Anyone use Ubiquiti new amplifi alien kit with Control4

[cocitagilbert1]

Hi, I have had a heck of a time getting a good Control4 dealer to set up my system properly. Every time I switch to a new dealer they sell me all new equipment and again... the system is not stable! It is driving me crazy! I am almost ready to take a networking class to learn it myself. I don’t need help with Control4 as much as I need a STABLE internet.

so I have had luxul, pakedge, araknis and I have just about had it! 
 

the last guys told me to ditch the luxul and they put in the pakedge router and switch in then installed 5 ubiquiti AP lite with cloud key in my 5,500 square foot house that is 2 stories. 
 

internet drops constantly! I got so sick of paying $300 for service calls that I just added a few Apple Time capsules that I had. Yes I know Apple is junk but at least I was able to get into the programming and get the system to work a little better. Well it just extends the range but the internet still constantly drops.

can someone recommend a good solution to my issue? I am willing to pay someone to design a system for me and program it remotely. I have pretty good knowledge of systems and wiring but I need a lot of help as far as what products will work best for my application.

I have an older home so it has CAT5 wired into all rooms. I just upgraded our cable modem to the Motorola  Docsis 3.1 and we have the Pakedge RK-1 and the pakedge SE-18 switch

we have a Control4 Ea-1 in the family room and a HC-1000 in our theater and an HC-250 in our Master bedroom. Our dealer was supposed to install our old HC-1000 in the master bedroom when we upgraded to the EA-1 but that never happened.

My dealer also sold me 2 Hikvision cameras with 8 channel NVR and I asked to add a few more cameras they said they no longer support Hikvision so I need to buy a brand new system and they recommend Luma. I bought this system just a little over a year ago! We have 2 ring video doorbells. 1 for the front door and 1 for the motor court yard door. Is there a way to integrate ring with Control4?

Our main issue is the internet constantly drops. We have WAPs in many rooms but it is as if they don’t send signals or something. The last time I called my dealer they said that this is happening to all of their customers that have Pakedge and Uniquiti AP’s so now they want to sell me the new Arakins router, switch and WAPs they said it will be much more stable. I am not willing to spend all of that money again on a new setup right after they sold this one to me 1 year ago.

can someone help point me in the right direction?

I was looking at getting rid of the pakedge switch and getting the ubiquity Unifi 24 POE 250w switch and the unifi security gateway and upgrade my ubiquiti AC-Lite access points to 6 unifi HD PRO access points.... would you recommend switching the Pakedge router? 

I can’t even get into my router because my dealer didn’t give me the user name or passwords. I can get in by typing the up address but it doesn’t help me for the user name and passwords.

thoughts or suggestions?

 

thank you in advance

[Elvis]

I don't have the definitive answer. I basically left my local dealer because of similar issues and went with guys here on the forum to do things remotely. However, I did not use them for my home network because I think that is too difficult to do remotely (you're going to do 90% of the work anyway). Actually, I should clarify that I got a ton of help with my network and a lot of education from the guys here -- but I did the work, sometimes with specific guidance from the guys here.

In my previous home, I went from a new Apple Time Capsule to Luxul. Luxul was the network du jour for C4 at the time. It was a complete pain to manage so I finally sold it all and went with a Unifi.(Not to mention it was noisy as hell and my AV rack was in my office.) I got the USG, Cloudkey, 8 Port POE switch, 24 port switch and 2 AC-Pro APs. I leaned heavily on UBNT support and older version of the Youtube link below (don't know if the 2019 version is as good, but I learned a lot from the guy's channel.)

I also used NetAnalyzer to look for interference and dead spots. I had a 4400 sq ft single level home at the time, and 2 AC-Pro's were more than enough. I mounted them with clear view of the main lawn and backyard -- we had access on probably 4--5 acres and indoor access was rock solid. So that gave us great wired and wireless access. All of my C4 equipment, streamers, AVRs, everything was always wired anyway, so it did not really change Control4 issues. It took away the typical excuse, though, and that helped me more than anything in the long run.

For your "dropping" Internet, this sounds like a coverage and/or interference issue. Either that our your ISPs router is messed up.

Good luck and "I feel your pain."

 

 

[mujtaba.khokhar]

Hi 

let me read through your post and i will advise you on what to do. 

Looks like your dealer or dealers were just trying to con you for money for the best part of it.

[mujtaba.khokhar]

Personally I don’t think you need to spend any more money on network hardware its just a case of getting it all set up properly first. 

Firstly Package have a deal with control4, basically Package + Control4 is supposed to just work. I would stick with the Pakedge equipment you have and work with that. However Ubiquiti is on the ban list with Control4, but sometimes it does work, but its not recommended, its mainly the switches as they don’t support multicast traffic very well as Control4 relies on this for their stuff to work properly. 

Also an EA1 is supposed to be for a single room use not multi room, well to be honest it really depends on the size of your system.... 

In regards to access points it sounds like you have a lot going on… if you cant get into any of the UniFi access points I would reset them and the cloud key too. By adding in the apple time capsules you’ve just made your wifi situation more crowded so access points are fighting for space in the same channel spectrum and there is likely a lot of overlap between access points. 

Your packaged router should be more than sufficient for your needs. 

The HC 1000 is discontinued so if you were to go to OS3 you would have to replace it or get rid of it. what is the HC 1000 doing?

There is no lack of support with Hikvison and Control4, sounds more like its not set up properly and your dealer was trying to make more money from by just selling you gear. 

The ring video doorbell does integrate, from what I remember its just for a doorbell notification (doorbell sound from ceiling speakers when the button is pressed) but I will do some digging and see if this has changed. 

In terms of getting in, you have 2 options 

1. Ask your dealer for the passwords, technically they should give them to you as you have paid for the equipment etc 

2. Factory reset everything and I can help you set it all up again. 

What would help is a floor plan of your house, and where each access point is located and any other details you could provide. 

by all means PM me and I can go through and tell you what to do. 

Also what other control4 equipment do you have? Do you have video distribution? Ceiling speakers? Lighting? HVAC? Security? Irrigation? Gate control?

Thanks 

M

[Christian87n]

On 4/21/2020 at 3:54 PM, Elvis said:

I don't have the definitive answer. I basically left my local dealer because of similar issues and went with guys here on the forum to do things remotely. However, I did not use them for my home network because I think that is too difficult to do remotely (you're going to do 90% of the work anyway). Actually, I should clarify that I got a ton of help with my network and a lot of education from the guys here -- but I did the work, sometimes with specific guidance from the guys here.

In my previous home, I went from a new Apple Time Capsule to Luxul. Luxul was the network du jour for C4 at the time. It was a complete pain to manage so I finally sold it all and went with a Unifi.(Not to mention it was noisy as hell and my AV rack was in my office.) I got the USG, Cloudkey, 8 Port POE switch, 24 port switch and 2 AC-Pro APs. I leaned heavily on UBNT support and older version of the Youtube link below (don't know if the 2019 version is as good, but I learned a lot from the guy's channel.)

I also used NetAnalyzer to look for interference and dead spots. I had a 4400 sq ft single level home at the time, and 2 AC-Pro's were more than enough. I mounted them with clear view of the main lawn and backyard -- we had access on probably 4--5 acres and indoor access was rock solid. So that gave us great wired and wireless access. All of my C4 equipment, streamers, AVRs, everything was always wired anyway, so it did not really change Control4 issues. It took away the typical excuse, though, and that helped me more than anything in the long run.

For your "dropping" Internet, this sounds like a coverage and/or interference issue. Either that our your ISPs router is messed up.

Good luck and "I feel your pain."

 

 

Your unifi setup is very similar to mine and I watched the same videos as you. How do you have your C4 equipment configured within the unifi system? Do you give it full access or under an IoT network? I’m planning on using my C4 for my DSC alarm so it has me wondering lately. 

[Elvis]

3 minutes ago, Christian87n said:

How do you have your C4 equipment configured within the unifi system? Do you give it full access or under an IoT network?

I don't have anything "configured" -- so I guess full access. The default settings for everything. I do have wireless channels deconflicted with the neighbors now that I live in a neighborhood instead of the country.