Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer Switch

In our owner's suite bath the light switch is on the outside of the door, so walking into a lit bathroom requires exposing the person in bed to bright light. Not a good thing. 

The Lutron makes a series of switches that can have small remotes that can be mounted on the wall that also control the light. I believe the product line is called Caseta, and there are several choices of switch styles in the line.  

I originally got a very complex switch face version kit through Amazon. The switch face had something like 5 buttons on it, but the darned kit had no switch plate covers included. Kinda stupid. I was worried that the switch face looked too complex and upset that there were no switch plate covers, so I returned the kit. 

I went to Home Depot and I found a better kit. Also Lutron, but this style is called 'Diva' I think, and it has a simple paddle switch and a very narrow dimmer slider on the side. I got the Lutron "Diva Smart Dimmer Switch 3-Way Kit with Pico Paddle Remote, 150-Watt LED, White (DVRF-PKG1D-WH-R)" from Home Depot (Internet # 326623610 Model # DVRF-PKG1D-WH-R Store SKU # 1010107836). 


The Pico remote is a battery operated, very compact, remote that can be mounted on the wall and functions as another light switch, but there are other options available for the remote such as a night stand, etc... 

However, strangely, the kit only came with one face plate, for the main switch. There is no face plate cover for the Pico remote, although the Pico wall-mount base bracket *is* in the kit. I used the very small wall anchors that came in the kit to mount the Pico base bracket to the wall. I was careful not to overtighten the screws in the anchors. 

It took a bit of banging around on the internet to learn what I needed (also available from Home Depot) is a Lutron "Claro 1 Gang Wall Plate for Decorator/Rocker Switches, Gloss, White (CW-1-WH) (1-Pack)" (Internet # 100093841 Model # CW-1-WH Store SKU # 159598). I think "Claro" is the design style - so the wall plate is advertised as a 'Claro' product and not 'Diva' or 'Caseta'. 

So - the Pico paddle switch remote and the Pico mounting plate is included in the Diva kit I got, and I had to buy separately a Claro wall plate which has two main pieces - an "inner plate" that is screwed onto the Pico mounting plate with very short, included screws, and an "outer plate" that snaps into place on the inner plate. 

The outer plate has small plastic tabs that snap into holes on the inner plate. there are 4 tabs, 2 on each side of the switch hole, and it does not take much force to pull them apart.  



The instructions with the Diva switch cover several different installation scenarios. It is a little confusing, but understandable with a some patience. In my installation, I only had to connect the ground, and the red and black wires of the Diva to the 'source' and 'light' black wires in my switch junction box that the previous manual switch had been switching. 

The blue wire of the Diva switch was unused and i capped it with one of the included wire nuts. 

My version of instructions said that it did not matter which wires of the switched circuit the red or black wire of the Diva connected to. I connected by Diva black to the 'source' (or 'line') in my switch junction box, and the red to the 'light' (or 'load') in my switch junction box. The neutrals in my switch junction box were already connected together. The Diva unit does not have a connection to neutral - at least not in any of the installation scenarios shown in the instructions that came with.  

A Lutron data hub is required *if* you want to control the Lutron Diva switch with a smart speaker (e.g., Alexa), but the data hub IS NOT NEEDED if you just want a Pico Remote control to communicate with the Diva switch. 

Again, the Pico remote control unit uses a battery. Hopefully it won't have to be changed very often. 

The Pico remote needs to be paired with the Diva light switch. The process is very straight forward, and explained well in the instructions. 

This line of products has great reviews in many places (e.g., Amazon, Home Depot, Consumer Reports) 

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