Marsh Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice. My wife and I purchased our newly built house in 2016 with a control4 system already installed. The system only controls the lighting and the built-in audio speakers in each room. Within six months we gave up on the audio part of the system, high subscription fees, random faults with the app and poor sound quality meant we just did not use it. This left the control4 system is only being used for our lighting. And I have to be honest it is terrible. Every year the system costs us £500 to £2000 to fix basic faults. The most common being the light switches not working after a power cut. Each time we try all resets and reboots recommended to get the switch lights to work. But each time we’ve ended up needing to call out our dealer, and that has sent costs rocketing. We’re now on our third dealer in eight years and I've really had enough with it. I understand that we have an older system, the app is OS2, but surely the most basic of functions, turning your home's lights on and off, should not cause this much stress and cost. I also understand that it would cost thousands to rip out the whole system and replace it with ‘normal’ high voltage light switches, that work. So I'm asking for advice on how we can replace or fix our control4 lighting with a reliable system that I won't have to spend thousands fixing every year. All advice is gratefully received. Thank you. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C4 User Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 I wish you had turned to this forum years ago, and long before you grew so frustrated. I am a long time user of C4, not a dealer, but I can say that I have not experienced any ongoing issue with my systems (multiple houses going back to 2008) and I have lighting, sound, camera’s, AV, security, blinds, etc. I would suggest you give one of the dealers on this forum a chance to address your issues before spending the funds to remove or replace it. South Africa C4 user, msgreenf and BY96 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew luecke Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 Are you using a generator? Lighting problems really aren't that common honestly. Most of the time I see them, it's even caused by the lights themselves exceeding the max wattage or other problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew luecke Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 Also, not sure what you mean by subscription? Control4 doesn't require a subscription in your case unless you want Intercom anywhere, or When/then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 Rare to have issues in general, and as mentioned, it usually involves a problem that ISN'T Control4 lighting device itself, but a wiring or load issue. In the end, if you want to replace C4 central lighting with a stand-alone system, the most common choice is Lutron Homeworks. Yes it'll cost a lot, but should be cheaper than a house rewire to 'normal' switches. Have you at any point in time reached out to Control4 itself through their customer advocacy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 2 hours ago, Marsh said: So I'm asking for advice on how we can replace or fix our control4 lighting with a reliable system that I won't have to spend thousands fixing every year. Do you want automated lighting or would you prefer regular switches? How many switches are Control4 switches and if they are not control4 switches do you know what they are? Can you take a picture of your equipment rack where the system that controls the sound and lighting is located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 What specific issues are you experiencing? Very likely that some the issues will cause future lighting system to have the same result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 Thank you for all the feedback. I'll try to address the questions. First up, no we don't use a generator. We have regular mains electricity in London, UK. The most common issue we suffer from is the control4 light switches not working after any sort of power cut. These can are not very in common in London, maybe a couple of seconds once a year. But it normally leads to the same issue. The system reboots fine, and the app and override buttons on the unit operate the lights but all of the control4 light switches stop working. They are still receiving power but don't respond at all. I've tried multiple system reboots but this doesn't fix the issue. Our neighbours all have control4 systems, the developer adding them when building the housing development, and they have issues with their lights too. But they get light systems working again with a couple of reboots. We are not so lucky. I will try and send photos of the system and switches asap. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Something must be wrong with your (and your neighbours) setup. Control4 lighting is very reliable. I have used it in 3 houses over 15 years with almost no issues and I live in South Africa and have power outages every day. I flip between mains and solar daily and have the generator run at least once every 2 weeks. Still the lighting is perfect. I lost one keypad due to a lightning strike but that is it (from memory) in 15 years. Are you using centralised lighting or Zigbee? I wonder if you could have Zigbee conflicts if there are lots of different C4 systems in close proximity? Maybe try changing your Zigbee channel (if relevant). C4 User 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 I'll wait for the photos. It doesn't sound like they're Control4 switches. In the UK, that long ago, they could be puck or some other 'specialty' switches. RyanE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujtaba.khokhar Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Hey! we’re based in the U.K., I’ve helped many people on this forum both in person and remotely across the globe. More than willing to give you guys options on what can be done to remedy the issues you’re having and if it’s that bad we can talk about replacements. Thanks Muj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awcs33 Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 4 minutes ago, mujtaba.khokhar said: Hey! we’re based in the U.K., I’ve helped many people on this forum both in person and remotely across the globe. More than willing to give you guys options on what can be done to remedy the issues you’re having and if it’s that bad we can talk about replacements. Thanks Muj Muj, came to my house, very friendly and informative. Did not cost the earth and worked perfectly. I would recommend him definitely. RyanE, South Africa C4 user and mujtaba.khokhar 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.