraffikEye to control 2 separate rooms, i.e. 3 zones allocated per room. You would then locate 2 single slave controller keypads to each room (slave controllers can be configured such that they can only control the relevant room). I have specified this combination on numerous commercial projects without any issues. If you have any doubts over functionality then speak to a Lutron lighting control rep, they will only be too happy to advise regarding functional issues.