Creative Ideas

[msgreenf]

Anyone want to share any creative ways they have used c4 in their home/life? I am always looking for a new add on project or programming...so let's share!

[therodog]

I've tried this approach to doing more with my system multiple times ... it's always been a little disappointing, the responses I get I mean.

I'll tell you a couple of things I'm going that I like ... Sonos controlled through the Control4 system is pretty cool. I'm currently in my office listening to a Sonos S5 controlled with a Mimo touchscreen monitor running the Control4 software. It's like having a Control4 touchscreen at my desk - at a fraction of the cost.

[clange02]

I setup my mailbox with a contact sensor to indicate when the mail has arrived. I would like to add a pressure sensor for added accuracy. I also used the Snap A/V DVR to record the event as well as using it for notification of who is at the door when doorbell is rang. The image is than displayed for 90 seconds on all touch screens in the house as well as on any TV if the TV is on. Of course pausing what ever is playing so you don't miss anything. Those are just some of our favorites.

[pstuart]

Email notifications (or the push notifier if you like) works great for all kinds of things. I set up battery warnings, door open / close, alarm status, temp reporting, all kinds of crazy stuff to send to an email.

Also, CA sensors have temp sensors, so you can add a fake thermostat and monitor temps where ever you put a CA sensor.

Doorbell and phone sensors are nice, really cool to pause the movie you are watching when the doorbell rings, flip over to the C4 interface, pull up the front door camera, and even unlock the door via the interface.

Speaking of zigbee door locks, its great to use for the codes and customize the entry and settings for detecting a person. Of course there are better ways to do this, but its nice to come home to your tv tuned to your favorite station, lights exactly how you want it, temp set exactly the way you like.

Also, if you tie your security system and have a keyfob, you can usually detect which keyfob pushed what button, so you can do all kinds of fun things to identify the person and my favorite, flash the lights outside when you disarm the security system. That way you know when you pull into the garage the alarm is off.

Motion sensors are great program tools as well. Outside, inside, all kinds of ways to do things. My favorite is night time lighting path to the bedroom. After 10pm, if room off, I lower the lights and turn on a path light upstairs at a low level, after 5 minutes the lights slowly turn off behind me. Also, at night if motion is sensed in the hallway, I slowly ramp up the lights to about 10% so I don't ever step on a damn lego again (kids and their toys).

Remote control beeping to find remotes are cool...

Setting the color of led's on keypads and such can give you different status, like knowing if the security system is armed or disarmed or a door is locked or not.

[Godzilla]

CA has a pressure sensor....i think thats what its called.....pretty cool for putting under a couch cushion, or under a mattress....to execute diff things

[digitaltrader]

CA has a pressure sensor....i think thats what its called.....pretty cool for putting under a couch cushion, or under a mattress....to execute diff things

I'd like to hear specifics how you use this.

[Godzilla]

Getting 1 next week or 2, to mess around with, will keep ya posted, looks like a lot if neat things u can do with this

[msgreenf]

One of my ideas is to put a card access motion/light sensor on the front porch.

2 reasons:

1) Brighten (or turn on) outside lights if someone approaches and they are low/off

2) Use the light sensor to turn on outside lights on dim days or during storms when they could be on and it would be nice but day/night programming won't trigger them

[akg4y]

I did this:

http://www.c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?id=5607

[zaphod]

I have a CardAccess unit that has a temperature sensor in my wine cabinet. It sends me an email when the temperature gets too high. But I am not crazy about how this works in C4 and I am thinking about using a Raspberry Pi with a sensor to duplicate this functionality.

[msgreenf]

I have a CardAccess unit that has a temperature sensor in my wine cabinet. It sends me an email when the temperature gets too high. But I am not crazy about how this works in C4 and I am thinking about using a Raspberry Pi with a sensor to duplicate this functionality.

what don't you like about that, please share

[urbanmark]

All of my windows have contact sensors. If windows are opened, play an announcement, "Climate control now off" and turn off the thermostat. (This worked beautifully until I swapped my C4 thermostat for a Nest - the one thing I miss about the old C4 thermostat).

[mercedes]

CA has a pressure sensor....i think thats what its called.....pretty cool for putting under a couch cushion' date=' or under a mattress....to execute diff things[/quote']

I'd like to hear specifics how you use this.

I have a chair occupancy sensor in my chair in the theater. When I am playing a movie, if I get up, I pause the movie, turn on my walkway LEDs so I can see on my way out of the theater. Once I sit back down the lights dim and the movie restarts.

[therodog]

All of my windows have contact sensors. If windows are opened, play an announcement, "Climate control now off" and turn off the thermostat. (This worked beautifully until I swapped my C4 thermostat for a Nest - the one thing I miss about the old C4 thermostat).

Can you integrate the Nest into Control4?

[neil12011]

CA has a pressure sensor....i think thats what its called.....pretty cool for putting under a couch cushion' date=' or under a mattress....to execute diff things[/quote']

I'd like to hear specifics how you use this.

I have a chair occupancy sensor in my chair in the theater. When I am playing a movie, if I get up, I pause the movie, turn on my walkway LEDs so I can see on my way out of the theater. Once I sit back down the lights dim and the movie restarts.

As cool as it sounds, most customers still prefer the programming to fire on an actual pause button push. To each their own.

[jbat]

I'd like to use chair occupancy sensors to trigger different EQ curves and surround configs on the processor, but unfortunately can't find a processor this flexible... yet! You should be able to instantly apply new audyssey curves based on which seats are occupied.

[TexasBill]

Anyone want to share any creative ways they have used c4 in their home/life? I am always looking for a new add on project or programming...so let's share!

Try some of these:

http://www.c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?id=13926

[Cyknight]

All of my windows have contact sensors. If windows are opened' date=' play an announcement, "Climate control now off" and turn off the thermostat. (This worked beautifully until I swapped my C4 thermostat for a Nest - the one thing I miss about the old C4 thermostat).[/quote']

Can you integrate the Nest into Control4?

Nope NEST is not allowing it. There was a great driver out for it, but they shot it down.

[urbanmark]

Nope NEST is not allowing it. There was a great driver out for it, but they shot it down.

Here's what's great... Nest wants feedback and just launched a new community forum for their users - including "Product Suggestions". You can suggest ideas and then others can vote. A request for a public API has received 76 votes so far... if you want integration, would be good to vote for it.

https://community.nest.com/community/product-suggestions

[Cyknight]

Feel free to vote on it - perhaps they'll listen. They're old Apple though and so far have refused to cooporate unless it's through apple and their app and functions through there. Would LOVE to see Nest open the door - but I'm rather doubtful it'll happen any time soon.

EDIT: Something is going on with my keyboard I think.....

[msgreenf]

I am considering adding an ecoobee...because there is a driver coming out for it...

[zariaman]

I just dad something new today; I automated the overhead stove hood range. My wife bought one that cost as much as my LCD TV. I ran a cat6 cable into the kitchen cabinet, I used a cheap hot water heater thermostat to monitor the heat from the range, if there is a very slight change in temperature the vent turns on. The light on the range is also triggered with a small motion sensor.

With a high powered gas range you really need to get that heat out of the cooking area, so it is kind of nice to have it all automated.

[Kahn]

I just dad something new today; I automated the overhead stove hood range. My wife bought one that cost as much as my LCD TV. I ran a cat6 cable into the kitchen cabinet, I used a cheap hot water heater thermostat to monitor the heat from the range, if there is a very slight change in temperature the vent turns on. The light on the range is also triggered with a small motion sensor.

With a high powered gas range you really need to get that heat out of the cooking area, so it is kind of nice to have it all automated.

Great idea!

[zaphod]

I have a CardAccess unit that has a temperature sensor in my wine cabinet. It sends me an email when the temperature gets too high. But I am not crazy about how this works in C4 and I am thinking about using a Raspberry Pi with a sensor to duplicate this functionality.

what don't you like about that' date=' please share[/quote']

First off, of course, is the broader issue that some of the stuff like adding a CA unit and associating it with a certain room requires a dealer.

When I last did stuff like sending email alerts I think I was on something like version 1.7 so I don't know if this has changed in more recent versions. But my recollection is that you can only send fixed text in an email, you can't email out a field that contains a variable.

For example if the temperature exceeds 57 degrees you can send out an email saying "Alert - the temperature is above 57 degrees". But you can't send out an email that states exactly what the current temperature is since you can't put a variable within the text of the email. So you would have to create separate events at each temperature - ie. The temp is now 59, The temp is now 60, etc.

I also don't know how you can use C4 to log the temperature. I would like to create a text file on a computer (or on the C4 controller since it is a Linux computer) that has a log of temperatures that looks like this:

2013/02/07 08:00am The temperature is 56
2013/02/07 09:00am The temperature is 55
2013/02/07 09:00am The temperature is 58! - ALERT SENT

I don't know how you can do that in C4 unless there is a driver that allows you to export info to a text file. But of course all of that sort of stuff is trivial to do from a computer, even a $35 Raspberry Pi, as long as you have a command line method to send an email. It might be possible to do some of this stuff from Composer HE but it is somewhat painful. Here is a web page on how to build a Raspberry Pi temperature senso: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/freshers/raspberrypi/tutorials/temperature/

[alanchow]

I have a CardAccess unit that has a temperature sensor in my wine cabinet. It sends me an email when the temperature gets too high. But I am not crazy about how this works in C4 and I am thinking about using a Raspberry Pi with a sensor to duplicate this functionality.

what don't you like about that' date=' please share[/quote']

First off, of course, is the broader issue that some of the stuff like adding a CA unit and associating it with a certain room requires a dealer.

When I last did stuff like sending email alerts I think I was on something like version 1.7 so I don't know if this has changed in more recent versions. But my recollection is that you can only send fixed text in an email, you can't email out a field that contains a variable.

For example if the temperature exceeds 57 degrees you can send out an email saying "Alert - the temperature is above 57 degrees". But you can't send out an email that states exactly what the current temperature is since you can't put a variable within the text of the email. So you would have to create separate events at each temperature - ie. The temp is now 59, The temp is now 60, etc.

I also don't know how you can use C4 to log the temperature. I would like to create a text file on a computer (or on the C4 controller since it is a Linux computer) that has a log of temperatures that looks like this:

2013/02/07 08:00am The temperature is 56
2013/02/07 09:00am The temperature is 55
2013/02/07 09:00am The temperature is 58! - ALERT SENT

I don't know how you can do that in C4 unless there is a driver that allows you to export info to a text file. But of course all of that sort of stuff is trivial to do from a computer, even a $35 Raspberry Pi, as long as you have a command line method to send an email. It might be possible to do some of this stuff from Composer HE but it is somewhat painful. Here is a web page on how to build a Raspberry Pi temperature senso: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/freshers/raspberrypi/tutorials/temperature/

Control4's 4sight email service will only allow you to send out string type variables and not numeric variables. The Recluse AV driver however lets you send out any variable as such what you want to achieve is possible with our driver. In terms of logs i could possibly write a driver that will capture custom logs. interesting concept.