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.

On 9/27/2023 at 9:59 AM, reyn said:

So here's what I'm thinking for a cost effective solution - pls see if any faulty logic in here:

• I'm currently wired by code for 6 double pole dumb toggle switches enabling independent on/off control of each of the 6 heating elements
• I want to have a variable timer function associated with each of the elements
• I employ contactors, which enables the ability to use C4 120v switches/dimmers 
• I get 6 keypad dimmers (C4-KD120), & each keypad button has a different heater off "interval" (E.g. 30 mins, 60 mins, etc)
• C4 kicks off a timer with corresponding interval and shuts the heater off accordingly

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...

On 11/2/2023 at 11:36 AM, C4 User said:

@booch thank you for the complete description above, very intriguing approach. Any chance you can elaborate on how you are bringing the cloud data from Tomorrow.io into C4 for programming.

@DanITman any chance you would be able and desire to add Cloud Cover data to your driver?

 

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.

On 11/2/2023 at 7:34 AM, ILoveControl said:

Man love this level of detail thank you! - I was thinking the same to control my inside / outside lighting but just havent found something that works well thank you for the post.

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

On 11/1/2023 at 10:45 PM, neil12011 said:

I'd like to know this as well!

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

On 11/1/2023 at 9:26 PM, DanITman said:

I have a new driver that calculates solar position that you might be interested in.  Looking for some testers. It calculates it right on the driver and doesn’t use an api. 

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

On 11/1/2023 at 9:01 PM, zaphod said:

How do you integrate these into C4 - the Chowmain Shelly driver?

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.)

On 11/1/2023 at 4:49 PM, RAV said:

Did you write your own driver to pull from Tomorrow.io?

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.

On 8/24/2023 at 5:06 PM, cnicholson said:

Awesome.  Thanks

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.)

56 minutes ago, cnicholson said:

 

IDK.  I think it depends on what "it" is.  I don't think anyone is suggesting that C4 offer something that people would buy *instead of* Siri/Alexa/Google, but rather some kind of better bridge/integration/support for having C4 stuff being controllable via voice commands interpreted by one of these existing voice solutions.  The existing Alexa/Google C4 (semi) support is evidence of this approach.  Halo talking to AppleTV (and, thus, Siri/Homekit) is another quasi step in this direction.

I think voice control is becoming so ubiquitous in the low-end consumer space that the absence of some kind of C4 workaround is going to be an increasing impediment to selling expensive C4 deployments.  I think they need to do better, and fast.  I suspect the biggest challenge for tighter integration with the big boys (Apple/Amazon/Google) is not so much the competitive threat that those guys would perceive, but more along the lines of "Don't care/not strategic/why bother?"   

Josh.ai is the most obvious partner, but they are a niche product already, so tough for them to further their narrow their market and corporate "Enterprise Value" / exit potential by being seen as too tied to one player (C4).  Plus the natural strategy of everyone wanting to be the "center of the universe" versus a "mere add-on."

So the economic realities are tough, but I think they must do *something*, IMHO.

I biased toward the Apple ecosystem, but I would love C4 to buy (or build) a C4/Homekit bridge driver, and make it a supported solution.  That would be (relatively) cheap/easy for C4 to do, and they could charge for it-- and it might also "pull through" additional Halo sales.

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.

On 8/23/2023 at 7:20 AM, dadjokesfirst said:

Hi Everyone -- New house build with Control4 dimmers to 3x Infratech dual element heaters. Our electricians have come 4 times to do the integration and can't figure it out with even with infratech support. The and AV team says it should work, but the heaters will not turn on unless we do a bypass with normal switches.  What are we doing wrong?

 

 

 

I have a four relay version of the same panel and the same heaters, which I self-installed because our electricians were also confused, so happy to help.

1) What do you mean it works when you ‘bypass’ it?

2) Is the voltage measuring 0-10V at the input terminals on the top right of the panel when you use the switches?

3) The relays appear disconnected in this photo, FYI, as they have green lights when in standby.

4) Also FYI, I’m no licensed electrician, but that extra neutral feed hanging haphazardly in there looks super sketch — I hope it’s not live

First question: Are you sure this is an AC vs. DC fan? Most newer ones are the latter and require a non-electrical integration approach, e.g., Bond Bridge.

If the answer to the above is ‘yes,’ then you’re in luck, as you could just use a configurable keypad dimmer to control the lighting load and add whatever buttons you want via connections or programming for the fan.

On 8/18/2023 at 10:24 AM, Topspin14m said:

Developing a well functioning voice assistant seems incredibly difficult and costly. Apple barely has one. Sonos has one but it’s pretty narrowly focused on just music and it’s own products. I’d be surprised if Control4 has tried to tackle this.

I agree — it also doesn’t make sense from a product perspective, as much of the user experience is outside the home/C4’s space, e.g., phones, cars — not to mention being competitively foolish.

Case study in the making on the topic is GM’s recent decision to replace CarPlay/Android Auto with a in-house system — a hot dog vendor rather than an MBA could predict how this will end.

On 6/22/2023 at 2:50 PM, BennettBGK said:

Awesome setup! I did something very similar with mine. I'm going to snap a pic to share. 

Thanks! I'm actually just finishing up a complete rebuild of my rack with a 47U unit, and IMO the cooling (and everything else) is even better. (Very proud of it, ha.) Will have to post when I'm done...

13 hours ago, Anks329 said:

Yeah, the Unifi option doesn’t seem to be the most reliable. I’ve got an alert set up either way to tell me if the door is left open, but wanted to automate it.

 

Any other drivers/options out there?

I use the presence of our phones on the network as a 'geofence,' per se (plus as an input to my occupancy logic, e.g., auto-locking the house).

Given how phones sleep under some circumstances, it just misses the speed for instant garage door open (with a moving car), at least under some circumstances, though mine is consistently fast enough for coming/going on foot (regardless if it's in a pocket or out). If you really want to do the garage door, you could follow the same (network presence approach) and add a more aggressive wifi transceiver to your car that's scanning at a faster interval as a budget approach. Otherwise, I'd think RFID would be the gold standard for this (and is $$$ based on my research).

FYI the newer HIK/Luma View app (which is better) works fine for older Luma/HIK cameras, locally at least. Tried (briefly) to get it to work with Lumalink on my 510, but no dice yet.

If the C4 app supported sound, we'd never use the HIK/Luma apps -- hopefully someday. I agree it's annoying that Snap seems to stop rebadging the software upon initial release.

13 hours ago, Rickrozay said:

The last week I’ve been having problems using the app is it just me or is everyone having this problem. I get an error unable to validate your account. Please check email and password and try again (401). My email and password are correct I close app out and it sometimes lets me get in and seems to happen more and more but not always able to get in I tried to uninstall and reinstall same problem 

4 hours ago, lippavisual said:

Unfortunately, my own phone has been doing this as well.  Seems it only happens after the app has been running in the background for a while.  Open the app back up and same result, "unable to authenticate please log in".

I log in with the correct credentials and it still just hangs and doesn't connect, so then I force close app again.  Open it back up and it's connected.

Since I noticed this a week or so ago, I've just been force closing the app after every time I use it and hasn't happened since.

This was happening to my wife and I as well. Suspect it may be related to the latest iOS security update. (1) Deleting the app from both phones, (2) force closing all apps then hard resetting the phones and (3) reinstalling the app fixed the issue .

(Note: Not sure if step 2 actually matters, but I do it as a matter of practice when reinstalling apps in the hope of purging any cache/data I can.)

Hey all -- can see from Snap's webpage that a new version of Luma NVR firmware was just released (which I assume corresponds to Hik's upgrades, hence my interest.) Unfortunately, they screwed up the link to the file and it still pulls the 2020 version (build 230118 vs. build 200708). Pinged Ari to see if he could find it as well, and no dice. Does anyone have it/know where it can be had?

Qolsys IQ Panel 2+ (or newer model) is great IMO (and popular here so will probably get suggested again). Full and easy integration with good company support for self-install, including official C4 support.

5 hours ago, ajd123 said:

I searched the 130 page DSC manual and there was no reference anywhere to "alarm cleared".  The word cleared only showed up 12 times in the entire manual, and nothing was relating to the clearing of an alarm.

It's seriously all of them...

I have a Qolsys IQ Panel 2+ (which thankfully is a great product though, honestly) and searched -- including contacting the company -- to understand the alarm code/variable definitions, e.g., when a tornado warning trips the alarm vs. a contact sensor, how does that 'map'? Still waiting for the details, ha.