OceanDad Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Looking for help here. A good friend has just moved into a brand new home in a fairly expensive development in the UK. I’m visiting him at the moment. There’s 9 houses in the development. Each house has been kitted out with a decent AV rack, and a Crestron panelized lighting system. There’s a 4K HDBT AV matrix, and some nice hardware in the rack. Each house is on four floors, with decent Ubiquiti WAP’s on each floor etc. Crestron keypads everywhere. The problem is that the systems in each home have been horribly programmed, and the installer/programmer is terminally unreliable. Right now, nine homeowners are stuck with homes that dont work, and would be better off without any of this fancy equipment. It’s a shame, because with a moderate amount of quality programming, they could be amazing. I see two possible options : 1. Find a good Crestron programmer that I can trust, and work with them to sort out what’s here. Hopefully done remotely. I can possibly get the existing source code, but not certain. It’s a lame effort, but maybe better than nothing to start with. 2. Replace the existing Crestron processor with an EA-5 in the rack, an EA-1 on each floor and turn this into a C4 project. I need to work with the existing Crestron lighting system, hence why I am asking if anyone here has experience of using it in a C4 project. There is an EV driver, but it seems to have a few specific requirements in terms of how the Crestron was originally programmed. I’m a C4 programmer, not a Crestron guy, so that has me a little nervous. Is anyone here expert on both systems, or does anyone know/work with a good Crestron programmer that might work with us to see what is achievable ? The original installers are not an option. Beyond hopeless. It’s a shame to see every house here with three remotes sitting on the table as they try to control their TV and satellite box. Unable to turn individual lights on and off. Unable to close their drapes because nobody gave them a button to control the motors. And on and on. Suggestions and recommendations gratefully received. I understand that this is ultimately more of a Crestron question in a C4 forum, but I thought I would turn to trusted C4 friends first before searching for a needle in the Crestron haystack. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopedogg88 Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 does the EV driver even exist still? does it work with OS3? Can anyone vouch for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 It's long dead. While it may be possible to do something using the serial event driver by domosapiens (drivercentral.io) I can't imagine that the time spent to make that work even half decent makes any sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xc420 Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Crestron lighting is easy to program but I’m not sure how well it integrates with Control4. Does it have a crestron PAC2 lighting processor? Maybe leave panelized lighting and keypads in place with Crestron controlling it and use Control4 for the AV? Crestron panelized lighting can operate independently and works really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanDad Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 1 x AP3 Processor 6x 1DIMU4 (Universal Dimmers) 2x 2MC2 Motor Control (Shades) 1x 8SW8 Plus a ton of keypads of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanDad Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 There are no real scenes programmed - apart from all on and all off. Every keypad just controls the lights located immediately in its vicinity at different dimmer levels. No pathway scenes, proper mood scenes etc. No buttons programmed to control the shade motors. No AV control whatsoever. It’s an absolute train wreck of a programming job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xc420 Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Sorry, just looked up AP3. I would just leave lighting separate and install Control4 for AV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xc420 Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 10 minutes ago, OceanDad said: There are no real scenes programmed - apart from all on and all off. Every keypad just controls the lights located immediately in its vicinity at different dimmer levels. No pathway scenes, proper mood scenes etc. No buttons programmed to control the shade motors. No AV control whatsoever. It’s an absolute train wreck of a programming job. Programming Crestron lighting is easy if you need to create some scenes or change a few things. I bet you could learn enough to get by quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Pretty sure you’d need the source code anyways to even use the Crestron driver. From what I recall on dealer forums, the driver had some issues anyways. Find the guy that did it and threaten lawsuit. Or find someone willing to reset it it all and re-program or just replace it all and start from scratch. Many options here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 1 hour ago, lippavisual said: Pretty sure you’d need the source code anyways to even use the Crestron driver. From what I recall on dealer forums, the driver had some issues anyways. Find the guy that did it and threaten lawsuit. Or find someone willing to reset it it all and re-program or just replace it all and start from scratch. Many options here. Just toss out what was probably $80k and start over? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LollerAgent Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 5 hours ago, OceanDad said: 1 x AP3 Processor 6x 1DIMU4 (Universal Dimmers) 2x 2MC2 Motor Control (Shades) 1x 8SW8 Plus a ton of keypads of course Is this a picture of the keypad in your friend's brand new home? I would not be happy if I had a brand new home with a keypad that looked that bad. msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanDad Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 Yes - they all look the same. All programmed for a few different %age levels and that’s it. As for the stickers, they are awaiting engraving. I told my friend to wait, because there is no way he should want the current program to be the final answer. Junking the panelized lighting just isn’t an option. Looks like I need to find a good Crestron programmer who can reprogram from scratch. It’s a real example of that old adage about a Crestron system only being as good as its programmer. That’s true on C4 of course, but maybe not to quite such an extent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 14 hours ago, ILoveC4 said: Just toss out what was probably $80k and start over? That's one option, but it was also the last option I noted. Without the original source code, the only remedy is to reset it all and reprogram from scratch. Almost guaranteed,to be difficult, but not impossible, in finding a Crestron shop that is willing to take the project over. Better off finding a freelance Crestron Programmer in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 1 hour ago, lippavisual said: That's one option, but it was also the last option I noted. Without the original source code, the only remedy is to reset it all and reprogram from scratch. Almost guaranteed,to be difficult, but not impossible, in finding a Crestron shop that is willing to take the project over. Better off finding a freelance Crestron Programmer in the area. Yeah - OP, if you need a freelance Crestron programmer I know a great one! That said, he's in the US. I don't know how difficult that would be to do remotely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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