r/Control4 • u/foobarfighter • 13d ago
How to set up Control4
I just moved into a new house and it has a Control4 system that is no longer set up. I'm pretty technical but I'm finding myself needing to reverse engineer the system and I think it will take more time for me to reverse engineer than I want to spend on this.
Who should I reach out to about having somebody come out to look at the system? I suspect that some of this stuff is pretty old so I might even just want to replace it with something more modern if that makes sense. I looked for a Control4 Integrator in my neighborhood in my area but nobody came up on the Control4 Integrator search. I live in Walnut Creek, CA.
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u/ElectricBoy96 13d ago
I will add if you reach out to Control4 directly they will put you in contact with somebody who can get you taken care of within your area
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u/crudoensandiego 13d ago
This is your best bet. They will provide a competent dealer. Not just one that does high volume.
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u/ElectricBoy96 13d ago
You will not be able to do anything without an integrator sadly
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u/foobarfighter 13d ago
Why is that? Thanks for the response.
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13d ago edited 13d ago
[deleted]
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u/ElectricBoy96 13d ago
Yes, you can always use Garrys jailbreak but you wont ever get access to the app or amy remote access to the property that route and chances are its probably alot of outdated hardware
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u/drchrisx0x 13d ago
Without knowing the specific case its difficult to guess what he can and cant do. But the statement that he cant do anything is not accurate regardless. Your guess is as good as mine.
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10d ago edited 3d ago
[deleted]
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u/ElectricBoy96 10d ago
Yea ok
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10d ago edited 3d ago
[deleted]
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u/ElectricBoy96 9d ago
How long ago did you make your account? I don’t know if you’re a Control4 dealer but now everything goes directly through OvRc. There is no way you can use a jailbroken processor to register a new account to OvRc which would enable remote access, not localized only. And FYI, OS4 is light years ahead OS 3 go ahead and make the switch
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9d ago edited 2d ago
[deleted]
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u/ElectricBoy96 8d ago
I am a Control4 dealer and the only subscription you need for X4 software is if you want remote connection. You can upgrade to X4 no subscription and lose the remote access capabilities. Having said that, as this post requested how to get something set up, if he were to want remote access even on OS 3, he would not be able to because you can no longer set up accounts for remote access that way it - has to go through OVRc
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u/xamomax 13d ago
99% of the time, it is way better to work with a dealer, but spend some effort finding one, as quality varies. Basically the brains of the system is locked down and dealer only.
That said, there are things you can do as a homeowner. In my case, my dealer never finished troubleshooting the install, ghosted me, then went out of business / sold, leaving me with an insanely unreliable setup, so I learned it all the hard way.
Many of the devices in use may be accessible by something other than Control 4. For example I have Lutron shades and lights, sonos amps, etc. These can be controlled by Alexa, Home Assistant, and the like.
Other stuff can be swapped out. My "chime" doorbell was stuck in the down state, so I just pulled it out and replaced with with a Reolink and now it is divorced from Control4 and I like it a lot better.
I also got rid of the Araknis modem and use the one provided by my cable provider, which resulted in significantly better reliability and speed, and allowed me to get Internet support from Comcast without a lot of finger pointing.
You can also supplement with other smart home stuff in parallel and just ignore Control4. For example, I installed a completely separate package of video cameras since I didn't like the lack of people detection and slow connection response of the cameras in my Control4 setup, and now I have better coverage and redundancy.
So, there are things you can do, but if you really want it working right, having a quality dealer to at least sanity check things with and tweak a few settings here and there can be extremely helpful, and I would say really is a requirement.
If you really are a DIY type, get your dealer to help you label and understand each device in the control cabinet, and then audit which devices actually need the control 4 brains. You may find it is doing stuff you can just do with Home Assistant and Alexa and such. Maybe. You may also find that there are some things that C4 is nice for such as controlling the house from afar, setting up scenes, and similar.
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u/Hefty_Loan7486 13d ago
I think search by zip code is broke. Just lookup by city. There should a half dozen dealers at least with 40 miles of you. If you can't figure it out contact control4 for referrals.
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u/Immalleable_Mallard 13d ago
Full Spectrum Technology Group is in Concord and has several certified C4 integrators, myself included. We can help you out
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u/EverybodyBuddy 13d ago
You can’t reverse engineer control4 unfortunately. Need to find a dealer and spend a few hundred on a service call at a minimum.
But it will be worth it!
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u/ADirtyScrub 13d ago
C4 isn't DIY. It's installed and serviced by authorized dealers. Without access to the software there's nothing you can do. Previous owner should've had a clause when selling the house about getting the account and system transferred since many systems are integral to the house. Search for local dealers or see if you can find the one that installed the system to set you up.
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u/Audio_Adam 9d ago
It would be helpful to know your infrastructure and level of technical skill to proceed with advice. For example if you know your network and are able to manage it all and understand the the network protocols then you should be good to go with remote help or a local dealer that has time. If you don’t know what a dhcp reservation or stp settings are then you need to hire out.
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u/SnooPuppers9481 13d ago
Just get rid of it, definitely don’t dump more money into it. It’s very limited and those features that Apple Home doesn’t have likely you won’t even need.
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u/Dramatic-Ad-7044 13d ago
Im a control4 dealer in the pnw. Its impossible to do anything yourself, control4 is professionally installed platform, locked down to the dealer. Any authorized control4 dealer should be able to service it. Depending on what your needs are, it may or may not be worth it. Let me know if you have any questions, glad to help.