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Moved into a Control4 house, nothing works


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44 minutes ago, RussDraper said:

All I keep hearing are reasons why I shouldn't invest any more into Control4 and I should replace it with something else.  Even a basic Vera system is better than this thing right now.

Russ, the HC300 is an old processor and it'll give you a false sense of what Control4 is all about. If you're used to being a DIYer, have a long conversation with a dealer and ask as many questions as you can before you commit to invest time and money into Control4. Obviously, it'll sound bias when I tell you that I love the system and having previous experience with some of the competition, I can tell you that Control4 is an awesome system. It is hard to beat.

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1 hour ago, sonic30101 said:

Yes and no-ish... on the basic argument, vera doesnt address AV or multizone audio but you seem like a strong DIY kind of guy so dealing with multiple systems that dont particularly talk to eachother and require swapping back and forth between multiple apps might be your cup of tea. Control4 is great, but not for everyone, i will agree with that. Pretty much all CI systems require software only available to dealers (Crestron, C4, URC, RTI, Savant)

No, but LinuxMCE does and it's free.  You just have to configure it yourself.  This doesn't help answer my original questions, I am trying to get the system working again, is there any way to get into the controller when I set its IP address?  The wireless controllers do not see it when I tell them that is the IP.

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1 minute ago, RussDraper said:

No, but LinuxMCE does and it's free.  You just have to configure it yourself.  This doesn't help answer my original questions, I am trying to get the system working again, is there any way to get into the controller when I set its IP address?  The wireless controllers do not see it when I tell them that is the IP.

You need composer pro and a utility that is part of it - system manager -to re IP it. But just cause you get it iped you won't be able to do anything without composer pro. You need to get the right tv drivers and bindings setup. 

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Ok, so this system has 8 HDTV's throughout the house (and 8 input sources), whole-house audio via sonos, multiple blue-ray and dvd changers, 2 wireless touch screens, about 6 remotes with a little light up lcd display on them, lots of light switches and thermostats.  Right now it is on some sort of schedule, things were coming on and off without setting them, the thermostats were a particular annoyance.  I figured out how to stop them for now but it would be nice if things just worked as they did before.  I don't know why the HC300 is so bad vs something else, can you elaborate?

Waiting another few weeks for an installer probably means I'll be bypassing everything just so I can stop the madness (delayed due to storm)!

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It's not that the HC300 is bad, it is just old. 2 generations old and cannot run the most up to date OS version which limits you on 3rd party drivers which most require 2.6+. Also no Alexa support etc. If they are c4 dimmers/switches and thermostats. You will be pulling them out to put something in its place if you go with another system, same applies for remotes/touchpanels but I figure you already assumed that part.

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7 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Maybe it was used when it was installed? 

My thought is that maybe there was a newer controller installed and was still there during open house.  Then the HC-300 was swapped in as Director when the owner's left.  Thus technically leaving a working system.  Just with much less horsepower.  

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MakeItAMudLight - I don't think they would bother doing that, they left all other TV's and all kinds of electronics.  The HC300 is in the pictures I have from when I walked through.

SMHarman - the controller seems to only remember the IP for about 15 minutes, I think the DHCP lease time is very low for some reason.  By the time I walk around after I've plugged it back into the rest of the network, I can no longer access that Control4 page on it in a web browser.  The receiver and other devices show up though, so I know the connection is good.

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4 minutes ago, RussDraper said:

MakeItAMudLight - I don't think they would bother doing that, they left all other TV's and all kinds of electronics.  The HC300 is in the pictures I have from when I walked through.

I'm sure you're right.  I'm just skeptical of everything.

My boss just bought a house for $1.7M that was advertised as being a smart house.  The contract included a list of all the components to be left behind.  Unfortunately he's not technical at all and didn't have anyone check to see if he was being left everything he needed.  Well they took the guts of the system so now he has a house full of TVs, speakers, keypads, etc that literally don't do anything.  So things like this do happen.  

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5 hours ago, blackfiveo1 said:

I meant the stuff you want you will spend $1000+ garage door openers/security system/door lock/blinds (depending on brands you go with). You cannot integrate these things without a driver or without a dealer. You will pay for A. License/Driver B. Dealer to install them.

You are right, as well you can't install  (might be you can, but most people are not) toilet, gas equipment, some electrical stuff and you are ok with it.... C4 not only light control ( buy lutron casseta and you are good), garage gate (buy liftmaster and you are good), TV remote ( buy Harmony- good stuff by a way), thermostat, audio\video distribution system, intercom ( buy Ring), cameras, security, ect- it is all together. and to make all stuff working together  and smooth it is not easy job to do. So somebody who understands all that stuff can do it. Oh, it is network based equipment. wow, network stuff are coming.....

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26 minutes ago, MakeItAMudLight said:

My thought is that maybe there was a newer controller installed and was still there during open house.  Then the HC-300 was swapped in as Director when the owner's left.  Thus technically leaving a working system.  Just with much less horsepower.  

ID'ing the lights/tstat and programming them to  do stuff seems like a lot of work to save an 800 and or screw someone over 

 

it's probably running 2.2.1 ha

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Just in case, I think you can see your controllers IP address (on TV screen). check if it has same network sub net with your router, I mean 192.168.?.? and your router 192.168.??, if all good check ip conflict issue. As well ISP routers are not best choice, Sonos, C4 and few more guys not always work smooth with ISP routers.

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14 minutes ago, vitali said:

You are right, as well you can't install  (might be you can, but most people are not) toilet, gas equipment, some electrical stuff and you are ok with it.... C4 not only light control ( buy lutron casseta and you are good), garage gate (buy liftmaster and you are good), TV remote ( buy Harmony- good stuff by a way), thermostat, audio\video distribution system, intercom ( buy Ring), cameras, security, ect- it is all together. and to make... 

Ring isn't an intercom 

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Dude, don't wait 2 weeks for a some dealer and quit screwing around yourself because it's locked up and you will not make any more progress. Pay one of these guys $75-100 to log on to your system and tell you what you are working with. You could have $20k worth of automation gear or just a pile of trash. The only way to know 100% is to have a pro look at your system. 

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