JakeFromSF

19 minutes ago, Dunamivora said:

That is not true. The limit to one controller dropped after 2.10.4.

Two Triad zones is well within the device limit threshold that is in the recently udpated controller spec document.

Awesome! Thats what i assumed but wanted to be sure before i sent the quote over to the customer.

Control4 calls the EA-1 a one room solution. We have a customer who is looking for 2 zones of audio (music streaming only) and wants to be able to control it from a touch screen or phone. My thoughts are since they dont want any other automation type items, the EA-1 would be an affordable way to set this up.

Only issue is since Control4 calls it a one room solution only, makes me think they have it so you cant set up multiple zones. Is the true?

1 hour ago, Pounce said:

If they aren't visually exposed I like Wago lever nuts. Otherwise match the color of your wire with the right size nut.

These are cheap and work well if you don't have anything that auto strips wire. Takes just a couple of seconds and if you are up a ladder it only takes one hand.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXKOEQ6

Awesome just grabbed me a few pairs!

Those Wago lever nuts seem difficult to find someone with anything over a 50 count box in stock. I may end up having to use wire nuts.

Just now, Pounce said:

Are they weather exposed?

No in a cafeteria and gymnasium

1 hour ago, lippavisual said:

Beanies were made for use with old CAT3 phone cable.  Smaller coating on the copper which was easier to make good contact.  You will not have a good experience using these.

Either wirenuts or Wago connectors, after you strip to bare copper.  Not that big of a deal, should only take you less than 30 seconds to strip 2/4 wires.

Between Wirenuts or Wago connectors, do you think traditional wire nuts are more reliable?

2 hours ago, Pounce said:

14 seems like overkill for 70v. Are you running a few thousand feet?

Yeah just about. 1500 feet or so.

Ive got a project with about 50 70v speakers I purchased through C4. In the process of getting the crimps i came across beanie connectors which basically doesn't require you to strip the wires you just slide them in and crimp with pliers which sounds very inciting when you will have to splice 50 speakers in line with one another.

Only issue is im only finding these connectors that allow for 16 gauge wire not 14 like im running to all of my speakers.

Does anyone have any ya or nay suggestions for if i should try this out or is there alternative that would help save me time here?

https://www.snapav.com/shop/en/snapav/platinum-tools-wire-connectors-b-type-pt-18140

1 minute ago, msgreenf said:

look for an HDMI audio extractor

Yeah im a dummy, I shoulda thought of that. Am actually on the purchasing page right now grabbing one.

Thanks for the quick reply.

A local bar asked me to install a system in their facility with 3 zones of audio. 2 of these zones are just for music inside and outside and the third zone is just two speakers inside for television audio. The owner doesnt want the place to be a sports bar so only wanted the two speakers for daily use attached the the TVs.

He does want the ability to host events like big games at his place and be able to play the TV audio throughout the whole facility on occasion. Because he wants to do this so infrequently, we didnt put in a audio matrix for cost reasons. Although its not a deal breaker, can anyone think of a way to best strip the audio from a firestick or similar streaming device to input into the EA5 as a source of audio that i can then play across the facility?

I know with any audio stripping there will be lag in the audio which is acceptable as long as its not some crazy 15 second lag.

4 minutes ago, ILoveC4 said:

So I ask again, why not just not give the TV internet access?

lol

10 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

And my Samsung TVs don't have mics. There is a mic in the remote that I used once to name the inputs only

Just for a fun read on a sunny Sunday. 

Quote

Today’s WikiLeaks release revealed that Samsung smart TV owners are particularly vulnerable to spying. Newly published documents detail a program called “Weeping Angel,” an attack designed by the CIA and United Kingdom’s MI5/BTSS that makes Samsung smart TVs look like they’re turned off when, in fact, they’re not.

11 minutes ago, ILoveC4 said:

You have to enable that stuff, and like Mitch says, just don’t give it internet access. To each their own, but seems a little silly. 

Oh no sir, thats default! You "Accept" the terms by using the television. Its okay friend! Too each their own amount of online tracking. I just like to keep mine to a minimum. 

2 minutes ago, ILoveC4 said:

What? Then put it on a VLAN that doesn’t have internet access. You afraid “the man” is going to figure out how often you turn the TV on and off? Or turn the volume up and down?

Whatever content you’re watching will gain 1000000x more info than anyone would learn from your TV being controlled by IP commands. Or is this guy strictly VHS? That’s honestly one of the whackiest things I’ve ever heard. 

Just a snippet here but check out Samsungs privacy agreement you sign when you turn on their TV. 

https://www.samsung.com/sg/info/privacy/

Ill just extract a few of the fun points in the first few paragraphs:

"

Quote

• We Collect: 
• Location information: Your Product’s GPS signal or information about nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers that may be transmitted to us when you use certain Services and enable the Location function.
• Voice information: Recordings of your voice that we make and store on our servers when you enable this function, use voice commands to control a Service, or when you contact our Customer Service team. Note that if we work with a third party service provider that provides speech-to-text conversion services on our behalf, this provider may receive and store certain voice commands in accordance with the contract concluded between us and our trusted third-party service provider.
• Samsung Keyboard information: The words that you type when you enable Predictive text. This feature may be offered in connection with your Samsung account to synchronize the data for use on your other Samsung Products. You can clear the data by going to the Predictive text settings.
• Viewing Information: The networks, channels, websites visited, and programs viewed on your Products and the amount of time spent viewing them.

Ill recap a few of these too, This section they state they will collect your GPS location, Voice recordings that they will be sending to unnamed third party companies and things you type on any Samsung device (includes phones and tablets) 

Quote

We may receive information about you from publicly or commercially available sources, including such information about you from third party social networking services you use, and combine this with other information about you so that we can better understand your needs, interests, and preferences. We also may receive information about you when other people provide it using our Services, such as your name and contact information when others send a message to you or share files with you.

Here they say they will be pairing the information they collect from your television with your online presence to start a bread crumb trail and to figure out exactly who you are. 

Ill stick to IR until it becomes unreliable for me 

4 minutes ago, ILoveC4 said:

You really should use the IP driver. That said, congrats on figuring out how to make an IR driver. 
 

Hopefully the receiver doesn’t catch direct sunlight or light from a fluorescent bulb, or the IR bud fall off, or the power get out of sync with rapid fire on/off/on commands. IR is a gigantic pain in the ass. I don’t have a single IR driver in my system and plan to keep it that way. 

I know it sounds all conspiracy like, but I really dont like TVs being connected to a network. Too much data collection going on for my taste. I did end up connecting the receiver to the network but IR for the TV. 

Just now, Crustyloafer said:

Strange it was left out of training. Welcome to the club Jake, please do not hesitate to ask about any other questions you might have, although personally you would be better off asking them on of the official C4 Forums which are for dealers only. There is a good mix of C4 dealers/programmers, driver developers and end users on here, but if you are a registered dealer then you might get more appropriate answers to some of your questions on the official forums. 

Thanks @Crustyloafer! I will check out the official forum. 

2 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Odd. Should have been

I agree. I do remember from class that he had to change up a bunch of the slides and was teaching new material because of 3.0, maybe it got left off on accident. Hope there wasn't anything else i missed! 

6 minutes ago, Crustyloafer said:

This is C4 programming 101 and covered in the 5 day automation programmer training required by all C4 dealers/technicians.

 

You would think so. I just got certified about 3 months ago, Never once was this mentioned in my class unfortunately. I wish it was!  

1 hour ago, Crustyloafer said:

Why don't you just build an IR driver from scratch with the commands you need/want in it or take an existing IR driver and modify it with the changes to inputs and IR codes etc.

Solved!

For anyone else looking to add ANY IR device to a Control4 system but cant find an IR Driver:

1. Download a similar IR driver (I guess it could technically be any TV IR driver really, doesn't matter too much) 
2. Right click on it, Select "Edit Driver"
3. Click "Codes"
4. Click "Next" at the bottom right of the popup
5. Find the command you need on the left column under "Codes" and click on it, for me it was Power Toggle 
6. Walk to your C4 Controller with any old remote that can turn on the device 
7. Press the button you are trying to program for 2 seconds, Wait 2 seconds then press it a second time for 2 seconds. 
8. Go back to your computer, click "Finish" at the bottom left
9. DONE! You have custom programmed any IR device assuming you have the old remote to capture the codes. 

I assume no one recommended this becasue they thought I knew the controller could do this already but just in case someone is googling for hours like I was and never once saw that the controller can learn IR commands, here is your guide. 

45 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

If it had it that is where it would be.

Off topic here but I just noticed something odd with the set up. I have the receiver set up as the on-screen device for the controller. When i tell the receiver to go to the onscreen device, I can only see about a 8" x 8" square at the top right of the screen. From what i can see, everything looks right. I can move around, click on stuff, everything. But can only see that little square of the top right of the on-screen. 

Any ideas why it may be doing that?

1 minute ago, msgreenf said:

Disagree that IR is more reliable.

But a lot of the IP drivers also have an ir binding and will do IR with the right binding.

I was unable to find an IR binding in the connections page when i had the correct IP driver downloaded. Any ideas where else i could find that?

1 minute ago, South Africa C4 user said:

Seems to me that you should be talking your client in to putting the AVR on the network and doing this properly with an IP driver?

The receiver is able to be IR controlled, surely there is a driver somewhere that will just simply send the IR commands. They dont want it on the network, IR is always more reliable than IP so I will rule out trying to put it on the network even if they didnt care either way. 

I am trying to set up a customers Denon AVR-X1500H receiver. I've ran an IR to the device as the customer does not want the Receiver or TV on the network. Problem is, i can only find IP drivers for that model. I have tried going up and down models but every other model that does have IR either doesn't have HDMI (i know right?) or the HDMI names and quantities are off. 

What do you guys do to get around this?

I was hoping i could find a generic IR driver for receivers but I am having no luck finding one. 

Ive got a customer who does primarily landscapes, pools, outdoor kitchens etc. and they want me to start pricing their outdoor entertainment, tie into a controller so the home owner can control their pools as well. But they have also asked if I can provide the outdoor lighting as well. They currently have a guy doing so but he is charging upwards of $450 per ground mounted, aluminum bullet fixture and is asking if I can find more affordable pricing for something. 

Anyone have a recommendation?

1 hour ago, knowitall said:

lol none of this adds up 

7/7/19 - quits job, decides to start HA company. 

Programming (what exactly?) experience. 

Microelectronics experience. Soldering gun?

currently left job was in construction. 

Has network of builders, current business plan is new construction work. 

 

8/31/19 - Control4 dealer! So in ~6 weeks or so you were able to LLC yourself, get insurance, get in touch with C4, get all that paperwork done, get into a class, pay for all those things, maintain a side business. 

Not to mention go on your HONEYMOON, when was the wedding?

oh and, other industry professionals who you know that for some reason don’t use C4 are going to kick you some business for retro work. 

Not to mention - engineer wife, however live in a town without ANYONE installing c4 around. Sounds like an engineering industry mecca. 

Thinks there is a coupon code that expires in 7 days. 

 

Okay, i know responding to you is going to not be beneficial but Im bored so what the hay:

1. Yes i did quit my job after many months of thinking about doing this, also I own 4 other small businesses so between those and the HA stuff, im making enough to survive. 
2. One of my side businesses is actually software development. I am fluent in Python, Ruby, PHP and as well Java. 
3. My electrical engineering wife and I frequently build our own systems like an automatic dog feeder, all of which I design, build, program and implement myself with her helping me with the math. 
4. Yep! I have been in construction for a few years since i graduated college. I was a Project Manager over roughly $35 Million in total project value. 
5. Also yep, have a few good friends who are large custom home builders, they have gotten me in with their weekly poker games, lions club, horseshoe league, all of which I am in with other builders. Gotta keep that Rolodex building! 
6. Already had the LLC, Feel free to look it up on the Texas site I knew this is what I wanted to do so I didn't waste time starting the LLC. I've started a few other LLCs before so its not hard or expensive. I just finished my first set of online training and am heading off to the in person training in about 3 weeks.  Just bought my plane tickets today. 
7. Wedding was two weeks ago! Went on a very nice honeymoon. Was amazing, highly recommend it. 
8. Also yes, My friends in the industry are HVAC companies who have a very small HA division, they dont pressure it and have offered to kick me some business if I help them the same. 
9. My Engineer wife works for an electric co-op which means she provides power to rural areas.That being said, yes we live in a town with not a single C4 dealer other than me. The closest dealer is roughly 30 miles away but that is a major metropolis so those guys are busy enough there to not need to come this far out. 
10. I thought I heard in the voicemail that the coupon code expired, sucks i was on my honeymoon and didn't even realize it would expire. Oh well! Edit: Oh just re-read your message, you were saying that sarcastically. After more research it was actually a coupon for SnapAV that i was thinking about. They give you 50% off your first purchase. 

I hope this cleared some things up for you! I promise im not trying to pull a fast one or start any beef. I am just excited to start doing something im truly passionate about. 

Have a great weekend!

Feel free to PM me if you have any question or would like further clarifications.