DAVIDN

2 hours ago, ChzBurger said:

As an end user:

I use Ubiquiti network equipment with no problem. It's a small item, but you probably don't need 5 APs for 4200 sq ft. I have 2 U6-LR that cover my 4700 sq ft home well enough. I'm probably going to add another one as I have a very small area with lots of mirrors that drops signal every once in a while. The only time of Ubiquiti problems is upgrading firmware. They are continuously releasing new versions. The path is generally good, but there can be bumps along the way. So find a version that works and stick with it.

Yale is an AssaAbloy brand as is August. Any lock that uses the August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge will integrate. August, Yale, Emtek brands all use the bridge. The Emtek door hardware is definitely a higher quality build than Yale.

For 2 channel audio I'd go with Sonos Amps. You won't save money. But the user experience is just better. Especially if you use Apple or Spotify for streaming. And you still have control with C4. You may be able to get rid of the EA-3. 

If you use iOS get a Homebridge integration. Apple Home control of lighting is better than the C4 app.

100 switches seems like it might include closets. If you are looking to simplify/save a bit you might consider having closets use door jamb ball switches. Also 1/2 baths are a good place to put dumb motion sensor lighting.

I also am using Ubiquiti with no issues.  I'm not an IT pro, but setting up the EdgerrouterX and AP's wasn't hard in Unifi.  There are plenty of YT videos that will step you through it.  Be aware that the Neeo remote has APPALLING wifi performance, so make sure your wifi is overbuilt.  My iPhone reports RSSI at least 10dB hotter than the Neeo.  I had to add an extra AP in my 5k sqft house (two LR and two Pro) just to keep the damned remote from dropping.  

Also, I'll second the "Luma is crap" comment- at least compared to Ring.   The video quality is pretty terrible for a 4k camera- note that you can barely read the Prime logo and you can't read the yard sign.  I'm sitting in my office right now and I can read it just fine from here. Forget using this for any sort of forensic work...

Luma motion sensor zones don't work.  See snapshot...  The feature is there, but it doesn't work.

The ONLY reason to go with Luma is so you can use your TV or T4 Touchpads to view the video.  Otherwise, I miss my Ring stuff....

I have a DSC security control panel wired to my C4 system (TL280LER-AT).  I can see the zone status in the C4 app on my phone, wall T4 panels, etc...  What I can't figure out how to do: query the zone status in Composer.  I have a list of conditional variables under the Security Panel partition, but nothing which is zone specific.  I know C4 can see the zone status as Open/Closed, but I can't find where that variable exists in Composer.  

Essentially I want to avoid closing the blinds if the windows are open, but I can't find the "Window Open" status...

7 minutes ago, antneed said:

I want to incorporate a mock occupancy driver for when we leave the house such as vacation etc, and I read about the Control4 “ occupancy simulation driver“. 
My questions are:

1. is this a free driver that the dealer simply installs?

2. are there any other similar drivers out there which are free?

3. once installed, can I have a custom button addded to my touchscreen/app to activate it?

4. or how does one activate it?

5. Can I set the parameters of the driver through Composer HE?

Thank you in advance.

I don't see why you would need a "driver" for this.  Just setup a variable in Composer for home/away and then some automation that runs only if Away = True.  

39 minutes ago, DanITman said:

Not yet but based on the power box it looks like Control4 will probably add a AC power option. I had to run new Cat5e to make my T4s work.  I had two T3s that were running on A/C power and I upgraded them to POE.  It wasn't easy. 

Strange that they would release a new, upgraded product and REMOVE features.  Especially something as simple as a 48VDC transformer that costs about $3.  Nice work, C4...

The location I have planned for my T4 doesn't have Ethernet, but it does have solid Wifi and it's right above a light switch so it has power.  I wasn't aware that the T4 doesn't have an AC/DC transformer and is only powered by PoE.  

Anybody have a workaround for this?  I have a PoE injector laying around- I considered cutting the plug off the power cord and just hardwiring it into the 110VAC at the switch and shoving the PoE injector behind the T4 wall box.  

Bad idea?

On 10/5/2021 at 12:02 AM, Nick L said:

Hello David,

I approach this a little different. I use variables and timers. We have an away button that when pressed starts a timer for 2 hrs and sets away variable to ‘1’. When 2 hrs expires it resets itself to 24 hrs and when that expires it moves the away variable to ‘2’. The reset happens again on a 24hrs basis with the away variable counting up to ‘5’, then the reset stops. When a door opens, if the away variable is >0 then it moves it to zero, ‘0’ means we are home. From there, I have a bunch of things happen at all stages. Works great, never an issue and I like it because the system knows that we have been away for certain periods of time, for water shutoff, mockupancy, blinds control, HVAC setback, other timers, etc.

I've actually considered doing something similar.  If you manually turn on or off any activity it resets the away to zero, etc.

But now that my Cor thermostats appear to not work with C4 (suddenly stopped working 3 weeks ago), I might just end up replacing all the thermostats anyway.  

13 hours ago, jillmark99 said:

I have geofencing setup in my system using Alan’s IFTTT driver and it works awesome. Rock solid. Entire family uses iPhones. Been using it for a very long time, ever since Phil’s follow me driver stopped working. 

I recommend it. 

Interesting- any links to this configuration?  I'm not real savvy on IFTTT so this might be an adventure!

From my reading on this forum, geofencing seems to be a bust so I'm thinking my only way to set a home/away status is with a boolean variable.  The real trick- how does one trigger it?  Some ideas came to mind, but they have a number of challenges:

• Use the alarm panel.  Maybe, but we don't set the alarm very often (small children and dogs) except on vacations.  I suppose I can change my habits, but I fear a lot of false alarms to the cops....  6 year olds are notoriously unreliable when it comes to verifying the alarm is off before they let the dog out the back door...  
• Program a keypad button near the door that sets home/away.  That's not very "smart", but effective.  
• Set a timer that's reset every time a manual activity inside the house happens.  TV turns on,  lights turn on, etc resets the "Home" timer.  Would have to figure out how to separate scheduled activities from manual ones.  

My primary desire is to have the HVAC setting change based on the occupancy.  My last house had a Honeywell Lyric thermostat and geofencing worked beautifully.  I'm struggling with it in this new house- the builder installed Cor thermostats and they don't have geofencing....

Any other ideas?

On 9/1/2021 at 5:00 PM, msgreenf said:

Lol up the open weather agent 

Apologies- I'm still new to this.  I assume I need to download an agent before it'll appear here?

C4 integrator spec'ed this DSC TL280(R)E Internet Alarm communicator and had me call my alarm installer to have it installed.  They also do C4 and advised against it:

• The DSC NEO can have 1 communicator connected. The TL280RE is an internet only communicator with the RS232 so it can “talk” to the C4.
• With the NEO panel you can remote access it through 1 remote app. Either alarm.com or C4.
• We typically install the TL280LER-AT when we are setting up an AV system we installed. This allows the RS232 communication and cellular communication to TBI (No alarm.com)
• One of the other issues, that has happened several times, is we are not able to work on or program the C4 and your integrator cannot work on or program the DSC Neo. If there are issues with the programming we end up at a standstill. Basically 2 companies saying the other doesn’t know what they are doing. Unfortunate but happens.
• We are ok coming out to work to get your system integrated but wanted you to be aware of the issues we’ve seen doing this. If you agree to have us set up our end with DSC and something with the C4 isn’t working and it cannot be resolved by the 2 companies we still have to charge our service charges.

I guess he's saying I need the TL280LE(R)-AT?  BS or legit?  My integrator hasn't yet responded, so I thought I'd ping the experts here..  

1 hour ago, Don Cohen said:

I have a 510 NVR, with 2 Luma IP cameras, along with a DS2-Mini, and a Chime added recently.  I have the Luma cameras configured to record for motion only, but that doesn't seem to be an option for either DS2 or Chime.  I can only configure them to continuous.  If set to motion, they never record.

Is this a limitation of my setup and configuration, or an inherent limitation for the C4 cameras?  I would love to have these record only for motion.

That's exactly what my installer said as well- Chime records  continuous.  Which seems like a catastrophic limitation.  

36 minutes ago, lippavisual said:

H.265 is not available through C4.

looking at the camera grid in C4, all cameras are a snapshot/image.  When selecting the camera, you’ll get the h264 live feed.

NVRs can bet set to record continuously, motion detection only or on schedules.

Proper planning is required to figure out how long you want to store recordings and how much storage space is required.

Particularly, the latter, is why I’ve switched to using a Synology NAS for all my camera systems.  Plus I find the interface, web browser compatibility and apps much better than LUMA/Hikvision

It works if I click on the Chime- I get a live stream form my doorbell. But when I select one of the Luma 410 cameras, I get nothing....  Just the spinning circle...

2 hours ago, chopedogg88 said:

yup.  Get a Luma 510 NVR, you can also record your Chime doorbell footage to that.

Two questions:

• My installer told me that adding the Chime to my 510 NVR "it always records and it will fill the hard drive up really quick".  I have the base 1TB model, but adding another 4TB drive is $109 for a WD Purple drive if that will be sufficient.  Currently have five 410 cameras.   Thoughts?  I personally don't like relying on the "history" tab in the C4->Security->Cameras section.
• Again my installer claims C4 only keep snapshots of the cameras and I cannot view live feeds of the IP cameras in the C4 app or on my TV.  I have to open the Luma app.  Somebody said I have to change the streaming from H.265 to H.264?  I assume that has other drawbacks like poorer compression?

On 8/21/2021 at 4:15 AM, Rich2626 said:

Thank you. Is it possible to send announcement to any other speakers? I have a number of Bluetooth and WiFi active speakers, that are not wired back to an amp or central location. Could I send an announcement to these?

Do you have a pic of the back of the chime POE so I can see the connectors? What would I need to do to wire it to my normal mechanical chime ?

I can confirm that the Chime rings a standard mechanical doorbell just fine.

On 8/18/2021 at 3:07 PM, DanITman said:

Here are the settings you can choose from. 

I have the motion video setup as described, but I don't appear to have an option for that video clip when I setup the push notification agent.  Just the snapshot.  What am I doing wrong?

22 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

The C4 Intercom app is a separate app in iOS, but its integrated into the Control4 app in Android, fwiw.  However I don't believe it works on an iPad.

The History is easily viewable within the Control4 app.

The motion zones and other configurations can be made within Composer Home Edition if you have that - don't need a dealer to do it. 

An added benefit is that the Chime shows up in Control4 with your other IP cameras (if you have them), and can also be recorded to any standard NVR via RTSP.

I've had a few clients swap out their Ring Elites and have reported to me that they felt that the Chime video quality was better and had a larger viewing angle (although your pictures above seem to show the opposite - but one seems to be of a live intercom call (Chime) and the Ring one seems to be of just the camera view, so maybe that's why?)

 

 

Ok, so after more tinkering with C-HE, I stand corrected- you can change the motion zones and sensitivity.  I don't see an easy way to snooze alerts, though.

The viewing angle is indeed wider with the Chime- just that the image is compressed horizontally on the live Chime call.  The real difference is in low-light conditions where the Chime is B&W and the Ring is still full color.  Is that configurable?

The Chime app is a standalone app (C4 Intercom) and runs on IOS, so yes- you should be able to have it ring and display video on any device running the app, including an iPad.  

HOWEVER- If you don't have any C4 screens or C4 audio, I would suggest a Ring doorbell instead.  I went from a Ring Elite to the Chime and I'm seriously considering going back.  The Chime is nowhere near as intuitive as the Ring, nor is it as flexible.  The Ring app makes it simple to configure all aspects of the device- snooze motion alerts, change sensitivity, set motion zones, view past events with video, etc.  The Chime is just far less sophisticated.  Or at least less sophisticated to the common person with C-HE available. 

Motion alerts are inconsistent and have to be configured in C4.  My installer still has to configure something because I have zero access to past video or motion events.  That's right- a video doorbell that I can't see any history.  Who knows why.  

Oh, and the video quality of the Chime sucks in comparison to Ring.  

On 5/10/2021 at 9:08 AM, Dueport said:

There really needs to be native support in the C4 app for geofencing....still waiting for that.  In the meantime, we're stuck with workarounds - I use a combination that works nearly all of the time.  I have a TP-Link plugin plug assigned to each family member representing their presence.  Then I use IFTTT to geofence and trigger that on for when they enter the geofence and off when they leave.  For added reliability I have the Alexa app geofence do the exact same thing.  We use iOS and you need to make sure the privacy settings for IFTTT and Alexa apps have location tracking set to precise and always on.  This approach has worked well for us if that's helpful.  

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?

7 minutes ago, DanITman said:

Here are the settings you can choose from. 

Perfect- thank you!  You configure that directly in the Chime doorbell (via the IP address) or some app I don't have?  That doesn't look like Composer HE. 

3 minutes ago, DanITman said:

The chime supports standard rtsp streams and you can implement that into any NVR.  Just pull the values off of the camera driver. 

Here is the rtsp stream for mine. rtsp://192.168.1.XXX:554/live.sdp.  It uses basic authentication.

I guess my installer failed to do that- my LUMA app only shows the surveillance cameras, not the Chime.  Thanks- I'll add it to the list of things for him to fix.  

2 minutes ago, DanITman said:

Yes, you need to enable it under the "Events" section in the Chime Driver.  Its called "Motion Media" Video Clip

That will get me a media clip at the time the doorbell rang and a specified period before/after?  What about motion events- can it be configured to save video from those events too?

13 minutes ago, DanITman said:

Camera history is only supported with C4 specific cameras.  The new Chime and DS2 both support a historical entry with video or snapshot.  Control4 has not released the API method to support this on 3rd party devices. 

So...  I have no access to review historical video with the Chime (motion alerts, doorbell rings) via the iOS C4 App or the Chime Intercom app?  All I get is a live view and a snapshot when they ring the doorbell, but no way to view the history?

Please tell me I'm reading that wrong.  

Is there another way to view the video??  I have a Luma NVR- surely that's compatible with Chime- it's all SnapAV, after all.

If I click "History" from the C4 iOS home screen, I get the image in my previous post.  If I click Security->Cameras->HistoryIcon  I get this....  A still snapshot of when the doorbell rang.  Neither of which is terribly useful if I want to figure out what the dude who rang the doorbell was actually doing before or after he rang the doorbell.

15 hours ago, ashwinmj said:

When I go to the camera section under security, I see the live view of my cameras fine. However, I see a history button on the top right as well - what NVR would work with this history button? Thanks for your help. 

Same here- just a list of notifications.

In fact, I don't even get live video on my "Cameras" section, just a recent snapshot...  

9 hours ago, Jeff W said:

As an experiment I setup two Echo's in my personal house.  I setup one Echo in the kitchen and then installed an echo dot in the audio/video rack.  Using the Alexa app, I named the Echo Dot in the AV rack as "The Party Dot".  I wired the 1/8th stereo connector from the Echo Dot into one of the AMS inputs.  

When I want to use Alexa for Music, I just have to say "Alexa play alternative music on The Party Dot".  

The Echo in the kitchen then replies, "Ok playing a station you might like, Alternative Music on Amazon Music".

You can use the Alexa app to do the same thing.  If you install the Alexa Widget on iOS, you don't need to open the Alexa App.

I don't use Spotify so I can't comment on that, but setting up the Alexa's mentioned above works pretty good.  I've created some pretty funny voice scenes that are a hit during parties.  You can program Alexa to say sentences from the dot in the AV then play songs immediately after.  You can get pretty creative with the routines.  

I did the same thing in the master bed/bath.  Additionally, in the Amazon app, you can set the local dot in the room to ALWAYS play audio out of the dot in the A/V rack so you don't have to add the "on the Party Dot" line to your command.  Create a room in Alexa called "Kitchen" and add both Dots.  Under Speakers, select the Dot in the A/V rack as the only speaker and all audio will go through the dot in the A/V rack...

I have my EA5 to leave the MDX16 on the A/V rack dot input fulltime except when I use the C4 keypad/TS/remote to play audio in the room.  When the EA5 commanded audio is turned off, it reverts the MDX to the dot input.  

On 2/13/2021 at 3:40 AM, Ap93 said:

Hi all,

First post!

I have a chime set up, everything was working great but the “history” on C4 app where i would view video clips of any motion alert/ doorbell press has stopped working.

I have a EA5 controller, and 2 days ago the history stopped showing me the video clips i had set for motion and doorbell press and instead just shows me a stick man! The event for motion is there in history but just no pre recorded video clip. This worked fine 2 days ago!

i can connect to the chime through the app and see the live video under camera fine. In intercom anywhere i can connect fine and see the camera fine. The announcements work and so does push notifications with a snapshot!!

its just the history will not show videos anymore!

any ideas?

reboots have been done along with switches and router.

pic attached!

New Chime installed last week and mine shows the same thing.  Was this ever resolved?

Is there any way to review the video history for the Chime in either the C4 App or the C4Intercom app?  I can't find it anywhere....