jfh Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 It looks like the new CA-10 controller adds processing power and power redundancy to an existing system and still requires another controller for I/O. Is there any guidance to dealers yet on which type of C4 systems would benefit from adding a CA-10? i suspect it won’t be of interest to a large percentage of the install base but I’m intrigued by it. I have a large number of driver instances and devices, though probably not near the thousands it claims to support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcovach Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 The Control4 CA-10 Automation Controller is the newest and most powerful member of Control4’s award-wining line of controllers and is engineered to deliver exceptional performance in big homes and commercial jobs. It offers four times the processing power and four times the memory of our previous flagship controller so dealers can provide customers with a responsive system capable of controlling thousands of devices. The CA-10 also offers customers more peace of mind knowing that the system is always available with numerous fail-safe systems including dual power supplies, dual solid-state drives, dual network ports, and dual fans. If one of these systems ever fails, the CA-10 automatically switches to the redundant system without interruption to the customer. Automatic service notifications can be programmed so you know immediately if a problem occurs. The CA-10 works as the primary controller to provide the muscle for the project. Use with EA controllers to provide streaming music, Zigbee, I/O, and on-screen TV interface. The CA-10 is also the perfect controller for small business applications where service agreements require the most reliable solution possible. The CA-10 raises the bar for home automation through: A powerful processor with exceptional performance for big projects, up to thousands of devices. Multiple fail-safe systems to protect the system and keep it up and running even when a power supply, network port, solid state drive (SSD), or fan fails. Advanced programming capabilities to facilitate dealer notification of failover conditions. 5-year warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTO Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 yeah not sure what the advantage is but I guess its geared more for business applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Business, people that have advanced lighting would like the extra back-up, people more dependent on the system (ie those with certain disabilities) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 4 hours ago, jfh said: It looks like the new CA-10 controller adds processing power and power redundancy to an existing system and still requires another controller for I/O. Is there any guidance to dealers yet on which type of C4 systems would benefit from adding a CA-10? i suspect it won’t be of interest to a large percentage of the install base but I’m intrigued by it. I have a large number of driver instances and devices, though probably not near the thousands it claims to support. I must say this also intrigues me. I have a large project which has been giving me some challenges so something with 4 times the power and 4 times the memory (presumably of an EA5?) could be a big plus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvaskin Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 What defines a large project. I am looking to upgrade an HC800/HC250 based house. I currently have panellised lighting, with bus controlled keypads, Alarm, AV and distributed audio. 8x Audio zones, 5x AV zones (each with dedicated HC250), DS2 Gate Station with 3x T3 Touchscreens, Alarm, Garage & Gate Control, CCTV, 8x Heating zones using Heatmiser & 16x Somfy blinds. How big would this be classified? There is a bit of lag sometimes say when executing lighting scenes from keypads as well as initiating audio. Would I see an improvement with either an EA5/EA1 upgrade from my existing HC800/HC250 or this new CA10 with EA1's? How much would the performance differ between running an EA5 over the HC800 at a minimum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Not for me but it looks like a good addition to the lineup.I like the idea of controllers that dont have zigbee, IO or audio/video. Let other hardware do that. I would like to see a version of C4 that runs on intel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 EA5 vs HC800 in terms of running a project, HC800 is slightly better. CA10 vs either is said to be 4 times faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 1 hour ago, therockhr said: Not for me but it looks like a good addition to the lineup.I like the idea of controllers that dont have zigbee, IO or audio/video. Let other hardware do that. I would like to see a version of C4 that runs on intel. EAs, HC800 are Intel Atoms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTO Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 everything works with my ea5, so I don't think I'll switch.. there's no need to fix something that isn't broken. Always love new gadgets but so hard to change stuff when all is working.. I still wish I never upgraded to OS3, my other systems on the old system work perfectly and trying to get my parents to re-learn new functions is too difficult so I don't plan on changing those for sure.. It took years for them to understand the old system so making the new change will be unreal for them to relearn. then new 10 looks cool, but it really doesn't give me anything more than I have now.. but cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 11 minutes ago, Dunamivora said: EAs, HC800 are Intel Atoms. i guess i am asking (not really asking just wanting to play really) for a version of C4 that would run on an intel server platform. I think the controllers run Debian but i assume that all the apps are compiled for the atom processor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blub Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Yea finally a controller with redundancy. Was about time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Yea finally a controller with redundancy. Was about time...But do you want redundancy at that price? Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 1 hour ago, therockhr said: i guess i am asking (not really asking just wanting to play really) for a version of C4 that would run on an intel server platform. I think the controllers run Debian but i assume that all the apps are compiled for the atom processor. If they did that, they wouldn't sell controllers. I'd expect that is way low on their list of items to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 3 minutes ago, Dunamivora said: If they did that, they wouldn't sell controllers. I'd expect that is way low on their list of items to do. Oh yeah I agree. Not something that they would do. Just something that would be neat to play with. I would assume that all the developers have several virtual machines that they use for testing and development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 25 minutes ago, msgreenf said: But do you want redundancy at that price? Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk Here is what baffles me - you probably still need an EA3 or 5 for the I/O's, streaming audio, etc. I know you can get the I/O's elsewhere but not the audio. So isnt that your redundancy? Couldn't they have made an CA-10 or whatever just faster/snappier without the redundnacy and oh if it fails you roll the project over to the EA5 temporarily? I guess with the CA-10 it rolls over so nothing a dealer needs to do if something goes out so its better for up time, but it really comes at a major price that I cannot see except for a very few small situations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 1 hour ago, eggzlot said: Here is what baffles me - you probably still need an EA3 or 5 for the I/O's, streaming audio, etc. I know you can get the I/O's elsewhere but not the audio. So isnt that your redundancy? Couldn't they have made an CA-10 or whatever just faster/snappier without the redundnacy and oh if it fails you roll the project over to the EA5 temporarily? I guess with the CA-10 it rolls over so nothing a dealer needs to do if something goes out so its better for up time, but it really comes at a major price that I cannot see except for a very few small situations. i agree. I actually called the CA10 a science project - that is how I view it....Engineering for engineers Gary Leeds UK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 4 hours ago, Dunamivora said: EA5 vs HC800 in terms of running a project, HC800 is slightly better. CA10 vs either is said to be 4 times faster. ? CA-10 is certainly faster. Whether any upgrade is noticeable will depend on the project itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 2 minutes ago, Cyknight said: ? CA-10 is certainly faster. Whether any upgrade is noticeable will depend on the project itself. Does C4 have any guidance for what type of projects the CA-10 would be good for? I’d like to have some idea whether adding a $4k controller is going to help or not before taking that plunge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 I assume the question mark is for why I said the HC800 is better? It has a faster CPU than the EA5. That being said, the audio quality and UI on the EA5 are phenomenal. I bet the CA10 would make any system feel snappier. Think like loading an hc250 project onto an EA5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 6 minutes ago, jfh said: Does C4 have any guidance for what type of projects the CA-10 would be good for? I’d like to have some idea whether adding a $4k controller is going to help or not before taking that plunge. Only thing mentioned that I saw was for commercial installs and for large homes. 1000-4000 sq ft, maybe not. Mansions and buildings at 10000-60000 sq ft, absolutely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 6 minutes ago, Dunamivora said: I assume the question mark is for why I said the HC800 is better? It has a faster CPU than the EA5. That being said, the audio quality and UI on the EA5 are phenomenal. I bet the CA10 would make any system feel snappier. Think like loading an hc250 project onto an EA5. I am not a hardware expert by any means so I stand to be corrected. https://smart-story.ru/files/products/controllers/ea-1-performance-comparison-rev-a.pdf is that Hc-800 a single core? If so wouldnt a dual core 1.6 be better than a single core 1.8? Again I dont know, and I am just assuming the HC800 is a single core. I find it hard to believe they put a worse chip in the EA5 compared to the HC800. THawes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 HC800 is a dual core Intel Atom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Just now, Dunamivora said: HC800 is a dual core Intel Atom. got it again no expert but I'd hope the EA5 processor is a more modern/efficient one so the 1.6 vs 1.8 is not really a big deal and furthermore than EA5 has 2x the RAM. I'd assume its a beefier machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct- Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Last models of the HC800 had 2GB of RAM. HC800 is not better at audio (EAs have high sample rate capabilities), but it is better at running projects. Many large projects needed an HC800 to run better. CA10 would now be used for those projects instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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