ryanm Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 So I just recieved several engraved buttons from my dealer. Half are hardly legible, because they are so dark. Is this a common problem? It's like they were not engraved as deep or something. On several different keypads, one button is just not as bright as the others. There is a range of extremely bright to extremely dim, with most being at either end of the spectrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konieczn Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I have multiple keypads in my home and some of the engraved buttons I have are like this. Some keypads are read clear as day, and some others, not so much, or like you said, either really bright, or not so bright (when all LED settings are set the same). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanm Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 For 5$ or whatever a piece you think they would be more consistent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrick Cain Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Keypads, switches and dimmers all have sensors that sense the light level in the room. This can be adjusted to not be so sensitive in the programming. By default they get dimmer and brighter depending on the room light. Also the color of the back-light can be changed. Select a good color that works well in the environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konieczn Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Correct, I have all of my keypads set the same, but you can clearly see, even if you take the buttons off of the keypads, the clarity/quality of each engraving seems to very from button to button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanm Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 9 minutes ago, Derrick Cain said: Keypads, switches and dimmers all have sensors that sense the light level in the room. This can be adjusted to not be so sensitive in the programming. By default they get dimmer and brighter depending on the room light. Also the color of the back-light can be changed. Select a good color that works well in the environment. 5 5 I know that, but that is not what I am talking about. And I can't upload a picture for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanm Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 Hallway is not legible when looking at the keypad. It looks much better in the photo, but you can still tell that it is much darker than the other four buttons ON THE SAME KEYPAD, with the same color and background Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bsmall423 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 1 minute ago, ryanm said: Wow, that looks awful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy.trochez Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 This is something that Control4 will fix for you. Please, contact your dealer for things like this. Posting photos here won't help you. Your dealer should take care of this without any issues. Eddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanm Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 52 minutes ago, eddy.trochez said: This is something that Control4 will fix for you. Please, contact your dealer for things like this. Posting photos here won't help you. Your dealer should take care of this without any issues. Eddy Posting photos here has already helped me, so thanks! And I simply asked if this was common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 1 hour ago, ryanm said: Posting photos here has already helped me, so thanks! And I simply asked if this was common. Common - no. A quick set backlight to low and back to bright should be done just to ensure it isn't something as simple as that, next is swap two buttons around to check if it's the button or the device - and replace accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Oh please note that LED color/brightness settings are NOT the backlight settings, these are separate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowitall Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 15 tap might work too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 3 hours ago, ryanm said: For 5$ or whatever a piece you think they would be more consistent Fair enough, but the question is still if it's the button, or the kepayd - if not a setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 If the uninstalled buttons, just sitting on a table, look different, then that's that. Send 'em back. I had no idea this could be true -- I am about to order all my engravings, and thanks to this post I will immediately open them all and complain loudly to the dealer if I see this (I am moving in to the new house slowly and might not have checked every one when they arrived). This is terrible news. So the nightmare continues: (1) my dealer installed standard Decora switchplates, not Control4 switchplates, causing all kinds of problems that we could not figure out until a Control4 support engineer said "our switchplates don't have screws" and then the light went on (to make a bad pun); (2) three times the dealer's tech showed up with not-quite-the-correct 2-gang vs 3-gang vs 4-gang etc., and this continues; (3) several keypads were bad and had to be returned; (4) Composer HE does not show accurate colors in the UI when you configure the LED colors (try a very dim green, the UI shows it as black, Control4 support even thought it was black until they clicked and saw the RGB settings! (5) as reported on other threads the Amazon Echo - Control4 interface is problematic, Alexa is always saying the device is not responding when it is. All I wanted was physical switch (keypad), handheld remote, and voice-activated control of multi-load (multi-room) multi-brightness-level lighting scenes, plus time-delay auto-off and mockupancy programs, with switches having LEDs that I could dim in different light levels in different rooms (sleeping rooms dim at night, non-sleeping rooms the opposite). In 2017 that should be trivial home automation. And now my engravings may have poor quality control. OMG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VINCELdUB Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Hey my friend, they have just changed their engravings. And the type of plastic they use. That change was made just recently within the last few months. So there is a chance that the discrepancies may have been from the two different types. They did send us dealers information about it. And I'm only referring to this off the top my head. But I have just ordered new engravings a week ago and they are perfect. I had 125 key caps. And everyone of them clear. Happy Automating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 31 minutes ago, Larry said: All I wanted was physical switch (keypad), handheld remote, and voice-activated control of multi-load (multi-room) multi-brightness-level lighting scenes, plus time-delay auto-off and mockupancy programs, with switches having LEDs that I could dim in different light levels in different rooms (sleeping rooms dim at night, non-sleeping rooms the opposite). In 2017 that should be trivial home automation LOL - I want Star Trek control of my home, that should be trivial. The only thing in that list that I could see would be more difficult (to get smoothly) is voice control - the rest is peanuts in our world. Well for any half-decent dealer at least. I understand your frustration, but 1&2 is your dealer - and If I had to guess, 3 is as well (those numbers are nowhere near my experience, as I assume several is at least 4 or more, unless you have over 200 of them) and they are bad because they are mixed up old stock or improperly installed/wired. 4 is true, but rather minor to even really register about in the scheme of things, 5 I'm unsure of, Alexa isn't even available here to begin with (let alone integration) so direct exposure here is limited to my test setup. Haven't seen it but 1 out of 1 is hardly a test case. That doesn't make issues 1,2 and 3 any less of an issue of course - but like with praise, put blame where it belongs. I know C4 has had some issues with their initial supplier/manufacturer of buttons - if you do have issues due to button or engraving issues, your dealer should contact C4 right away, and they should set it straight. Depending on when the order was done, OP may still have gotten the older ones, the new supplier AFAIK should cure these issues. Note - OP still needs to clarify (or to be fair his dealer needs to get it clarified) if this is a button, device or settings issue - the comment on them looking different even out of the device was another user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 What does c4 switch plates have to do with anything? I'm running standard decora plates on everything and they fit perfect. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brownbatsbreath Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Some of the softer nylon switch plates can fit horrible on C4 switches and dimmers in general. But yeah, they can be made to fit perfect with a little effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 As such plates are standard decora - but standard isn't always THAT standard - I've had plates that are too tightly cut and can press on the buttons - so it's not completely out of whack - though yeah, they're usually the cheaper ones. Then again, easy enough to check - take the plate off and test. Note, I don't believe that had anything to do with the backlight, plus poster would need to confirm but I've a feeling the issue there is what was promised vs what was delivered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brownbatsbreath Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 28 minutes ago, Cyknight said: - I've had plates that are too tightly cut and can press on the buttons - Exactly what I was thinking when I read "causing all kinds of problems". Definitly seperate from the backlight issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanm Posted February 11, 2017 Author Share Posted February 11, 2017 Alright, to steal/steer my post back. FYI I did order about 65 buttons in early November and just got them this week. So not sure if that was during the transition, dealer delay, otherr C4 delay, or what. I have changed the background brightness/colors, and applied to all keypads at the same time at midnight to ensure my house is in total darkness and negated the dimming abilities through the "Fully Customised" "Ambient Light Controls". There is variation in color from button to button with some background colors, which I am assuming is MAINLY due the limitation of the leds in the keypad and less so to variations in the button engraving (especailly with browns, greys, bluish greens). However, there is diffidently discrepancies between individual buttons on the same keypads. Some are very dim, and appear also as a thinner font, some are in the middle, and some are bold and bright.I have not changed buttons around on each or different keypads. I will do that tomorrow. I almost want to remove them all and group them into categories but that would take well over an hour and not sure of what the benefit would be. Of the 65 I would guess that 10-15 are bold and bright and wonderful, 20-30 are clear and legible and if not next to the aforementioned would be fine, and then 30-40 are very dim, even in a dark room at a non reduced brightness setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 22 minutes ago, ryanm said: FYI I did order about 65 buttons in early November and just got them this week. So not sure if that was during the transition, dealer delay, otherr C4 delay, or what. I believe it would still be in the transition phase at that point, of course I can't be sure when your dealer ordered, he may well have held off. Just swap one or two very dim with very bright buttons, that should tell you right off the bat if it's the buttons or the devices. From there, one or the other needs to be talked about to support. From the numbers - and the fact that it is across devices - I'd be tempted to say it's the buttons, but it's just best to be sure. Some discrepancy between buttons might be expected, simply due to some letters/words/symbols simply having more 'clear' space then others to let light through, but those dim ones certainly aren't right (assuming they are similar to the picture you attached). I can't speak for your dealer, but C4 in general is quite cooperative and willing to exchange buttons if they are 'not right'. I assume that is exactly what Eddy meant though - perhaps not worded as 'clearly' as he could have: your dealer should take responsibility to get that sorted for you. From a dealer side it sucks when this happens (often overlooked is that C4 doesn't reimburse us for time spent on warranty issues) - but it in the end is part of the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d1amund Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Pretty simple. Swap "good looking" key cap with a "bad looking" key cap. If you have a defective key cap, simple again; tell your dealer to contact their inside sales rep (not tech support) and provide the rep with the engraving report for the associated defective parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Thanks for all the comments. I will start a new thread on all the things that go wrong when you use standard Decora switchplates (this is a much more serious issue than you might think) so that I am no longer guilty of hijacking this thread -- sorry I did that, not my intention. I will also start a thread on the Composer UI not showing the LED colors correctly, which also hurts way more than you might think, it is not a trivial issue IMHO. Cyknight is of course correct that I shouldn't blame Control4 for dealer mistakes, But in this condo development I had no choice if I wanted a fully-finished turnkey house -- Control4 was the only home automation system offered, and only one dealer was authorized by the builder to do the work. Yes I can switch dealers now that I took possession, but despite the mistakes the dealer is smart and friendly, I like him personally. I tend to think of Control4 + Dealer as one vendor, and obviously I am wrong about that, but still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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