Does anyone have experience/recommendations for HT IR lighting? I've got an IR cable run to my projector, which could easily be turned to hit the location of the light switch as well, so I think it should be pretty straightforward to integrate the lighting into my Universal Remote (Home Theater Master MX-800 - an oldie but goodie).

I see Home Depot sells the kits that include the switch, dimmer controls, and remote (from which my remote could learn the commands).

Any advice or recommendations outside of that plan?

Thanks!

I bought the Lutron dimmers from Home Depot and control them with my Harmony, sound like what you are looking at, pretty easy to setup and not to expensive. Plus everyone loves when I dim the lights from the couch with the remote.

That's the effect I'm going for too. I went and picked up the hardware last night, planning to install today. I specifically told myself I would not do this job until AFTER I had the Axioms...

if I manage to fry myself working with the high voltage, at least I will die having experienced the pure sonic bliss of the Axiom Home Theater. Assuming I live through it, I'll let you know how it goes.

That sounds very cool, what model Lutron did you get?

Lutron Maestro IR (Model MIR-600THW-WH). I installed it this morning and it works well. It is a little finicky when I try to use it with my MX-800 remote. That remote works via RF, converts the RF to IR, and then sends the IR back out to 6 emitters that you can hide around the room to hit the components you need it to without actually aiming at anything...

Anyway, strangely, it works just fine when using IR from the MX-800 only, but when I try to use the RF function and have it emitted on the add-on emitters, it doesn't work unless the emitter is within 3 feet of the 'eye' on the wall switch. I googled it and found out that the bands of frequencies it accepts are apparently very narrow so you might have problems with some learning remotes.

In the end, it works fine with just the IR setting on my remote, so I'm keeping it and will try to put the rest of the mysterious behavior out of my mind.

It is the coolest $40 addition I can imagine making to my Home Theater.... I'm very happy with it.

Thanks, I am going to pickk one up this afternoon. I'm using an IR Harmony so should be good.

The dimmer comes with a one-gang switch and wall plate. The only thing to keep in mind is if you have a double wall switch (or anything but a single one) you have to buy a separate double-switch frame and a separate paddle switch for the other switch in the room.

Let me know how it works out for you.

I'm not sure how extensive your lighting will get to be, but let me suggest you invest in a phase coupler/repeater and install it on your electrical box. World of difference in assuring that the command button you push ends up in the activity you want.

If you mean something like the X-10... the option has crossed my mind, but it looks like a lot of their stuff requires RF controls to operate, which means I'd have to have another remote just for the X10. For now, I don't need it, but I have thought about it briefly. Definitely some fun things that could be done with that addition.

I bought the dimmer as well.. was going to install over the weekend but was fighting the flu instead. I'm still waiting for my wall plate. The first one I ordered showed up broken, so another is on the way.

Well, X-10 is what I chose. Got a 16 piece kit with some software and it works pretty well. They still have a nice setup here, but I couldn't find the 16 piece kit for you. I got some extra remotes that mount on the wall as well.

Anyhow, the phase coupler is not specific to X-10; it works for anything crawling through your powerlines.

What kind of plate are you getting that you have to order? Home Depot had quite a selection of plates when I was there in stock.

Home depot and lowes both didn't have one.

I'm getting a four gang plate with 3 regular switch openings and one more on the end for the new dimmer.

Or I could just link to it

First one showed up broken. A new one is on the way.

My thanks to all of you for this very cool (and easy) retrofit to my HT. I installed the Lutron Maestro IR last night and that is the best $40 I have spent in the HT. I added it to my Harmony 880 this morning and now have a nice 10 second light fade when I select the movie activity on the Harmony. Thanks again guys, here are some pics:

Dimmer installed:

Screen Down

Room and PJ

Wow, thanks for the pictures. I'll save you all the double-post and tell you mine looks exactly like rmk's. (though the room pales in comparison).

I couldn't agree more about the impact to dollar ratio of the lighting upgrade. My family is down for Easter and was incredibly "wow'd" with the remote light fade.

RMK - is that a bass trap under the projector, or what is that?

Thanks again for the tip on this great product.

That is a 2'X4' acoustic panel like the others in the room. The bass traps are in the front R/L corners.

rmk1, once again great looking room. It's funny how something as simple and inexpensive as these Lutron dimmers can really add that little extra touch, to make the room that much cooler, as well as more technologically advanced.

Has anyone tried the Insteon programmable dimmers from smart home? They have an IR adapter and the ability to program multiple lighting scenes.

gmeyer - I have the Insteon products from Smarthome. I do not have the IR adapter so I don't know how well that works. I use the Insteon remote from Smarthome. They work really well for me. The cool thing is that you can control pretty much any other Insteon device (or multiple Insteon devices) from a single Insteon switch. It worked really well where I needed to turn lights on/off from two different doorway entries. No tricky wiring necessary. You can print out a .pdf of their installation guides to see what I mean. One thing I did notice is that their dimmer switches seem to get pretty warm so I would recommend staying below the recommended wattage of the switch. You cannot use two of their 1000W dimmers side by side since they have cooling fins that interfere with each other. You can break off the cooling fins but I wouldn't recommend that because you are esentially lowering the switches rating then. The Insteon switches also have interchangeable color bars for the lights that indicate how bright you have the swith set. Since my HT is basically all blue, I changed the color bars to be blue also. It's a minor detail but I think it looks nice.

I have had some experience with the X10 switches/controllers and the Insteon switches seem to work better for me. That being said, they are also more expensive. My installation was pretty spendy since I needed 16 switches, 2 lamp controllers, an appliance controller (for the ceiling stars), and the remote.

Thanks - NDinUSA I think I will be using them in the theater and maybe the rest of the house. I am planning on painting my theater blue & black in the next few weeks. I hope to be in by May. Do you have pictures of your theater?

gmeyer - Here's the link to the "Axiom Wall O Fame" web page if you haven't been there yet. There's some really cool HT designs the folks here have put together. My HT is the one called "The Keller's Home Theater" or something like that (upper left hand corner for the time being).
http://www.axiomaudio.com/wallofame.html

I was thinking of getting an IR dimmer switch for the Bonus Room. I have 2 sets of track lighting that I bought at Lowes with the halogen lights. All hooked up to one wall switch. Should I have any concerns in connecting a Lutron dimmer switch from Home Depot? Is the actual switch the only thing I need? No master control box? I just got a Harmony remote and it works great. I would like to replace the dimmer switch while the family is away and then use the remote to dim the next time we sit down to watch a movie. Any advice would be much appreciated.....Rob

You should have no problem using the Lutron switch, the switch should also come with a remote.

Yes, the only thing you need is the Lutron dimmer switch.

However, keep in mind that the switch is sold only in a single switch frame, so if you have two switches or paddles in your current installation, you'll need to buy a new frame that allows space for two "paddle switches" and put the Lutron in one of them and the other paddle switch in the second (and third, etc.)

Thanks for the replies.....It is only a single switch so no problem there. I know just enough about installing light switched and fixtures to be dangerous. So my concerns about the transformers involved with the halogen light tracks are unfounded?...........Rob