RadioRA 2 – Consumer Brochure

RadioRA 2 – Trade Brochure

RadioRA 2 – Setup Guide

RadioRA 2 – Product Reference Guide

RadioRA 2 – Dimmers and Switches

RadioRA 2 – Dimmers and Switches – Install Sheet

RadioRA 2 – Maestro Color-Change Kit Install Sheet

RadioRA 2 – Lamp Dimmers

RadioRA 2 – Main & Auxiliary Repeaters

RadioRA 2 – Main Repeater – Install Sheet

RadioRA 2 – Auxiliary Repeater – Install Sheet

RadioRA 2 – Visor Control – Install Sheet

RadioRA 2 – Wall Keypads

RadioRA 2 – Wall Keypads – Install Sheet

RadioRA 2 – Keypad Replacement Kit Install Sheet

RadioRA 2 – Engraving Instructions

RadioRA 2 – Wall Control Engraving Form

RadioRA 2 – Tabletop Control Engraving Form

RadioRA 2 – Integration Protocol Guide

“This year’s conference was focused on developing our customers’ practical skills, and helping them grow their businesses with the wide range of Crestron products and solutions,” said Jason Lewis, National Manager, Crestron Australia and New Zealand. New product instruction included DigitalMedia™, the only complete, integrated solution for the digital age, and Prodigy™ by Crestron, which delivers affordable, simple to use and easy to install home control.

The Crestron Awards Dinner honored the achievements of local dealers that are embracing Crestron integrated technology solutions, resulting in some of the most spectacular and innovative installations in the industry.

“We are really proud of all the winners – they are all diligent innovators who deserve to be recognized for their success,” said Lewis. Randy Klein agreed: “Crestron congratulates each one of the winners in all of the categories, and we applaud their hard work, dedication and innovation in driving our industry forward.”

This year Crestron presented awards in eight categories:

Best New Integrator
Harvey Norman Commercial, Adelaide S.A.

Commercial Dealer of the Year
Rutledge Engineering

Residential Dealer of the Year
Integrated Systems QLD

New Zealand Dealer of the Year
Resolution AV

Best Commercial Project
AV Central
Flinders University FMC2 Theatre

Best Residential Project
Visionx AV
Nachabe Residence

Best One Platform Project
Electronic Living QLD
McKennariey Residence

Project of the Year 2009
Sound Advice
Questicon Japan Theatre

About Crestron

For 40 years Crestron has been the world’s leading manufacturer of advanced control and automation systems, innovating technology and reinventing the way people live and work. Offering integrated solutions to control audio, video, computer, IP and environmental systems, Crestron streamlines technology, improving the quality of life for people in corporate boardrooms, conference rooms, classrooms, auditoriums, and in their homes. Crestron’s leadership stems from its dedicated people who are committed to providing the best products, programs and services in the industry.

The most interesting story from the interview came from their entry for Best Large Home Theater. For this project, they were given 17 days to redesign, install and setup an updated theater in an existing home. The result is this

Not bad for 17 days. Their next project was directly influenced by the client’s need for well-designed lighting control. The client requested that the theater not be as dark as home theaters typically are, and that the lighting highlight the features of the room and technology. A lighting designer took care of the placement and type of lighting and Audio One took care of the technology to control it. Mr Frangioni mentioned that they often use Lutron equipment to control the lighting, and link that to an overall Crestron system.

Here is the view from the front of the theater. As you can see, it feels more like a light, airy living room than a cavernous home theater.

And here is the view from the back, taking in the screen and sound system.

And finally, the integrator’s version of street cred: a meticulous wiring job. This is from their entry for Best Media Room. Enjoy.

The baseline benefit of incorporating lighting control in a built environment stems from the disparity in efficiency between the conservation and creation of energy. Intuitively, it makes sense that it would take less energy to conserve one watt of energy than to generate one watt of energy. Fortunately, we don’t have to rely on intuition. Dr. Ian Rowbottom, an energy expert and inventor of direct current dimming, performed an economic analysis of this very question. He goes through a great deal of detail, and explains down to the penny how much more efficient dimming is than power generation.

Disclaimer: This particular white paper was sponsored by Lutron, and is based on test data from Lutron equipment. Because of this, actual energy savings for other dimmers may be more or less than the savings shown here.

The summary of Dr. Rowbottom’s findings is this: it is 4 to 22 times more efficient to conserve energy using dimming than to generate energy via a power plant.

Comparison of Dimming Costs with Power Generation Costs

For a deeper look into the analysis, you can read the full white paper from Dr. Rowbottom below:

2. LEED Certification

Incorporating a lighting control system in a building can contribute up to 37 out of 110 possible LEED points for a building. Below is a rundown of the ways lighting control can help you obtain LEED Certification.
Credit: Lutron Electronics, Inc.

For a deeper look into how this point structure is broken down, you can read the full LEED report here:
Credit: Lutron Electronics, Inc.

3. Smart Meters Mean Real-time Energy Feedback

Lighting control systems are going to be a crucial part of our evolving smart power grid. With the advent of smart meters, which are power meters that provide real-time feedback of energy usage, we will be able to control energy consumption during peak hours. In a home, for example, during peak hours the system could dim the lighting down to 80% throughout the house. This would maintain functionality while saving money and conserving energy usage. More importantly, because the lighting is part of a system, this can be accomplished automatically, without user input. A house or commercial building is no longer a mindless energy drain on the power grid, but a self-regulating node on the smart grid.

Smart meters are being rolled out all over the world. In some cases, they are run as small beta tests first, but in some cases, the rollout is fast and comprehensive. An independent consulting group is mapping the smart grid rollout, which you can see below.
The legend is as follows:
Red = Electricity
Green = Gas
Blue = Water
Triangle = Trial or Pilot Test
Circle = Project

Reducing Electricity Usage also Reduces the Carbon Footprint
While reducing electricity consumption does reduce the drain on our power grid, it also reduces a building’s carbon footprint. Lutron has a useful energy calculator tool which calculates how much carbon dioxide is removed from the air based on your building’s energy savings. For example, dimming lights in one room 30% prevents about 1800lb of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

For more info you can check out their energy calculator here:
Lutron Energy Savings Calculator

5. Dimming Reduces Recurring Monthly Overhead

From a purely bottom-line standpoint, dimming reduces monthly overhead costs. One dimmer dimmed to 30% can save about $500 over 5 years. With, say 20 dimmers, that’s $10,000 of savings in 5 years. That’s a significant reduction in overhead costs.

6. Scheduling Makes Lighting Effortless

Whether it’s putting your home on Vacation mode or setting your restaurant to change lighting scenes automatically throughout the day, scheduling takes the effort out of elegant, efficient lighting.
For residential applications, scheduling means the homeowner can leave home knowing that the house will operate according to their schedule.
Scheduling’s real power is in commercial applications, though. As most commercial buildings operate on a regularly intervaled schedule, the lighting can match that schedule automatically. Lights can come on in the morning, adjust throughout the day, then shut off in the evenings. This also ensures repeatability, which is the next benefit.

7. Repeatability Standardizes Complex Lighting Scenes

It takes a great deal of finesse to adjust the lighting in a multi-zone room to obtain a specific feel. Whether it’s setting just the right scene in a homeowner’s dining room or creating the right atmosphere in a museum, lighting adjustments are not something that should be made manually every day.
Lighting control systems remember the settings needed for any given scene and recall it at the push of a button.
In commercial applications, this is particularly necessary. Customers need to experience consistent lighting every time they visit, and the repeatability of a lighting control system ensures that.

8. Energy Management at the Push of One Button

It may seem obvious, but it wasn’t too long ago that homes had wall banks of dimmers and switches controlling multi-zone rooms. With the advent of keypad interfaces, lighting control systems have brought in a whole new level of sophistication. Instead of moving the side of your hand along a wall of switches, it just takes one button press. That one button press can control everything from one zone of light to an entire home. Coming next are programmable touchscreens with customizable graphics. You heard it here first.

9. Excellent Lighting = Excellent Productivity

While there has been no scientific study done on lighting’s effect on productivity, Dr. Rowbottom has written an interesting white paper which combines educated guessing with common sense. He arrives at the conclusion that a lighting control system will pay for itself in seven months, based solely on an increase in employee productivity. It makes for a good read, and I’ll let you decide for yourself. Here’s his white paper below.

10. Ambience Means Happier People

This fits together with #9 above, but affects the user on a personal level. While happier people are typically more productive, being happy can be an end in itself. Well-designed lighting scenes have been known to evoke moods , and can uplift or relax the body. Entire certification programs are set up strictly to teach professionals how to properly design lighting that creates a specific atmosphere.
This is why lighting control is so important, even at the basic, personal well-being level. It’s the lighting control system that makes the magic happen. The combination of dimming, pinpoint control, and repeatability means a homeowner can recreate exactly the ambience they wish every time.

Guest Post by Bill Trammel, Writer for Lighting Control Pros

Connects with Sivoia QS Wireless Shades and Draperies
This means RadioRA 2 can be used for a complete lighting control solution, controlling both man-made and natural light management. Client wants shades, but doesn’t have a Homeworks system? No problem. Throw in a RadioRA 2 system, and pop in a Sivoia QS Wireless roller shade. Done.

Software and Button-press Programming
This was a big question when RadioRA 2 was just a rumor circulating. Turns out they provided the right answer. Since this system supports both large and small applications, it makes sense to provide the appropriate programming methods for each application. Good call, Lutron.


Integrates with GRAFIK Eye QS
This means you can use Radio RA 2 for existing GRAFIK Eye systems, and exploit the flexibility it brings.

Integrates with other popular control systems
RadioRA 2 provides RS-232 and TCP/IP connections, meaning you can also integrate it into a larger home automation system, in addition to a stand-alone system.

Killer Combo Going to Change the Lighting Control Game
The combination of Lutron’s rock-solid wireless performance and this highly flexible new platform makes RadioRA 2 a game-changer in the lighting control industry. Integrators and end users no longer have to make compromises when installing or retrofitting a wireless lighting control system. And isn’t that the way it should be?

Below is Home Theater Forum’s editor perusing the Control4 Booth and going over their new products. I particularly liked the B&D Zigbee locks. Very slick.

Video courtesy of www.hometheaterforum.com

Also, I found the cutsheet for the Black and Decker Zigbee locks. Pretty minimal, but enough info to be interesting.

You can check out the gorgeous product photography below in Lutron’s CEDIA brochure. You can click on the center of the brochure below and pull up a fullscreen view.

And here’s CEPro’s Editor-at-large Julie Jacobsen interviewing Melissa Andresko about Lutron’s new products.
(Check out the draperies that roll up at the 1:14 mark. Crazy?!)

Information provided by Control4

Control4 was founded in March 2003 by Will West, Eric Smith and Mark Morgan. They recognized that although the home-automation category was growing, existing solutions only addressed customers who were building multi-million dollar custom homes or were doing major reconstruction on existing homes. As veterans in the home automation market, the founders knew that homeowners needed a more affordable way to automate their existing homes without the headaches and expense of major remodeling. And they wanted to be able to add new products over time as they are able to afford additional technology. With better wireless standards and the advent of Internet Protocol (IP) technology that allow more existing homes to become candidates for home automation, the team saw a way to bring affordable, whole-home automation to the broad market.

Control4 shipped its first product in 2005. Today, the company has over 1,400 dealers in the US and Canada, has international distribution in over 20 countries including Argentina, Russia, Singapore, the UK and China.

In 2008, Control4 achieved a 40 percent year-over-year revenue growth from 2007, in spite of a difficult U.S. economy and a major downturn in the housing market. The company attributes its continued success to new innovative products, strategic partnerships and its success in adding new dealers and new markets. As the demand for home automation continues to grow, Control4 plans to stay at the forefront of the industry by providing innovative products and solutions that deliver tomorrow’s lifestyle improvements today.

Contact Info:

Corporate Address
11734 S. Election Road
Salt Lake City, UT, 84020

Email: sales@control4.com
Phone: (801) 523-3100
Fax: (801) 523-3199
www.control4.com

Information provided by Crestron

Crestron is the world’s leading manufacturer of advanced control and automation systems, innovating technology and reinventing the way people live and work. Offering integrated solutions to control audio, video, computer, IP and environmental systems, Crestron streamlines technology, improving the quality of life for people in corporate boardrooms, conference rooms, classrooms, auditoriums, and in their homes. Crestron’s leadership stems from its dedicated people who are committed to providing the best products, programs and services in the industry. This culmination of loyalty, devotion and innovation is what our dealers refer to as “The Crestron Experience.”

We are very grateful for the commitment and loyalty of our dealers. We believe that we have an obligation to create new opportunities for our dealers, and to provide them with the best training, support and products. Crestron True Blue Support provides the best technical support in the industry. Our online resources including True Blue Online Help, Applications Diagrams and Product Resources are unrivaled. Software programs such as VisionTools™Pro-e, Developer’s Toolbox and System Builder shorten programming and configuration time for our installers. Crestron devotes incredible resources to assist dealers in various vertical markets through programs like A+ (Education Partners), GSS (Government Support Services), Crestron Gaming Partners and Consultants Liaisons.
As dealers help grow our business, we have a responsibility to create new business for our dealers, too. We develop solutions to penetrate new markets such as residential, commercial lighting and MDU Automation. We also continuously form new partnerships with other manufacturers inside and outside the AV industry through our Integrated Partner Program. These industry partnerships streamline technology, simplify integration and increase value for our dealers and customers. Finally, we provide the best training in the industry through the Crestron Technical Institute (CTI). By strengthening the skill sets of integrators, we believe that they are better equipped to grow their businesses by offering the best service for their customers. Training programs also solidify relationships and open lines of communication between our company and our dealers.
Their technical and sales staff become vested with the knowledge and skills sets of our company and become an extension of us. We want to make it easy for our dealers to do business with us. This is the Crestron dealer experience.

Contact Info:

Corporate Address
15 Volvo Drive
Rockleigh, New Jersey 07647
United States
Phone 1: (800) 237-2041
Phone 2: (201) 767-3400
Fax: (201) 767-1903
www.crestron.com

Information provided by Lutron

Joel and Ruth Spira founded Lutron Electronics Company, Inc. in 1961. Lutron’s first product was called a “dimmer switch” and represented the world’s first solid-state electronic device used to dim lights in a home, replacing bulky rheostats and autotransformers that were inefficient and unattractive. Although Lutron has grown substantially over the past several decades, the company still maintains the feel and personal closeness of a smaller firm, and to this day still operates under the guidance of the company’s 5 Principles:

Today, over 45 years later, Lutron is still devoted to controlling lighting. Our focus on product innovations, technology, quality, and customer service has made us the undisputed leader worldwide in the area of lighting controls. We offer more than 10,000 products to satisfy virtually any residential or commercial project. Lutron products adjust the intensity of virtually every kind of light, and we remain to this day the only company that provides an integrated solution for controlling both natural daylight as well as electrical lighting.

Our complete line of lighting control solutions for residences as well as for commercial projects located within North and South America is supported by our corporate headquarters in Coopersburg, PA (northwest of Philadelphia) as well as numerous sales and service offices located throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. Our global sales and service efforts are supported by our worldwide offices with European headquarters in London and other sales and service offices located throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Lutron’s position as the leading manufacturer of lighting controls worldwide, our unsurpassed quality, the breadth and depth of our product offerings, and our commitment to servicing our worldwide customers have resulted in an average growth of approximately 20% annually. This growth has in turn allowed the company to continue to invest in recruiting and retaining the best people we can find to help us service our customers. Continuous growth has also fueled our ability to constantly develop new technologies and new manufacturing processes that in turn drive the creation of new or better products and services.

Whether you are a homeowner seeking to enhance the appearance or atmosphere of a single room, or a facilities manager looking to enhance employee productivity and comfort while reducing energy-related costs throughout an entire corporate campus, Lutron can offer you the best value lighting control solutions that will meet or exceed your expectations while staying within your budget.

Contact Info

Corporate Address
Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.
7200 Suter Road
Coopersburg, PA 18036
Phone: (888) 588-7661
Fax: (610) 282-1243

www.lutron.com

24/7 Technical Support
Phone: (800) 523-9466
Fax: (610) 282-3769
Email: product@lutron.com