Using multiple Controllers

[ILoveControl]

Hi all,

I think this might have been covered searched and didn't find the thread I thought was around this, so asking again.

I have 3 controllers x2 EA5's and x1 HC800 in my main house setup. When the main controller (EA5 running as the coordinator) goes down for whatever reason, the house becomes useless. Looking at my good old technical days we use to have HA and DR  It is most probably something wrong with my config, is there a way to make the system more resilient. So when the main EA5 goes down the second EA5 kicks in so the house can still work?

What do I mean by work:

When the main EA5 is down:

1. The keypad button's don't function
2. The T3's all go spastic and don't function

Etc.

Would appreciate the advise. Maybe one note, the main EA5 is in my server room which is a walk in vault with a thick steel door. The other EA5 is two stories up and about two thick concrete slabs up. I put the second EA5 there as for some reason the zigbee connectivity wasn't great even tough there are plenty of switches (lights etc) from the server room all the way around the house (did this to make sure the mesh was well covered).

 

To me this all seems like a config issue on my part but don't know where to start looking and where to try and fix it. Would appreciate the guidance. 

[sonic30101]

Only 1 runs the director service. No way for a failsafe to switch to another controller within the project as of now. I have tried pointing 2 separate directors at an audio matrix for testing purposes. That part works to control the matrix but the touch panels are a 1 to 1 as well as the slave controllers on screen there is probably more. I gave up interest after seeing it is not viable.

[-defunct-]

Best thing you can do is get a battery backup or anything else that allows your primary controller to stay online.

[South Africa C4 user]

UPS and a CA10 is a redundant as you can get...

[ILoveControl]

So my house runs on full solar with battery backup for 24 hrs (utility if there isn't enough power), for me its more about other scenarios. However I do see there isn’t much options one can go for. 
 

Thought it was my config somehow disappointing it doesn’t have this built in

Thank you for all the replies

[Cyknight]

Simply put: NO you cannot have a secondary controller as a fail-over device.

The ONLY work-around option for redundancy is to have a separate controller (should be of the same type) that has a copy of the project on it, with this second controller ID'd in place of the 'main' controller. That allows you to have one of the two on at a time and control the system (to some degree, as the second controller won't be registered, it won't allow remote access or app control).

 

The next trick is getting one to power up if the other goes down. You'd have to accomplish this logic OUTSIDE of control4 with a sensor/relay setup. This can be done, tie a sensor 12v output to a SPDT relay that controls a 120v relay in turn that's SDTP and either provides power to one or the other controller.

 

It's POSSIBLE, but it's finicky at best, plus you have to make sure the projects are identical.

 

You can even take it a step further, and have the two controlelrs on two accounts (with 4sight et al) and you'd even retain app control and more.

 

It's just so much cheaper and easier to get a heavy-duty UPS, maybe even slap a CA-10 up top.

[Matt Lowe]

On 10/26/2019 at 3:27 AM, ILoveControl said:

Hi all,

I think this might have been covered searched and didn't find the thread I thought was around this, so asking again.

I have 3 controllers x2 EA5's and x1 HC800 in my main house setup. When the main controller (EA5 running as the coordinator) goes down for whatever reason, the house becomes useless. Looking at my good old technical days we use to have HA and DR  It is most probably something wrong with my config, is there a way to make the system more resilient. So when the main EA5 goes down the second EA5 kicks in so the house can still work?

What do I mean by work:

When the main EA5 is down:

1. The keypad button's don't function
2. The T3's all go spastic and don't function

Etc.

Would appreciate the advise. Maybe one note, the main EA5 is in my server room which is a walk in vault with a thick steel door. The other EA5 is two stories up and about two thick concrete slabs up. I put the second EA5 there as for some reason the zigbee connectivity wasn't great even tough there are plenty of switches (lights etc) from the server room all the way around the house (did this to make sure the mesh was well covered).

 

To me this all seems like a config issue on my part but don't know where to start looking and where to try and fix it. Would appreciate the guidance. 

the better question is what is causing your EA5 to go offline? In 3 years the only things to crash my controller was my own mistake to have caused a loop in programming.  Knock on wood we have had zero hardware failures on EA controllers to date.

 

[msgreenf]

the better question is what is causing your EA5 to go offline? In 3 years the only things to crash my controller was my own mistake to have caused a loop in programming.  Knock on wood we have had zero hardware failures on EA controllers to date.
 

Yup. Only reboots have been updates and 1 power outage