With HW Remote, have your lights and blinds at your finger tips. Even better with the new 1.1 version, now available from the App Store (free upgrade for v1.0 users).

HW Remote gives you the power to control your Lutron HomeWorks installation from your iPhone or iPod touch.

Its flexible user interface allows you to organize your control as you see fit. Trigger scenes, raise and lower lights or blinds, group per rooms, person or scenario, the decision is up to you.

HomeWorks Remote is available for 29.99 € on the Apple App Store.

Download the product datasheet here.

Requirements

HW Remote works with a Lutron HomeWorks processor P5 Series. It has been tested with v1.32 of the HomeWorks OS but should work with any recent version.

HW Remote controls the HomeWorks system through its IP interface. The Lutron processor must be connected to your LAN and the iPhone / iPod touch must be able to access it. Please look below for more information on how to configure your HomeWorks processor and HW Remote.

HomeWorks processor configuration

HW Remote needs a user defined on the HomeWorks processor in order to connect to it.

To define this user, in HomeWorks Illumination, open your configuration, go to the Address Assignment screen, select link 9 (Ethernet) and create a user for the iPhone. Make sure that all the Monitor check boxes are checked so HW Remote receives correct feedback from the system.

Note that Lutron prevents the same user from being logged in the system from 2 different places. If you have multiple iPhone or iPod touch, you might want to define multiple users for them.

General overview

The main screen of HW Remote shows you those elements organized in a hierarchical way.

For groups, tapping the group will drill down and show you the content of this group.

For scenes, tapping the scene will trigger it. The led on the right side indicates its current state.

For blinds and lights, tapping the down or up arrow will lower or raise it.

Tapping the Home button brings you to the top page in the groups hierarchy.

Adding a group

A group simply allows you to group together elements you want to appear on one screen, give it a distinct name and associate a picture with it. Groups can include other groups, yielding to a hierarchical structure.

A group can be used for any purpose: group controls by room, name it after a person to have a personalized interface, create a group for controls used in the morning or the evening, the choice is up to you.

To add an element, tap the + sign on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

An action sheet displays, allowing you to choose the type of element you want to add.

In this case, select ‘Add group’.

Give the group a descriptive name. This can be a room, a person name or anything that fits your organisation.

For additional convenience, you can also add a picture to the group, that will be shown as a thumbnail in the list. Tapping on the ‘Add picture’ button brings up your photo library. Just pick an image you like from there.

Although the application lets you use an empty group name or create multiple groups with the same name, this should be avoided.

Adding a scene

From a functional point of view, a scene represents a state the system (or part of it) can be in, e.g. the mood in the kitchen is set for a romantic dinner, the home theater is set to watch a movie.

When you tap on the scene, the system is instructed to go to that state. The LED on the scene indicates if the system is in that state or not.

Under the hood, a scene can either be a Grafik Eye scene or map to a key on a virtual (or physical) keypad.

In that case, you can tap, hold and release the scene as you would with the keypad key and the behaviour will be the same. The LED of the scene will behave the same way as the one on the keypad key.

Adding a raise/lower

A raise/lower is an entry including a down and an up button, that is typically used to dim lights or control shades.

Under the hood, it can either be a standard dimmer, whose load can be lowered and raised or represented by 2 keys on a virtual (or physical) keypad.

Adding a slider

A slider is an entry including, well, a slider that represents the intensity of a light, from off to full brightness.

If has the advantage to both give you direct control of the level of light you want and provide visual feedback of that level.

Note that the slider can also be used to control blinds, off representing a closed blind and full brightness representing an opened blind.

When defining the slider, the address must be a dimmer, a GrafikEye zone or a Sivoia blind.

Data validation

When entering data into the different fields (typically adresses, scene and key numbers), the system validates that the information you enter is correct. If it is not, the error message displays below the field (as shown above).

The system will however let you save your entry, even with invalid data. This allows you for instance to define the scens you want and input the address later when the installer provides you with the information.

If configuration information is invalid or missing, the entry will appear in the main view with a warning sign (as shown here) and will not be active.

Edit mode

As usual in table based iPhone applications, clicking the edit button in the navigation bar switches to edit mode.

In this mode, you can re-order the entries or delete the ones you don’t need any more.

Tapping an entry allows you to edit it, in a page much like the one used for adding items.

The Global page

Tapping the global button (the center one) in the toolbar brings you to the global page.

In this page, you’ll find control for 2 general features offered by the HomeWorks system.

The security mode is a feature programmed in your HomeWorks processor to set it to a specific mode in case of emergency.

HomeWorks also has a vacation mode, allowing you to record your actions during a fortnight and replay it “randomized” at a later time (typically when you’re away from home).

HW Remote configuration

In the Settings page of HW Remote, enter the IP address of your processor and the user name and password your defined in the above step.

When you click Done to exit the Settings page, HW Remote will try to connect to the processor. If it is successful, the connection page will disappear and you will see the main application page.

When the ‘Stay connected’ option is selected, HW Remote continuously maintains a connection to the Home Works processor. This allows you to receive instantaneous feedback on what’s happening in the system (e.g. somebody turned on a light using a keypad). It however has a negative impact on battery life. If the ‘Stay connected’ option is not selected, you can tap the refresh button at any moment to query the current state.

Support

Please contact hwremote_support [at] iphone-remotes [dot] com for additional support.