Wired or wireless
lighting control

In new construction this is a preference. In a pre-war Manhattan apartment it is usually a constraint, and the constraint is physical: a radio signal crossing brick, plaster on lath, and steel framing arrives weaker than one crossing stud-and-drywall partitions. That is not a marketing position; Lutron sells dedicated repeater hardware specifically to extend range where construction attenuates the signal.

When wireless is the right answer

• The building is landmarked, or the alteration agreement makes opening walls impractical.
• Partitions are solid and there is no cavity to fish a wire through.
• The apartment is occupied and the work has to happen around people living there.
• The scope is a retrofit of existing switch locations rather than a new layout.

When it is not

• Long, narrow pre-war layouts where the far end of the apartment is several masonry walls from the processor.
• High keypad density, where a wired system is both more reliable and, at scale, often simpler.
• Projects already opening ceilings and walls for other trades — the wire is cheap while the ceiling is open and expensive afterwards.
• When Design Demands More: Low-voltage wiring provides access to Lutron's most refined architectural keypads, including Palladiom, Alisse, and Aviena—design options not available with standard wireless controls. With ultra-slim profiles, exquisite materials, premium finishes, and minimal wall clutter, these keypads blend seamlessly into sophisticated interiors. By planning low-voltage wiring early, architects and designers gain greater freedom to integrate technology beautifully into their design vision.

The honest middle

Some residents end up mixed. A wired backbone where walls are already open, wireless where they are not, and repeaters placed deliberately rather than added later when something proves unreliable. The mistake is not choosing wireless; it is choosing wireless without planning range, and then discovering the problem at commissioning.

Plan repeater locations on the drawing, with power. A repeater that has to live in a socket behind a sofa is a design failure discovered by the client.

The neutral question

Separate from radio range, many older switch boxes were wired without a neutral conductor. Some control devices require one and some do not. In a masonry building where pulling a neutral is impractical, this determines the device class before anything else does — and it is worth checking box by box at survey, because it varies within a single apartment.

What to ask before the system is chosen

• What fixtures are being controlled, and has compatibility been verified?
• How far is the furthest device from the processor, through how many walls?
• Which walls and ceilings will be open anyway for other trades, and when?
• Is there a neutral at each intended device location?
• If a device becomes unreliable in two years, what is the remedy, and who pays for it?