I am in the early stage on construction of a home theater, and I am having my electrician wire in a Lutron Grafik Eye 3106 to control the 6 zones of lighting in my 24x14' theater.

Does the grafik eye have an IR sensor on its underside or back or do I need to run an emitter to the front of the unit to control it with my Home Theatermaster MX-3000 via MRF-250 base unit?

Any suggestions?

BTY: I am working on my MX-3000 configuration/programming. Will upload as it is completed (may be several weeks)-lots of graphics to steal..er.. find.

It only has an eye on the front. You have to break the shell off of the emitter and scrape off some of the plastic on the back side of the lutron face plate to get the emitter to fit correctly inside. You can run the spliced emitter wire under the AC box and on into the wall via cat5. Your only other option is to get the rather expensive lutron IR interface

Dear RTI,
Thanks for the quick reply.

No, I don't think I want to spring for the IR interface, Lutron already charges too much for the Grafik Eye, but there really seems to be no competition for such a functional, compact, and powerful unit.

According to my conversation with URC's (excellent) tech support, the MX-3000's emitters run "hot", i.e. they put our so much IR power, that it overwelms some sensors. They suggest (for all components) that one not initially attatch the emitter in position, but that it needs to be temporarily tested in various positions before final positioning. This makes a lot of sense.

I know I'll have to run cat5 to/under the AC Box for the 3106. Are there emitters you suggest rather than the ones supplied with the MRF-250?

THANKS,
aek

We use Niles MF1 or MF1VF which blinks whenever an IR code is issued. This really helps with trouble shooting. We also attach all flashers with hot glue. Works like a charm.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the info. The Niles micro flasher w/ feedback is interesting.

Do you hot glue the flasher inside the Grafik Eye case, or to the outer surface?

Thanks for your info!

aekatz,

I've got the 6 zone Grafik eye in my system (on rear wall), and the remote IR (old Pronto) is strong enough to "bounce" off of the front wall of the room to trigger the lighting control.

Also have an IR receiver mounted in the ceiling fan housing, but that connects only to the A/V gear.

The room is 21 feet from front to back, and the Grafik eye NEVER fails to trigger.

Also, if you use the MX-3000, my understanding is that the outputs for the IR emitters have trim pots, so you can dial the signal down a bit. Maybe this is just on the newest of the units?

I have installed spacer systems and the IR bounces off the wall. Both times the walls were off white in color with latex paint. And yes unfortunately there is no IR in the back of the Grafik Eye. This would sure make life easier. When you install the emitter, you have to break open the plastic covering and place the diode on the ir receiver, glue it down. Unfortunately it makes the cover on the grafik eye bludge out a little bit but most customers will think that it was meant to have that type of look. If memory serve me, a while back I talked to a Lutron tech who said that they were coming out with a spacer switch that will have an IR Receiver in the back, and he mentioned something about clear boxes. I guess that never came out.

Mike

Mike,

According to my research through Lutron's site and literature, there is a "master control" (my words) Spacer dimmer with a transparent case to allow emitters located below or behind the dimmer to trigger it. It seemed to me that the grafik eye controller was a simpler and more integrated way to control 6 zones of lighting in my theater. (I am, however, a rank amateur, but with seemingly more interest therefore knowlege of Lutron's advanced products than my electrician. He knows wiring etc, and was aware of the RF product line from Lutron, but his comment on that was "it's too d-n'd expensive").

What do you think?

Andy

The RadioRa stuff is great. Each switch is very expensive. The fact that it can be wired in the house after the contruciton is great. It takes about 15 minutes to program the master controller (Depending on the size of the house). You can alos add antennas to increase the RF range of the controllers. You can also buy a RS232 adapter that will convert RS232 strings too RadioRa RF Signals. Like I said it is great, but at a great cost.

Mike