Chowmain - Hebcal Jewish Calendar driver for Control4 

Many Jewish people who strictly observe Shabbat refrain from what turning electricity on or off during this period. They may also refrain from making adjustments to the intensity of electrical appliances. 

The Chowmain Hebcal driver for Control4 imports data from Hebcal.com. This driver helps by automating detection of Jewish holidays and your standard Shabbat (observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night). By firing these events it assists with notification of Candle lighting (18 minutes before sundown) and Havdalah (after the appearance of three stars in the sky) along with the automation of electronic devices during this period. 

Features 

• Automatic detection the Control4 projects latitude, longitude and timezone information for automatic information gathering. 
• Automatic daily update of information from Hebcal.com 
• Automatic update of information from Hebcal.com when the system boots up. 
• Variables for 
  • IS_HOLIDAY – Is there a holiday today (checks once at midnight every night) 
  • HOLIDAY_NAME – The title of the holiday today 
  • HOLIDAY_MEMO – The description of the holiday today 
  • IS_SHABBAT – Will fire when candle lighting starts and finish when Havdalah starts (including holidays not just Friday/Saturday). 
• Events for 
  • Candle Lighting (property to execute event x minutes prior) 
  • Havdalah (property to execute event x minutes prior) 
  • Holiday Start – Fires at midnight of the day when there is a holiday 
  • Holiday Finish – Fires at midnight the day after the holiday finishes. 

FAQ 

Can you give us some examples of how we could use this driver?? 

• Automate the electronics in the home so that no touch is required during special Jewish holidays and Shabbat. 
• Combine with our Advanced Announcments driver for Control4 to announce what holiday it is through the speakers. 

Why do you only support OS 2.6 and above? 
OS 2.6 offers a superior security encryption algorithm and a new and improved driver format. We have decided to only utilise this new format to ensure that the integrity of this driver is not compremised and that we can provide the best dealer/user experience available. 

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

Chowmain Website

Installation Guide

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. 

Is there anyway to differentiate between Yom Tovs and other holidays.  Yom Tovs are the ones where you can't use electronics, but there are other days when you can (i.e, Purim, Hannukah).  

2 hours ago, JGLI said:

Is there anyway to differentiate between Yom Tovs and other holidays.  Yom Tovs are the ones where you can't use electronics, but there are other days when you can (i.e, Purim, Hannukah).  

There is a variable for the holiday name.  Having said that from my research the Yom Tov's will execute the Candle Lighting and Havdalah events as well will in turn will change the IS_SHABBAT variable to true.

So IS_SHABBAT comes from hebcal or is that a variable in the driver that you set when you see candle lighting?

 

5 hours ago, JGLI said:

So IS_SHABBAT comes from hebcal or is that a variable in the driver that you set when you see candle lighting?

 

We set that variable to true when we see candle lighting and set it to false when we see havdalah.

Hello,

Does "Holiday Start – Fires at midnight of the day when there is a holiday"

mean .... for example 6PM Sunday Night 05/16/21 (For this Shavout) ? 

How can I see the times for Holidays...

Sorry we have discontinued this driver.

8 hours ago, jamesc4 said:

Hello,

Does "Holiday Start – Fires at midnight of the day when there is a holiday"

mean .... for example 6PM Sunday Night 05/16/21 (For this Shavout) ? 

How can I see the times for Holidays...

Alan’s Hebcal driver works great (Not supported anymore). All you have to do is program against Candlelight and Havdalah variables.  Havdalah is set at 52 minutes after sunset so if you require 72, you have to do programming to trigger events at 72. 

Hello! does anyone have this driver available still?

I know this driver is discontinued but I really, REALLY need this driver.  Is there anyone who has this that can send it to me?  Any substitutes someone is aware of?

9 hours ago, Leon said:

Is there anyone who has this that can send it to me? 

Even if anyone did, it wouldn't work as you couldn't get a license, assuming it even works at all at this point (ie can still import the required information)

where can i get this driver

 

10 minutes ago, Tech Solutions said:

where can i get this driver

 

This driver is no longer for sale. Locking the thread