booch

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

 
 

 
 

 
 


 
 

May be more of DIY/edge interest, but figured I'd share nonetheless.
Needed small-parts (mostly electronics) storage for my workshop, so built this:
Solution comprised of 80, ~5", magnetically-attached acrylic bins accoss two opposing walls;

1 - NurX2lT.mp4  
78 LED panels (modded Nanoleaf Canvas) backing the bins, positioned between the mounting rails;

2 - HBhIcRb.mp4  
Typically use subtle scenes that complement my TOD and lighting logic, but can also get crazy with music-sync, ha;

3 - tb0P50E.mp4  
Close up of an individual bin -- super helpful to be able to visualize my inventory vs. have it buried somewhere;

 
 
Fully integrated into C4 ('Matrix' Icon + programming), e.g., motion, auto-switching to music-sync, etc.

 
 
Built a Node-RED program that connects the house/C4 with the panels, leverging Nanoleaf's open API.




 

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

 
 

 
 

 
 


 
 

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.

 
 

 
 

 
 


 
 

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

 
 

 
 

 
 


 
 

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

 
 

 
 

 
 


 
 

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.

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!

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.

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.

Built my house with a closet in mind, but it lacked circulation and the components were running hot, especially with a dense rack. Threw this together with online parts (the main ones being a Cloudline T6 and a Tripp Lite exhaust duct) -- works great and is good for a ~20dg temp. drop (not shown, FYI) while reducing net noise due to fan speed. Sharing for inspiration/if helpful.

 

Built my house with a closet in mind, but it lacked circulation and the components were running hot, especially with a dense rack. Threw this together with online parts (the main ones being a Cloudline T6 and a Tripp Lite exhaust duct) -- works great and is good for a ~20dg temp. drop (not shown, FYI) while reducing net noise due to fan speed. Sharing for inspiration/if helpful.

 

Thanks, man!
We use it so much, I recently upgraded it/did a v2 -- now using a Shelly Uni as the control/status radio and a Vonets VM5G as the online/video radio, which allows me to measure voltage/battery level (for alerts) and stream 4K with audio at massive distances, respectively. We usually keep ours in the woods behind our house and it triggers when our backyard cameras sense a line cross in that direction, then it incrementally stays on with continued motion (with a 5 minute base). Battery has been lasting ~2 months even with my kid out there seemingly everyday, which is great. Such a nerd project, ha.
For fun, below is my new icon (off state) with the battery meter. I get an alert when it goes low, of course!

Thanks, man. And yeah, wouldn't make sense for most users or integrators, most likely. Building stuff and (self-taught) coding is my downtime/relax hobby, which as I tell my wife, results in something tangible beyond my enjoyment occasionally, ha.
That said, given my level of investment in HA, I'd also be pretty disappointed if I couldn't do stuff like this. I think C4 is on the right track with features they're adding, e.g., the circadian and preset stuff, so I'm just glad the platform has the flexibility for me to fill the gap in the meantime.
This is super cool -- did you design your house or add this? (See you have some other creative/designed kit based on the posts above.)

Yes, that's right.
Wire each channel as a parallel path (to the window motors) so the original switches still work.
If you pull the trigger can draw a wiring diagram for you, if helpful. I'm a little confused though why there appears to be 120v at the switch, so you may need to take a better pic of that.

Thanks for the reply, Andy.
No, haven't reported HIK issue but will figure out how to do that.
The updated Shelly drivers are working though -- no more manual tinkering after reboots -- thanks!

I think smarter push notifications is something c4 should work on. The ability to link back to the device that sent you the message. Easy win would be snapshots going to cameras. Lots of opportunity on custom buttons or commands sent with push notifications. C4 could also offer high priority push notifications that can be delivered through DND mode (alarm going off). Lots of room to grow. 

What version are you on? How complex, e.g., number of devices/zones, associated programming, are your annoucements?
Mine (and others) have acted up on 3.3.1 (e.g., T3s not playing at all, zone volume not adjusting, etc.)
In my case, I've temporarily moved to zones vs. T3s and reducled complexity, e.g., fewer rooms, to restore.
The other suggestions are good but your issues may be software-side, like mine. (Hopefully gets fixed soon.)
 

If anyone else happens to have the issue, I solved it by switching my non-Snap cams to digest auth. (Logging suggested the cams were getting overloaded by C4 calls via basic.)

Not sure what functionality you're looking for, but I have my Mr. Steams connected to Z2IOs for power control and state monitoring -- works great. Made an experience button too, if helpful (below).

MrSteam.c4z

Figured I'd share a simple hack I did tonight that came out well (I think):
Use Case: Our front door DS2 has occasional false positives for our motion annoucement (which we love), so I wanted to add a second sensor to QA that via confirmation logic Solution: Dissasembled a NYCE 3041 and integrated it into a 1" PVC pipe/cap, sealed it at the bottom and sensor for the outdoor environment, painted and cut it to be a landscape 'stake' Given these sensors are known to be durable outdoors pre-mod., thinking it will hold up. Also upped to a CR123 for 2x battery life (despite easy cap removal to change).

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:

No -- it's just the 'Experience Button Key Status' driver repacked with images I made for each state plus a little programming to interpret the input and allow the 'clicks' to feel intuitive as you interact with it, e.g., once a number is selected by cycling, it goes back to the 'all unpressed' state.
(Note that the video I posted above was created on my Windows PC though (running Android emulation), but that was purely to capture it for posting -- works identically on all navigators and phones.)