Chowmain - IFTTT Maker Driver adds Amazon Echo, Geofencing, Push Notifications and more to Control4

[alanchow]

 

IFTTT (an abbreviation of "If This Then That") is a free web-based service that allows users to create chains of simple conditional statements, called "recipes", which are triggered based on changes to other web services and products. 

IFTTT integration into Control4 allows Control4 to control any of the products or services integrated into IFTTT and have those products also control Control4. 

This expands the integration of Control4 to support numerous functions that it natively does not do. We have listed a few examples of what integration can bring to Control4 below and have also stepped through programming some of the ones we feel are useful to a lot of people. Note that this is a small list of things we liked. There are a lot of other things you can do currently (with lots more coming in future to IFTTT) so we suggest you check out the channels on the IFTTT website. 

We are keen to hear about what cool things you have done with the driver. Let us know via twitter, email or forum post. 

FAQ 

What can i use this driver for? 

These are some examples of what you can achieve with IFTTT integration to Control4 via the Chowmain IFTTT maker driver. 

Outbound Examples (Control4 > IFTTT) 

• Control4 can send SMS’s via your Android phone (IF app must be downloaded to the phone) 
• Control4 can call your phone number and say a message (for security alarms, smoke alarms and other emergencies). 
• Control4 can save data about the events in your home in google docs or dropbox. 
• Control4 can save data about the events in your home to IFTTT’s daily or weekly email digest. 
• Control4 can send emails out without 4sight or 3rd party driver 
• Control4 can send push notifications out without 4sight or 3rd party driver (using pushalot, pushbullet or pushover) 
• Control4 can send Skype messages 
• Control4 can send Google Glass notifications (with Message, Image URL and URL fields). 
• Control4 can send notifications to your Android wear device (requires IF app installed). 
• Control4 can send your BMW (Connected Drive Compatible) a message on your car’s front screen display (120 characters limited) 
• Control4 can find lost items (needs tags) or phones (call your phone). 
• Control4 can send your Tesla (EVE enabled) a message (with subject, message and message type fields) on your car’s dashboard 
• Control4 can turn on or off your GE Smart Appliance and more. 
• Control4 can tell your Android phone to turn on/off Bluetooth or wifi (might be useful when you’re leaving or coming back home). 
• Tell the world via Facebook what your home is upto (might not be a good idea). 
• When batteries are low on your Control4 sensors add a reminder to your IOS reminders app. 

Inbound Examples (IFTTT > Control4) 

• Amazon Alexa (Amazon Echo, Tap, etc) can send commands to Control4 via voice recognition to do things like turn lights on, play music, house off and more. 
• Assissant.ai can send commands to Control4 via voice recognition 
• Control4 can read out stock prices or notify you when they raise or lower (requires Chowmain Advanced Announcements Driver) 
• Control4 can pause your music and videos when you answer your phone (android only) 
• Control4 can read out tweets when someone mentions you on twitter (requires Chowmain Advanced Announcements Driver) 
• Control4 can detect if a specific person has entered or left a room/zone using beacons. 
• iOS Location and Android Location (via the IF app) can tell Control4 when you are approaching or leaving home. 
• Send a warning to Control4 when something has been picked up or moved (needs wireless tag) 
• Your BMW (Connected Drive Compatible) can tell Control4 when it is entering or exiting an area. 
• Your EVE enabled Tesla car can tell Control4 when it has arrived home, is leaving home or on the way home. 
• Your Automatic, Zubie or Dash enabled car can tell Conrol4 when you have turned the car on or off within a certain area. 
• Your GE, LG and Samsung Smart appliances can tell Control4 when it has been turned on, off, if for example an oven timer is done, if there is a leak in the dishwasher, if the filter eeds cleaning, if the dryer cycle has finished, if the fridge door has been left open for too long, 
• Your Nest Protect smoke alarm can send Control4 smoke emergency, warning and carbon monoxide emergencies 
• Your Netatmo Welcome can tell Control4 when a specific person, known person or even an unknown person has been seen or arrives home (facial recognition) 
• Your Roost Smart Battery can tell Control4 (via the announcement agent) when its battery is low (Great for smoke alarms). 
• Control Control4 via SMS or phone call to IFTTT. 
• Have Control4 read out your meetings (including subject, body & location) on outlook 365 calendar or Google calendar 15 minutes before the meeting (requires Chowmain Advanced Announcements driver) 
• If the temperature (via weather forecast/conditions) changes in your area tell Control4 to do something. 
• Your Android phone can tell Control4 when it has connected or disconnected to/from a specific Wifi network. 
• Change the colours of your RGB LED’s to your teams colour using the ESPN channel when the game starts. 

Any other cool things about this driver? 

• This driver actually replaces alof of functionality that is native to Control4 but requires a subscription and also implements products and services that alot of other 3rd party paid drivers integrate. As such in certain cases its actually cheaper to utilise this one driver for integration over multiple services/products.
• Once the driver is installed all the programming can be done via Composer Home Edition.  Perfect for Enthusiasts.

How does it work? 
Control4 will send IFTTT triggers to IFTTT based on programming done by the Control4 dealer. IFTTT will send commands back to Control4 via a 3rd party service called pushover. When Control4 receives these commands the dealer needs to program Control4 actions to correspond to the command sent. Please read the installation PDF for specific details. 

How do I find out more information about the driver? 
Please see the links below for more information about the driver. 

Chowmain Website

How do I buy the driver? 
This driver is developed by Chowmain software & apps and is distributed and supported by Houselogix, Inc. 

Download Driver / Purchase Licence

Who do i contact for technical support? 
This driver is developed by Chowmain software & apps and is distributed and supported by Houselogix, Inc. 

Support 

Do you provide trial licences? 
All Chowmain drivers for Control4 come with a 48 hour trial. This is activated once you add the driver to the project. No additional steps are necessary. 

[jfh]

Looks interesting.  

Would you consider trial licenses longer than 48 hours?   For your drivers that provide more than simple functions, 48 hours isn't really a lot of time to check things out.  I'd love to see a trial period of 4-7 days.

[alanchow]

6 hours ago, jfh said:

Looks interesting.  

Would you consider trial licenses longer than 48 hours?   For your drivers that provide more than simple functions, 48 hours isn't really a lot of time to check things out.  I'd love to see a trial period of 4-7 days.

If you require additional time all of our drivers are designed to reset the trial by deleting and re-adding the driver back into the project.

See this thread for other dealer and end user reviews.

 

[StroTek LLC]

This driver is awesome... did find a small bug though ( I think)

 

if you make a typo in your username/password for pushover.net in the driver properties, you get a LUA message saying :

Quote

ERROR: Most likely cause is Control4_IFTTT device on pushover already exists.  Please delete this device on the pushover website and re-enter username and password in properties page

it would be helpful if it said that you made a mistake on your username/password

[alanchow]

7 hours ago, StroTek LLC said:

This driver is awesome... did find a small bug though ( I think)

 

if you make a typo in your username/password for pushover.net in the driver properties, you get a LUA message saying :

it would be helpful if it said that you made a mistake on your username/password

Not really a bug.  The error you're seeing is if the pushover server gives a 400 error.  Most common problem was the Control4_IFTTT device already exists.. well used to be the most common problem until Pushover gave us a secret url parameter that allows us to overwrite the device with a new device.

Anyway glad you like the driver.  Always keen to see what people are doing with it (one guy did a sports bar where it could change RGB LED's to the teams colour when they score a goal).

[Dave w]

Sweet driver....I used it to write a macro that blinks my lights and to play a cash register "cha-ching" notification sound every time my wife charges something on her visa card.  It seemed like a good idea, until the strobe effect caused me to have an epileptic seizure. I need to find better output....

[alanchow]

3 hours ago, Dave w said:

Sweet driver....I used it to write a macro that blinks my lights and to play a cash register "cha-ching" notification sound every time my wife charges something on her visa card.  It seemed like a good idea, until the strobe effect caused me to have an epileptic seizure. I need to find better output....

Your wife must use the Visa card a lot for it to strobe 

[eggzlot]

Hi Alan

Are the Values required?  For instance I am just trying to create a custom button using the custom button agent - and when the button is pressed, a Wemo outlet will toggle power state.

Seemed simple, I called "Event" Xmas Tree Switch and labeled the same in IFTTT recipe.  I tried leaving the values blank, is that possible?  I also put phrases in there like power toggle but I am still not getting anywhere.  All 3 need to be filled out?  

[msgreenf]

But did you do the programming on the ifttt makers channel?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[alanchow]

1 hour ago, eggzlot said:

Hi Alan

Are the Values required?  For instance I am just trying to create a custom button using the custom button agent - and when the button is pressed, a Wemo outlet will toggle power state.

Seemed simple, I called "Event" Xmas Tree Switch and labeled the same in IFTTT recipe.  I tried leaving the values blank, is that possible?  I also put phrases in there like power toggle but I am still not getting anywhere.  All 3 need to be filled out?  

You can use an event with no values.  It is case sensitive so make sure you type whatever you have typed into the driver into the IFTTT maker recipe.

[eggzlot]

thanks I got it working.  I had something called Xmas Tree Switch and I changed it to Xmas_Tree_Switch, I am 99% sure everything was the same and now it works - maybe you need the _ if doing separate words vs using a space?

[TexasBill]

Alan - 

I need some help - 

I have everything set up and working - 

IFTTT driver

The pushover driver

 

I have it set up with RING so that when there is a push on my RIN PRO it will announce in my house.

It will work (it seems) if I delete the recipe and recreate it each time - It will work once.

It will then no fire any more

Any chance you can help me figure this out?

 

Everything is registered - it simply seem that RING is not telling IFTTT that someone rang my doorbell. Again - I have an account - it will work if I delete the recipe and recreate it ONCE. 

 

It SEEMS to recognize the MOTION and will trigger the door bell based on 

MOTION - but it will NOT trigger based on the actual RING of the RING PRO doorbell.  Really could use some understanding.  I have turned on and off several times and deleted it and recreated it several times.

 

Bill

 

 

[TexasBill]

OK - I destroyed the Recipe twice and on the third time it started working - NO idea what is different - but I do have it working now.  This IFTTT driver is amazing in what it can do.

 

Thanks,

Bill

[alanchow]

4 hours ago, TexasBill said:

Alan - 

I need some help - 

I have everything set up and working - 

IFTTT driver

The pushover driver

 

I have it set up with RING so that when there is a push on my RIN PRO it will announce in my house.

It will work (it seems) if I delete the recipe and recreate it each time - It will work once.

It will then no fire any more

Any chance you can help me figure this out?

 

Everything is registered - it simply seem that RING is not telling IFTTT that someone rang my doorbell. Again - I have an account - it will work if I delete the recipe and recreate it ONCE. 

 

It SEEMS to recognize the MOTION and will trigger the door bell based on 

MOTION - but it will NOT trigger based on the actual RING of the RING PRO doorbell.  Really could use some understanding.  I have turned on and off several times and deleted it and recreated it several times.

 

Bill

 

 

Please go through the troubleshooting section of our installation guide first.  This will help you isolate the problem to what the cause is (the recipe not firing, pushover not receiving the notification or Control4 not receiving)

also one other mistake people make is that they assume that the programming goes on the variable change.  This is incorrect.  It should go under the event (as per our documentation).

[nawty]

Texas Bill,

 

 I had was trying to use the motion in a recipe and it was overtaking the push being recognized.

After I deleted my programming with motion it is 100%...

[PapaSmurf74]

The new google home assistant will support IFTTT out of the box.  That means this driver will be able to interact with a google home device as well.  Woot!

[alanchow]

8 hours ago, PapaSmurf74 said:

The new google home assistant will support IFTTT out of the box.  That means this driver will be able to interact with a google home device as well.  Woot!

Yep that is correct.  One of the beautiful things about integrating IFTTT is that we don't know whats going to come out around the corner.

I wonder what kind of IFTTT triggers and actions will be available for Home. 

[South Africa C4 user]

This has been one of my favorite drivers for the last year! However, since updating to OS2.10 and the driver central version of the driver (admittedly I did both within 24 hours of each other so I am not sure which change caused the issue), I have found that this driver stops working every couple of days. It seems to be the Pushover connection that breaks. It is an easy (but irritating) fix. All that we do to fix it is re-enter my Pushover details and hey presto everything works again.

Is anyone else ( @alanchow ) experiencing the same problem?

I am wondering if this is some sort of timeout due to lack of use; however, if so, it must be quite a short time out as we use the driver to open our blinds every morning and close them every night (I.e. twice a day every day). We also use it for triggering playlists etc. but that is not quite as regular / frequent.  I did find that I had a similar problem previously (when the driver was first launched) with the driver losing connections if not used for 1 or 2 weeks. Thus every time we went away on holiday, we came back and had to re-enter our Pushover details.  We fixed this by having the driver send out a message to IFTTT twice a week when the system is in holiday mode and IFTTT return a message to C4 on receipt of this.  I am wondering if I should try doing this once every 6 hours... not sure if it will fix the problem and also not a clean fix if it does!

[alanchow]

My house is using it primarily for Google home integration.  I probably use it once or twice a day to turn lights on and off but thats about it to be honest.  Its been running fine on OS 2.10 and driverCentral for the past few months.  I can try to not use it for a few days to see if i can replicate the issue.

The only other thing i can think of is that someone is using your pushover details on another control4 system (maybe your dealer has a test setup with your details in it).  The driver is designed to kill the old pushover Control4 user and create a new one when you enter in the username and password.  A token is created that is specific to that instance of the driver and older tokens are invalidated.

Thats the only other logical explaination that i have for the issue.

[South Africa C4 user]

11 hours ago, alanchow said:

My house is using it primarily for Google home integration.  I probably use it once or twice a day to turn lights on and off but thats about it to be honest.  Its been running fine on OS 2.10 and driverCentral for the past few months.  I can try to not use it for a few days to see if i can replicate the issue.

The only other thing i can think of is that someone is using your pushover details on another control4 system (maybe your dealer has a test setup with your details in it).  The driver is designed to kill the old pushover Control4 user and create a new one when you enter in the username and password.  A token is created that is specific to that instance of the driver and older tokens are invalidated.

Thats the only other logical explaination that i have for the issue.

Thanks Alan... I will double check with my dealer (although I’d be surprised if he was running a driver with my login details 

I’ll also monitor and fiddle for the next few weeks and see if I can figure out what is happening.

[alanchow]

16 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said:

Thanks Alan... I will double check with my dealer (although I’d be surprised if he was running a driver with my login details 

I’ll also monitor and fiddle for the next few weeks and see if I can figure out what is happening.

Quickest way to resolve it is to just change your password.

[South Africa C4 user]

5 hours ago, alanchow said:

Quickest way to resolve it is to just change your password.

Ha! Never thought of that!

[Ivan James]

Anyone else having trouble finding Maker on IFTTT?

[sonic30101]

They changed it to webhook

[msgreenf]

https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks