I’ve been reading through a multitude of posts on the GE and Leviton wall controllers trying to figure out which one will work better for my application, and I think I’m more confused than when I started.
Here’s what I’d like to do:
Have a 4 button wall mounted controller - there is already power to the electrical box where the controller will mount. (had a x-10 controller in there back in the day)
When I press a button (either on or off), I just want it to run a vera scene. It will not control any lights directly, just run the scene I created on Vera.
For instance, on my way to bed, hit the “Go To Bed” on button and it goes through the “Go to Bed” scene I created on Vera which shuts all the lights off, changes the thermostat, etc. Another button would be for “Vacation Mode” to turn vacation mode on or off, etc.
So with that info, which of the wall controllers would work best for my purpose? Basically I just need to get a button press recognized by Vera so it can run it’s own scene off that event.
I’ve had success with the Leviton controllers, though, I’ve never tried the GE controllers so I don’t know if they’re somehow better. Leviton makes two different five button in-wall scene controllers (one of the buttons is a dimmer, so four scene buttons). The difference between the two controllers is that one of them also controls a load (ie, includes a light switch — not a dimmer, just a on/off switch). It sounds like you don’t need the switch functionality so you can get the Leviton VRCS4-1LZ which is just a scene controller. They cost around $80. (The one’s with a switch run about $180).
I have used both and I have to say that the Leviton wall controllers have features that some of the others don’t.
You want a scene controller, not a zone controller. The Leviton scene controller is assigned to a group of dimmers. The scenes can be set by holding a scene button down for five seconds and then adjusting your lights locally. It is a nice feature to have the scenes modifiable without getting into the master controller and the response time is instant.
You can create scenes with Vera but I have yet to get the indicator lights, scene dimmers, and the push on push off to work properly. Maybe you can, I couldn’t!
The catch is do not use GE dimmers with the Leviton wall controllers. For some reason that Leviton can’t explain, they don’t work.
When you see the scene controller work like it was designed it is awesome!
Regards
Tim Alls
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