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Backlighting on Keypads/Dimmers/Switches


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Been adding some engraved covers and I notice two units next to each other (in multiple locations) are showing different lighting patterns.  I've read some older posts about potential light bleed and you need a marker to mark up the top of the ambient light sensor or something?  Is that still the case?

When the engravings were delivered on the plastic holder thing there were ambient sensors that looked much darker than the original ones that have been up for years at my house.  Are these newer and I should be using them instead?  I checked composer HE for the settings and I even picked one I liked and knew was working in the bank of 3 and did "apply to all" for the other 2 devices in that 3 gang box but that did not work

 

 

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Going for another shameless bump - @RyanE or @Derrick Cain - anyone have any ideas or feedback?  Every single multi gang set up in my house is off.  I can pick a setting on 1 device, apply it to the others in the gang box and they are still way off.

I just want a nice solid white background at all times (bright or dark environment) - what is the best set up to get this consistently across the board?

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Hey Eggz,  PM sent.  There are two different sensor bars available.  We just need to get you the same ones for your KP's and dimmers.  The black ones have a smaller light pipe, allowing less ambient light in.  Helpful in some situations, and not usually helpful when they're mixed and matched.

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47 minutes ago, Derrick Cain said:

Hey Eggz,  PM sent.  There are two different sensor bars available.  We just need to get you the same ones for your KP's and dimmers.  The black ones have a smaller light pipe, allowing less ambient light in.  Helpful in some situations, and not usually helpful when they're mixed and matched.

thanks for the PM and the reply.  The keycaps did come with the black sensor bar.  I was not sure if that was just a plastic place holder or something to consider using.  I'll try to swap out the clear and add the black sensor bars to 1-2 locations and test to see if it makes the lighting more consistent in each bank.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/8/2019 at 12:38 PM, Derrick Cain said:

Hey Eggz,  PM sent.  There are two different sensor bars available.  We just need to get you the same ones for your KP's and dimmers.  The black ones have a smaller light pipe, allowing less ambient light in.  Helpful in some situations, and not usually helpful when they're mixed and matched.

HI Derrick 

I reached out via email and PM and its been a week and no reply.  I am testing a dimmer and a keypad dimmer in a 2 gang box set up.  I put on the black ambient sensors.  It’s still miserablely not balanced, even when I “apply to” the settings so they should be identical.  This is for every single multi gang set up in my house which is likely close to 8-10 spots if not more.  This is very ugly, its a headache, and it was very costly for the hardware and the engravings.  

What are other people doing?  I’ve tried other colors other than white with no luck.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone have a response?  Is there someone I can call at C4?  @Derrick Cain has not followed up after his first email to me which merely suggested I try the black sensor bar, which I told him upon reply that  I tried it and did he have other suggestions.

I have a hard time believing I am the only person with 2+ C4 light switches/keypads/dimmers next to each other that get widely different ambient readings.  Even when I adjust in the settings the colors are just outright different.  I can pick white or the same stock blue or whatever and they are just different side by side.

Its utter rubbish and sad to say - I just renovated my house and had a few guests come over the last few weeks.  Each and everyone pointed it out to me - they know I’m a techie and they almost thought I had them at different colors for a reason!!  Yes it is that noticeable.  Hey why is that one green and the other white - is it supposed to be telling you something?  I kid you not.  Because EVERY SINGLE multi device set u is the same - unmatched and ugly.  Great selling point for $150-$250 light switches/keypads/dimmers.

Out of the $10,000’s I’ve spent on C4, and most on here know I like the product, this lighting has been the biggest waste of money.  Before I went engravings I used to rave about their functions which are still good.  But if someone wanted something with engraving I’d steer them to another product with or without c4 integration.

Pathetic.

Rant over.

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  • 2 weeks later...

6 weeks now and other than the 1 response telling me to use the black sensor bar (which I did) and nothing else - this is really poor support.  Everyone is pointing the finger at someone else.  @Derrick Cain - would it be possible to talk off the forum re: this persistent and annoying issue?

Seriously - on this entire forum not 1 dealer or end user has at least 2 switches/dimmers/keypads next to each with engravings who use LEDs?  Is my use case that rare?  I am using the features they sell - get our $200 dimmer vs the $50 big box store zwave dimmer because we have custom engravings and backlighting.  Great, sold by the dozens to me, and now when they are not performing, crickets....

No wonder I have zero interest to upgrade HC800/HC250 and 4 touchscreens so I can get on the latest OS....Bugs with the MyQ driver and the driver writer and C4 point the fingers at each other ($200 driver) but they tell me just upgrade to OS 3 and it will work - why did it not work on 2.10.x for starters??!??   Why would I spend $1,000s more to hope it works when it should have worked on the current platform from the start?  engravings/lighting not working properly. after spending $1,000's on the hardware and engravings and installation costs....

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I've dealt with this issue for the 4 years I've lived in my home since I built it, and I took it as it was just part of the engraving process. I figured some were engraved better than others, and just dealt with it. I'd love to hear if there is an actual resolution to this, because I'd love for all of our light switches/engravings match.

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4 minutes ago, konieczn said:

I've dealt with this issue for the 4 years I've lived in my home since I built it, and I took it as it was just part of the engraving process. I figured some were engraved better than others, and just dealt with it. I'd love to hear if there is an actual resolution to this, because I'd love for all of our light switches/engravings match.

thanks for chiming in.  I had these engravings all done on the same order to minimize changes in the engraving process.  

For now my only solution is to not use the backlighting which is fine during the day but awful/worthless at night.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/13/2019 at 12:51 PM, eggzlot said:

6 weeks now and other than the 1 response telling me to use the black sensor bar (which I did) and nothing else - this is really poor support.  Everyone is pointing the finger at someone else.  @Derrick Cain - would it be possible to talk off the forum re: this persistent and annoying issue?

Seriously - on this entire forum not 1 dealer or end user has at least 2 switches/dimmers/keypads next to each with engravings who use LEDs?  Is my use case that rare?  I am using the features they sell - get our $200 dimmer vs the $50 big box store zwave dimmer because we have custom engravings and backlighting.  Great, sold by the dozens to me, and now when they are not performing, crickets....

No wonder I have zero interest to upgrade HC800/HC250 and 4 touchscreens so I can get on the latest OS....Bugs with the MyQ driver and the driver writer and C4 point the fingers at each other ($200 driver) but they tell me just upgrade to OS 3 and it will work - why did it not work on 2.10.x for starters??!??   Why would I spend $1,000s more to hope it works when it should have worked on the current platform from the start?  engravings/lighting not working properly. after spending $1,000's on the hardware and engravings and installation costs....

Looks like you just need to upgrade your hardware. Swap all the lights for the new generation and everything should work properly

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15 minutes ago, digitaltrader said:

Looks like you just need to upgrade your hardware. Swap all the lights for the new generation and everything should work properly

I have the latest generation lights and latest round of engraving as well

not the answer 

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So - this is concerning. In my new house I was planning to engrave everything, but this would drive me INSANE. Looks like I'll save my money, unless someone can post of something that works to solve the problem.

My wife would very much appreciate the engraving/labels, but sounds like I'll just need to stick to labels (which sucks).

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On 6/28/2019 at 4:39 PM, South Africa C4 user said:

I’ve got the same issue in my new beach house... fortunately only 3 keypads are affected out of 100 plus.  So my dealer should be able to fix this...

Please share the results. This is not an issue with single gang boxes, obviously. 

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  • 1 year later...
8 hours ago, Jakelay said:

Sorry to dig up an old thread but getting lighting installed right now and trying to figure out colors, etc for the LEDs and came upon this, and @eggzlot other thread.

Did this ever get resolved?

Any suggestions for settings to avoid this issue?

Thanks!

I didn’t get it resolved 

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36 minutes ago, Jakelay said:

Ugh, sorry.

Did you ever figure out any settings to minimize the issue?

Yes I did - its called OFF (well 85% of the time at least)

I have zero backlighting during the day - we wanted to use white, but had to nix it and yes we tried a few other colors too.  when my alarm is set to armed I have a red backlight but only in 3-4 areas - by the dimmers/bank of dimmers by each exit door (Front door, patio door, garage door exit), the main keypad (thankfully which is solo, not a bank) in the bedrooms.  The idea was to do this throughout the entire house  This way if people are sleeping and wake up they know the alarm is on. and if we stumble in our sleep to a door to take the dog out for a walk early in the AM we can see the red backlighting as a hopeful reminder the alarm is on.  That said in the kitchen and front door area we have a bank of 3 keypads/dimmers in each, and it looks awful when the backlighting is up.  very uneven.  even with the black bars provided.  This comes up every so often in threads and I have yet to see a resolution by physical manipulation or programming.

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