Dueport

We have Honeywell water sensors at all likely sources for overflow (washer, fridge, HVAC, etc) so those are monitored by alarm company which is a nice peace of mind - and they're integrated into C4 for programming and automatic shut off.  We also have Flo shutoff valve which is integrated into C4 for shutoff if Flo doesn't decide to shut things off on its own.  So hopefully between the Flo AI and the alarm company we'll never have a serious flood.....really don't want that either 

On 8/31/2021 at 2:50 PM, zaphod said:

I bought a used large rack (45U) on wheels that I have started to use to hold my equipment.  My rack is one of those ones with doors, but I have taken off the door and the back and side panels as I don't need them as it is in the "server room" in my basement.  Currently I have about a dozen ethernet terminals terminated in keystone jacks.  I will be running more ethernet cables and I am trying to figure out whether to use a patch panel or keep them as "pig-tails".  If I use a patch panel the next question is whether to put the patch panel on the rack, or mount it permanently on the wall.  If on the rack then I will need to leave a loop (or two) so that I can move the rack around a bit.

One of the annoying things about a rack is that you need a lot of space since you generally need access to both the front and the back of the rack. For things like patch panels and network switches you normally need front access, but for C4 amps, controllers, AVRs, rack mounted PCs, etc, you need rear access.

Very cool - I have this exact project on my short list when I have a little time.  I've read that a lot of installers put the run into a patch panel on the wall (since that doesn't move) and then do a patch cord from there up and back down into the rack (with room to move the rack like you noted).  That's how I plan to do it when I eventually do anyway - good luck - post some pictures when you can!

Got this working perfectly now - nice to have these stations under the Stations tab - nice and tidy!  Thanks to @msgreenf for adding the Internet Radio driver for me!

3 minutes ago, net_tech said:

@Dueport  So HE or Dealer the only two ways to add custom URLs and no way of adding them from the C4 app?

 

Thanks 

I believe that’s true (the documentation seems to indicate that) but I’m still figuring this out myself - if I discover anything to indicate otherwise I’ll post an update

On 8/18/2021 at 3:40 AM, booch said:

Figured I'd post my satisfaction with a recent integration. Have 8 flameless candles on my porch that natively run on IR (which is unreliable given a fireplace, line-of-sight limits, etc.). Thought about Z2IO but didn't want to have wires across the floor (either for power or connectivity). Searched for an RF alternative product but no dice -- so made my own...

Already had a Bond Bridge, so bought a few ($11/each) 433mhz receivers on Amazon and built/hid three of them into the candles themselves (soldered to PCB) while running small wires out for nearby control. Totally invisible and finally have these things on scene and discrete control via keypad and phone! At some point I may have to wire a photosensor to establish state, but for now, the 433mhz is so reliable the variable stays true.

Pics for clicks, ha:

Amazing I have this on my list too but had no idea how to do it given the IR.  That’s genius to add the RF module.  If you have time to add some pictures on how you wired those in and hid them that would be helpful - I’d like to try this too sometime.  Great integration!

I'm working on this too right now actually - here's the documentation I could find explaining how to add a station to Internet Radio using Composer HE

2 hours ago, tmj4 said:

It will need to be added in Composer Pro by a dealer. I just went through the same thing with @chopedogg88

cool thank you!

4 hours ago, msgreenf said:

Internet radio is correct

I don’t see Internet Radio there in mine can I do that myself or does that have to be added remotely?

The benefit of this is that you can add an internet radio station and have it appear under the stations submenu on a navigator?

That would be nice - annoying you can’t select tunein as a source for that stations menu. 

23 hours ago, zaphod said:

Yes - you can search for drivers here:  http://drivers.control4.com/solr/drivers/browse?q=criterion

Ah cool - thank you - didn’t realize the mini apps are in there too!

1 hour ago, Cinegration said:

We’ll look into adding the devices. Might be nothing more than valve on/off though.  Currently the api is polling  so instant feedback will be an issue but, Moen has also been adding new features and we might be able to get asynchronous communication working    So Stay tuned.  
 

thank you for the examples.  We want the driver to have the ability to do the above examples.  Even if your particular job won’t use it   

 

thanks!

That's fantastic - thank you for considering it and looking into it!  Appreciate you being open to that feedback and look forward to hearing how it develops!  Would love to use the new features if they are doable!

47 minutes ago, zaphod said:

I don't see the benefit in most of these uses, and/or I would never use this functionality.  Maybe #4 makes sense if there is a long term power outage in the winter, or if you are away and there is extreme cold (<-20C) then you may want the water to run for a bit every hour.

That's the good thing about professional "custom" integration - what's important to one person may not be to another and we get a system that reflects those wants/needs.  The more options the better 

1 hour ago, Cinegration said:

If we added this to the driver what would it do?  I’m not sure what linking it to control4 would gain? 

@Cinegration the driver now is excellent and we've found it very useful in our home.  Looking into the future for the driver and expanding it to include new devices brought into the Flo ecosystem: my feeling is the ability to add more devices into C4 is always best because it expands both integration possibilities that may be immediately obvious but also those that aren't anticipated until you need it - having more tools available is always good and adds value to the driver.  Off the top of my head some immediate possibilities for useful integrations would be: 1.) if the kitchen faucet is running for more than X minutes shut it off; 2.) when the house shutdown macro runs (when people leave and/or when everyone is sleeping) then turn off the kitchen faucet; 3.) if the leak sensor under the kitchen sink detects water shutoff the kitchen sink; 4.) if the low temp sensor in any room detects a low temp turn on the kitchen sink slightly to prevent freezing pipes (this is better than the current implementation the sink supports because it only uses the temp right under the sink); 5.) if the device supports setting temperature limits, then set the max temp at one level normally and another level when the housekeeper is working; 6.) if the faucet turns on when the house is empty trigger the home security system to alarm; 7.) if the faucet has been used recently, don't turn off the lights near the kitchen even if motion hasn't been detected recently in that room (helpful for open layouts to avoid false triggering of lights off on no motion); 8.) if the Flo detects unusual water activity make sure the kitchen sink is off first before shutting down water to the entire house; etc.  These are just a few ideas but I'm sure having the option and more time would yield more possibilities now or in the future.

Additionally, Flo by Mohen may be expanding further in the future - I believe they announced a sump pump at CES that would also be integrated - hopefully the shower too in the future.  So in the future there are likely more devices and integration options that people will want to use through this driver.

Is there a Roku mini app for the Criterion Channel?

23 hours ago, DAVIDN said:

Can you explain how you can use Alexa to geofence trigger into C4?  Alexa can see my Advanced lighting scenes which I created in the C-HE "Agents" tab, but none of the other things like Variables.  Do I create a fake scene called "Geofence-Home" with no activities so that Alexa can fire that off?  Then trigger the Agent Variable "Home" based on the Geofence-Home scene being triggered?

Sure thing - though I have disabled the Alexa portion of this and have been relying only on IFTTT recently because the Alexa app seemed to be having issues with geofence accuracy.  I believe that may be a function of the signal strength or when the app is pulling location info or something.  Hopefully it is an issue specific to my location and this will work for you.

What I did was this: I have a TP-Link Kasa plug that represents a family member and is integrated in two places: 1.) C4 using the chowmein driver; and 2.) Alexa by linking my kasa account with alexa through the app.  On the Alexa side that you're asking about, I created a routine in the Alexa app using the trigger "when I leave home" and event turn off that plug; I also created another routine that says the reverse: using the trigger "when I return home" and event turn on that plug.  So now we've got the Alexa app using its geo fence to fire a device that is also seen by C4.  Now, on the C4 side you program a script off the event "when that plug turns off" then action "run the macro shutdown" (or what ever); and another script off the event "when that plug turns on" then action "run the macro returning home" (or whatever).  

So that's the basic idea.  You can add sophistication to that by doing the same thing with more plugs.  So, for example, I did the same thing with another plug representing my wife's presence.  The setup for this in the Alexa app is exactly the same as described above.  Then, on the C4 side, you expand the actions off the same triggers.  For example, you program a script off the event "when that plug turns off", add the condition AND "the other plug is also off", then action "run the macro shutdown" (or what ever); and another script off the event "when that plug turns on" then action "run the macro returning home" (or whatever).  

Hope this is helpful!

12 hours ago, Control4Savant said:

but GE is a Savant brand so those specific hopes are unlikely.

I believe Savant purchased C by GE (now Cync) only?  Regardless the dimmers and switches I’m hoping for are white labeled from Jasco. Numerous other companies put their names on these - Honeywell comes to mind - and (I’m nearly certain) C4 (with zigbee pro chip rather than zwave) - in their Essential line. 

I’m not a huge fan of z-wave now either but I see this as an important step in two respects: 1.) those of us stuck with tons of z-wave devices from past (DIY) smart home installs; 2) last resort option if a zigbee device isn’t available (see the lock comments above).
 

As far as the former point, there are a number of people on the forums (myself included) stuck in this spot and forced to use the Vera hub to integrate those devices - that’s EOL and who knows how long that will work. For example, I have 30-40 dimmers and switches that are zwave from before our move to C4 - I’m not going to invest the time and money to switch those all out at this point.  Having an option to support those natively for now would be a huge advantage and help attract DIY people into the pro space. The carrot being: attract those people by offering to support their existing investment but then once they see how much better pro is they’ll replace stuff with pro and expand with pro.

It is a good point @Control4Savant that C4 may not want to offer a native driver of a direct competitor for their product (like a dimmer) BUT they could open it up to developers to write zwave drivers. That would follow the model they have now for third party developers (ie there’s a great tplink driver from @alanchow that allows you to bring in their dimmers rather than C4’s). This would be a great value add for customers and allow more market for driver developers. 

It sounds like we might see expanded support for Z-Wave devices next year at CES!

On this week's episode of the CEPro Podcast, when asked what we can expect to see from the Z-Wave Alliance in 2022, Mitch Klein, from the Z-Wave Alliance said "...you're also going to start seeing companies like Control4, who's again a very popular platform and a really strong one, that is expanding their reach into Z-Wave devices to enable access to even more solutions...you're going to see those at CES."

Here's hoping they add a ton more native drivers and allow third party driver development for Z-Wave!  I'm hoping for GE/Jasco dimmer and switch drivers (this would be huge and hopefully easy - the C4 Essential line looks like they're identical but with C4 branding and Zigbee Pro rather than Z-Wave or regular Zigbee), and HomeSeer Outdoor Motion Sensor (HS-FLS100+) driver!

4 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said:

@Matt Lowe has a video series on this - if I remember correctly.

Best place to start for sure!  The videos are fantastic - great back catalog covering all the basics and new ones every month - highly recommended!

Just got an email teasing a new Flo product that appears to be a kitchen faucet - with any luck this will be added to the Flo driver for C4 too and we'll have kitchen faucet control.  That would be a nice option....

On 8/2/2021 at 11:52 PM, alanchow said:

Short answer no.

Long answer - Control4's direct Zwave compatibility is quite low as 3rd parties cannot utilise the Zwave SDK.

It would be amazing if C4 opened it so 3rd parties could use the wave SDK - I would gladly pay for native control of 3rd party drivers for the Jasco switches/dimmers, Schlage deadbolts, and Homeseer outdoor motion/light sensor, among others.

On 8/2/2021 at 8:51 PM, FLDude said:

I came across a number of these outlets and picked them up. I am curious if there is an intermediate hub or something I can use to make them work with C4. Any ideas?

Thank you 

As Alan said there's no way to do it natively at this time (perhaps ever).  However, you can connect many z-wave devices (these outlets included) to a Vera hub and then integrate them into C4 through that.  However the Vera hub is being migrated to Ezlo which does not have a driver.  Vera hubs won't automatically update their firmware so staying on existing firmware for existing integrations should continue to work.  Devices work very well once integrated - though z-wave can be wonky sometimes.  However this solution is far from ideal from a security standpoint (no more firmware means no more security updates) and I also don't know if you can activate a Vera hub still for new integration.  But this may be a (not perfect) solution for you if you can still do it......

3 hours ago, anon2828 said:

Can existing APD dimmers be upgraded as well with the new style?

In the video they show what appears to be an APD dimmer but don’t know for sure. Would be nice if they offer these for the essential line too so everything matches. 
 

I agree these look great - especially in a more modern design home but not sure they fit in every instance so hope they continue to offer the existing styling too so we can choose between the two. 

10 hours ago, chopedogg88 said:

Correct - one is a relay only, one is a contact sensor only.  The Z2IO can do a combination of both.  Yes you can also run wire to your controller and use the built-in relay(s)

Great thank you for that confirmation Ari

Actually, if I'm reading spec sheets correctly, it appears that the ZCA-WCS10-R-ZP has relays (so controls a load - like closing a dry contact) while the ZCA-WCS10A-2-ZP only contains terminals for external contact sensors (so monitors a circuit and reports but doesn't control).  So, if that's correct (please confirm if you can) then I need the ZCA-WCS10-R-ZP (or the Z2IO) for my need to control a fireplace using a dry contact.

Alternatively, I've read people run 18/2 from fireplaces to their controller - that's a bit of a ways in this case but may explore...

1 hour ago, chopedogg88 said:

Z2IO does more than the older devices...it has 2x IR outputs, can do Contacts, Relays, acts as a zigbee extender, and has an internal temp sensor which can be used to display the temperature in whatever area it is located.

37 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

and the Z2IO is the only "current" device.  Others are no longer for sale new

Thanks guys - wondering if the Z2IO may be more than I need to replace this failed z-wave dry contact for a fireplace - only need that one dry contact for this application.  The Z2IO is a great device to have in the lineup though - I can see where you'd use it for many applications.....

These seem to do the same thing?  What’s the difference between them Is one better than another?