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Pounce

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  1. I have Kinect on two xbox consoles just for Skype. I've also had maybe a dozen different dedicated video conferencing stand alone camera solutions like you are suggesting over the years.

    These dedicated video conferencing cameras all suffered from sort of what you can guess. The first one I got was back in 2002. It was consumer grade and actually worked pretty well, but back then to work it required a cloud broker run by the company that made them. When they went out of business my point to point devices were bricked. I've had others that do Skype and Bluejeans in the last 5 years. They suffered from not being able to keep up with software updates from the platforms they supported and from weak underpowered hardware. I think generally speaking there just hasn't been consumer demand to support good hardware and software in a consumer product. And as suggested the phone and tablet options are mostly better for the majority of the consumer use cases. Perhaps there is more demand now with the Pandemic. Maybe we will see some solutions, but I sort of doubt it.

    What you want is a good webcam with onboard compression like a Logitech C920 (if you can even find one) and a stick computer. You get more freedom with your own cpu since you can keep your software up to date and since your camera is doing the heavy lifting your stick and simply handle display etc. All of that can be hidden behind a TV.

    You can buy a commercial grade conferencing camera to get better bells and whistles. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/video-collaboration/products .

    I've used many of the Logitech systems at work. They can be very convenient when linked to calendars etc in an office situation.

    The thing I like about Kinect that some other products have is the tracking of the view. That's been helpful with family calls and a kinetic 6yo ;)

  2. 2 hours ago, blub said:

    What would you recommend instead?

    It may be weird to say, but I maybe don't "recommend" this, but it is an alternative. There are many RGBW smart bulbs out there with tuya chips. These are similar to Hue, but use wifi instead of zigbee. Most of the tuya products can be flashed with alternative firmware to give them more open control and less dependence on a cloud product. Depending on your personal interest in messing around with flashing bulbs you can have products like Hue with a wider range of options plus 2 way control. If you were going to do a handful of bulbs its not worth it. If you needed 100 BR30's and want to light the house up like an xmas tree once in a while it could be worth it, but only if you enjoy the process.

     

  3. 15 minutes ago, alanchow said:

    I don’t have any experience with MQTT.  Also bond is not cloud based.  It’s local control.  You do not need internet.

    No insight into pro. Even if I did I wouldn’t be able to say anything.

    Ok. thanks. I'm looking at the device docs for Bond devices which may or may not apply to the hub device.

    http://docs-local.appbond.com/#tag/MQTT

    image.thumb.png.43643147781ef0d4774f1183b2d5d980.png

  4. 1 hour ago, Neo1738 said:

    Got 2 of the NYCE 4 button keyfobs. I thought I would be able to program off if the device leaves or rejoins zigbee. Anyone know if that is a possibility?

    This type of device is an end device and due to being battery powered joins when you push the button. What I think you you wanted to do was to treat it sort of like a mobile phone in that it will potentially join your wifi when you arrive home and then leave your wifi when you leave the house with it. A wifi phone works differently than a battery powered zigbee device. That keyfob isn't communicating 24/7 or even sleeping and waking to connect and be polled by the network.  So for that keyfob it basically wakes up when you push the button. It connects to the network and does its business. It then turns off. Same is true for most all zigbee battery powered end devices unless they are specifically built to wake on intervals to update some state like temperature. End devices typically are not available to poll from the coordinator unlike a router device that is generally always running so it can perform its own function in addition to routing traffic in its area of the network.

  5. Just now, Köhler Medientechnik said:

    Hi,

    just had a visit at a potential customer for a home cinema installation.
    We also talked about automation and he said he has a pretty old Neeo in the closet. It´s a very fist generation Neeo from the Kickstarter funding.

    Is it possible to integrate that as a Control4 Neeo or are there any obstacles doing that?

     

    Regards,

    Thorsten

    Everything points to No. Plenty of upset folks. You can find the old ones on ebay for a lot less money. The word is the C4 version has more memory.

  6. 1 hour ago, ChrisM said:

    Hah. Yes. I did that for each Hue scene, so I would know what they are. 

    Then I created a Macro for each scent "Set MBR Hue to Spring Blossom" and so forth. That macro sets the values I discovered through the LUA Console. 

    The problem is, the results are more-or-less random. 

    I'm trying to figure out what people are doing, and what's most effective. 

    Ok, just interesting they don't include saturation.

    What does random mean? The color is wrong for the bulb? Is it really wrong like its green instead of one of the pinks?

    Curious why you are setting the brightness the way you are.

  7. so just

    9 minutes ago, ChrisM said:

    The "Spring Blossom" scene reports, via LUA, these three values:

    
    (Philips Hue system value) X:     0.4359
    (Philips Hue system value) Y:     0.2811
    (Philips Hue system value) Brightness:    213

    Setting them doesn't work as it it should (see my original post). 

    So just before you fetched that you set the bulb color from the Hue mobile app, correct? This is an important test.

  8. 1 hour ago, WhyPhy said:

    I also want to help VS succeed. I know how hard it can be for small technology companies.

    Yeah, the out-of-box experience wasn't ideal. I eventually looked on the website when I got around to installing the Control4 drivers, but that wasn't until after the "ghost key press issue" presented itself. I'm guessing I'm not the only person to ever experience this. Even if full instructions aren't in the box, there should at least be the warning message about not plugging it in without first downloading the app, and also a link to the full online instructions.

    I think most people that buy this device know exactly what they are buying. Very few people are buying these like a pair of airpods. I think we all appreciate your frustration and the feedback has been given. Do you need any additional help to get going or get to a good place?

  9. I really like VS and would do anything to help the owners. I mean that. I own several of their hardware devices. That said I do happen to agree with the general criticism of the graphics being outdated. Graphics are hard and In know its a small business and I can tell they work hard. If customers had the ability to modify some of the graphics we might see some open source collaborative improvements with low effort from VS.

     

    10 minutes ago, WhyPhy said:

    I also don't understand why there aren't better instructions the the box

    You got instructions in the box? :) I just looked at the instructions on the website.

  10. 1 hour ago, mpeccon said:

    I wish we made it to the C4 part... We only made it to getting the RF remote to pair to the Bond application on the phone and the bond hub... Never even got to the part of pulling the drivers into C4 and that side of thigns. 

    So now trying to find another bridge that might work with these remotes. I was provided this link by my installer and i've reached out to them, but haven't heard anything back. Hopefully y'all know a bridge that will work with the remote and C4 so i can get these working. 

    https://www.rolleaseacmeda.com/us/products/smarthome

    Was told the Hub at the bottom is what would work. 

    There are some other threads on rollease on the forum. I think they point also to this driver https://annex4.link/drivers/automate-pulse

  11. 12 hours ago, mpeccon said:

    Hey Guys,

    So i bought a few bond bridges since they work with C4 and are able to control RF signals. Well, thought it would be that easy, but it wasn't. C4 programming was easily able to work with Bond, Bond easily connected with the remote, but the app wouldn't connect to the blinds. I contacted Bond and they said that their bridge could recognize, but not work with the remote. I gave them the FCC ID and they told me in 1 min. Does anyone know any other bridges that could work in this application? Blindster.com blinds are inexpensive, but awesome... so trying to save some money on 32 of them in the house. 

    What motors are they using or what's the FCCID?

    Do you know why they aren't working specifically?

  12. 4 hours ago, zaphod said:

    That is expensive ($39) for what looks like a moulded piece of plastic?

    It's a pressure reducer. More than a simple molded piece of plastic. It's a relatively small amount of money to be honest. You don't need one if you operate using gravity feed. Instead of a pressure reducer you can use a bucket or barrel and a float operated filling valve attached to the hose bib. This kind of setup can be fed from rainwater capture so the barrel only fills from the hose bib when needed. A float filler can be had for under 20 bucks.

    The value of the blumat system is that it automatically regulates moisture levels for your plants so you do not over water or under water. Valve schedules will over or under water due to environmental changes unless you have moisture sensors in each planter. That's possible, but passive systems are less complex and can be run without power or schedulers.

  13. 2 hours ago, odhrean said:

    This looks like a great system. Given the faucet feed and the plastic 8mm lines, did you put anything on it for a leak detection/faucet turnoff that is outdoor rated? It looks as though sustainable village has a UV 8mm piping so that definitely helps on the UV breakdown but the elbows and connectors on a larger system can always pop out or leak over time.

    Nope. I didn't have anything extra. I didn't open the hosebib more than just a little. My roof deck had massive drainage (because it was a roof) so I wasn't worried about anything getting wet.

    I don't think you need to over think the connectors. The system is designed to live in the sun. Nothing is permanent though. These are used in commercial settings.

  14. 4 hours ago, rf9000 said:

     

    But then do you still

    need to have the Nuheat control on the wall? Would love to have any heat control out of site and just control via touchscreen. Most likely would have it on presets anyways. Like could I just hide the Nuheat control in a cabinet or something? 

    I guess its helpful to think through how a thermostat works. There is a temp sensor inside that senses the temp of the room. Its not just a screen. That being said there are ways to have temp sensors in a room that are not in the thermostat on the wall, but there will still be a device somewhere in a meaningful place for the purpose of measuring the temp to make the whole control process work.

    I assume your radiant floor contractor offered some control options?

    We know from some recent threads that C4 thermostats can operate using remote temp sensors. That can permit you to put the actual thermostat somewhere out of site while using something like a Z2IO for sensors. You can also use Ecobee thermostats with room sensor(s). They integrate.

    There are a lot of unknowns since you posted very little. Many times people have two stage systems with hydronic and forced air combined. You may want to get clear on what you really want or expect from an integration. If you don't have two stage and just have basic radiant floor you may really not gain a lot from C4 integration. Radiant heat is very different from forced air where you can raise or lower the temp in a matter of minutes. If you know exactly what you want you should really put your heating people together with your dealer.

    Just wire up your towel rack to a C4 switch. You then have a lot of control. Doubtful in practice you will do much more than schedule it for certain times of the day and leave it there.

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