C4 User

Thanks for the quick post. Worked with my dealer to buy and install the driver bundle that includes the temperature driver. I’m not done playing with it all yet, but i love the driver and notification capabilities. I realize most of this can be accomplished with programming but this makes it so clean, simple and efficient. Looking forward to playing with some of the drivers in the bundle.

Sorry in advance if this topic has been covered elsewhere, I did look but couldn’t find. I have a Card Access relay in my AV closet and would like to use its temperature output to display the temperature of my AV closet on my T3’s or in the iPhone App. Can someone tell me the best way to do this?

Does the driver not have auto update?

Can someone explain the benefits of this driver over the C4 driver? I have never had one issue with the C4 that an Apple TV reboot didn’t resolve. And in those cases I don’n know if the issue was the Apple TV or C4. Since my Apple TV is located in my AV closet, I can reboot it from my wattbox.

Yes. Aux (or Keypads).

I have interior wood window shutters that I would like to automated and integrate into C4. They can be opened and closed by rotating one of the shutter vanes or by raising and lowing a center rod. Does anyone know of a device I can install to automate these shutters and integrate into C4? Thanks in advance.

No cheap, but enterprise level gear. My last setup lasted over 10 years and I expect this one to as well. Speed, reliability, flexibility, and diagnostic reporting matter most to me. But there are lots of options out there so go with what you feel comfortable with.

I upgraded from the Sonicwall Sonicpoint WAP’s to the SonicWave WAP’s. I have 4 wireless VLAN’s (Work, Family, IoT, Guest) (WAP VLAN’s managed by Sonicwall and not switch. The WAP’s are set up to manage the best frequency depending on device and this is where it is critical that your WAP does not reduce itself to the lowest common denominator among your devices. My WAP’s are powered by individual 1gig POE injectors rather then going through my POE switch. By plugging these injectors into my Wattbox, I can also reboot any network device (modem, router, WAP’s, switches) individually or in programmed sequence if necessary - but the truth is my system is very stable.

The experts on this forum can explain this further, but two things to check on your WAP’s. First is MIMO. Some radios allow for more simultaneous users without slowing down. Second, some 2.4 radios will actually slow down speed to the slowest device on the network. This is not good if you have IoT on your WiFi as some of those devices are slow. I can’t explain this any deeper but there is plenty of content if you search for it. I recently replaced my WAP’s to get the latest throughput and it made a huge difference, especially when the kids are at the house with phones, iPads and computers times 5.

If I were to have this situation, I can easily set up a monitor to log all traffic between devices to identify any dropped packets on any protocol and any port. So other than WiFi/zigbee interference, if the issue is network related (LAN, WLAN, VLAN, Router, Switches) it is relatively easy to identify the culprit. But as I said, any hardware that allows for advanced traffic monitoring and logging is what’s needed. Brand does not matter. i use sonicwall, and in over 12 years, I can say I have never had a network related issue that i was not able to identify and fix. And the times ( in the early days of C4) where my dealer wasn’t sure if issues were network related or not, I was able to log the traffic and prove that packets were not getting lost or hung up, and that there were not any network device conflicts.

Again, I am not an expert and I am not a dealer. My only experience with C4 is my 12 years of C4 in multiple houses. I am involved in the design, build, install and servicing of extremely large and complex machinery automation, so certainly not afraid to jump in deep and even challenge the most technically savvy once in a while. But I listen and stand for correction when appropriate. Regardless, take my comments for what they are worth. My Zigbee network has been relatively stable for many years now. Back in the 1.6 up to maybe 2.4 i had ongoing zigbee ghosts that required me to reboot HC1000 and whatever my other secondary controllers were. Back in the day I also had to watch my WiFi and Zigbee channels to ensure they were not overlapping. Today I do not even think about it. I have found the biggest issue with Zigbee is too small of a network of zigbee devices or devices that are remote and isolated. So I have found that if you have a strong zigbee network (strong in terms of number of devices and proper spacing throughout the install), so that any single device has multiple options for zigbee routing back to the controller, its very stable and responsive. Once in a while, like maybe once a year, I have to either reset (15 tap) or cut power or circuit breaker to reset an unresponsive or problematic C4 switch (this is like 1 out of 100’s). All my controllers, AV devices, network gear, tv’s, etc are on UPS’s and rarely get restarted. I do find that my Apple TV (gen iv) needs to be rebooted occasionally and that is on a Wattbox outlet making it easy to reboot remotely.

I am no networking genius. In fact far from it. But over 10 years with multiple C4 homes, I have alway used advanced networking gear with and without vlans, multiple subnets (today I have IoT, Family, Work), site to site vpn’s. Here is the key from a novice networking guy. Make sure your router has good reporting and configuration tools and that any managed switches have good interfaces. Over the years I have had device issues, whether dropping, inconsistent response, no response, inconsistent device to device behavior, etc. I have always used SonicWall routers and have used both Netgear and Luxul switches (nonPOE, POE, unmanaged and managed). My sonicwall (with remote support from sonicwall) allows me to isolate and watch all network traffic, by protocol, by port, across the network, between devices, across vpn tunnels, to the WAN, whatever I want to see. In short, I have never not been able to quickly isolate and fix a networking related issue. And I have never had to accept my dealer telling me its my network because I was always able to provide proof that the network was not jamming the communication. So my recommendation. Use whatever robust gear you want. Just make sure it has robust reporting capabilities and good tech support if you need it. Or, if you want a truly hands off experience and will expect your dealer to manage you home network, then go with what they recommend and know best. Enjoy!

@Cyknight do you happen to know if its possible, and if so, how to integrate the DSC NEO into C4 and Alarm.com at the same time? Appreciate any feedback you have.

The only advice I have, which does not help with pre-existing construction, is to require your builder to use extra large electrical boxes for all switch and outlet boxes. This makes replacing the standard switches with C4 dimmers and switches very easy. That said, my first C4 house was preexisting and some of the 3 or 4 gang switch boxes were really tight, but it always worked. I do not have pictures, but in some cases I had to rewire the entire box and cut out any excess wire leaving the wire leads only long enough to meet the code at the time. I then ensured the main wires were tight but neatly packed into the back of the box, with one power, common and ground lead for every two or three switches. So if a 3 gang box, all three C4 switches/dimmers were tied together to one lead. But if a 4 gang box, it was two and two. Unless of course, one box had multiple power leads coming into it. This worked but the boxes were really tight and wire path management in the box was critical to ensure no wires were overly compresses or bent. So I understand your pain.

I have the the Savoy 7ch and Avalon 4ch amps with the Maestro M9 preamp. I also have the matrix amps for my home surround sound. I would highly recommend.assuming you have or plan to invest in matching speakers. Regarding worth the price tag. Tough to answer. But i enjoy good clean music and realistic movie theatre sound reproduction and audio control with Martin Logan speakers delivers an amazing experience.