Integrate With Lutron Pico Smart Remote for Audio (wall mounted volume control)

[SimplifiedTech]

Please integrate Wiim with Lutron to enable integration with the Pico Smart Remote for Audio.

Lutron makes a fantastic audio remote control: the Pico Smart Remote for Audio.
- It has play/pause toggle, volume up, volume down, skip forward, and a preset cycle buttons.
- It can be wall mounted in a decora style plate or set on a table top Lutron Pico pedestal.
- The coin battery it runs off of lasts for 10 years. Because it is battery powered, it can be mounted anywhere.
- It uses Lutron's "Clear Connect" which uses 434Mhz, so the range is fantastic. It advertises 30 feet through walls, but that is a worse-case scenario spec. Realistically, in my experience of installing tons of Lutron systems in clients' homes, the range is much further than that. Also, any non-battery powered Caseta device can act as a signal repeater if needed (only one repeater is allowed for the base Caseta system).
- One Pico remote costs about $40 USD. The Lutron Caseta Hub (required to connect the audio remote to anything) is about $80 USD. Many people already own the hub for their Lutron lighting and/or shade control.
- Of any of the many smart home products I've integrated, Lutron systems are by far the most bullet proof of them all.

This remote currently only works with Sonos, as that is currently the only partner Lutron has for the audio remote. I've installed tons of theses with Sonos systems for clients and they work great. The process in the Lutron app for integrating with Sonos is very simple and the remotes can be assigned to any Sonos zone by just checking a box in the Lutron app.

Another solution, if Wiim doesn't have any luck with Lutron (if Lutron wants to be exclusive with Sonos), would be to integrate Wiim with Bond Bridge. I have not tested this myself, but the Bond Bridge Pro is able to hear and respond to Lutron Pico remote button presses. I would imagine Bond would be much easier for Wiim to cooperate with. The downsides to this method is that it seems a little more "hacky," the Bond Bridge Pro is $380 USD, and I doubt it is as reliable as Lutron is.

*I run an integration company, selling and installing all things smart home. I have tons of experience with this. Having an elegant solution for hard button controls for each audio zone is very important for many clients. Many people don't keep their phones in their pockets at home, and even if they do, they like a quick way to adjust audio or to get music started. The Wiim remote is unfortunately not the solution for this: it would not look good mounted on a wall and with Wiim devices mounted in a rack in a basement, the Bluetooth range of the Wiim remote is an issue.

 

[Burnside]

Couldn’t integration with WiiM be achieved via Home Assistant?

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/lutron_caseta/ and

https://github.com/onlyoneme/home-assistant-custom-components-wiim

Or perhaps using an approach similar to using the flIRc dongle to use the WiiM http api to interact with WiiM devices viz.
Post in thread 'Universal remote support'
https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/universal-remote-support.2315/post-63320

 

[hoggdav1]

It absolutely can. I actually just got my integration working through Homebridge with the Pico Audio Remote. It was my first time trying something like this, and took me several hours.

However, this is not something an integration company would likely want to deal with, as it would be a constant headache for them to maintain and troubleshoot for customers who demand that things work.

I would second the request that an integration with lutron for the Pico Smart Remote for Audio would be fantastic!

 

[SimplifiedTech]

Couldn’t integration with WiiM be achieved via Home Assistant?

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/lutron_caseta/ and

https://github.com/onlyoneme/home-assistant-custom-components-wiim

Or perhaps using an approach similar to using the flIRc dongle to use the WiiM http api to interact with WiiM devices viz.
Post in thread 'Universal remote support'
https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/universal-remote-support.2315/post-63320

Hi Burnside,
Thanks for the quick reply and the suggestions. I appreciate it. I think it may be technically possible to use a Lutron Pico remote to control Wiim by integrating both Wiim and Lutron with a Home Assistant system. There are several downsides I see to this method:
- It is an additional expense of $100 for another device (Home Assistant) to be a go between
- It leaves quite a bit of room for malfunctioning by adding in another component that could fail, rather than communicating directly from Wiim to Lutron. I know Home Assistant has gotten much better in recent years, but it is still not a system I would install in a client's home where stability is of utmost importance to me and the client.
- The process of getting this integration to happen would be quite time consuming by comparison.

As for the Flirc option. In reading through that thread and checking the Flirc compatibility, I'm not seeing how it could connect a Lutron Pico with Wiim. Sorry if I am missing something obvious. But even if this was possible with Flirc, my points above about Home Assistant would be the exact same.

The integration needs to be simple and durable.

 

[SimplifiedTech]

It absolutely can. I actually just got my integration working through Homebridge with the Pico Audio Remote. It was my first time trying something like this, and took me several hours.

However, this is not something an integration company would likely want to deal with, as it would be a constant headache for them to maintain and troubleshoot for customers who demand that things work.

I would second the request that an integration with lutron for the Pico Smart Remote for Audio would be fantastic!

Agreed that this wouldn't be a great option for my and my clients. I need something that is a "set it and forget it" option. And it needs to be an approved integration by all components involved, because I can't sell a client on a solution that then stops working in a year because a company shut it down. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Burnside]

Hi @SimplifiedTech , I can appreciate what you say. WiiM have made some ventures into the home automation market as per the blog entry below, so it’s probably best for you to contact them directly about your Lutron query, perhaps via the more/feedback section in the WiiM Home app or via one of the contact points on this page https://www.wiimhome.com/contactUs

Blog: https://www.blog.wiimhome.com/post/...g-high-fidelity-audio-with-convenient-control

Do let us know if you make some progress there

 

[SimplifiedTech]

Hi @SimplifiedTech , I can appreciate what you say. WiiM have made some ventures into the home automation market as per the blog entry below, so it’s probably best for you to contact them directly about your Lutron query, perhaps via the more/feedback section in the WiiM Home app or via one of the contact points on this page https://www.wiimhome.com/contactUs

Blog: https://www.blog.wiimhome.com/post/...g-high-fidelity-audio-with-convenient-control

Do let us know if you make some progress there

Thanks! Can you help me understand the forum? I assumed Wiim looked at this forum; especially the "Feature Requests" thread. Is this not the right place to post feature requests?

 

[Wiimer]

Thanks! Can you help me understand the forum? I assumed Wiim looked at this forum; especially the "Feature Requests" thread. Is this not the right place to post feature requests?

Yes, I agree, but here is only a user community. As has already been said, in the case of your request, it would be faster to ask the company directly.

 

[Burnside]

Thanks! Can you help me understand the forum? I assumed Wiim looked at this forum; especially the "Feature Requests" thread. Is this not the right place to post feature requests?

Yeah, they do but in your case where there’s a possibility of a business/commercial relationship I.e. working with another vendor to realise a solution particularly in an area where they have a comparable solution as outlined in the blog, it’s probably best contacting WiiM directly as well.

 

[jborge]

I echo this!
BlueSound integrated with Lutron, so it is not just Sonos!

BlueSound Lutron Press Release

 

[TacoToon2222]

It absolutely can. I actually just got my integration working through Homebridge with the Pico Audio Remote. It was my first time trying something like this, and took me several hours.

However, this is not something an integration company would likely want to deal with, as it would be a constant headache for them to maintain and troubleshoot for customers who demand that things work.

I would second the request that an integration with lutron for the Pico Smart Remote for Audio would be fantastic!

I'm really interested in this. I've got a fairly large Sonos deployment, but I'm about done with all their bad app design updates. I have about 10 pico remotes throughout the home that I use with Sonos. I also have a home bridge server running. I was curious how painful this was to integrate? Is there a Wiim Plugin for home bridge?

 

[hoggdav1]

@TacoToon2222 I basically vibe coded the entire thing with ChatGPT. It was my first foray into Homebridge so there was a learning curve for me. If you already have a server running and are familiar with configuring plugins, modifying plugin JSON, writing basic scripts, etc. It will be fairly straight forward for you. I believe there is a Wiim plugin for Home Assistant, but not with Homebridge.

I'm not sure how the volume control works with the native Pico remote and Sonos interaction, but I haven't been able to figure out a way to implement a "press and hold" function, as in if I press and hold the volume button, I would expect the volume to continue to increase incrementally. I ended up just going with static increases; a press on the volume buttons increases/decreases volume by 10 (or whatever value you would like).

One of the other things that I am not 100% thrilled about is that it also has some perceptible input lag between button presses and execution of the command since there are about 5 different hops/handoffs.

Here is an AI summary of what I used and did with homebridge:

Since Lutron and Wiim do not have any native integration, you built the entire bridge yourself using:
Lutron Caseta Pro Bridge (LEAP protocol)
HomeKit automations
Homebridge running on Synology
cmdSwitch2 plugin
Custom Bash scripts
Wiim HTTP API (local control)

You successfully implemented:

1. Play/Pause control Using Wiim’s setPlayerCmdnepause.

2. Track Skipping Using Wiim’s setPlayerCmd:next.

3. Cycling Through Wiim Presets Using the /httpapi.asp?command=MCUKeyShortClick:X API, and a custom script to increment the preset number and wrap back to 1 after reaching the last preset.

4. Volume Up/Down with Local Feedback Tracking

You created scripts that:

Track the last volume level in a text file
Increment/decrement it by 5
Send the command to the Wiim with minimal delay