AK1

it's really not a legitimate comparison at all to compare C-BUS and Control4. It would be like trying to compare Lutron and Control4 in North America as whole-home automation platforms. It's ben a while since I have looked at C-BUS and Control4 integration, but a "C-BUS" search at https://drivers.control4.com/solr/drivers/browse? shows contemporary drivers for lighting, shades etc. I think this is purely a lighting decision - not a Control4 vs C-BUS decision. if you decide you want C-BUS for lighting / keypads like so many Aussies, then integrate with Control4. If the Control4 lighting is acceptable to you, you will save integration time and money.

CBUS seems to have a strong following in Australia. It is a very good lighting / keypad solution. However, as a whole home automation system with your outcomes in mind, it won't come remotely close to what you want to achieve. If you are enamoured with CBUs as a lighting / keypad platform, then you could always integrate that aspect of it into a whole-home Control4 solution.

I have a customer who experiences an Alexa / Control4 outage consistently around 930pm EST

Thanks guys, Dave and I work very hard at this and take your trust seriously.

Hi @MOBOTIX do you have setup documentation for these drivers you can post here?

Thanks, @vstar the referrals are always appreciated.

John, I think the point is that the marketplace perceive these as shortcomings in design and implementation, not as misinterpretations of intended purpose.

John, can you please clarify the your comment below.

This problem is going to need log file review.

How long do these outages go on for? When system comes back online does it then issue any backed up commands? Are they at predictable intervals or random?

I would do it in a shell script - perhaps I am too old school

Hmm, I can't think of a way to do this from C4 itself - although it wouldn't surprise me if tech support or development at Contol4 has an undocumented capability in this area. Could you use the TCP driver to send a TCP or HTTP message to your Mac which in turn executes the SSH? You'll of cpurse need a program or web server running on your Mac to receive the command and act accordingly.

Thanks, can you explain why it must be run from a C4 controller which is essentially just a Linux box. You could certainly run this programatically from the Linux side of things e.g. using a scheduled crontab entry. However, I would be leery of doing too much "vanilla" Linux work on a box like a C4 controller which has a highly specialized form of Linux. Could you run the command? Putty has a form of SSH command line capability, if I recall correctly from some time ago. Or run it from OS X on a Mac (BSD).

Can you post the SSH command you need to issue?

Thx Dan - it was more like 10 minutes to get in to get your VPN setup working for me

Thanks guys, Dave and I appreciate the positive feedback! Andrzej

Hello and thanks for the kind words, Dave and I really enjoy the remote integration work. I also want to offer a thanks to nhmalik whom we did some work for and who was able to give me a solution to a Hunter Douglas Platinum Pro shades integration problem that had me stumped for some time.

There's been quite a bit of frustration expressed in this thread about getting programming done in a timely manner so i thought I would post about the remote stuff we have been doing for some time. Through our company Coolabode, my partner Dave and I operate two C4 dealerships in Vancouver area, Canada and Melbourne, Australia. From my Vancouver location, I have worked for a number of forum members here doing remote programming in US, Canada, England and even more exotic locales such as Belize doing driver installs, problem solving and other bits and pieces. With my partner Dave Goralski in Melbourne, Australia, we have the experience to get things done quickly. We enjoy working with DIY guys. If we can be of assistance, please PM or email info@coolabode.com. We pretty much have 24x7 coverage of this email. Best, Andrzej Kowalski

Ditto. I will be replacing my aging spa controller module with a Balboa WiFi controller if this driver proves to be viable

I struggled with this myself when I chose C4 for my homer about 1 year ago. I am very comfortable around computing, programming, networks, AV gear etc. Based on my first meeting with 5 different dealers, none of them brought any value to my project. I explained to them I am a sophisticated IT homeowner with no experience implementing C4 but a clear idea of what I wanted and willing to learn from the dealer's approach. I told them I was not the sort of "consumer" home owner who need "high margin hand-holding". This last statement scared off at least two dealers right away! I was willing to pay them an hourly rate as consultant's to help me design and implement my project. I was looking for a partner to work through my project as two professionals might collaborate efficiently without a whole lot of training and coaching needed. Another issue for the dealers was I had amassed about 50% of the equipment I needed from online resources prior to starting the project. My frustration with the first 5 dealers was they all wanted many thousands of dollars simply to design the system on "paper". As an IT professional, I largely knew the system design I wanted. While I expected my dealer to influence the design based on their own approach, I didn't want to pay $10,000 for a design that was already 80% clear in my mind. They were treating my C4 project as akin to an SAP installation! The first 5 dealers were horrified (no exaggeration) that I already owned about 75% of my C4 equipment. They couldn't come to terms with the fact I could buy some equipment, not all of it, cheaper than they could or would sell it to me. They spoke about the potential horrors of supporting me if some of my self-supplied equipment needed support. There was a surprising amount of fear-mongering around this - akin to scary movies at Halloween! I asked them to agree on a fixed margin to buy equipment through them and if I could get it significantly cheaper elsewhere then I would do so. This was a big "no" for them. So basically I had found 5 dealers who wanted to charge me many tens of thousands of dollars for services that I didn't really want or need and who couldn't come to terms with my own inventory of C4 equipment. There was also great consternation that they wanted to charge $100 per hour or so for pre-wiring whereas my contractor's wiring guy who does nothing but pre-wiring for a living was profoundly cheaper. And the dealers all wanted to design or "own" my home network. My own networking capabilities were more than enough and I didn't like the fear-mongering around having to use certain types of networking equipment, the supposed fragility of the C4 networking environment etc. I thankfully found a dealer (an electrical PEng) who actually lives and works about 150 km away was willing to work with me as a partnership: * I provide my own equipment where appropriate. If there are support issues or warranty issues for my equipment, I pay by the hour * C4 equipment I buy through him would be at an agreed profit-margin. He provided about 25% of the C4 equipment. * Network, AV and other equipment I am free to buy from wherever I see fit. In most cases I could buy quite a bit cheaper than he could so I provided my own Onkyo receiver, IP cameras, wireless AP. He provided router, switch, rack and AV matrix. * I use my pre-wiring contractor and my dealer supervises. Any issues with cable runs I take up with my contractor * System design work was at hourly rate $X and programming at hourly rate $Y We designed the system in a few hours face-to-face and over the phone. This was a $1,000 expense, not $10,000. My wiring guy did the pre-wire. My dealer supervised and did the actual equipment connections. We collaborated on the initial programming. He sold me a copy of Composer HE and in a week or so I was pretty much "in charge" of my own destiny with programming. I progressively expanded the system with some new AV components. I "took over" the rack and installed these myself while did the setup remotely via Composer Pro. At the end of the day, the system is "mine" in the sense I control all programming, wiring and add and remove items from the rack as I need. When I need help, my dealer is there at an hourly rate. I assumed the risk of paying for more hours than anticipated by providing my own equipment, wiring services etc. The alternative would have been paying by my calculation $40,000 to $50,000 more than I needed for design services, dealer wiring, higher priced equipment and ending up with a "closed" system that the dealer would be the only person to support going forward. This to me was expensive insurance and I was willing to adopt more risk, learn my own system and take ownership of it in return for a much cheaper solution that I had ownership and control of. I have a great relationship with my dealer and am now able to teach him some stuff around networking, VPN's and C4 programming -). We do a lot of stuff remotely and on the phone. My system has evolved to a great showpiece for him for prospective customers because I was able to enhance and expand it myself. It would never have got to the level it is at if I had to pay for every step. And I am happy to act as a reference and showcase my system when needed. The moral of the story is a collaborative partnership was a win-win for my background and circumstances.