mellie

I have the Sony STR-ZA810ES and these thingies:

Binary - 9 Series - 4K Ultra HD Media over IP Controller -
5 Binary - 9 Series - 4K Ultra HD Media over IP Transmitter - 
 4K HDMI Audio Extractor with ARC 
 

Also, only the living room has surround sound, and that is what room I was testing the volume control.  All other rooms have standard sound.

I have no idea what is controlling volume.  here is a snapshot of part of the "Tech Room" where the tower is:

I am trying to set up programming to just decrease the volume of a room by a certain value.  So I use the device variable CURRENT_VOLUME and set to -1.

The volume goes UP by 6.   If I say -20 it goes down 12.  What are the units?  I am very confused.... It also seems that it depends on what the current volume is whether it goes up or down using the minus sign...

\

TIA

It's the scenes that are not being discovered.  It just seems to take a while to be discovered and I have to discover several times.  I will just keep trying.

Ok Good.  I have over 150 lights/5 hue bridges, you can use me as a test site .

I did find out how to at least use Advanced light scenes to do the % R G B, which I just get off the internet.  But it doesn't seem to be an advantage over just programming the direct color set X Y values. 

Looking forward to the video.  And the Voice scenes #4 was a life saver.  Alexa always confuses her inherent syntax with the "Turn on" Turn off" C4 voice scenes.  To be able to tweak the voice command in a routine works much better.  Thanks for the tip.   If you have a tip  on how to make sure discovering devices (in particular, scenes) with Alexa please pass on.  It's hit and miss.

Thanks

melissa

On 7/31/2019 at 1:12 PM, Matt Lowe said:

C4 reasoning is crap. Had hue with years with all individual lights with scenes and they worked great. They even have a group driver for hue so it could still be one command with scenes. Having to manually program off a scene is not intuitive or the level of what c4 is in terms of finesse.

For rgb control there is a free experience button that will go through colors I use this. Or I use random colors on room power.

I think the jumpy parts is issues with os3.0 as I experience this with several components

Hi Matt 

i am on your Patreon. Are You going to do a video on philips hue?  You mention it sometimes in light videos. 

I am trying to come up with Alexa voice commands that are unambiguous.  If I say the command "Alexa, turn off living room", she says "A few things share the name living room. Which one do you want?"

I have a feeling it is because in the Alexa app, there are several items with living room (lights, tv, etc.).  But I want to go through control4.  Do I change all the names in the Alexa app?  Or do I come up with a different command in control4 that is unambiguous?  The latter solution presents difficulty as I have to totally think of something unique.  Like "Turn off monkey".  

The same is true for playing music (Sirius XM).  If I say "Alexa, play 80s on 8", she plays through her own speaker.  So to make sure she plays 80s on 8 through e.g. our kitchen speakers, I have to say "Alexa, turn on monkey".  

TIA

Melissa

I am not an installer and I have the Composer Home Edition software.  Everytime I need a new device I need our installer to integrate it.  Is it possible for an end user to use the full software so I don't have to bug the installers?  E.g. I have gotten another Philips Hue hub for WIFI lights.  The installer has to add the new hub, but once added, I set up the lights and programming.  Just wondering if I can set up the hub?

thanks

melissa

azkid,

I just search eh web for free wav or mpg files.  But here are some I have found for various seasons.  I use WaveShop to edit file to short snippets.

Have fun!

yankeedoodle.mid Irish Washerwoman.mp3 Turkey Gobble-SoundBible.com-123256561.wav ice-cubes-2sec.wav Two Tone Doorbell-SoundBible.com-1238551671.wav Irish Washerwoman short.wav auld_lang_syne short.wav starsstripes short.wav ssbanner short.wav

4 minutes ago, eggzlot said:

you can test it.  with variables I'd do true/false with a specific start date and end date.  But I tend to overcomplicate things whereas the other suggests to remove else or something may work and its easier to program.   But I also use variables in other areas - for instance if its Xmas not only do I have a holiday themed doorbell but my Xmas mode also impacts outdoor lighting, the lights on the indoor xmas tree, etc.  So I created a true/false variable that I trigger with a custom experience button.  If variable Xmas is True > doorbell = holiday doorbell, if Variable Xmas is False > doorbell = normal.  You could do just a bunch of true ones, if Xmas variable is true, play holiday doorbell, if Halloween variable is true play evil doorbell, etc.  dont need the false in your situation.  again I over complicate it but with variables you can do other stuff than just the doorbell

THanks for the feedback.  I was also planning on using this programming to do things with lights.  And since the variable is already set up, I will play around with it.  So I would use a Boolean type of variable vs. number.  Glad to know there are different ways to do this.

thanks!

Thanks to all the replies.  I was interested in the variable option as I had never used this before, so I thought I'd try.  Sorry for the long response, I did this partly so I could come back and refer to it.... I just want to make sure I understand it correctly (newbie here):

1) In AGENTS>Announcements, I added sound files to be used:

2) In AGENTS>Variables, I added a new variable called "Doorbell" and made it a number.

****[And just assuming that C4 pings the system and automatically assigns the variable number based on the date.  I had to actually execute the current variable to get it into the system to start, but I assume that going forward, the variable will update accordingly??]****

3) In AGENTS>Scheduler, I created several schedules for times throughout the year, all starting on a certain day and either followed with a subsequent event or a non-event (no holiday).  There are no STOP dates, just a new event.

4) Then in PROGRAMMING>Scheduler, I programmed the Doorbell Variable to be assigned based on the newly created scheduled events above (different variable for each event except the No Holiday, which has the same number assigned to it):

5) Finally, in PROGRAMMING>Door Station/Variables, I assigned the appropriate Doorbell wave file to be played based on the current variable in the system:

Seems logical to me but just want to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Thanks!

melissa

Hi All

I have created a scheduler for playing a certain wave file at different times of the year when the doorbell call button is pressed (Control4 Door Station).  Two questions:

1) In this program, a "normal" doorbell sound should only occur if all the other conditions aren't met.  When the doorbell is pressed, it does play the July 4 sound, but it ends with the normal doorbell...I just added the line for July 4 today, and before I did this, there was no normal doorbell sound after the seasonal sound. 

2) I would like to change the IF statement for July 4 sound to 6/30 to 7/6 regardless of year.  Perhaps this question is the reason for the problem in #1?

Thanks

melissa

I am trying to be able to set up Alexa to trigger stations/songs on Amazon music.  I was told by our dealer to install the Echo input.  They have hooked this input to our sound system (Triad system).  But I can't wrap my head around setting this up.  I am using Home Edition and I am able to set up an Alexa voice scene to evoke a e.g. sirius XM channel in a certain zone as Sirius is listed as an audio device.  But how do I do the same for the Input?

thanks

melissa

I am a newbie and I am using the Voice Commands in the C4 Home Edition software.  All of the commands must start with Turn on or Turn off.  This sometimes is clunky.  If I want to dim the lights in a room, I have to say something like "Turn on dim in kitchen".  I would rather say "Dim kitchen lights".  

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks

melissa

Sounds like a good idea!  I am a newbie and not an installer, so didn't know about this.  Is this already included in the C4 suite of drivers or do I need to install? 

Thanks Dunamivora!

I know I have done this before but I can't remember how.  Once I turn on a TV video source (e.g Roku), I want to click the menu and also scroll to an app.  And hopefully click enter.  I remember it was something like left +/- 1 or right +/- 1, etc.

Can anyone help?

thanks

melissa

Hi All

I am trying to set up some lighting voice commands via Alexa through C4.  I am using the Extra Vegetables driver for Philips Hue lights. I have many lighting zones (set up through my dealer although I wish the end user could do this...) and I have several target colors.  So I am going through hundreds iterations of the same thing just switching the lighting zone name and the color.  

Is there anyway to import an Excel, CSV or text file into C4 with voice commands?  I am halfway through now so I will slog on but this may be helpful in the future for other things.

Thanks

melissa

On 1/30/2020 at 2:48 PM, zaphod said:

 

9 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said:

I did that a few years ago and got it working... but very slow and annoying for anyone in the given room...

Shoot, I thought that was clever....

AJBarrister

Sounds cool!  I was wondering about your trigger to come in from garage and turn on kitchen lights.  Have you tried a geofencing trigger to activate kitchen lights when your smartphone enters garage?  We are looking at various geofencing drivers.  We found one by Homeation but we are waiting for support to contact us as we cannot install driver.

Also...your comment about the hot water circulation intrigues me.  We are having issues with our hot water circulator.  Sometimes we have to turn a sink on to get the water to get hotter.  Our electric bill has been higher than we expected, and we have since determined that the hot water circulator (in the slab and hooked to an 85 gallon Rheem Marathon that is supposed to be very well insulated) causes the hot water heater to be on more than expected (we figure the hot water cools down enough when circulating in the slab that the tank must come on - we regret that we didn't get a smart water heater).  So we have the circulator on a wifi switch to go off at 12AM and on in the morning.  As well, the Moen shower, when in it for more than 5 minutes, does start to go down in temp sometimes.  We are stumped and have been meaning to get the plumber in to explain why this is happening.  We thought we did our due diligence (making sure our pipe sizes were adequate, getting a big enough water heater, etc.)...

Well, good luck and keep on automating!

melissa

Thanks,

Did you try the same voice command to initiate your shower preset as well as all your other things (that is, if you want your shower to turn on the same time as all the other actions).  

Sounds like you are pretty advanced in using C4 and Alexa.  Do you have any other "favorite" actions you do with Alexa and C4?  I am trying to get the most bang for the buck out of our C4.

THanks

melissa

Ajbarrister,

Did you ever get the U by Moen to work with Control4?  We have since finished building new home and we have the new U by Moen shower in and we use it ALL THE TIME with Alexa to turn on our preferred presets.  So it works well (sometimes we have to wake it up again, but otherwise good).  But we would like to e.g. play a radio station or perhaps set up a lighting scene when getting in the shower.  Wondering if we can pair with other actions in C4.  I can set up routines strictly in Alexa but just wonder if we could have a more robust control via C4.

thanks

melissa

Yes, my dealer adds the lights and groups them.  It is a pain and I wish there was a way I could do it.  I am already noticing that bulbs are being re-mapped and I can't figure out why.  I grouped them in the Alexa app and I am able to turn on and off and adjust brightness but I can't control the colors....

I am also interested!  New to Control4.  I am struggling with lighting scenes (we have all Philips Hue color bulbs in new home - 140 of them) and I would like help setting up scenes with color and linking to other actions (music, fireplace, etc.).  Also geofencing?  Triggered actions when leaving or arriving home.

Thanks

Zaphod,

When you say you use Alexa: "Alexa, basement lights on", C4 requires the phrase to start with Turn ON or OFF.  So you use Alexa to do one things and C4 to do another?  But C4 wouldn't respond to that phrase.  "Alexa, basement lights on" to turn on the lights when triggers that lighting scene from C4.  Do you mean Alexa turns on the lights and WHEN/THEN turns on the scene?  But that phrase wouldn't be processed by C4 as it doesn't start with TURN ON... I apologize if I misunderstood... I am an extreme newbie.  

thanks