The Space

Below is an blueprint of the area in our house to be controlled with this system (not including the bathroom or portion of a bedroom) and a couple of relatively bad pictures of a portion of this space. North is up in the blueprint.

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Lighting Area 1: West Great Room
This area consisted of three switches:

The Replacement Modules

Lighting Area 1: West Great Room
I replaced the wall plate with Lutron's Claro CW-3-WH (WH just means that it's white, but many other colors are available). You can get these plates engraved with whatever button names you like for the SPS-5WC and 5WCR, but I don't think we will since it's not hard to remember the buttons and we might want to change the kind of presets we use.

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• Left - Wire nutted existing fan controls and replaced with Lutron SPS-5WCR-WH. This controller needs power (usually black wire), so if you are doing something similar, beware that you need to be able to get it at the location of the install. Lutron makes a SPS-5WC as well as the SPS-5WCR, the difference is in the way the IR is blasted (additional possible configurations from Lutron PDF). The SPS-5WC blasts IR to all dimmers ganged together through clear back boxes of the dimmers. The less common SPS-5WCR includes wires for sending the IR signal through the wall, as well as a couple of IR emitters (more on that later). Of course a remote can control all lights with a single scene selection. There are a couple of remotes available from Lutron to give you this control w/o the learning remote. The remotes the sell are pretty small (nice) and the 4 scene controller can be etched like the wall plates.
• Center - Replaced existing switch with SPS-1000-WH. Since 590W was estimated draw, you would think that the 600W version would be sufficient, but when ganged together, the dimmers need to be "derated" because of the heat. I've pulled some information out from Lutron and created a page to explain this further here.
• Right - Replaced existing switch with SPS-600M-WH. The M is for multi-pole, which lets you use the dimmer as a 3 or 4-way switch. When I did this, I created a dimming circuit that goes to wall receptacles. Under the 2002 National Electric Code 404.14(E), this is not allowed because you can plug in appliances that should only receive constant power. Of course I did know this and also was ready to address this issue (Mike Holt's Code Forum thread where I told contractors about the new products I became aware of, and the discussion that followed). [Now is the appropriate time for me to mention that you should know what you're doing and if you do anything affecting the power beyond replacing a switch or receptacle, get an electrician or file a plan with the government office. If you do something incorrectly, you could certainly create a fire or other bad situation.] On to the remedy: Lutron was able to fix the problem created by this 2002 change through a new set of products around the concept of a dimmable receptacle. This UL listed special purpose connection requires that you replace the plug on a lamp you'd like to use (however it allows you to plug into any power receptacle in the event you move the lamp). Once done, any receptacles that use the connection won't be able to operate anything without this plug. It goes without saying that you should only wire this plug to a lamp. Initially I was surprised that the literature didn't cover the Spacer System, so I emailed the team and found that it was an error, and that I have their "blessing" to use the product with the Spacer System. Here are pictures of the plug and dimmable receptacle:

  
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Lighting Area 2: South Great Room
I replaced the wall plate with Lutron's Claro CW-3-WH.

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• Left - In the original setup, this SPS-AS-WH "Accessory Switch" for power to the power outlets would have gone in the center position, but I thought it was more logical to be close to the light we're controlling with it.
• Center - Replaced the witch to control the 2 eyeball lights over fireplace with a SPS-600-WH.
• Right - Replaced the switch to control the 2 recessed lights in the entry way with a SPS-600M-WH multi way switch.

Lighting Area 3: South East Great Room
I replaced the wall plate with Lutron's Claro CW-1-WH.

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• Only - Like in Lighting Area 3, I replaced the multi way switch with a SPS-AS-WH accessory switch for controlling the SPS-600M in Lighting Area 1. This original switch was a 4-way switch, so I just had to connect a couple of the wires to one of the wires on the SPS-AS.

Lighting Area 4: North East Great Room
I replaced the wall plate with Lutron's Claro CW-1-WH.

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• Wall Switch - I replaced this standard electrical switch with a <$5 CA-1PSH-WH switch to match the other witches and make it easier to hit to turn on the fire place because it's behind a chair. I didn't think it would be appropriate to wire this into a system because a fire is made when the switch is flipped.
• Lamp Switch - I replaced the lamp switch with a SPS-300LD-RP lamp dimmer. It sits on top of the subwoofer and can be used like one of the SPS wall dimmers within reach of the chair. We'll be having a little girl in a few months and I thought that it would be nice to be able to hold our baby on the glider (glider was purchased as a gift to us for this purpose) at 4AM with some soft light.

Lighting Area 5: Entry Way South
I replaced the wall plate with Lutron's Claro CW-2-WH.

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• Left - Like in Lighting Area 3 & 4, I replaced the multi way switch with a SPS-AS-WH accessory switch. This one controls the SPS-600M in Lighting Area 2.
• Right - I replaced this multi way switch for the 3 outdoor lights with a CA-3PSH-WH three-way standard switch. It was as easy to install as the electrical switch for the fire place. The other switches for this circuit are in the garage.

Lighting Area 6: Entertainment Center

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• Only - I disconnected the touch sensor attached to the top light frame and connected these small incandescent lights to a SPS-300LD-RP, just like the one in Lighting Area 4. Installation was like Mac OS X plug and play, plug it in and it works.

Working With Walls

Now that all the components are in boxes, they need to be installed and connected together to function as a single system. Of course it goes w/o saying that I had turned the power off when I was replacing the units. Basically they need to be wired in a straight-forward replacement of the switches that are replaced, so I won't go into all the details, but below is a picture of an existing switch before install, followed details departing from a standard replacement:

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Lighting Area 1: West Great Room
Earlier I described that the wall-mounted master controller (SPS-5WCR) has wires coming out the back that deliver IR signal down. I connected one 14AWG Copper Stranded wire to each of the 2 wires designated for this purpose in the manual with the provided wire nuts. These wires would need to be fed through the wall, and therefore need to be at least as long as the distance from the junction box and either the ceiling or the floor (depending where access can be made available). At the same time, I pulled out one of the two emitters that are part of the SPS-5WCR package. As seen below, this emitter is placed on top of one of the two dimmers in this bank and its two wires are connected to 2 wires similar to those connected to the SPS-5WCR.

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At this point there are 4 14AWG copper stranded wires that need to go through the wall. In my case, I have a vaulted ceiling and didn't want to mess around with the attic, so I went to the crawl space. In this bank I had a reference wire very close to where I needed a hole, so I went to the crawl space and after I calmed my nerves about making a mistake and drilling into the wrong spot, I made a new 1/2 inch diameter hole a few inches from the power wire's hole for my wires to go through. Fortunately I had taken some pictures of the walls before drywall went up in my house and also took video, so I was able to quickly locate the right area. Here's a mocked up version so you can see what was needed:

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Now I had to get the wires through the hole, initially I had tried to just put some tape around the wires tips to get a small initial area to grab from below, but they were too flexible and I used some "fish tape" (metal wire that's rigid and a bit flexible) and my wife was able to get the tape to where I could see it and was able to reach up with bent wire to grab it. Then I took that through the hole and she taped the wire on and I pulled it all through. Once I had the wires in my hand, I cut the tape and sent the fish tape up and out of the wall. At this point my wires are through the wall. I connected one of each pair together to test the connections before moving forward. I could see that they did work and closed up the wall on top and put on the Claro plate. As I did this, I made sure that the dimmers/controller were level and distributed so that they fit in the gang well. After I did this, I turned off IR rebroadcasting on the SPS-5WCR so that there would not be a loop (see Lutron PDF for more on this). Had I only wanted to do this gang worth of dimmers, I could use the SPS-5WC and not have to run the wires through the wall (or a Graffik Eye, for that matter).

Since I was installing a dimmer at this location for the two outlets, I installed the half duplex 15A (20A version is available) dimmable receptacles from Lutron (NTR-15-HFDU-WH) and wired the one lamp on the circuit with the special plug (sold separately RP-FDU-10). I got the half duplex units since power was separated into two circuits in the receptacles. The top plug is switched (now dimmed) and the bottom is constantly on. If you replace the connection with a full duplex unit, you need to be sure that you have enough receptacles per the National Electric Code, as installing this technically turns the power outlet into a special receptacle. Wiring the plug was really easy and wiring the receptacle itself was also easy.

Lighting Area 2: South Great Room
The basic connections here were pretty easy, as I was just replacing switches with the dimmers/accessory switch. I just had to hook up the same wires I'd otherwise use. On top of the middle dimmer I placed the second IR blaster provided with the SPS-5WCR package and attached 2 long 14AWG copper stranded wires to it, like in Lighting Area 1. When I did this, I also wired in a second pair of the same kind of wire in the event I want to remove the SPS-AS and replace it with another SPS-5WCR. However, getting the hole in the floor and the cable through it was the most challenging.

As you can see in the floor plan, there is a shower/tub on the opposite side that the switches will be facing, but there's also tile on the West side (entry way) and carpet in front. In the picture below, notice that there's not really a reference mark to go from here, except some 5-6 feet away (receptacle power). I had to drill a small hole in front of where I wanted to have the wire go through, which is invisible in the carpet (thread on this at DoItYourself.com Community Forums). Going down in the crawl space I saw that the air duct ran straight under the area where I needed a hole. Since there are beams in the floor, I had 8-10 inches of space, so I didn't drill into the duct, but it would be hard to get my drill in there to make the hole. Once doing that, I could barely see up it at all. Since there is plywood and then the 2x4 bottom of the wall, I had a very tall hole to go through (as with the other holes). I tried the fish tape again (with my lovely wife's help!). No go. The shower/tub contoured out so that we cannot use the back wall to confine the fish tape. This time we went with a weighted string (thread on this at DoItYourself.com Community Forums). This worked. Since I made sure to do the hole as close under the port in the switch box I'd use, after moving it around awhile the weighted string (3 small beads on twine that I think was made of hemp) did come down far enough that I could get it with a bent wire.

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Lighting Area 3, 4, 5
There was no need to work in the walls for these connections. It should be noted that I'd like a SPS-5WCR on the South East corner of the great room, but I don't have the constant power necessary to run one. If I liked pain, I'd run power to that location.

Lighting Area 6: Entertainment Center

The last wall was the easiest to work with because of its short distance to the floor and our new found experience getting the wires through the holes. Here I needed a reference point, but after that, it was a piece of cake. You might wonder why I needed this access, but the purpose will be fully explained in the next section.

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Connecting the Control System

At this point all the modules are in, the wall plates have been put on and the IR wires have been put through the wall. When tested, all of the individual dimmer controls are working, but the wall controller does nothing and IR sent to the main IR receiver over the TV does not change the lighting. All that remains to be done is connect the wiring together. Before I explain it, here's an image that shows the IR path:

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To make the kind of connection I wanted (a single IR receiver would be able to receive a signal from the entertainment center and change all of the lights and a press of the wall mounted scene controller would change all lights, including the two lamp dimmers) would require an infrared connecting block. The IR connecting block receives signals from IR receivers and broadcasts those signals to emitters. The connecting block I used is a Xantech 791-44 One Zone Amplified Connecting Block. This block allows multiple receivers to be connected through terminals and a mono-minijack and up to ten sets of emitters (max of 2 per port recommended). Because this block is amplified, output can extend to longer distances without signal loss than with a lesser block. I originally had a 789-44 Connecting Block that came with a 291-KIT Hidden Link Kit. The 789-44 block probably would not have worked in the configuration I have. However, I was able to reuse the 781RG Power Supply, the 291-10 Hidden Link IR Receiver and 283M Mouse Emitters that came with it. The IR receiver on top of the TV can receive all IR signals and ensure that every IR device gets the information, as below:

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The nice thing about a connected IR system is that you can point at one IR receiver (if it's a good one you barely point) and you can control IR devices out of view. I've been using that 291-Kit for a couple years for this reason. I have something like 12 emitters connected to this connecting block (couldn't get a good picture) that stick on the IR windows of the devices I control. At any rate, I fed 4 of the 14AWG wire earlier mentioned into each of the 4 screw terminals (IR In, Ground, Status - blinks LED to show that the block is working, and +12 VDC) and then down into the wall and the crawl space. In addition, I bought two mono minijack cords like the Radio Shack 42-2434 6' Shielded Cable that I could plug into an emitter spot and easily strip and use to connect to the 14AWG cable in the crawl space. Since I didn't know this would work, I cut the emitter end off of an emitter like the Xantech 283M mentioned above and fed that through as well. While not exactly the AWG wire that was recommended, since this kind of wire (and thinner) is used in emitters, I thought it would be ok for such a short run until going into the other wire. I didn't really have a need for the status or +12 VDC port, but I figured that there would be a possibility that the wire would come in handy if none of these emitter wires worked and I might want to use one of them later. I have a structured wiring system in the garage (pic of that) I might connect to one emitter in case I want to control some a/v source from the living room. At this point, I have three emitters ready and one receive wire combination (could accept more signal than one through the wire) ready and through the hole.

To get to this block, I essentially connect the output from the SPS-5WCR to the IR receive input and ground wires that go into the IR connecting block from the crawl space (see above plan). This should complete the wall mounted scene controller's connection. For the emitters, my original plan was to have each in-wall emitter to go to an individual emitter port, but I thought I would connect them both to this set of wires that comes down from the connecting block (also in above plan) and see what happens. Since everything in the wall is connected now, I get out of the short crawl space, turn the power on and I find that all but one dimmer is working as expected. I was still excited here, since I was able to get the wall controller to activate dimmers through the block. Knowing that this dimmer worked when tested, I assumed that the power of the signal might not be enough split over all that wire. I placed a jumper next to the emitter port that was live to activate the connecting block's amplification and - bingo!

All that is now left is to connect the two lamp dimmers (one in Entertainment System and other on Subwoofer). I attached a small IR emitter to the sensor on the front and connected it to the IR connecting block, like I mentioned I have done for my components. Everything worked as I had planned.

Enjoying the System!

To activate scenes from the couch or a sitting location around the room, I usually use my Philips Pronto. I currently just have the name of the number of the scene, all off, all on and up and down, but when I am happy with certain scenes for certain purposes, I'll probably change the button names. I dedicated the bottom of the remote to the lighting on the home screen (I can get back to this scene with one tap from any other page). I also use the channel + & - buttons on the home screen to raise and lower the master level. In the future, I'll probably pair some scenes to button presses, like "DVD" to get the lighting set for the optimal level there. Below is the home screen from my remote:

The codes programmed here allow me to press and hold one of the scene buttons for a few seconds to set the current lighting scene. For some reason, the IR being repeated through the IR connecting block only will change the scenes and doesn't allow them to be locked in, but that's not really a problem for me. I'll be contacting Xantech soon to see if they can help me fix the situation. If you like the file and want to check out all the functions of it or want to use the IR codes for your system, please download the "CCF file" by clicking this link (some users may need to option-click or right click and choose download this file to disk). I run my systems on Macs and really enjoy the free Tonto software to control my Pronto.

I hope you enjoyed this excessively long log of what I have done in this installation. Please do contact me if you would like to share comments or ask questions. I'd like to mention that I've found Hanks Electrical Supplies (949-646-7777) to have great service and the best prices online on Lutron products at this time. Should you need to talk to someone, Michelle Christensen (purchasing agent) handled the orders of all my products.

All images and content on this page are Copyright © 2005, Jonathan R. Schalliol. Worldwide rights reserved. Linked content may be property of other people or organizations. I have located some Lutron PDFs and images on my server in order to ensure that the links I've placed stay functioning properly. I'd really like to hear your feedback, so please feel free to contact me at the following email address with comments or questions (image designed to confuse spam robots):