Here is my situation. I have a two gang switch that controls 2 lights in my home theater room.And I have a 6500K 12" flourescent light behind the TV. So when I watch a movie I kill the lights and turn on the backlight. I want to set it up so the lights are on a dimmer ( I purchased a Lutron Spacer with remote) and the backlight comes on. I have an MX-500 for a remote. I want to hit a button on the remote where the lights dim to off and the backlight comes on. Since I have a 2 gang box and the Lutron dimmer is a single gang I might have an asthetics problem. But nothing I can't fix.
I'm thinking what I might need to do is change the 2 gang box to a plug-in for the backlight (the switch is right behind the TV) and put a single gang box above that for the dimmer.
Bottom line is can the two be tied together as one command from my remote?

as long as your remote is capable of programmable macros then sure

There are a couple of options you have to make this setup work as you want it to.

You need to add a Single Location 6A SPSF-S6A for your fluorescent light behind the TV. This will switch the light via remote, but will not dim the light.

Now to unify control of both zones of lighting, expand your box to a three gang and add a 5-scene wall-mounted master control SPS-5WC This will give you four remote selectable scenes to allow any combination of lights.

I hope this helps. If you have other questions, or if these are not available from your local dealer please let me know.

Andrew

One thing I should mention about my Flourescent light. It has an on off switch between the light and the plug. So if it is plugged in with the switch on- and it gets power it will come on. No button to hold. So do I still need the 6A SPSF-S6A? And where does it plug in. I'm a little confused.
I have looked at both the products you listed and will show my electrician this week. He plans on coming to my house in a couple weeks and wiring this system. So I need to gater everything up before he gets here.

Is the fluorescent light plugged into a switched outlet?

If so the 6A SPSF-S6A takes the place of the standard wall switch. This unit is designed to work with Spacer Systems to control lights, such as fluorescents, that only need off/on and do not dim.

The flourescent light is plugged in to a 2 gang unswitched outlet. One thing I was thinking of doing was changing the outlet to something IR controlled, as I do not use it for anything else. Then it probably would not be tied in with the room lights though.
I can put just about anything in the wall behind the TV. Add boxes, move boxes or whatever. The box for the room dimmers has not been installed yet. When I do put it in I would also like to put in whatever is necessary for the flourescent.

If you can rewire the outlet to switch at the dimmer location, this will be your best solution. Otherwise you can use a switched outlet device such as the Niles APC2 or AC3. The downside to this solution is it will cost more for the equipment and it will not give the level of automation you can achieve with the Lutron.

Whatever you do, DO NOT plug the light into a switched outlet on your receiverthis will result in noise and picture problems.

I was going to mention I could plug the light into the receiver. But that didn't seem right. I'm glad you explained why. Actually I have everything plugged in to a Monster Power Center. But my Power Center is also plugged in to the same 2 gang outlet as the flourescent light. I forgot about that.
When my electrician wires the wall I probably will add another 2 gang box to the wall. So if I do I should tie the second 2 gang to the dimmer? Can you give me a recap of exactly what parts are needed to achieve my goal?
I now have a Lutron SP-600-HTH for the room lights, Hopefully it can be incorporated in to my grand scheme.
And thanks for all your input so far.

Bruce,

It sounds like you have the right plan in place. The only proble I see now is with your existing Spacer dimmer. Lutron sells two versions of Spacer products, Spacer and Spacer System. The difference is Spacer System components are designed to be integrated into a system where multiple dimmers can be controlled by a single master control or remote control. The visual difference is on the back of the dimmer. Your SP-600 has a black plastic back, where Spacer Systetm components all have clear backs and IR blasters to relay commands to multiple dimmers.

I would recommend you use your existing Spacer in another room. Then choose between one of the following options for your media system:

1 SPS-600 $90.00
1 SPS-AS $69.00
1 SPS-5W $150.00
1 SPS4ITRP $90.00 (Lutron remote for programming, you will need this only if you do not have Lutron codes in the MX500)

Or use a Graphik Eye sytem. This will give you sixteen possible scenes, and it looks cleaner on the wall.
1 GRX2402 $400.00
1 GRX8ITWH $150.00 (Lutron remote for programming, you will need this only if you do not have Lutron codes in the MX500)

Andrew

Been reading the PDF files on Lutron's website trying to make sense of all this. Looking at one page of the PDF file they have a flourescent on/off switch on the left and a spacer system dimmer on the right with a 4 scene remote included. But this may not be what I want. You mentioned an SPSF-S6A earlier in this thread. That seems to be a flourescent on/off. Which would be just fine of course. The PDF does not have numbers next to a picture. All the numbers are at the bottom of the page. Quite confusing.
Looking at another page the SPS-600 may be what I want. It seems to have several control options. If I get the SPS-600 what else would I need to make everything work. I can return the SP-600 HTH to the supply house no problem.
I hate being such a pain asking all these questions. If you lived in Portland Oregon I would just pay you to make it work.

One thing I forgot to mention. I read on the MX-500 forum that Lutron codes are in my remote.
The other thing is the Graphik Eye sytem seems a bit much moneywise. This project is costing me a bundle as it is. I have 2 lights in the ceiling now. They are being replaced with 4, which will ruin the acoustical ceiling. And some track lighting will be added as well. So I will sheetrock myself. That part saves me money. But the electrician won't come cheap.

Andrew,
One more thing. I bought my Monster Power Center 3 years ago. But after reading the threads about Snow Monsters I will never buy another Monster product again. Nuff said!

Lutron gives several example systems, but these do not come as a package. All items must be purchased seperately

You mentioned

You can use this, but if the flourescent is simply turned off/on by being plugged into a switched outlet, just use the Spacer System switch and save $75.00.



No problem, this is what these forums are all about.

Although I cannot install this for you, I don't think you would want to pay my trip charge, I am a Lutron Authorized dealer and I can provide you with the equipment. Let me know if you are intrerested.

Andrew

Andrew,
Can't find the GRX8ITWH on Lutron's website. So I'm not sure what it does. Found the 2402. But that one is a bit much.
If I bought the SPS-600 what else would need. Two dimmers? One to turn the switched plug for the flourescent light and one to dim the lights in the room?

This is a programing remote made for the Graphik Eye systems. It is hard to find on the web site and unnecessary if you are not controlling more than four scenes from your remote


Just the Spacer System switch and the master control. The IR codes are already in your MX500, so there is no need to buy a remote for programing