Home Lighting Control, Done by Certified Lutron Installers
New Age Technology designs Lutron lighting control for homes across Plymouth and the Twin Cities, and the first decision is not which smart bulb to buy. It is which Lutron platform fits: a Caséta retrofit that swaps switches without opening walls, or a RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks whole-home system that ties every circuit together. As certified Lutron dealers, we get that call right before a single dimmer ships.
Owner Chad and the New Age Technology team have designed lighting control for everything from a handful of dimmed rooms up to Lake Minnetonka estates running 40-plus lighting circuits. This is lighting home automation in the real sense: scenes, schedules, occupancy sensing, and daylight-aware dimming that make the house respond on its own, not just an app on your phone. Every system we specify runs live in our Plymouth showroom at 15070 23rd Ave N before you commit to it, so you can stand in front of a keypad, watch a scene fade, and see astronomical-sunset scheduling in action rather than reading about it.
Caséta vs. RadioRA 3 vs. HomeWorks QSX vs. Ketra
Here is the honest breakdown, because these systems are not interchangeable.
- Lutron Caséta is the retrofit answer: it replaces your existing switches and dimmers without rewiring, which makes it the right fit when you want smart dimming in a finished home and do not want walls opened up. It is the fastest, lowest-disruption path to controllable lighting.
- RadioRA 3 is the whole-home step up. It suits both retrofit and new construction, scales to far more devices, and drives Palladiom keypads that replace a wall of light switches with a clean, engraved control surface.
- HomeWorks QSX is the top tier, engineered for large estates with dozens of circuits, deep third-party integration, and the tightest control over fade rates and scene behavior.
- Ketra is not a control system at all. It is tunable-white and full-spectrum lighting that shifts color temperature through the day, warm and dim in the evening, cool and bright at midday, and it runs on the RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks backbone.
Most homes land on Caséta for a room or two, RadioRA 3 for whole-home control, or HomeWorks for estate-scale projects. We size the platform to the house, not the other way around.
Scenes and Astronomical-Sunset Automation
A good lighting system is not about controlling one bulb from your phone. It is about scenes: one press that sets an entire zone the way you actually use it. We program morning, evening, entertaining, and movie-night scenes so a kitchen goes from bright task lighting to a low dinner glow in a single fade, and a theater dims to five percent when the projector fires. The automation layer is what makes it feel effortless. Lutron systems track astronomical sunset for your exact location, so exterior and accent lighting comes up as the sun actually sets rather than at a fixed clock time that drifts wrong across a Minnesota year. Path lighting can come on at dusk and step down after midnight. Away schedules can randomize interior lighting so an empty house does not look empty. Because the processor runs locally, these schedules keep firing whether or not your internet is up.
Whole-Home Lighting Automation: Occupancy and Daylight Sensing
Smart house lighting stops feeling smart the moment you still have to reach for a switch. The next layer past scenes and schedules is sensing, where the lighting reads the room and acts on its own, and it is the part most people picture when they say home automation but rarely see done well.
We build that layer three ways on a Lutron RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks system:
- Occupancy sensing brings a room up when you walk in and drops it after the room clears, which is the right answer for a mudroom, a walk-in closet, a laundry, or a basement corridor where hands are usually full
- Vacancy sensing leaves the on to you but handles the off automatically, a lighter-touch setting for living spaces where you do not want a light snapping on the instant you pass a doorway
- Daylight sensing trims the electric light as sunlight fills a room, so a south-facing great room holds one comfortable level through the day instead of running full-bright next to a wall of windows
"The best lighting automation is the automation you never think about. A closet that is always lit when you open it, a great room that never feels dim or blown out, and lights that shut themselves off in the rooms nobody is standing in."
Sensing pairs directly with the scenes and astronomical schedules above, so a single system handles what you trigger by hand, what fires on a clock, and what the house decides on its own. That is the difference between a pile of smart bulbs and genuine lighting home automation. Want to see occupancy and daylight sensing running live before you buy it? Book a showroom walkthrough at our Plymouth showroom.
Smart Dimmers and Switch Retrofits in Older Twin Cities Homes
A lot of the metro's housing stock was not wired for smart lighting, and that is exactly where a Caséta retrofit earns its keep. The 1970s ramblers near Hopkins, the older Deephaven and Woodland homes off Grays Bay, and plenty of 1980s-through-2000s builds across Plymouth typically run 14/2 Romex with standard switch boxes and no neutral wire at some locations. Lutron's retrofit dimmers and switches are designed for exactly that reality, replacing what is in the box and communicating wirelessly back to a small central hub, so you get real dimming and scene control without fishing new cable through finished walls. Where a box is too crowded or a three-way circuit is wired unusually, we sort that out on-site before quoting rather than after. If you are shopping for individual smart light switches and dimmers rather than a whole Lutron system, that page covers the no-neutral, three-way, and multi-gang box realities in depth. For new construction and pre-wire in the active corridors around Maple Grove and Woodbury, we specify RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks from the start and pull the right wiring while walls are open, and we handle low-voltage permitting through the City of Plymouth building department on Plymouth jobs.
Lighting, Keypads, and Motorized Shades as One System
Lighting is the anchor, but it does not stop at the switch. Lutron Palladiom keypads give you engraved, back-lit control that looks intentional next to designer finishes, and they trigger far more than lights: one keypad button can dim a room, lower the shades, and set an entertaining scene together. We integrate Lutron Palladiom and Hunter Douglas PowerView motorized shades so daylight and electric light are managed as a single layer. Shades drop for glare or privacy, then artificial lighting fills in as the sun goes down, all on the same astronomical schedule. When lighting is part of a larger automation project, it ties natively into Control4, Savant, and Crestron so a single scene spans lighting, climate, audio, and video. If lighting is all you need today, a standalone Lutron system stands on its own and still leaves room to add the rest later.
Voice Control and What We Actually Support
We get asked which voice assistant works with the lighting, so we will be direct about it. Our Lutron lighting systems support three voice ecosystems, and we do not promise compatibility beyond them:
- Amazon Alexa
- Google Home
- Apple HomeKit
Those are the three voice ecosystems we install against. In practice that covers the vast majority of homes, letting you say a scene name to run it or drop a room to a set level hands-free. Voice is a convenience layer on top, not the backbone. The keypads, app, and schedules are what run the house reliably day to day, and voice simply gives you one more way in. If a specific integration matters to you, ask us up front and we will tell you honestly whether it is supported rather than finding out after install.
When You Do Not Need a Whole Lighting System
This is the part most companies leave out. If you want to dim two or three rooms and that is genuinely all, you do not need a whole-home RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks project, and we will tell you so. A small Caséta retrofit covering a kitchen, a living room, and a primary suite is often the right and complete answer, and it is a far smaller investment. Whole-home control earns its cost when you have many circuits, keypads replacing banks of switches, shade integration, and a genuine desire for scenes and schedules across the house. If your goal is a single smart switch on one entryway, an off-the-shelf Caséta dimmer you buy yourself is a reasonable DIY project, and we would rather point you there than sell you something you do not need. Where we add real value is design, clean integration, retrofit problem-solving in older wiring, and a system that scales without being rebuilt. When the scope is that small, call us if you want it done cleanly, but do not feel you have to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to rewire my house for smart lighting?
Usually no. Lutron Caséta replaces your existing switches and dimmers without new wiring, which is why it is the go-to for finished homes, including the older 14/2 Romex wiring common in Deephaven, Woodland, and 1970s-through-2000s Twin Cities builds. RadioRA 3 and HomeWorks QSX support both retrofit and new construction. We confirm what your boxes will accommodate on-site before quoting.
What is the difference between smart house lighting and lighting home automation?
They describe the same system at two levels. Smart house lighting is the hardware: Lutron dimmers, switches, and keypads you can control from a phone or a wall panel. Lighting home automation is the behavior layer on top, where scenes, astronomical-sunset schedules, occupancy and vacancy sensors, and daylight sensing make the house respond on its own instead of waiting for you to press something. We build both on Lutron RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks, so your lighting is not just controllable, it is genuinely automated.
Can smart lighting turn on and off automatically when I enter a room?
Yes. On a Lutron RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks system we add occupancy sensors that bring a room up when you walk in and drop it after the room clears, which is ideal for closets, mudrooms, laundries, and basement corridors. Vacancy sensors are the lighter-touch version: you switch the light on, and the system handles the off. We also add daylight sensing so a bright, south-facing room trims its electric light as the sun fills it. All of it runs on the same local processor as your scenes and schedules.
What is the difference between Caséta and RadioRA 3?
Caséta is the retrofit-focused system: it swaps switches without rewiring and is ideal for a room or two in a finished home. RadioRA 3 is the whole-home platform. It scales to far more devices, drives Palladiom keypads, integrates motorized shades, and works for both retrofit and new construction. Estate-scale projects with dozens of circuits step up to HomeWorks QSX. We match the platform to your home's size and goals.
What is Ketra lighting?
Ketra is Lutron's tunable-white and full-spectrum light source. It shifts color temperature through the day, warm and dim in the evening, cool and bright at midday, so your lighting tracks natural daylight instead of sitting at one fixed tone. Ketra runs on the RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks backbone rather than as its own control system.
Can lighting integrate with my smart home system?
Yes. Lutron systems integrate natively with Control4, Savant, and Crestron, so a single scene can span lighting, climate, audio, and video. For voice, our lighting supports Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. If lighting is all you need today, a standalone Lutron system works on its own and leaves room to expand later.
Can smart lighting control motorized shades too?
Yes. We integrate Lutron Palladiom and Hunter Douglas PowerView motorized shades so a single keypad button or scene manages daylight and electric light together. Shades and lighting can share the same astronomical-sunset schedule, so the room adjusts as the sun moves without you touching anything.
Does the lighting keep working if the internet goes down?
Yes. Lutron systems run on a local processor, so your keypads, dimmers, scenes, and schedules keep working with no internet connection. Only remote app access and voice control pause until connectivity returns. The house itself never stops responding.
Do smart light switches need a neutral wire?
Not with Lutron. A lot of the metro's older housing stock, the 1970s ramblers near Hopkins and the older Deephaven and Woodland homes off Grays Bay, runs 14/2 Romex with no neutral wire at some switch boxes. Lutron Caséta dimmers and switches are designed to work with or without a neutral, which is a big part of why they retrofit cleanly into finished homes that were never wired for smart lighting. RadioRA 3 and HomeWorks devices follow the same reality. Where a box is too crowded or a three-way is wired unusually, we sort that out on-site before quoting rather than after.
Can I add lighting control without rewiring?
Yes, and for most finished homes that is exactly the path we take. Lutron Caséta replaces your existing switches and dimmers and communicates wirelessly back to a small central hub, so you get real dimming and scene control without fishing new cable through walls or opening them up. It works with the no-neutral, 14/2 Romex wiring common across 1970s-through-2000s Twin Cities builds. RadioRA 3 and HomeWorks QSX also support retrofit for whole-home scope, while new construction and pre-wire in the Maple Grove and Woodbury corridors get RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks specified from the start with the right wiring pulled while walls are open.