Today is Thursday, 9th September 2010

Archive for December, 2009


Merry Christmas

We would like to wish a Merry Christmas to the community from the C4Central and The SOHO Shop LLC Team.

Bryan Jefferson – CoFounder
The SOHO Shop LLC

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New dimmers, switches, and keypads – lower energy use, 6 total colors, Zigbee Pro only

Control4 is pleased to announce the release of several updated models to our popular line of wireless lighting and Keypad products. The new models are direct replacements of the existing Control4® lighting and Keypad models in appearance, installation procedure, and pricing. However, several significant enhancements are provided with these new models.

Principally,the native use of the ZigBee Pro standard for RF communication between devices is now supported.  The native use of ZigBee Pro in these updated models corresponds to Control4’s recently-released system software 1.8.

All of the updated lighting models also feature significantly-reduced power consumption (350 mw for the dimmer, down from 1.4w) as well as incremental improvements in tactile button responsiveness. Available for order in all six (6) colors of Control4’s recently-expanded lighting color palette, these new models also benefit from several lighting-control enhancements provided by the transition to release 1.8 and ZigBee Pro, such as broadcast Lighting Scenes (that ensure synchronization across multiple loads when turning on or off) and the ability to tie programming to double and triple-taps of buttons easily.

These new models can be installed in existing projects with previous lighting and Keypad models if the project is updated to software release 1.8.

These updated models are available for order and immediate shipment.

There are also easier to understand SKU numbers. Each of the new models replaces the existing model as indicated below:

New Models Product Description Replacing
C4-DIM1-Z Wireless Dimmer, 120VAC, 1000W LDZ-102
C4-SW1-Z Wireless Switch, 120VAC, 1000W LSZ-102
C4-KP2-Z Wireless 2-Button Keypad, 120VAC LSZ-3W1
C4-KP3-Z Wireless 3-Button Keypad, 120VAC KPZ-3B1
C4-KP6-Z Wireless 6-Button Keypad, 120VAC KPZ-6B1

The previous lighting and Keypad models are targeted for end-of-life and will no longer be manufactured. Sufficient quantities of the previous models will be available to replace any device failures in the field, so that affected homes will not be required to upgrade to release 1.8. Additionally, a limited quantity of the previous models have been held to support incremental lighting and Keypad add-ons to existing installations to eliminate the need to update the entire installation to release 1.8 and ZigBee Pro. Expect a formal End Of Life around Q1 2010.

In conjunction with this model transition, all current 120V in-wall lighting and keypad products will ship with ZigBee Pro embedded.  This includes the C4-TDIM1-Z ELV Dimmer, which does not utilize an updated SKU.  These devices cannot be down-graded in the field to work with 1.7.4 and earlier Embernet-based systems.

Note: The recently-released Wireless ELV Dimmer, targeted for new more efficient load types, will remain active and is not being replaced.

How can I tell the difference between the existing and these new models?

To the user, these new models appear identical to previous models.

What colors are available?

Black, Brown, Ivory, Almond, Light Almond, White

For more information about the ligthing products, see the PDF spec sheet here: (PDF, <1MB in size)

http://www.control4.com/uploads/Products/product_27/Control4-120V-Lighting.pdf

Contact your dealer for pricing.

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Buy a new Control4 controller, get a free upgrade license to 2.0

Control4 is running a promotion where if you buy any controller starting today ( HC-300 or HC-1000v3) from any authorized dealer, Control4 will include a free upgrade license to firmware version 2.0 when it is released if that controller is to be used as the primary controller in the system. The 2.0 license is “per project”, meaning that it will be the same price regardless of the number of devices/controllers in the project.

It has long been rumored that this update would be a pay-for update, and this information confirms it.  Of course, the license fee does not include the cost of having your dealer out to perform the upgrade, or any costs you may incur by having to upgrade any hardware that’s not supported. (For a list of what is currently not supported in 1.8, click here. This list is subject to change once 2.0 is released and may include additional equipment).

In the end, it’s at least a couple hundred dollars value, and a good deal if you’re just starting out or if you were planning on adding a HC-1000v3 or HC-200 to your project.

When we have more information, we’ll let you know. Also, don’t forget that the trade-in promotion is still running until 12/31/09 – save even more money!

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