Frustrated

[cdepaola]

So had an HC800 go down for an unknown reason and it won't Factory Restore. Got it to our Dealer for evaluation and it indeed needs to be sent out for RMA. We are now dead in the water for an unknown period of time. Seems like it should be standard procedure for dealers to have back-up's / loaners to get clients systems up and running ASAP after a failure. Really not happy what so ever.

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[jfh]

My wife would not be happy if our system was down for a couple weeks.

I'm sure there are all sorts of reasons a dealer wouldn't have a loaner, but sorry to hear you're stuck.

[control4user007]

One thing I thought would be kind of cool is if there could be some type of distributed algorithm where secondary controllers could detect that the master controller had shut down, and run some type of leader election algorithm to boot up lite version of director on one of the secondary controllers to allow basic system functions to work. This could be as simple as light keypads, security system integration, and TV remotes would continue to function, but maybe distributed music wouldn't work since that would require audio out and the faster processor on the 800. That way as the master controller is being RMA'd the system could still have basic functionally. Also, the project could be stored on secondary controllers every time a change is made in composer, so that when a new master controller is brought into a project, it could just read the old project off the secondary controller that is running lite director and all functionally back up without skipping a beat. Shouldn't be that hard to build in either. just a thought and I admit I don't have a lot of knowledge of how director works. So this is probably a "wish list" item.

[cdepaola]

Yea, I guess their would be some issues with driver licenses. But not a good day when you realize you may be out of commission for several weeks. Especially when the failure happens during a huge holiday downtime like now.

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[SY3]

Sorry to hear all the trouble you're having.  I run my system on a HC1000.  When/If I upgrade, I will most likely keep the 1000 around as a backup unit.  I've seen them for less than a $100.  Could that work as a backup to a HC800 for a short period?  With all my equipment centralized now, don't think we could even change the channel without C4.

[Cyknight]

Oh redundancy has ALL sorts of issues built into it that does NOT make it easy to incorporate. At all.

 

That said - we do try to have more than one controller in a system that at least allows us to run something short term, or keep some controllers in stock, even if it's older ones, that allow for some limited continued function - and if it's RMA, I see no reason why it would take weeks at all?

[msgreenf]

Sorry to hear all the trouble you're having.  I run my system on a HC1000.  When/If I upgrade, I will most likely keep the 1000 around as a backup unit.  I've seen them for less than a $100.  Could that work as a backup to a HC800 for a short period?  With all my equipment centralized now, don't think we could even change the channel without C4.

There is no automated fail over capability.  And there is some feature differential between the 2.  But overall, you could make it work.

[SY3]

There is no automated fail over capability.  And there is some feature differential between the 2.  But overall, you could make it work.

 

Yep.  I knew it couldn't automatically fail over.  Could live without certain functionality but having the entire system down for a few weeks would be problematic. 

[thegreatheed]

C4 tech support will overnight an advanced replacement controller if the one that went dead is in warranty.

I see no reason why you should be down for weeks, unless it's your dealer holding you up.

[Snaffle8]

It would be a good customer service if dealers would have a few controllers they could use as loaners, but that is an added cost that has to passed on somehow.  I also think it is a good idea for customers to have a back up controller.  Older controllers like the hc1000 and hc800 w/o a license can be had pretty cheap.  I have a few 250's I was going to sell, think I'll keep 1 as a back up.  

 

Hopefully fire/medic gets his replacement controller in a timely manner.  

[thecodeman]

We keep an extra current model controller (the 800 and 250) in stock for this very reason. If it's under warranty, we go ahead and swap out the customer's unit and get them back up while back filling our stock with the RMA when it arrives from Control4.

[cdepaola]

Seems like this should be standard practice... But oh well I guess it is what it is. 

[RAV]

Certainly in larger projects it's one of the reasons to have a second controller or even upsell (I know, bad word) a secondary controller to an HC800 as an onsite 'backup'. Still requires a site visit to reload and make director changes.

 

Then again, I can count field failed units on less than one hand....

[Gary Leeds UK]

Feel for you fire/medic we had our HC250 go down, lucky we was up and running again in two days.

 

It was the little things we missed.

 

Good Luck

[Cyknight]

Seems like this should be standard practice... But oh well I guess it is what it is. 

 

We don't 'keep one in stock' specifically for this purpose, but we run through enough that we generally HAVE some stock that we are happy use - especially since a replacement controller, be it RMA or if truly required via order is here in about 2 business days (often meaning the next day depending on 'timing').

[Matt Lowe]

keeping a controller in stock just for rma is kinda a waste. First warranty starts from when the dealer purchases a product having it sit on the shelf for 6 months only hurts us and the customer.  Control4 also does a real good job with quality control to make sure their controllers are extremely robust. To this day i can only think of one newer controller that has been rma'd and that was a hc250 and it was DOA. Not sure what caused your controller to fail, but i would make sure you are doing everything you can to protect it, surge, conditioner, ups.  A secondary hc250 in your project would be the best fail over if the hc800 did fail it wouldn't take much to get the hc250 limping along until the new one is available. However on our RMA's if we have something in stock we will typically replace it and wait for the replacement to refill our stock. Best of luck sorry to hear about the unit

[cdepaola]

It was a complete failure and was unrepairable, a brand new 800 was dispatched quickly. I commend Control4 for their swift assessment and response.

As for keeping it safe its housed in a climate controlled rack and on a surge Protector / Conditioner.

[Matt Lowe]

sounds like you and your dealer did all the right things and just the unfortunate luck of technology ha! we are looking to put in a secondary hc800 in an upcoming project on a panamax switch and if the main were to crash power would be turned of on the main and the secondary will come and take over. Adds some expense as basically no io will be used on either controller. Customer wanted redundancy we hope to achieve it.

[thecodeman]

keeping a controller in stock just for rma is kinda a waste. First warranty starts from when the dealer purchases a product having it sit on the shelf for 6 months only hurts us and the customer.  Control4 also does a real good job with quality control to make sure their controllers are extremely robust. To this day i can only think of one newer controller that has been rma'd and that was a hc250 and it was DOA. Not sure what caused your controller to fail, but i would make sure you are doing everything you can to protect it, surge, conditioner, ups.  A secondary hc250 in your project would be the best fail over if the hc800 did fail it wouldn't take much to get the hc250 limping along until the new one is available. However on our RMA's if we have something in stock we will typically replace it and wait for the replacement to refill our stock. Best of luck sorry to hear about the unit

Let me clarify that we cycle through enough equipment on jobs that it usually isnt a case of "we have an 800 sitting on the shelf just for RMA" but that we have on hand inventory of 800s and 250s for other jobs coming up - so in the event of an RMA in 99% of cases we can pull from an upcoming job and backfill like you say. There isnt an hc800 sitting and collecting dust on the top shelf just waiting on someone's house to crash. Hopefully that clears it up a bit.

[Greenlight Control]

It sounds like to me that the controller had probably been failing for sometime before it completely failed.  I have had a dealer that was monitoring a system with our product and was getting notifications every couple days when the controller would start to get flakey.  With our product he was lucky enough to see right when it would start to fail and he then sent an action to reboot the controller to get it up and running.  This bought him enough time to receive another controller.  The day before he was going to replace the controller it died for good.  The cool part is the client never really knew there was a problem because he was able to limp it along.  

 

I have your name and if you tell the dealer to sign up for Greenlight Control I will give him a 90 day license for your system.  I understand your frustration and I am sorry you had this issue.  I don't want you to have a bad taste in your mouth over home automation.  With some dealers it usually comes down  not being able to efficiently supporting their clients and I can help with that.  Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of awesome dealers out there.  

 

If you have any questions just message me.  

 

Thanks, Steve

[C4Blimp]

^Nice Holiday plug.

[LSDave]

So had an HC800 go down for an unknown reason and it won't Factory Restore. Got it to our Dealer for evaluation and it indeed needs to be sent out for RMA. We are now dead in the water for an unknown period of time. Seems like it should be standard procedure for dealers to have back-up's / loaners to get clients systems up and running ASAP after a failure. Really not happy what so ever.

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My HC800 would not factory restore.... opened the unit up and found the trace on the circuit board that connects the reset button to the processor was defective... Soldered in a jumper wire and it worked fine.  I would have them open it up first.

[Cyknight]

My HC800 would not factory restore.... opened the unit up and found the trace on the circuit board that connects the reset button to the processor was defective... Soldered in a jumper wire and it worked fine.  I would have them open it up first.

I would most certainly not have them open up a defective controller in warranty.....

[cdepaola]

And was replaced, and reinstalled a few days ago.

Also the button elicited a response when depressed, just wouldn't reimage. I suspect a failed drive

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[LSDave]

I would most certainly not have them open up a defective controller in warranty.....

My bad, when i saw that he said he might be without the controller for several weeks i thought it was off warranty as any RMA i've done has been 2-3 days max before a new unit is at the shop and sometimes they overnight ship them.