JGLI Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 We've been in our home for about 2 years, in the 3/4 months we've had keypads/lighting panels stop working. Our integrator worked with C4 techs and turned on logging; first they blamed it on my samsung art tv so we removed that driver. Then they blamed it on the driverlabs ecobee driver, so we removed that, but the gremlins still exist. My doorbird had stopped working today and I noticed it didn't have the correct IP address. I rebooted it a few times (PoE, so I removed it from the switch), but that didn't work. I rebooted the sonicwall which reset the DHCP table (Doorbird gets its lease based on the MAC addresss) and that fixed the doorbird, but throughout the day the lights haven't been working right. Sometimes it can take 2-3 hours after you reboot the C4 controller for them to work (today I left for work and came home at end of day and a number of the panels (8 loads a piece) still weren't communicating. Is there a way to make this more reliable? Any thoughts? My wife is ready to kill me based on the small fortune we spent wiring the entire house with panelized lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Reading your comments, my suggestion would be to change dealers... Lighting is one of the areas where C4 is very strong and if set up properly, this should be rock solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 it really sounds like network issues. Tell us more about your network... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekohn00 Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 2 hours ago, msgreenf said: it really sounds like network issues. Tell us more about your network... I didn't think lights are on the wifi....... sounds like some network hiccups and some some crappy zigbee setup. My system has been rock solid for almost 12+ years. Except for a few hiccups like a controller power supply dying, or a driver getting corrupt..... There are a few things I do that I think helped: 1. Made sure my dealer did a good zigbee setup and plan. 2. Dedicated IP addressing for C4 components (all the controllers and any device I could easily make dedicated). 3. Keep programming simple...I don't add stuff for the sake of stuff. No My Music or Movies, crazy programmings with lots of variable to do something I won't use, etc...... good luck....will shut up now and let the experts take over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twmoonly Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 23 minutes ago, ekohn00 said: I didn't think lights are on the wifi....... sounds like some network hiccups and some some crappy zigbee setup. My system has been rock solid for almost 12+ years. Except for a few hiccups like a controller power supply dying, or a driver getting corrupt..... There are a few things I do that I think helped: 1. Made sure my dealer did a good zigbee setup and plan. 2. Dedicated IP addressing for C4 components (all the controllers and any device I could easily make dedicated). 3. Keep programming simple...I don't add stuff for the sake of stuff. No My Music or Movies, crazy programmings with lots of variable to do something I won't use, etc...... good luck....will shut up now and let the experts take over. Lights aren't on wifi. Keypads have their own wired bus but the lighting modules are network based. Sounds like a network issue, what networking equipment is installed? Are there VLANs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Right. Exactly. They are still networked. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twmoonly Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 We have a few penalized lighting systems with the same equipment without any issues. All of our c4 equipment runs on its own VLAN, Doorbird a separate one with the camera vlan, house network its own with wifi. Also what keypads are you using to control the lights? When you say they stop working, does it stop from the keypads? or the app? or both? this will determine what may be the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGLI Posted February 20, 2019 Author Share Posted February 20, 2019 I think it's a networking problem as well. Last night I rebooted the switches that make up my network backbone and everything started working. I think I need to get the lighting and some of the flakey (i.e. door bird) stuff on their own network (or networks), just not sure how to do that since they'll have different IP's. Here is a simple network map: FIOS Gigabit v Sonicwall TZ 300 (provides DHCP as well as a VPN to my office for my personal devices via MAC address rules). One 192.168... network behind NAT for all devices. v Three HP Gigabit switches in rack, one is POE for door birds and ruckus WAPs - then there are two C4 branded switches with the lighting panel connected via a cat 5 line (they are in a separate room). Each 8 load panel gets its IP address from the sonic wall. The main c4 unit is the rack in one of the HP switches. Everything in the rack is on a UPS and house has standby power, but the ones in the lighting panel do not have a UPS. v Three Ruckus WAPs, with 2.4 and 5 ghz networks as well as a "local" one that the family uses and a guest network with its own DHCP range with no access to anything on the primary 192.168 network. -------------------- It seems like if anything happens upstream of the Control 4 switches, everything goes to hell. For some reason the Doorbird also loses its IP office (if I remember correctly you can't set it with a fixed IP, so if it fails to get the lease info you are hosed). -------------------- Originally I was going to segregate stuff but it got complicated for the main C4 controller to talk to everything (Tivos, apple Tvs, Luma DVR, Ecobee thermostats, etc.). What is the "perfect" way to set this up so that if something happens at the sonic wall level everything doesn't freak out? I'm pretty good with networking but have no experience with vlans. The guys who do my office VPN/security stuff helped setup the house, but they don't really have experience with the home automation stuff. All the switches are HP enterprise grade, as are the Ruckus access points. When I hired my original control 4 integrator they had two partners; I went with them because the tech guy really seemed to understand all the intricacies and had a lot of experience with panelized lighting. Then I found out he moved to North Carolina and I was left with the other partner (sales guy) and a 20 year old kid. I fired them after I moved in, but never really got the benefit of the first guy. My current integrator is pretty good but his networking skills are just above average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGLI Posted February 21, 2019 Author Share Posted February 21, 2019 Guys, Any network suggestions? Should I put the doorbirds on one vlan, with lighting panels on another vlan and have with the c4 controller on the main network. My networking guy is ready to make changes once all the ports are mapped out, but I'll need my integrator there as I expect there will be changes required so the lighting panels can communicate to the main c4 controller once they are no longer in the same subnet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twmoonly Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 I would put all contol4 equipment on 1 vlan, and doorbirds on another. You may have issues with the doorbirds on another I am not 100% they will communicate but worth a shot. Do you have touchscreens that communicate with doorbird? How many doorbirds do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 All C4 equipment on 1 Vlan All security equipment on another Vlan. Your network should allow intercommunication between the Vlans for the system to work properly. Most likely, your Vlans are setup to not allow communication between the Vlans. This can be changed within your firewall rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGLI Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 I don't have any vlans now. I understand using firewall rules, I guess the only downside is that auto discovery might be less useful. Will coordinate a day over the next few weeks with the network guys and my control 4 guy so we can have everyone working at the same time. Will the control 4 app (and the control 4 touchscreens) if they are inside my house but on a different vlan from the main c4 controller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twmoonly Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 The app is ok, you may have to put the direct static ip address on the controller in it instead of discovering it. Why would the touchscreens be on a different vlan then the controller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGLI Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 Touchscreens are on WiFi, everything else is hardwired. Not sure if there is a way to do a vlan that traverses wifi and wired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twmoonly Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Have you IT person create a hidden wifi network just for C4 gear that is on the C4 VLAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 make sure you have multicast support enabled - https://www.sonicwall.com/en-us/support/knowledge-base/170505657227589 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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