zaphod

Could be. But other than gobbling up batteries they work fine.

I have some older SR-250s that I use in rooms that get less use. Some of them have batteries that last forever if they aren't used very often, but I have a couple where the batteries only last 2-3 weeks, even if the remote is only used once or twice per week. Anyone else seen this? Any setting to adjust to solve the issue?

TCL Roku TVs would work very well in C4 with IP. I have a few Roku TVs of different brands.

I realize that, but DMX becomes more cost effective when you are doing that much distance. Some of these brands like Hue and Wiz sell you a 2m light strip and then have 1m extensions. They are not at all well suited where you want to do the perimeter of your room, Or toekicks all around your kitchen.

How many meters of strips do you have in your basement?

Do you need both the controller and the zone drivers? The one you linked to and this one? https://annex4.link/drivers/hydrawise-hc-zone

C4 integration would be nice, but not crucial as was discussed above in this thread. Is the driver free or do you have to pay for it?

Probably because with DMX it is possible to put all sorts of lights/devices on the system. With Wiz you are limited to their product line. And the Wiz stuff looks pretty expensive. A basic 5050 LED light strip is about $10 for 5m/16 feet. You could attach these to DMX controllers and do whatever you want.

How do you find the smart capabilities of the Rachio, or do you even use that? And do you know if you can connect a Hunter rain sensor to a Rachio? Or do you even need that?

It is about a year and a half since this thread. I still am using my Irrigation Caddy but would like to replace it. My Irrigation Service guy is a Hunter dealer so I could use a Hunter Controller. Does anyone know if the Hunger software has improved at all? Hunter is easiest for me since he is familiar with the app so he could easily control my system when he comes to turn it on in the spring and to blow it out in the autumn. Do either Rachio or Hunter controllers have an ethernet port in addition to Wifi? I could easily run a cable to the location of my controller. Is it pretty easy to switch over to a new controller? I have to think it is just a case of changing wires from the Common and each zone to the new controller, is it not?

@Andrew luecke You guys have done drivers for several of the different options for LED lights, strips, etc. Do you have a view on the merits of the various systems? Any reason to believe that one manufacturer is better than any others in terms of stability of API/Control4 driver? It would be really nice if we could come up with a standard where the API is the same for all of these systems where the basic controls like on, off, toggle, set_color, get_status, etc use the same API commands.

Or even for commands. Why can't they all have the same REST API so that you turn it on with http://192.168.1.150/commands?cmnd=on and you get status with http://192.168.1.150/commands?cmnd=Status

IMO it is so annoying that these manufacturers don't put smart capabilities into their products. How hard/expensive is it to put a Shelly or similar device into the fireplace control unit? The increase in variable cost is pretty tiny.

How do you integrate these into C4 - the Chowmain Shelly driver?

I am thinking more other Zigbee devices, like sensors, relays, etc. Sonoff has a bunch of Zigbee stuff as well. It would be nice to use that directly in C4.

Agreed, but it is (I think) US$75 for the driver. I am not begrudging the fact that the developer gets paid as they have to spend time writing the driver. But it would be nice to not have to pay that overhead. And if I decide to buy a Sonoff plug or power switch for some reason then that is another $75. Or if I want to try a Govee LED strip there is another $75. And I have to have a dealer installer the driver.

Agreed, and this is why I am still a fan of the SR-260 remotes. I don't know what HA supports in terms of remotes. But I do like the fact that I can add a new smart outlet switch by myself in two minutes without having to buy a driver.

But then I might start to like HA too much! I am starting to really like the flexibility of HA. If I were to start over and really knew the pros and cons of various systems I would probably go with HA.

That doesn't help if there is a longish distance from the heater to the faucet. Even before I switched away from a tank as it took a while for the hot water to travel from the furnace room in my basement to my second floor Master Bedroom ensuite bathroom. With the on-demand it takes even longer. So I would like to have the hot water faucet run for 60 seconds or so as part of my C4 wake up routine.

That wouldn't work with in my instance since I have an on-demand heater. In my case it would be nice to just run a faucet in my Master Bedroom ensuite for one minute or so as part of my WakeUp routine. Right now I manually turn on the tap and let it run while I have my morning wizz. As an interesting aside, I guess the definition of "older house" depends on where you live. I am in the city of Toronto and my house originally dates from the 1950s, but I don't consider that an older house. It is the newest house of the three that I have owned, and is younger than the homes that I live in growing up. To me an older house was built in the 19th century or pre WWI.

I will do wild ass speculation on three outcomes: Status quo - proprietary Zigbee. Ability for C4 to support third party Zigbee, but C4 devices are not supported by "Open Zigbee" or whatever it is called. C4 Zigbee devices can now be controlled by third party systems Fully open which is 2+3

How does this work? And where is the pump - at the point of use, or by the water heater?

So I am the OP. I asked this question because I have seen the issue alluded to - I believe both in these forums (although I could be wrong) and on reddit. I am interested because I may be buying hardware in the near future, which could include stuff like Wifi or Zigbee relays or sensors - maybe stuff from Shelly, Sonoff, etc. And it would be nice if there was a chance that this stuff would work directly with C4. But for now I will have to use a third party hub and perhaps use something like Home Assistant connected to Control4. I could buy something like a Z2IO but it is very expensive for the functionality. I don't know what the current price of a Z2IO is, but I have a 2020 pricelist where it is $180.

Having both available would make the transition easier.

I have seen a couple of mentions that in the near future Control4 will be switching away from its proprietary version of Zigbee to Zigbee 3. I believe that one ramification of this is that third party Zigbee products should now work in Control4. Which would be great news. Can someone explain this in more detail, including the upgrade process? Will this be like the Embernet - > Zigbee upgrade where all devices, like dimmers and keypads, need to be updated. Will this mean that some hardware will have to be retired?