Looking through my CEPRO magazine I found an article about control4.com. They claim they are introducing tons of zwave devices from light switches to touch screens controlled by zwave (anything you could think of, awesome). I saw a post about them in this forum a while ago and they were thought to be a concept company, but from the website it looks like they actually have products (no prices listed yet). In the article it states they will be shipping this products this year. One tidbit that could destroy the WAF is they say their light swithces cost 99.00 retail - I guess they don't know other manufacturers are selling them for half the price. Anyway, it is certainly a company to watch for new z wave products.
-
-
I cant find anything on their site that says those switches are z-wave switches. I even did a google for Site:www.control4.com Z-wave and that runed up nothing. I Downloaded their brochure and their was nothing about z-wave products. This is great news if true but Control4 seems to be proprietary. It says it uses the 802.15.4 wirless mesh network to communicate but i dont think that means its z-wave it could very well be ZigBee or its own type altogether.
Did it say it was Z-wave in that article?
Can you find the article online? -
I have read somewhere that they are Zigbee.
The main contact listed on their site posts on the AVSforum, and it appears that they started shipping thier first units on Nov 1st. I am waiting to hear some feedback on the product, but so far no one has played with any of it, that I know of.Comment
-
Comment
-
Z-Wave Announcement about new partners
I didn't see Control4 listed at a recent Z-Wave announctment
http://www.zen-sys.com/index.php?pag...98b626b505739fComment
-
The ZigBee Alliance may not last if they do not quickly get products to market.
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/...fm?NewsID=2406Comment
-
They use ZigBee, WiFi & Ethernet
Control4 is at the EHX show with a system that integrates Ethernet, WiFi and ZigBee. They had ZigBee wall switches, wall dimmers, wall mount touchscreens and thermostats. The touchscreens were either Ethernet (with PoE) or WiFI. Both versions of the touchscreens were ZigBee nodes, so that you could directly control the switches and dimmers from the touchscreen, or you could control the ZigBee devices from your computer through the Ethernet of WiFi. They did not have the ZigBee thermostat at the show.Comment
-
Wow that sounds awesome. I hope i can integrate this stuff with my existing Z-wave switches. I cant afford to purchase all new switches which means i would be stuck buying all z-wave stuff. I fine with buying Z-wave but i like to have options also. I wonder if Zen-sys will actually make a Z-wave to ZigBee bridge like they said they would.Comment
-
EchoPlug for ZigBee ?
I don't think you really need a hardware bridge. I think a HomeSeer plugin could handle the bridging, just like George's EchoPlug plugin does between ZWave and X10. Then again, a hardware bridge would be faster and more reliable than software, but would it be a significant difference?Comment
-
At this time, their stuff is only sold with their systems. I asked if they would sell the switches and stuff seperately, but would not give me a clear answer. If they don't publish their protocol, then no one else will be able to control their system. Also, I believe the first version of the Zigbee protocol does not support the repeater function. So I'm not sure their switches repeat RF.Comment
-
I got the same non-committal answer about support for other systems. But they admitted that they have to sell the add-on components, so there is nothing stopping you from buying their switches.
As for their protocol, they said it will be ZigBee, following the standard application profile for lighting. If it doesn't work the way the ZigBee alliance says a light switch should work, they can't call it ZigBee.
I forgot to ask if the light switches are FFD devices (must repeat) or RFD devices(repeating is optional). The touchscreens, however, are FFD, meaning they must repeat. The ZigBee alliance recomends that any device that does not run on batteries be an FFD.Comment
-
How much are the switches?Comment
-
The switches are $99 . Much more than Z-wave but much less than Lutron's RadioRa whom I think they consider their main competition for wireless lighting .
Control4 has created a HUGE buzz in the home automation business, but many are dubious as to whether they can deliver when you consider it was founded by the same guys that made Phast .Comment
-
Thanks AJF. At $99 they are not selling to the average home automation user so again it'll be just another technology.Comment
Comment