Control the lights with a Beo4

[Steph]

I have IR products (BV 10, BS Ouverture,…) and I am a fan of the “One touch button” to control my system.
Unfortunatly, I don’t have any LC2 but I would like to control some lights in my lounge with the Light button on the Beo4.
Is it possible or do I need a Beoliving intelligence, new light bulbs and a Beoremote one?

[Guy]

There are quite a few threads in the second Archived Forum about this subject, with some suggestions for third-party devices that will allow light control with Beo4 etc.  It’s probably worth a search to find others.

Here’s an example:  https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/p/36376/271647.aspx#271647

As stated in that thread, I have been very happy with my LightManager Pro for Beo4 light control – so much so that I purchased a second one from a forum member.  Unfortunately they are no longer made by JBMedia, but it could be worth keeping an eye on eBay – probably German eBay as they were popular there (JBMedia is a German company).

I wouldn’t go down the LC2 route unless you enjoy getting your soldering iron out to replace capacitors!  They are also very fussy about the type of bulb that is used.

I am sure that other forum members have experience of other solutions.

[B3OHACK3R]

If BV10 has a recent enough firmware installed it will forward all LIGHT commands to ML. From there you can pick it up with e.g. a MLGW and trigger commands on other network connected device. Probably Philips Hue or similar can be made controllable through the Beo 4 like that.

[LukeS]

I think it depends on what you want and how far down the rabbit hole you are willing to go. A 3rd party device like the light manager pro will be simplest. Your BV10 will forward light commands via masterlink if it has the right software version. None of the Beosounds made before the BS4 are able to handle light commands, but all of the beomaster 5500, 6500, 7000 range are. So if all of your equipment is in the same room you could use the BV10 to forward light commands to a Masterlink gateway (very cheap on eBay these days) or a Beolink Gateway. The BLI is probably not a good choice for you given the vintage of your equipment (it’s designed for the newer network link devices).

The MLGW and BLGW offer really powerful automation possibilities beyond light control, but as I say you’ll need to invest more time and effort. With the MLGW you’re really looking at linking it with an external automation system – I can advise further on that but from your original message I think you’d be best off with a light manager pro ?

[XavierItzmann]

Before we moved away, I bought a Lutron Grafik Eye 3106 for our Beo4.  See page 28 on this file: https://assets.lutron.com/a/documents/21-31_grafik_eye_3000_series.pdf

With this device, we were able to control all the lights in our main living space (kitchen, utility, dining and sitting room) in addition to our ML equipment from the Beo4.  As this product belongs to the pre-internet era, it was 100% reliable in all regards, and a pleasure to use.  And let me tell you: it is a beautiful interface which matched our B&O equipment in brushed aluminum and black.

Funny story: I ordered it from an electric equipment retailer.  There were two versions, the B&O version and the plain one.  The only difference is that the B&O recognizes the Beo4 infrared frequencies.  After a couple of days, this nice lady called me up and said they were shipping it to me, but that they had had to fight off their distributor, who had forbidden it be sold to me because I was not a B&O dealer (!).  But the lady had gone to bat for me, and told them off, saying I had already paid for the product and I as a customer had already placed a valid order.  However, she informed me in future I would not be able to order other B&O versions.

We still own the property, but when I left I took my Grafik Eye  with me and I have it in a box.  I’ll have it reinstalled when we settle.

[Steph]

Very interesting feedbacks guys, thanks a lot.
I realize I missed the opportunity to purchase these products when they were available ?

[Author]

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