Chowmain - Clipsal C-Bus Lighting Driver

[alanchow]

Overview

Chowmain is proud to announce the launch of the Chowmain Clipsal C-Bus driver for Control4. Elevate your home automation experience with the perfect synergy of Clipsal C-Bus and Control4. At Chowmain, we understand the importance of a seamless, efficient smart home setup. That's why we're proud to offer our cutting-edge integration features for Clipsal C-Bus.

Clipsal C-Bus is an industry-leading home automation system, highly regarded for its sophistication and adaptability. Widely deployed in the Australian market, C-Bus excels in intelligent lighting control, enabling users to personalize and automate their lighting environments for comfort and energy efficiency. What sets C-Bus apart is its exceptional integration capability, effortlessly working with a range of home automation systems, including Control4.

Driver Features

• Auto Setup (discover, add, and configure group addresses attached to CBus output units into Control4) Note Additional Auto Setup features with a Network Automation Controller (NAC).
• Auto Renaming (via tag maps if a Network Automation Controller (NAC) is present).
• Secondary application monitoring (Receive Group Address Level feedback from a secondary custom application).
• Automatic Date and Time sync from Control4 controller.
• Efficient handling of lighting commands which results in a much quicker response time.
• Efficient execution of Control4 Advanced Lighting Scenes which drastically minimises the noticeable popcorn effect.
• Internal notification of bus power recovery. Keeps interface settings correct and output group levels in sync.

Drivers included

• Gateway (PC Interface, CNI, or NAC. Note If using a NAC, enable CNI functionality in settings)
• CBus Light (Dimmer or Relay)
• CBus Blind
• CBus Fan
• CBus Scene (Trigger support)
• CBus DLT (Label changing)
• CBus Color (RGB and CCT support)
• CBus Motion Sensor
• CBus Generic

Our driver beta testers loved the driver and provided some exceptional feedback about their experience.

"I HAVE SETUP OVER 180+ PROVISIONED LOADS (RELAYS, DIMMERS, CEILING FANS AND MOTION SENSORS). AUTO SETUP WORKED GREAT. I WOULD SAY THAT ALONE SAVED 3-4 HOURS IN JOB SETUP. TESTED AN ADVANCED LIGHTING SCENE WITH ABOUT 100 LOADS IN IT AND IT PERFORMED FLAWLESSLY"

If you are utilising C-Bus and Control4 then you have to use this driver.

FAQ

What's the minimum Control4 OS requirement?

• OS 3.4.0+. Earlier Control4 OS Versions are not officially supported.

What hardware will this work on?

• Clipsal PC Interface (PCI)
• Clipsal Network Interface (CNI)
• Clipsal Network Automation Controller (5500NAC) - with CNI functionality enabled.

What makes this driver exciting?

• Save configuration and commissioning time with Auto Setup.
• Easily switch between a dimmable or switched light in the CBus Light driver.
• Quick execution of Control4 Advanced Lighting Scenes minimizing a visual "popcorn" effect.
• Level feedback from CBus. (Main and Secondary Applications)
• Keep Control4 UI in sync with CBus level changes.
• Additional device type support e.g. Color lights, motion sensor etc.

Do you offer any other cool drivers?

Control4 is a major part of our business. We develop new drivers all the time. You can see all of our drivers on our website (http://www.chowmainsoft.com). Sign up to our newsletter to get notified when new drivers out.

I want to try this driver out before buying it?

All Chowmain drivers for Control4 come with a 90 day trial.

Where can i find out more?

You can find out more about the driver from the following link.

Driver Product Page

[Greenline]

Hi Allen 

I've setup this driver this afternoon . 
im having issues with the control 4 light levels not correlating to the cbus.

I've checked levels. When cbus is 13 , C4 shows as 3 

any help would be much appreciated 

[hank31980]

Hi there, I am definitely interested in this driver, as I have a couple of customers with Clipsal C-Bus lighting systems, who also have Control4 systems, but not yet hooked up.

I have purchased a Clipsal PCI, but it has a USB port and I wonder if I should have bought the one with a 9 pin D-type serial connector as I’m not sure how to link the USB port of the PCI to a Control4 controller.

can you help on this hardware question?

hank31980

[alanchow]

5 hours ago, hank31980 said:

Hi there, I am definitely interested in this driver, as I have a couple of customers with Clipsal C-Bus lighting systems, who also have Control4 systems, but not yet hooked up.

I have purchased a Clipsal PCI, but it has a USB port and I wonder if I should have bought the one with a 9 pin D-type serial connector as I’m not sure how to link the USB port of the PCI to a Control4 controller.

can you help on this hardware question?

hank31980

You cannot connect the USB port to Control4.

Hardware requirements listed here.

https://chowmain.software/drivers/control4-cbus#faq

Note we recommend utilising the Clipsal Network Automation Controller (5500NAC) if possible as that will provide the best experience.  After that Clipsal Network Interface (CNI) is our recommendation.  Both of these are ethernet based.

[hank31980]

I get that, but with the PCI I have currently (5500PCU), I wonder if there is a way to convert the USB port it has, to a Serial Port.

Maybe I’ll try the CBUS forums for advice.

thanks for reply anyway.

[alanchow]

17 hours ago, hank31980 said:

I get that, but with the PCI I have currently (5500PCU), I wonder if there is a way to convert the USB port it has, to a Serial Port.

Maybe I’ll try the CBUS forums for advice.

thanks for reply anyway.

You won't be able to do that.  You should keep using the USB PC Interface for programming of C-Bus systems however you won't be able to use it for integration.