Ecobee thermostat API opened up

[tome]

Ecobee has opened up their API for development (finally): http://www.ecobee.com/solutions/api/. I have several Ecobee's and know others who do as well. We would love integration with the ISY! Is it something UDI might consider? Or is it more likely to come from a third party working through the ISY network module?

 

Thanks,

Tom

[arw01]

It is on the UDI developement list, sometime after zwave and variables if I recall.

 

So do tell more, do you love them, those Ecobee? Why did you got that way instead of Nest?

 

Alan

[tome]

It is on the UDI developement list, sometime after zwave and variables if I recall.

 

So do tell more, do you love them, those Ecobee? Why did you got that way instead of Nest?

 

Alan

 

I do like them quite a bit. At the time it was the only thermostat that I could get that had remote access and could control a two-stage hybrid heat pump and furnace. I don't think the Nest can control a two-stage heat pump even now. But I like the Ecobee interface, it is very easy to use, even my wife who often complains that technological devices are too complicated loves it. I very often use the remote access and it has worked flawlessly for me. The iPhone app is just great (looks just like the thermostat itself). I also like the other "little" features like reminders for changing filters and service, and the programming. Ecobee service has been outstanding as well. When I first put them in there was a bug in the reversing valve operation on the heat pump which they diagnosed and promptly fixed, and they listened to my suggestions and implemented a feature I wanted.

 

I have recommended them to other people who like them as well. It's too bad Ecobee wasn't as smart as Nest in pushing their products into big-box stores as I am sure they would have been even more popular than they are, but in any case they are great thermostats.

[arw01]

Glad to hear. In my case in the house I have a gas furnance and a heat pump that is also the AC unit, and I surmise that is about the same as you have.

 

I'm going to buy the commercial unit and the EMS module, which according to Ecobee engineers, will give me three more interfaces and sensors to control some radiant floors both in and out of the house. Any other solution would require multiple thermostats and still be just as expensive as the commercial Ecobee with the modules.

[tome]

Glad to hear. In my case in the house I have a gas furnance and a heat pump that is also the AC unit, and I surmise that is about the same as you have.

 

I'm going to buy the commercial unit and the EMS module, which according to Ecobee engineers, will give me three more interfaces and sensors to control some radiant floors both in and out of the house. Any other solution would require multiple thermostats and still be just as expensive as the commercial Ecobee with the modules.

 

Yes, I have a hybrid heat pump which is A/C in summer and heat the rest of the time. The heat pump I have is two-stage, not all of them are. It can run in a high demand phase or a lower output mode when it is just maintaining a temp. This is the feature that the Nest cannot deal with (or at least it couldn't when I looked it a couple years back).

 

I have the Smart Thermostat with RSM. I use the RSM for outdoor temp and also a remote indoor temp as well. One system I have has two zones with two heat pumps, two furnaces. There are two Ecobees and a remote indoor temp sensor that averages temp at one end of the house. The system works great and as I said is really easy to control. The other Ecobee is at a remote vacation home and it is great to be able to bring the house up to temp remotely before we get there, and also get alerts if something happens and the temp drops (has happened once in two years). Also, the outdoor temp at the vacation home which is on Lake Michigan is often 10 degrees different than weather information that Ecobee uses in their algorithms so I installed an outdoor temp sensor there.

[TanerH]

Glad to see this thread here; I had come here to ask about the ecobee API integration possibilities

 

This reply is mostly to express my interest in integration with ecobee (I have many!), as well as to tag this thread so I can follow it more closely

 

-Taner

[io_guy]

I posted in another thread but will repeat here.

 

I was just about to pull the trigger on an Ecobee and write a program to interface to the ISY but I'm extremely disappointed with the API:

- The API connects to ecobee.com, not the thermostat directly

- A user is limited to 85000 polls per month, which is ~ a query every 30s - not terribly adequate to gather real-time status info for home automation purpose

[arw01]

What would you need to know in under a minute about the thermostat of the hvac system?

 

Would the ISY handle that much extra polling and not degrade insteon/zwave/program response? Is there a subscription like we get with the ISY interface?

 

Could a man in the middle be set up between the thermostat and their servers? I've understood that if you can physically be in the middle of ssl negotiations, that you can always eves drop on them by impersonating one side or the other.

 

For a couple of items that you wanted to know if they came on faster, a couple current transformers would give you that information, and be more reliable than a web connection to someone else's servers.

 

Alan

[tome]

I posted in another thread but will repeat here.

 

I was just about to pull the trigger on an Ecobee and write a program to interface to the ISY but I'm extremely disappointed with the API:

- The API connects to ecobee.com, not the thermostat directly

- A user is limited to 85000 polls per month, which is ~ a query every 30s - not terribly adequate to gather real-time status info for home automation purpose

 

I asked Ecobee about this. They claim the second statement is false. The first is true and I find it too bad they chose to do that. They pointed to this for their reasons:

 

http://developer.ecobee.com/api/topics/api_limitations

 

Tom

 

ps: Oh, but then in that link he says don't poll more often than 30 seconds which is about 85000 per month. Doh!

[io_guy]

Well my ecobee is enroute. I'll be working on a Link program for it over the next couple weeks.

Figure 30s is "ok", not really great for real-time data but it's livable.

[arw01]

I still wonder what it is you want to know about so fast? I could see maybe knowing the fan turned on so you could do something else, but just cannot figure out what I would need to do from the ISY based on what my thermostat was doing.

 

With four days I might get my wires pulled for the pi and the one-wire to use that Shepard Walk RP2 I bought because of your posts!

 

A second thought to me was to do less polling when you were not home or at night when things are pretty stable, so that you could possible poll a bit more often during active wake times or when you are home.

 

I suppose, if you wanted to know if the thermostat turned something on, use a 4 position io linc and run through it or tap off the line so both the equipment modules relay is tripped and the io linc?

 

Just curious.

 

Alan