ESSENTIAL HABITECH

10,000 WAYS TO LIGHT UP YOUR BUSINESS

Wherever you are on the lighting design curve, you’ll fall in love with Lutron, and so will your customers

If you’ve decided that Lutron’s smart lighting tech is too complicated or expensive to integrate, take another look with Habitech’s Lutron specialist Jorge Pereira.

You’d be forgiven for believing that the world’s most beautiful lighting control belonged exclusively to the rich. Afterall Lutron has become the exemplar of seductively sophisticated automation at the highest end of residential lighting design. But that’s just part of the Lutron story. In truth, and amazing as it may seem, the original and most celebrated lighting brand has built its business with an ethos rooted in the simplicity and reliability of an entry-level light switch.

LET THERE BE LUTRON

When Lutron’s founder Joel Spira invented the world’s first residential solid-state electronic dimmer in 1959, it radicalised the experience of light in the home, but to be accepted it had to emulate the simplicity of its predecessor. At the time, light dimmers were too industrial for homeowners, so he domesticated the design to unite revolutionary functionality with slimmer, simpler touch control. Today, that irresistible combination of sophistication and simplicity continues to drive Lutron design.

EASY WIRELESS MAGIC

This means that no matter where you are on the lighting design curve, you’ll find integrating stunning scenes, maximising natural light, and saving energy for your customers easier and more rewarding than you might expect. For instance, with minimal training on Lutron’s entry-level ‘RA2 Select’ wireless products you can transform an average home in just a few hours. The system communicates wirelessly, so you’re not running cables or cutting holes. RA2 runs on Lutron’s rock-solid ‘Clear Connect’ RF technology from little plugin repeater modules, and you can expand the system in 9m wireless jumps by adding repeaters. To add individual LEDs, in-line dimmers/switches install in the ceiling through a typical downlight cut-out, making new build or retrofit upgrades an absolute doddle. System config is through a free mobile app, and you get a choice of control from the app or via a wide range of wireless battery-powered ‘Pico’ keypads, which snap into single, double and triple-gang wall plates in a wide choice of designer colours. No messing. Contrary to popular mythology there really are no barriers to entry with Lutron - not even budgetary - because for all its easy beauty, functionality, and reliability, RA2 is cost competitive with rival systems in a great majority of scenarios. What’s more, the system hooks up with the brand’s companion wireless window treatments - and with Sonos as well - to weave daylight, electric light and music together from the same wall plate or pedestal. Simple but awesome. Truth is that Lutron is neither complicated nor expensive to deploy. Instead, it offers your business an unrivalled heritage of class-leading quality, reliability, and performance from six decades of customer fulfilment at every level.

Pico Power: Lutron’s ‘Pico’ wireless keypads are a doddle to install and use

Control natural light, and music as well, with Lutron systems from entry level up

HOMEWORKS WIRE-FREE TOUCH PERFECTION

For example, the same flawless RA2 efficiency is available for larger homes through Lutron’s HomeWorks Wireless line. A step above its entry-level progeny, which has a capacity of 100 devices, HomeWorks Wireless offers you the full creative endowment of up to 600 wireless devices combined with the fabled power of HomeWorks processing. There’s the ability to mix wired and wireless elements, handle greater loads, and control DALI or DMX fixtures, allowing greater flexibility in the selection of luminaires. And because it’s HomeWorks, the system gives designers the option to deploy the beautiful ‘seeTouch’ keypads, complete with illuminated buttons and faceplates in a wide choice of metallic finishes.

Nine standard keypad styles, including Palladiom and Alisse (below), adorn the luxury HomeWorks system Step up again to the ultimate design experience. HomeWorks is a blend of elite wired and wireless functionality now available from Habitech. Project scale is unlimited. Design for up to 10,000 outputs over a range of 600m in any direction. Combine wired and wireless systems for easy system expansion using lighting design’s most accomplished software. Integrate synchronised scene control over lights and window treatments, music and even room temperature from the industry’s widest array of custom keypad styles and configurations. Deploy intuitive and dynamic app control, voice commands from Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant, as well as Sonos speakers, all from the same interface. In its dazzling scope, HomeWorks is the most comprehensive custom solution for whole house ambience available. However wealthy or demanding your customers, none will be left feeling short changed, because no other system offers a more personalised smart lighting experience.

There are no fewer than nine keypad styles (rivals max out at three) including the impossibly elegant ‘Palladiom’ lighting and matching thermostat designs, involving backlit engraving on a single finish for the faceplate and buttons, or the exquisitely minimalist ‘Alisse’ keypads with a similarly coordinated look. In addressing this rarefied custom design cosmos (think Bentley and Rolls Royce), Lutron offers over three thousand permutations of colour, finish and configuration as ‘standard’ - and that’s before a bespoke finish/engraving service lifts the choice to infinite. The tie-up with custom specialist ‘Focus SB’ means that your client can have their signature keypad design for each room and electrical fittings to match. For the bespoke Lutron customer, anything is possible.

And of course, this endowment of style extends to Lutron’s proprietary wired and wireless window treatments. A choice of Roller, Honeycomb, Roman, Venetian and Tensioned shades (in over 1500 fabric styles) combine seamlessly for the perfect room ambience from dawn to dark, and, as if to emphasise the choreography, all blinds are made to move in unison, creating a ballet of elegance your clients will love.

What’s more, third-party control system integration is a given: you’ll struggle to find a smart home system that doesn’t support Lutron. Then there’s the other little install details that can make a big difference on site, like the free-wire topology (star, daisy chain, home run, etc.) on wired links; Lutron’s RTISS (Real Time Illumination Stability System), which cleans up the mains supply, and the smaller DIN rail mounted modules, which allow you to build - and upgrade - systems within tight spaces. To make it even easier, Habitech will pre-wire the panels for you and supply the drawing ready for your site electrician to connect to mains.

All part of the service: partner with us on your project and we’ll supply the DPM enclosure pre-wired, saving you valuable time on site

A CONTINUITY OF SIMPLICITY AND SUPPORT

In this way, and so many others, Habitech is ready to support your Lutron installs of RA2 to full-fat HomeWorks. My fifteen-year experience as a Lutron specialist together with our highcalibre training, head-turning dems, and the full force of our value-added design services, will help you to deliver the promise and power of Lutron to customers at every level - for modest homes to the most luxurious. If you’ve decided that Lutron is too complicated or expensive to integrate, it’s time to take another look.

Contact us for the full Habitech intro. 01256 638500; sales@habitech.co.uk.

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