Thanks for doing this - it was super helpful. I think I’ve got a good handle on the basics of C4 setup and programming, and examples like this are great. A few questions I’ve been unable to answer reading the docs: 1 - With Advanced Lighting, what’s the difference been activate/ deactivate a scene, versus creating an explicit toggle scene? That if is I’ve got “exterior lights on”, do I need a “exterior lights off” screen, or should I just “deactivate” the scene? My system has been growing. 2 EA5s, an EA3, EA1, CA1, many audio zones, blinds, TVs, sprinklers, security system, etc. got the security motion sensors showing up and firing C4 events which is great when used with the Security Lightning driver. As a COVID hobby, this is fun. My next self-assignment is LUA drivers connecting to Azure IOT. Playing with the chowmein IFTT driver is also promising.
I’m glad I was able to help. As for your question, typically when in the advanced lighting agent you create toggles or as they call them default toggles (I think). This make the on and off work out of the gate. So if you create that exterior lights on scene and then hit default toggle you will get the off property made instantly and you can just rename it. So I’m guessing you’re a homegamer which I had no idea that that was even possible until I read about the patch. I mean I’ll say this I get why people with know how want to be able to tweak their systems but be careful In what you do and always backup your working file so you can revert back to working conditions if something goes wrong.
I'm new to this world. I've been through much of the docs, and manage (my own) complex automation setup. I'm doing some interesting integrations & drivers in my spare time as well, as part of my day job. I'm familiar with ALS and Toggle scenes - but why I don't get is why I would want a Toggle Scene at all in most cases. Given that I can "Activate" or "Deactivate" a scene, it seems like having explicit Toggle Scenes is a generally unnecessary complexity - it's more scenes to manage & maintain. The general programming seems to be "On Switch Toggle, Toggle Advanced Lighting Scene". If I have 2 ALS, I need more programming, more scenes, and more complexity in general. Just trying to understand and streamline how this is done before I start building drivers and defining events that do external integrations...
Chris Mullins you will find there are a number of things that could simply be better if they just did this or that. When you bind an ALS to a keypad button or any other button press as far as I know, even if it’s to the toggle function of that button on a keypad, there needs to be the set value of the toggle for the system to know what it’s calling for. If the scenes “on” calls for 100% lighting levels the default toggle created would be 0% and the system will look for the set values of the default toggles when calling the actions. What you could do to test is if you have a six button keypad, bind a ALS without a default toggle to it and see if it turns off.
It would be great if we can have a video for keypads configurations. What is the best way to program the LED responses? Binding keys to lights and relays ... etc
Hi. For the custom menu buttons, can one assign it to contain the door buttons? We have a lot of buttons to open door, so wondering if we can create a "Door" menu and dumb all doors in this?
Hi, thanks again. Is it possible to create conditional button? I created a custom menu named "Confirm" with items: Yes and No. The point is I want this acts as a safety measure when open doors. So you tap on the door, and have to tap Yes on this to open. Otherwise, it stays closed. Problem is I cant seem to create an if statement with a custom button. It only allows you to create a statement: "Press the Yes button from Confirm menu".
Your dealer can likely do this for you, I’m sure there will be a fee, which honestly they deserve if they do what’s desired correctly but the home edition will limit what can and can’t be done by the end user.
Hello. I know that there is a driver for Modbus communication (Yatun manufacturer) between Control4 and PLC that support this protocol. But I ca't find instruction or any documantaion to this driver. Do you have any manuals or examples about using Modbus communication driver ?
Love your Control4 videos, they are very helpful! Question: If all 6 keypad button backgrounds are set to white, and I press a button, can that pressed button's background change to green, while the other 5 button backgrounds stay white?
Hey Rick, thanks for watching. So yes, you can set the led status light next to the engraving to change to whatever color you want when it’s on. The actual backlight of the engraving (light behind the words on the button) I don’t believe we have any control over. I’m not 100% sure but if you’re a home gamer with composer home edition I’m not sure you can do this and you might have to have your dealer do it but it is possible to change the led status light for on and off.
@@QVisionGarage Thanks for replying! I do networking for a dealer, so I'm learning using Composer Pro...I can only seem to change ALL of the backgrounds not just one button....Follow up Q: Where would I look to schedule the background color to change at sunset and sunrise (let's say white at sunrise, and green at sunset)....
@@rickj8245 no problem Rick. I’ll say this, from a lighting programmers perspective, you likely don’t want to have all different colors for buttons, and you are correct you can only set global color preferences for the keypad on and off all buttons, however if you went into the programming tab you could get creative with the led options on individual buttons. I’ve never done this and I imagine it would be clunky. As for scheduling the colors to change, again I’ve never done this but this is the route I’d probably take. With the scheduler agent make a time clock for sunrise and sunset. In programming when each time clock hits their respective solar points trigger a variable, then write a conditional piece of programming set to trigger with that variable to apply the led color changes. This would I’m sure require some trial and error but I think it could work.
@@AerialAdvantageDrone Thanks so much for your thoughts....I'll see if the backgrounds change at sunset tonight :) Re: a button's background, I hear you re: consistent colors, I was just tying to play around and see where the limits are, so I guess I found one!
Hello good morning, please can you help make a video on how to program DS2 mini to show the video capture to any TV in the house, and also return it back to the current video source that was showing on the TV. I will really appreciate a video on how to go about it. Thanks
This is actually really easy. There is an agent called Navigation. Once you've added the agent you setup in the programming tab. Unfortunately I don't have a DS2 to demonstrate it in use but the Navigation agent makes this process very straight forward. in Programming youll select the door station on the left and then on the right select Navigation agent and it will provide drop downs to select the cameras available to view followed by the navigator your want the camera to display on as well as a timeout period. Keep in mind you will need to have a controller (EA or HC series depending on the OS version) with an HDMI connection to the TV you want the camera to populate to. Hope this helps
@@QVisionGarage thanks slot, but does these program return it back to your current watch, I meant what the person is actually watching before the pop-up on the screen? After the period of time will it go back to what it was been watch.?
@@omotayosamuel49 I’m not 100% sure what you could do tho is set a string variable for the sources, example 0 is off (no source) 1 for iptv 2 for dvd 3 for game system. And through custom programming tie the string variable to your sources. Then set up a conditional to have the system revert back to the source you were watching. I honestly don’t know if it will return to the sources on its own it very well might because I believe there is a timeout parameter of the agent. Either way or can be done. Might just take some testing on site to see which method works best.
Thanks for the videos! It's extremely helpful. My daughter can't be happier with her Alexa now.
Zuhair Shafai anytime brother. Glad to hear it helped
Thanks for doing this - it was super helpful. I think I’ve got a good handle on the basics of C4 setup and programming, and examples like this are great.
A few questions I’ve been unable to answer reading the docs:
1 - With Advanced Lighting, what’s the difference been activate/ deactivate a scene, versus creating an explicit toggle scene? That if is I’ve got “exterior lights on”, do I need a “exterior lights off” screen, or should I just “deactivate” the scene?
My system has been growing. 2 EA5s, an EA3, EA1, CA1, many audio zones, blinds, TVs, sprinklers, security system, etc. got the security motion sensors showing up and firing C4 events which is great when used with the Security Lightning driver. As a COVID hobby, this is fun.
My next self-assignment is LUA drivers connecting to Azure IOT. Playing with the chowmein IFTT driver is also promising.
I’m glad I was able to help. As for your question, typically when in the advanced lighting agent you create toggles or as they call them default toggles (I think). This make the on and off work out of the gate. So if you create that exterior lights on scene and then hit default toggle you will get the off property
made instantly and you can just rename it.
So I’m guessing you’re a homegamer which I had no idea that that was even possible until I read about the patch. I mean I’ll say this I get why people with know how want to be able to tweak their systems but be careful In what you do and always backup your working file so you can revert back to working conditions if something goes wrong.
I'm new to this world. I've been through much of the docs, and manage (my own) complex automation setup. I'm doing some interesting integrations & drivers in my spare time as well, as part of my day job.
I'm familiar with ALS and Toggle scenes - but why I don't get is why I would want a Toggle Scene at all in most cases. Given that I can "Activate" or "Deactivate" a scene, it seems like having explicit Toggle Scenes is a generally unnecessary complexity - it's more scenes to manage & maintain.
The general programming seems to be "On Switch Toggle, Toggle Advanced Lighting Scene". If I have 2 ALS, I need more programming, more scenes, and more complexity in general. Just trying to understand and streamline how this is done before I start building drivers and defining events that do external integrations...
Chris Mullins you will find there are a number of things that could simply be better if they just did this or that. When you bind an ALS to a keypad button or any other button press as far as I know, even if it’s to the toggle function of that button on a keypad, there needs to be the set value of the toggle for the system to know what it’s calling for. If the scenes “on” calls for 100% lighting levels the default toggle created would be 0% and the system will look for the set values of the default toggles when calling the actions. What you could do to test is if you have a six button keypad, bind a ALS without a default toggle to it and see if it turns off.
It would be great if we can have a video for keypads configurations. What is the best way to program the LED responses? Binding keys to lights and relays ... etc
Hi. For the custom menu buttons, can one assign it to contain the door buttons? We have a lot of buttons to open door, so wondering if we can create a "Door" menu and dumb all doors in this?
If the system is already controlling the doors, you could make a custom buttons menu for just doors, sure.
Hi, thanks again. Is it possible to create conditional button? I created a custom menu named "Confirm" with items: Yes and No. The point is I want this acts as a safety measure when open doors. So you tap on the door, and have to tap Yes on this to open. Otherwise, it stays closed. Problem is I cant seem to create an if statement with a custom button. It only allows you to create a statement: "Press the Yes button from Confirm menu".
I believe you can definitely do this. I’ll need to experiment. Are you using home edition or composer pro?
@@QVisionGarage I am using the home edition.
@@tennisfreak312 that is likely why. I don’t believe home edition will allow you to write conditionals.
Your dealer can likely do this for you, I’m sure there will be a fee, which honestly they deserve if they do what’s desired correctly but the home edition will limit what can and can’t be done by the end user.
Great video cool info
Thanks Carlos. Appreciate you watching and subscribing. Do you work on Control4 systems?
Hello. I know that there is a driver for Modbus communication (Yatun manufacturer) between Control4 and PLC that support this protocol. But I ca't find instruction or any documantaion to this driver. Do you have any manuals or examples about using Modbus communication driver ?
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with this driver or it’s uses. I’d be glad to take a look into it when I have sometime in the next few days.
Love your Control4 videos, they are very helpful! Question: If all 6 keypad button backgrounds are set to white, and I press a button, can that pressed button's background change to green, while the other 5 button backgrounds stay white?
Hey Rick, thanks for watching. So yes, you can set the led status light next to the engraving to change to whatever color you want when it’s on. The actual backlight of the engraving (light behind the words on the button) I don’t believe we have any control over. I’m not 100% sure but if you’re a home gamer with composer home edition I’m not sure you can do this and you might have to have your dealer do it but it is possible to change the led status light for on and off.
@@QVisionGarage Thanks for replying! I do networking for a dealer, so I'm learning using Composer Pro...I can only seem to change ALL of the backgrounds not just one button....Follow up Q: Where would I look to schedule the background color to change at sunset and sunrise (let's say white at sunrise, and green at sunset)....
@@rickj8245 no problem Rick. I’ll say this, from a lighting programmers perspective, you likely don’t want to have all different colors for buttons, and you are correct you can only set global color preferences for the keypad on and off all buttons, however if you went into the programming tab you could get creative with the led options on individual buttons. I’ve never done this and I imagine it would be clunky. As for scheduling the colors to change, again I’ve never done this but this is the route I’d probably take. With the scheduler agent make a time clock for sunrise and sunset. In programming when each time clock hits their respective solar points trigger a variable, then write a conditional piece of programming set to trigger with that variable to apply the led color changes. This would I’m sure require some trial and error but I think it could work.
@@AerialAdvantageDrone Thanks so much for your thoughts....I'll see if the backgrounds change at sunset tonight :) Re: a button's background, I hear you re: consistent colors, I was just tying to play around and see where the limits are, so I guess I found one!
@@rickj8245 sorry Rick Aerial Advantage is my drone business. I must’ve replied under that handle. The above still stands tho.
Hello good morning, please can you help make a video on how to program DS2 mini to show the video capture to any TV in the house, and also return it back to the current video source that was showing on the TV.
I will really appreciate a video on how to go about it.
Thanks
This is actually really easy. There is an agent called Navigation. Once you've added the agent you setup in the programming tab. Unfortunately I don't have a DS2 to demonstrate it in use but the Navigation agent makes this process very straight forward. in Programming youll select the door station on the left and then on the right select Navigation agent and it will provide drop downs to select the cameras available to view followed by the navigator your want the camera to display on as well as a timeout period. Keep in mind you will need to have a controller (EA or HC series depending on the OS version) with an HDMI connection to the TV you want the camera to populate to. Hope this helps
@@QVisionGarage thanks slot, but does these program return it back to your current watch, I meant what the person is actually watching before the pop-up on the screen?
After the period of time will it go back to what it was been watch.?
@@omotayosamuel49 I’m not 100% sure what you could do tho is set a string variable for the sources, example 0 is off (no source) 1 for iptv 2 for dvd 3 for game system. And through custom programming tie the string variable to your sources. Then set up a conditional to have the system revert back to the source you were watching. I honestly don’t know if it will return to the sources on its own it very well might because I believe there is a timeout parameter of the agent. Either way or can be done. Might just take some testing on site to see which method works best.
@@QVisionGarage thanks, I will try it out.
I appreciate.
@@omotayosamuel49 anytime brother good luck