home appliances with C4

[molmi]

I'm doing a market survey to understand if there are household appliances with drivers for control4 such as washing machines, dryers, refrigerators and more.

[zaphod]

https://www.control4.com/press_releases/2020/01/14/control4-smart-home-os-now-integrates-with-sub-zero-group-inc-and-genie-premium-appliance-and-garage-solutions/

[Cyknight]

The short answer is, very,very few indeed.

Not sure if there's just not enough of a market, if there is a lack of API or if the APIs are too volatile - or some combination thereof.

One of the 3rd party driver developers are going to be better at answering that. To name a few: @alanchow@Andrew luecke@Cinegration@msgreenf@Rexabyte

[ILoveControl]

Alot of the home appliances either use google/Alexa built in on in the case is seimens washing and dryer they use home connect. The API is open for use from what I understand but I haven't seen any home connect drivers 

[RAV]

For most there's little to gain.

Out of temp range for a fridge/freezer.
Reminder poke for laundry done.

[eggzlot]

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/01/22/1973705/0/en/Home-Connect-Adds-Impressive-Lineup-of-New-Devices-and-Services-Delivering-More-Ways-to-Customize-Control-and-Enjoy-Connected-Experiences.html

 

yet when you go to the home connect site I only see Crestron and URC and other non CI "platforms" so I guess that is dead in the water.

[zaphod]

2 hours ago, RAV said:

For most there's little to gain.

Out of temp range for a fridge/freezer.
Reminder poke for laundry done.

For an oven with a temperature probe it could be useful to get notifications when temperatures hit a certain range.  But having this integrated into C4 is of limited benefit.

Laundry being done is useful but if you are dropping big money on a C4 system you may not do your own laundry. 

[Cyknight]

Oh I can think of all kinds of things that would be a nice bonus, coffee machine turns on whenever a wake-up is set or at set times. Turn oven on on schedule, Smoked meat timer for smoker, alerts whenever there is any error on any appliance to name just a few off the top of my head.

 

[Time2Jet]

For an oven with a temperature probe it could be useful to get notifications when temperatures hit a certain range.  But having this integrated into C4 is of limited benefit.
Laundry being done is useful but if you are dropping big money on a C4 system you may not do your own laundry. 

lol, nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zaphod]

I have a Thermoworks wifi connected meat thermometer that I use with my smoker.  It is useful to keep an eye on things like brisket or pork shoulders that take over 12 hours.  It can be configured to trigger alarms on your phone when you hit max and min temps.

[eggzlot]

I was always shocked that one of the 3-4 bigger wireless bbq probe systems didn’t have a 3rd party driver written. 

[zaphod]

I think there is only marginal benefit to having this in C4.  It likely makes sense to just use the proprietary app.  Someone did reverse engineer an earlier version of the Thermoworks API which you can find on Github, but I don't think that works for the Signals unit that I have.  With that you could probably then adapt an existing temperature probe driver.

[RAV]

What would be useful is for Matter (as it's the best possible hope to some form of standard, not that it seems to be going anywhere soon) to transport alert broadcasts from appliances and the like.
Then the chosen front end can be setup to subscribe to those alerts and push/announce/react on them.

Alexa - "The upstairs dryer has completed it's cycle" "The Kitchen fridge door is open"  "The Grill thermometer has reached 175 degrees"
No more vendor apps, no API, no cloud, no servers. Just an agreed on LAN broadcast of an ID and a Message, conforming to a format.
I don't need to start my washer remotely, still need to put the detergent in it, but let me know when it's done, or an error.
One way communication would be cheap to implement, and a sell point and show a user benefit.

I don't need to see what's in my fridge, until you can tell me which shelf the mustard jar is hiding behind, or who ate my leftover pizza.

[msgreenf]

@RAV checkout matter 1.3 standard ... 

[therockhr]

36 minutes ago, RAV said:

What would be useful is for Matter (as it's the best possible hope to some form of standard, not that it seems to be going anywhere soon) to transport alert broadcasts from appliances and the like.
Then the chosen front end can be setup to subscribe to those alerts and push/announce/react on them.

Alexa - "The upstairs dryer has completed it's cycle" "The Kitchen fridge door is open"  "The Grill thermometer has reached 175 degrees"
No more vendor apps, no API, no cloud, no servers. Just an agreed on LAN broadcast of an ID and a Message, conforming to a format.
I don't need to start my washer remotely, still need to put the detergent in it, but let me know when it's done, or an error.
One way communication would be cheap to implement, and a sell point and show a user benefit.

I don't need to see what's in my fridge, until you can tell me which shelf the mustard jar is hiding behind, or who ate my leftover pizza.

We are still in the phase where these vendors think having their own app will set them apart. Nobody is buying a refrigerator, dish washer or wash machine because of its connected features, they are buying it for the job its supposed to do. Once they realize this then maybe they can come together and make a simple standard for external systems to use.

[RAV]

57 minutes ago, therockhr said:

We are still in the phase where these vendors think having their own app will set them apart. Nobody is buying a refrigerator, dish washer or wash machine because of its connected features, they are buying it for the job its supposed to do. Once they realize this then maybe they can come together and make a simple standard for external systems to use.

Sure, buy all Sung brand appliances in your home and have one app, I get that marketing.
But they also need to learn from the MyQ repercussions; servers cost money, apps cost money and api's cost money.

And we boomers are screaming at our kids to buy the model with knobs and buttons that click. Today's appliances are junk. (All Hail the Speed Queen!)

 

[RAV]

1 hour ago, msgreenf said:

@RAV checkout matter 1.3 standard ... 

Nice.

They've paved the road, now we just need the horse, or is it the cart, I forget which comes first.

https://www.iotinsider.com/smart-world/matter-1-3-launches-bringing-new-and-optimised-features/

[molmi]

5 hours ago, zaphod said:

I think there is only marginal benefit to having this in C4.  It likely makes sense to just use the proprietary app.  Someone did reverse engineer an earlier version of the Thermoworks API which you can find on Github, but I don't think that works for the Signals unit that I have.  With that you could probably then adapt an existing temperature probe driver.

Can I have the details of what was done?
I'm a serious BBQ enthusiast and having notifications would be very useful for how I have the home automation layout in that area.

What device did you use? can I have an amazon link?

[zaphod]

I have a Thermoworks Signals. https://www.thermoworks.com/signals/ .  It connects to your wifi network. It has four probes and you can also just use one in your smoker to read the smoker temp.  You can set min and max alarms for each probe and you it will give you a graph of your temps.  In the graph below the green probe was the smoker and the red and blue were both attached to the meat - I think this was for pulled pork that I smoked for about 14 hours.

 

Here is the API code that I was referring to, but it works with a different thermometer:  https://github.com/nhorvath/python-thermoworks-smoke

 

[Cyknight]

7 hours ago, RAV said:

until you can tell me which shelf the mustard jar is hiding behind

THIS.

That said, I just ask my wife as she seems to always have the answer for that one.

[Cyknight]

6 hours ago, RAV said:

Nice.

They've paved the road, now we just need the horse, or is it the cart, I forget which comes first.

https://www.iotinsider.com/smart-world/matter-1-3-launches-bringing-new-and-optimised-features/

I'd say they've (re)invented the wheel. Now we just need axles, then a cart and a horse. And maybe one day we'll get a paved road and even suspension as well.

[cnicholson]

I’ve done a couple of silly things using Chowmain IFTTT driver with smart appliances (that also have IFTTT integration).  For example, when I hit my “I just woke up and am about to go downstairs” button, among various other things, it turns on my Thermador coffee maker.  When my GE Cafe oven finishes pre-heating, I get a voice alert that oven is at desired temp.  None of it seems very robust or consistent, but this kind of thing is possible— but more for “fun” versus something you can rely on.

[molmi]

On 5/15/2024 at 12:33 AM, zaphod said:

I have a Thermoworks Signals. https://www.thermoworks.com/signals/ .  It connects to your wifi network. It has four probes and you can also just use one in your smoker to read the smoker temp.  You can set min and max alarms for each probe and you it will give you a graph of your temps.  In the graph below the green probe was the smoker and the red and blue were both attached to the meat - I think this was for pulled pork that I smoked for about 14 hours.

 

Here is the API code that I was referring to, but it works with a different thermometer:  https://github.com/nhorvath/python-thermoworks-smoke

 

Hi i not understaind how you have link this device with control4 with github driver, can you write me a instruction for do it i'am very interesting.

The concept is clear and very wonderfoul.

 

[zaphod]

This device is NOT linked with Control4 or the github driver.  That is just an example of how it could be done if someone wanted to write a driver to do so. 

But the benefit of doing that is pretty small.  Why not just use the Thermoworks app to send a notification to your phone when a temperature level is hit.  Do you want to spend a few hundred dollars on a driver for the benefit of having it integrated into Control4?

[eggzlot]

8 hours ago, zaphod said:

This device is NOT linked with Control4 or the github driver.  That is just an example of how it could be done if someone wanted to write a driver to do so. 

But the benefit of doing that is pretty small.  Why not just use the Thermoworks app to send a notification to your phone when a temperature level is hit.  Do you want to spend a few hundred dollars on a driver for the benefit of having it integrated into Control4?

Audio announcement or a note to pop up on the TV would be nice.  Unlike others especially if I’m hosting I may not hear an app but music is always on so I’d hear a break.