BoBlo712 Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Wanted to take a moment to throw a big thank you to the Epic Systems Team for their awesome Alexa Driver. I finally caved this past week and spent the money for it after getting frustrated with delayed responses on the stock C4 Voice Scene driver. My dealer had it loaded a few minutes after purchasing and programming was quick. The improvement in response time is amazing and I no longer get the dreaded "device failed to respond" after waiting 5 seconds for a light to turn on. To anyone on the fence, don't hesitate, huge improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Thanks for the plug! Glad you are enjoying our driver. We also offer very fast email-based support response times should you run into any issues or questions...usually within an hour or two even on weekends! Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy.trochez Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 9 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said: Thanks for the plug! Glad you are enjoying our driver. We also offer very fast email-based support response times should you run into any issues or questions...usually within an hour or two even on weekends! Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk This is true, I have always gotten in touch with Ari directly through the forums and he answers right away. Same with Alan and Joshua, always available to answer questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneStar Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Question, with my current driver I have to say "Alexa turn on XYZ". but I can't say Turn OFF XYZ, I have it programmed for "Turn On XYZ OFF". Will the Epic driver let me do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 What is your current driver? With native control 4 on and off work. It's likely not setup right. But to your question. Yes you can. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneStar Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 10 minutes ago, msgreenf said: What is your current driver? With native control 4 on and off work. It's likely not setup right. But to your question. Yes you can. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk That's probably the case because my dealer didn't understand how to 'Set Up' the Alexa driver/integration. I'm the one who actually told him about it :-). So I have them tied into Lighting Scenes because he didn't enable it properly. Its been a while since I played with it, so I can't recall what exactly needs to be enabled. So please excuse my ignorance. I'm asking this question because I would like to do additional scenes/rooms and the On/Off is a frustration I have. I may just proceed with the Epic driver anyway because I don't like the delay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneStar Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Btw, thanks for this thread. I just bought it and now I need to go find a dealer to put it in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy.trochez Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Both drivers should be able to turn on and off with no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajbarrister Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 I also switched to the Epic Driver. So much better than the C4 Driver. Ari can you give some examples of the Float String. I use the Set to handle Volume Control and Light Dimming in rooms but do not understand the Float Variable. Also and example of how to control channels on TV's would be great with Comcast Cable Boxes controlled by IR would be nice. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 On 5/20/2017 at 8:37 PM, LoneStar said: That's probably the case because my dealer didn't understand how to 'Set Up' the Alexa driver/integration. I'm the one who actually told him about it :-). So I have them tied into Lighting Scenes because he didn't enable it properly. Its been a while since I played with it, so I can't recall what exactly needs to be enabled. So please excuse my ignorance. I'm asking this question because I would like to do additional scenes/rooms and the On/Off is a frustration I have. I may just proceed with the Epic driver anyway because I don't like the delay. The native C4 driver automatically sets up stuff for existing lighting scenes. Which is quite neat, but not at all intuitive if you have scene names like "Downstairs Off". The native driver will grab this scene name and allow you to access it using Alexa, turn on Downstairs Off and turn Off Downstairs Off. If you don't have a toggle scene attached to the scene (Downstairs Off in my example) then "turn on Downstairs off" will turn all the Downstairs lights off while "turn off Downstairs off" will do nothing. Possible ways to fix the above are: 1. Create a lighting scene called "Downstairs" that turns all Downstairs lights on. 2. Create a toggle scene with some obscure name that you won't use with Alex (or call this something sensible like "Downstairs Off" but delink this from Alexa in my.Control4. This scene should turn all Downstairs lights off. The above will allow you to say Alexa, turn Downstairs on and Alexa, turn Downstairs off and the result will be what you expect. A big plus of the native driver is that it automatically picks up all lighting scenes and links them to Alexa and allows easy editing ( @chopedogg88 this would be a really neat addition to your driver). A big plus of the Epic Systems driver is that it works reliably and is quick to respond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshfromsocal Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Do you need 4sight with the EPIC driver? I am on a trial period and my dealer has installed the basic control4 driver. But am wondering when my trial period ends I don't want to be dishing out $100 every year just for Alexa integration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 NO, you do not need 4sight with our driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil12011 Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Epic driver, worth the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 23 hours ago, joshfromsocal said: Do you need 4sight with the EPIC driver? I am on a trial period and my dealer has installed the basic control4 driver. But am wondering when my trial period ends I don't want to be dishing out $100 every year just for Alexa integration. 4sight is not just for Alexa you may only be using it for that. But 4 sight will allow you to access your home and all of the connected device in it. This will also allow you to have email notification which i like to use to archive important events for my home. And if you like the push notifications you'll receive them even when you are not home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prabeau Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Alexa Epic driver all the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 We use both and they both work great - we also have Phillip Hue lights and are using that skill too. alexa works like a dream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 4 hours ago, Gary Leeds UK said: We use both and they both work great - we also have Phillip Hue lights and are using that skill too. alexa works like a dream Im tempted to get the new Ecobee 4 pro with alexa built in to boot, pm for more info my favorite is teasing the wife. she will turn all the lights on in the kitchen and never turn them off so when she comes out i yell at alexa to turn off the damned kitchen lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 The have the ecobee 4 and was a hardware beta tester for a few months before release. The release product is significantly better then the beta. The biggest problem is where your t stat is located Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janthony6 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Hey guys - I tried to use the triggers to get my lights discovered and am having a lot of trouble. I tried all the location names along with the names of the lights in composer and none worked. I’m using the control4 dimmers and on/off switches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Have you gone into my control 4 - make sure all the lights are ticked - try changing a name of one light and save - then get Alexa to discover - if you are using the c4 driver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janthony6 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Everything is ticked and enabled in my control4. Since I’m using the epic driver and discovering locally, I wouldn’t need to have the control4 skill in Alexa right? Without the skill, it only finds my thermostats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 I would drop epic a line - have you programmed each function- you need to do this with epic driver. Ensble the C4 skill and run discover in Alexa and that should pull all you lights in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janthony6 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 enabling the c4 skill does work. But my issue, and the reason I bought this driver, is that using alexa to contact control4 is slow. i wanted it all in my network so that it can be as fast as homebridge/homekit. alexa is otherwise pretty weak. if the epic driver relies on the control4 skill, i have no reason to purchase it as it does absolutely nothing useful.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 No it doesn't rely on the skill. It's all local. Please watch the videos on our website and/or read the documentation to learn how to perform the discovery steps. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoBlo712 Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 13 hours ago, janthony6 said: Hey guys - I tried to use the triggers to get my lights discovered and am having a lot of trouble. I tried all the location names along with the names of the lights in composer and none worked. I’m using the control4 dimmers and on/off switches. Create the triggers and verify they have been added. From there I did find it a touch finicky on initial discovery. If you turn on the driver's debug you will see it trying different ports to connect. I noticed it was likely a timing issue. I had much more luck not using voice to "discover devices", but used the echo.amazon.com webpage instead. Select discover devices then immediately flip back to Composer HE and send triggers. It takes a couple times, but once it locks, it works consistently and you will see a message that Triggers have been discovered. Another thing to watch out for is to use the first added echo on your account. We have 8 echo's and I noticed the one listed at the top (first added to Amazon) worked the most reliably. Epic notes this in their tutorial as well. Hope that helps. Driver is well worth any effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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