ADD SOME COLOR

Thinking about providing colored lighting solutions to your clients? Adding color is a great way to increase the wow factor of any job and provide something unique to your customers. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN ADDING COLORED LIGHTING TO A SYSTEM

When choosing colored lighting, there are key aspects that should be discussed:

• Will the lighting be the main source of light or accent lighting? 
  • Lighting does not have to be about making the room brighter. Lighting designers use light to elevate a room or a feeling. 
• Does the customer want light bulbs or light strips, RBG lights, RBGW, or warm-white lights?
  • There are several manufacturers that support a wide array of lighting styles and protocols. It is important to make sure you're using a reputable brand that can support the customer's long-term needs. Cheaper doesn't necessarily mean better - customers want a lighting solution, not an inexpensive, lesser experience.
• How is the customer going to interact with the lighting?
  • Lights can be triggered automatically, turn on/off based on time, perform certain functions based on activity in the space, etc.
• How will it be integrated? 
  • This is where DriverCentral comes in. We offer several lighting drivers to integrate various types of hardware into Control4, ELAN, RTI, and URC. 

 While making a room purple or adding green accent lights is absolutely fun, changing the color of light also has health, wellness, and productivity benefits. Enter circadian lighting. 

The goal of circadian lighting is to follow the human circadian rhythm - our internal clock. Lights can be programmed to shift color temperature throughout the day to better match the natural daylight we would normally experience. Studies are analyzing the possible positive impacts that utilizing this method of lighting can have on health and increased productivity. 

Dealers can help improve customers' lifestyles by incorporating Circadian lighting solutions into their projects with the help of drivers. 

Read more on Circadian lighting here. 

COLORED LIGHTING RESOURCES

Need more information on colored lighting? Here are some resources to help get you started:

ProSource U. ProSource members can use the new and improved ProSource University for resources on lighting design, configuration, and programming. 

Nexlux. This product (available from Amazon) is a great, simple solution for adding colored lighting to a project. Axon Engineering has developed a simple IP driver for control on both Control4 and ELAN systems. Check out this and other solution Axon Engineering has provided HERE.

KNX. KNX is quickly becoming the leading standard in lighting integration. Janus Technology has developed a beautiful color integration for Control4 systems. Check out what Janus has been up to HERE.

IR-controllable lights. Many lighting manufactures use a simple IR-based controlled lighting. There are a few drivers that can control these lights:

• Generic Infrared RGB Light by T4 Control
• Generic Lighting by Chowmain

WiFi Controlled Bulbs. Tired of the experience with control4 and Phillips Hue? Try out some of these solutions

• Yeelight by Chowmain
• WiZ by Axon Engineering
• LIFX by Chowmain

Advanced Lighting Configuration. Customize your clients experience with these drivers:

• Keypad RGB Tracker by Domosapiens
• Relay to Light by Chowmain
• Color Wheel by Janus Technology

We are excited to announce that DriverCentral products and pricing are now available within D-Tools software, allowing dealers to include driver details and costs in sales, system design, documentation, and procurement processes!

Continue reading to learn more!

Why is this important for dealers?

Drivers are key to the functionality of a system. Because of this, dealers should be considering what drivers are required for a given project at the time of the sale. Including drivers in proposals ensures that the system is fully planned and designed, customers understand what they are paying for, and operations are streamlined for increased profitability. 

How does it work?
Loading your DriverCentral dealer pricing is simple – from the DriverCentral supplier page, click the Request my Pricing button at the top, enter your account information, and click OK. Now your D-Tools Cloud account is connected to your DriverCentral account with your dealer pricing listed!


Exclusive for DriverCentral Dealers: Start working today with an Extended Free Trial of D-Tools Cloud! Click Here to start a Free 45-day Trial of D-Tools Cloud

Diwodo is a French company creating and releasing custom Control4 drivers and business applications for any professional needs. With more than 20 years experience in software development, cyber security, and working on residential, hospitality and corporate markets, Diwodo has a solid background in hospitality and the business sector.

For the last 5 years, Diwodo has created custom drivers for many  multimedia, security, hospitality and communication devices. They also create PMS adaptors allowing automation of the Control4 hospitality system.

Visit their page to check out their drivers! 

Diwodo has released the following drivers for Control4:

The Cloud Driver Is Better Than Ever Before!

As part of ongoing security and maintenance updates, the DriverCentral development team has improved security and communication between the Cloud driver and DriverCentral.

Wondering what we did? Continue reading to learn more!

Previously, driver licensing and auto update capabilities (through the Cloud Driver) were one and the same. Dealers had to register a project and purchase driver licenses on DriverCentral in order to have access to the Cloud Driver and enable auto updates for that project. 

That makes sense for most projects and drivers, but free drivers do not require a license. With more and more manufacturers choosing to purchase drivers outright and offer the necessary integration software at no cost to users, DriverCentral recognized the need to support auto updates for free and manufacturer drivers as well.

As a result, updating a driver and driver licensing are now separate on DriverCentral. Simply adding the Cloud Driver to a project gives you the ability to perform auto updates for a project and ensures that your client has the latest version of the driver available. Making this change to the Cloud Driver allows developers to host their free, manufacturer drivers on the site without sacrificing all the amazing features the Cloud Driver provides. 

Best of all, the updated Cloud Driver is designed to support future Control4 APIs.

Faster Server, Faster Service

In addition to the Cloud Driver updates, DriverCentral upgraded to a brand new server! Previously, there was a 10-15 second delay loading the Project Portal if a dealer had a large number projects. Now, dealers can have hundreds, even thousands, of projects and will still have a fast, responsive Project Portal experience. This update GREATLY increased the speed of the server and is designed to support the site for years to come.

 
We often get questions about how our site functions and how to get the most out of all the features we offer. The Team here at DriverCentral created a video that explains each of DriverCentral's features, how to use them, and more! This video goes over everything from logging in to using the project portal. 

If you have ever wondered how to properly set up a new project or add drivers to an existing project, this video is for you! We also go over project settings including driver updates and project notifications as well as additional features like free trials and the Showroom Project. Check out the video now!

As we round out 2019, DriverCentral is turning 3! The site has grown significantly over the last year, and we're excited for continued growth as we move into 2020. 

** Please note that DriverCentral support will be closed December 25^th and January 1^st. Support will be limited from December 23^rd through January 2^nd for the holiday season.

Wondering just how much DriverCentral has grown throughout 2019? We're going to tell you just that!

• 23,147 connected homes
• 6,000 help desk tickets and chats answered
• 5,264 registered dealers
• 198 drivers for sale
• 44 drivers added in 2019
• 3 new developers
  • Axon Engineering
  • Janus Technology
  • YATUN 

2019 was a great year for DriverCentral, and we hope it was a wonderful year for you as well! We're proud of all our developers and dealers have accomplished this year and look forward to all that 2020 will bring.

The August Smart Lock driver from Cinegration Development is now a manufacturer driver, which means it is now FREE to use on your Control4 projects! DriverCentral will continue to provide technical support for this driver and all others on the site.  If you haven't experienced the driver for August Smart Locks, now is the time.

What does the August Smart Lock driver do? This driver allows users with an August Smart Lock Pro + Connect to go keyless, unlock the door from a smartphone, and give keyless entry codes to anyone from friends and family to the dog walker!

Existing driver users will not be affected by this change - the existing drivers will continue to work with automatic updates as long as auto update has been enabled.