booch

I just started having Spotify Connect issues too -- playlists stopping after one song for the past few days. No recent changes to Control4, my broader environment or use. Therefore, I believe (as others have said) something's happened in the stack. I assume this is a very popular integration, including beyond C4 (if the issue ends up being on Spotify’s end/API), so hopefully that means more reports/data will come in and suggest a culprit/solution.

As a super-happy owner of 5,000W Infratech heaters, one thing I'd consider investing in as a feature is dimming/power control at the individual heater level. Full power on mine is awesome at 45 degrees, but at less extreme temps., running them at 66%, 33%, etc. is more than enough. Also, this level of control let's people tailor heat to taste, e.g., my wife always wants double the power I do on the heaters above her. I bought part of my solution which does the above pre-assembled from Infratech, but it'd be moderately easy to recreate (I've maintained/fixed), it's just: 1) An enclosure 2) 4x Carlo Gavazzi RGC1Ps SSRs 3) a 24V power supply 4) 4x circuit breakers 5) a Control4 0-10V 8-channel module (C4-DIN-8TV-E) You'd obviously have to do a little research and tailor the parts to each other and your units, preferred C4 integration, etc., but I'd say it'd be ~$1,750 or so well spent. Lastly, unrelated to comfort but good for your wallet: SSRs (like mine/example above) designed for infrared heaters have 'start up' programming to protect the heater's elements, which as you know/soon will, are the real cost of these heaters. See below for an explanation, if interested. Basically, without a ramp up when they're cold, it severely impacts life. Good luck!

I use it (now the official, previously sideloaded) and it's great. One issue I can't figure out though, if anyone has: My camera live feeds are too small/don't fill the window anymore. Happens whether in live preview or single cam. Oddly, it didn't always do this -- issue just started about 6m ago...

Check the link I posted below to the driver I found on this forum for Tomorrow.io. My old way was just to use Node-RED and Generic TCP Command. Basically, I wrote a script that hit Weather.gov's API every few seconds, parsed the cloud cover value at my location and sent one of five HTTP commands to C4 which flipped (5) variables for cloud cover in 20% increments.

Your welcome. Here's a bit more detail (below) on how it works, if helpful. And happy to answer questions.

Replied below -- sorry -- took a forum break, ha!

I'd be happy to play with it -- please PM/link me.

Yes -- the Shelly driver brings lux value directly into variables. If you want to use the data well though IMO, manipulation becomes necessary. Using the Variable Manipulator (math) driver and pre-massaging the data in Node-RED both worked for me when I was using it as a data source. (No longer per the above.)

Initially I used Node-RED and the Generic TCP Command driver but switched to one a forum member posted (below) and it works great.

I'm really in to adaptive lighting (have eight overall brightness 'modes' that activate programmatically). Have tried many methods of sensing outdoor/ambient light, e.g., Tempest, dedicated lux sensors, etc. and settled on a combination of timeclock/solar cycle and cloud cover info. (now from Tomorrow.io, previously NWS) to dynamically adjust the timing of transitions. Local sensors are great on a sunny day, but throw in clouds/changing conditions, severe weather, etc. and there's a lot of temporary variation, which wasn't very useful for me (i.e., I don't want to change my lighting for a 20m storm). If your set on getting sensor data though, beyond the Tempest, Shelly's 'Door/Window 2' sensors measure lux, integrate well, are cheap, have long battery life and are surprisingly accurate. I literally left a few stuck outside on my house (under eaves) to collect data and they had no issue after a year, with something like 80% battery left. Other sensors I tried were more sensitive/industrial, but they required more creative solutions to power and hide, and the data ended up being functionally equivalent (after processing it for the use case). I suspect a camera source (let alone the DS2'S poor one) would be a poor choice, as the brightness is all over the place based on clouds, cars, people/activity, etc. (and of course not optimally aimed). It'd be great if the ambient data from C4 lighting was more accessible, as I'd imagine effectively gathering and processing that info. (from hundreds of sources) could be useful, but unfortunately I haven't heard of anyone figuring out how to aggregate it.

Sorry this took an extra day -- see attached/below. 'System Access' is the setting to disable post-install/upgrade. And here's the warning you'll see in Composer, but if you're steady-state, there's no consequence (as this access allows the auto-setup to work, etc.). Enjoy!

I had a few weeks of minor issues when it seemed C4 was rolling out their new camera capabilities in the app/server side, but now it works better than ever. Once audio finally gets added, I’ll be thrilled never to use the Luma/HIK app again. (For reference, I have a bunch of recent-model HIK cams running 4K primary and 720p for C4. Notably, C4 now seems to support/better handle higher framerates, etc. on the latter — even my T3s are snappy.)

Well said/we're generally in agreement -- I was commenting more broadly on 'center-of-the-universe' voice platform market entry and basic buy vs. build vs. partner logic in doing what they need to do to meet the niche. Your assessment of Big Tech-challenges sounds right; however, the longer-term investment/competitive risk of them not enabling downstream integration in a space as broad as the home should be motivating (or dynamics will change). Have no idea what the deal is with Josh but that could be the case and/or they were hoping it'd quickly turn into a sale and things just generally soured when it didn't, which happens all the time. Lastly, I think the bigger question for C4 is where to play/their business model over the longer-term. The 'dealer-double down' via bolt-ons and sales pull through strategy made perfect sense for H&F's purpose but will become sooner rather than later become untenable IMO.

Before you spend any money you don't need to, try this, as the Shelly stuff is otherwise solid, as folks say: Assuming you have one of their 'puck' relays, it's being installed in a larger, appropriate enclosure and can be mounted without contact risk: Remove its case and reinstall the board 'naked' then see if that solves your problem. The case comes apart into two halves with a small screwdriver or similar tool. I'm suggesting this as those cases are super small and ventless (thermally bad). I've noticed high board temps even in AC. In Shelly's defense, it appears designed for fitting in a gang box. The underlying electronic components, e.g., ESP, are all industry standard, high-volume stuff, so it'd be shocked if it's an actual spec. limitation. Lastly, I've also found their 'plus/+' models (newer) to be much more reliable while still being nice and cheap/flexible.

Had this issue too and you can fix by disabling the API’s broader configuration permissions within the door station’s web UI after it’s been integrated. The C4 driver will show a warning within composer but all the relevant functionality still works fine without the stream settings reversion. When I’m by my computer later I can screenshot the exact setting.