Hello,
I'm thinking about purchasing the 9600 or the MX-3000. I have a few questions for people who already own one.
1. How hard is it to program?
2. How would I control the room lights if the switches are out of sight?
3. How many IR devices can I control with the RFX9400? 8 or 4?
4. Is there anyway to get an IR Blaster, so it will control everything in the component rack?
5. How would I go about controlling the projector that is located behind me?

Any responses would be appreciated, thanks.

Depends on the skill level of the person doing the programming. There is always going to be an initial learning curve just getting to learn the program and the logic behind it. I find it extremely easy to program myself. If you're already familiar with the editors for the Pronto NG line (PENG/PPENG) then there is virtually nothing new to learn. The program is identical for the most part aside from the configuration settings made under System Properties and even those are self-explanatory.


You'll need to replace your wall switches which are out of sight with ones which support either X10 or Lutron RadioRA, then adding the additional equipment required so that the TSU9600 can control the lights. X10 is the cheapest way to go. I control a couple lamps in my home theater via X10. In my case all that was required was a couple X10 lamp modules ($20 each or less) and a IR543 ($20-30) used to convert the IR sent by my remote to X10 signals which are in turn passed on to the lamp modules through the electrical lines of my home.


Using 4 dual IR emitters cables you'll be able to control 8 devices. This number can be expanded on however, by running any given IR output of the RFX9400 to a IR connecting block instead, then running dual IR emitter cables from the connecting blocks IR outputs to your devices.


The RFX9400 does not have an IR blaster. You must run IR emitters to each of your devices.


Using direct IR you can bounce the IR off of the wall your projector screen is on back to your projector. The better route if you can swing it is to run an IR emitter from the RFX9400 to your projector using an IR emitter extension cable.

Thank you for the thorough response. I am debating now between this and the mx-3000. I can get the mx-3000 with the msc-400 and MRF250 for the same price as the TSU9600 and the RFX9400. Trying to decide which would be the best. I love the design of the 9600 though.

Alternative number two is if you have a computer running the homecontrol software called Homeseer. Then you can use a plugin called Prontonic so you can control everything homeseer can using the remote. I use it to control a lot of Z-Wave lights and currently just a single X10 light that I'm going to change to Z-Wave as soon as possible.

I'd stay away from the MRF250. It's junk. Go with the MRF300 at the very least or the MRF350, the newest in the line up which utilizes narrow band RF technology taking reliability to the next level for URC.

That being said, I find IR over WiFi via the TSU9600 and RFX9400 to be the bomb and quite frankly, unless you absolutely need variable support or intend on using the DMX-3000 software in conjunction with the MX-3000 I'd take a long hard look at the TSU9600/RFX9400 combo.

I don't have a HTPC so I wouldn't be able to go the Zwave route, but I would like to use RF instead of x10. If I purchase the RFX9600 is there a module that I can plug in to that to control z-wave or insteon lights?

On the note of IR blasters - I have a blaster plugged into my serial extender and it works fine sending to all my devices.

Not that I'm aware of. The RS-232 interface is specifically designed for one particular model of Lutron Dimmers. Can't recall the exact model but I'm sure Philips website or other posts here can clarify.

would I be able to create scene's with x10 dimmers? For example, when I click play movie then the lights go to scene 1, then when I click pause go to scene 2, then all on or all off?

Yes, so long as you are using scene capable X10 dimmers.

That being said, there is an effective way to integrate lighting control with the play, stop, and pause functions if you don't have scene capable X10 dimmers or lamp modules as is the case with my setup. By using the minimum IR duration feature which can be applied to any given IR code one can create multiple dim and bright codes which run anywhere from .01 seconds to 10 seconds. This will at least give one exact control of how much they want their lighting to ramp up when completely off. In my case I have the lights in my home theater ramp up for 1 second after I've paused a DVD or for 2 seconds if I stop a DVD. Hitting play will always ramp the lighting all the way down, then resuming playback.

Like I said, certainly not the control you will have with scenes, but it gets the job done nicely in this case. I've also made it so you can toggle lighting integration on and off via the button labled, "Lighting w/Play, Stop & Pause" as seen here. When enabled (the default setting) the button is highlighted as seen in the example pic. When disabled the button is no longer highlighted. Simply tap the button to toggle lighting integration on and off. Comes in very handy as I don't always want the state of my lighting to change when hitting up the play, stop, and pause functions.

Thanks for that tip, I'll definitely try to get scene dimmers, but if not, I'll do what you did. I like the idea of enabling and disabling the lights with pause etc. (I may have to steal that idea)

I went ahead and ordered the tsu9600 and the rfx9600. Since I got the rfx9600, what exactly would be needed to control RadioRa dimmers? Sorry for all the questions, I'm new to this. If I have it right, I need the following:

Lutron RA-RS232 RadioRA Serial Interface
2 dimmer switches (one for overhead can lights, and one for sconces)

I'm not sure what wattage dimmers to get, (theres 6 can lights, 60watts each, and the switch is in a 3 gang box and the sconce switch is by itself with 5 lights, 60 watts each) Would I also be able to control the rope lights under the steps with the same switch for the can lights, or would I have to get a 3rd switch? (the rope light switch is in the same same gang box as the can lights)

Hopefully I don't need the serial interface because it's $450!!

anyone?

viper,

I'm not familiar with the remote you purchased but I am familiar with controlling RadioRa dimmers with a MX-900 and a MRF-300. I use Lutron's RA-IR as the bridge which is slightly cheaper than the RA-RS232 interface. I simply ran one of the emitters off the MRF-300 to the ir sensor of the RA-IR and it works like a charm.

Good Luck,
Dave