CT100 Radio Thermostat, change from F to C

[416to305]

Hey everyone, decided to just go cheap for now and got the sub $100 CT100.  It's not bad looking, really thin and bright installed very easily and connected to the ISY's Z-Wave immediately.  So far so good, but I had a small issue.  I have on the unit itself it changed to Celsius which is good.  However on the ISY (and same with a Z Wave motion/temp sensor) it has it in Farenheit.  I haven't seen anywhere that I can change it back.  I don't believe it's a Z-Wave config parameter either since it works on the actual unit.  Thanks!

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Lee,

 

You might want to reboot the thermostat and then query it from ISY. 

 

With kind regards,
Michel

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Lee, 
 
Also,

Even though the query might work but, depending on how they have implemented command classes, Either:

1. You may have to exclude/include it again OR

2. Delete all the ISY nodes and then do a Synchronize
 

With kind regards,

Michel

[416to305]

Hi Michael I can try after, but not sure if that will help.  As the way I set it up was:

 

- Unpack and install it on the wall, make sure it worked with the HVAC

- Changed in the menu to C instead of F

- Ran Exclude on the ISY and excluded it

- Ran Include on the ISY and included it

 

So it was never set to F and on the ISY ever.  I may keep it in F though as I realized this unit only does half degress, so 20, 20.5, 21, 21.5 etc, my old one was every range, like 21.9 etc.  So I've found that this one will say sometimes that it is 21.5 but the old unit right beside it will say 21.9 but I guess it only rounds down and not up.  So at least in F I can fine tune it a bit more than big half degrees.

 

One other interesting thing is with the Philio motion sensor, it apparently is C by default as I've seen posts people trying to switch to F on Vera and not the other way around.  When I first added it to the ISY, the ISY did show it all as C, but after 30 mins or so, it was all back to F.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Lee,

 

Please do try and keep me posted.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[416to305]

Hi Michael,

 

I'm dumb I realized F won't solve my problems as it's basically the same as using C in half degrees.  I tried setting the thermostat to C, then excluded and re-added, still in F.  Then I did as you said deleted it from the ISY and synchronized it but same thing still F.  If I can't change it then its not the end of the world, since the unit itself will show C, it's just when controlling remotely.  Bit disappointed though because most devices don't work on MobiLinc including the thermostat, so since getting Z-Wave for the ISY I am always accessing the ISY's basic web interface to change anything.  Are there any programs like eKeyPad or something else for iOS that support the Z-Wave devices?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Lee,

 

This is quite disappointing. Yes MobiLinc supports Z-Wave devices. This said I don't think it will solve the issue you are having.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Lee,

 

Just wanted to let you know that I am almost certain the issue is with the thermostat reporting in F. There's really not much we can do here. I am so very sorry.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[416to305]

Oh no worries Michael thanks for the help anyway.  It's not a huge deal, I can deal with C or F plus it's really only an issue from mobile apps.  Like if I really want it in C I can set the thermostat to that locally which is good, and then any programs I wrote I just need to convert when I write them, and then convert when using mobile apps which isn't a big deal.  MobiLinc is a pain though, even in the settings I picked "Thermostat Temperature: C" but it ignores that and keeps it in F.

 

On a side note though, this thermostat is pretty awesome for the $90 price.  It's pretty thin and easy to install, has a big touch screen that lights up super bright (wish it always stayed on or longer though).  The controls are easy, mode sets heat, cool, off, or auto.  The fan button turns the fan on, or auto, etc.

 

Excluding it and Including it to the ISY is super easy, pick exclude device on the ISY, press Menu on the Thermostat, press LINK, and then press (I forget in my head) but one other button, and it immediately removes it.  Change to Include on the ISY, repeat on the thermostat and it also adds immediately.  I also like that unlike a lot of Z-Wave devices, it doesn't add 5 different devices to the ISY but instead just 1 "Thermostat" which under it shows all the settings etc.  It doesn't need a C wire either so I'm running it on the 4 AA batteries, but I bought a thermostat cable online that I'll wire in properly as even though it works fine now, I doubt the batteries will last long, plus the manual says without a C wire, it's more like a motion sensor.  As in it checks in periodically etc, where as with a C wire it also acts as a Z-Wave repeater.

[KenN]

This is a feature that I discovered/reported about the CT100 back in alpha testing period. Not much UD can do, as this model just communicates in F. Degrees C is just a conversion applied to the display.

[KenN]

Side note: I've got six CT100 installed, one has been on battery power for about 1 1/2 years and shows 44% battery level.

[416to305]

Oh really?  Because I figured it would probably die super fast like a month or two, so I ordered the proper thermostat wire online which is on back order as I figured I might as well wire the C wire in through the wall.  By battery power, you mean without the C?  If that's the case then it doesn't sound like it's worth doing for me right now until I actually need it.  Save me some time and money.

 

I noticed in the manual it said that when running on batteries it doesn't work as a Z-Wave repeater and is more like a motion sensor, sleeping checking in once in awhile.  If on a C wire then it works as a Z-Wave repeater.  For me that's not a huge issue, because the thermostat is in my living room, with the ISY literally 5 feet away from it and its external antenna, then the switch 1 foot away from it is also a Z-Wave switch.  Either way I have no issue with Z-Wave range, I find it really reliable.  I emailed 2Gig the other day to their support line just to find out what they say though.

[KenN]

Yep, it's true.  Because of the sleep mode, battery power is economized.  I have six of these thermostats installed, all of the old stats were simple bimetal so all the cabling was 2-wire.  I was able to replace the cable with 3-wire for all but one, so it sits as the sole battery only stat.  I specifically wanted to have the thermostats acting as repeaters to build out my z-wave mesh, so that's what drove the decision to pull in the 3-wire.

 

If you only have a few z-wave devices and don't need the networking capability of the thermostats, then probably no need to replace the cable purely for battery life.

 

 

FYI, I still leave the batteries in the 3-wire powered units, as it apparently needs them to retain settings should utility power fail.

[416to305]

Great thanks, yeah I cancelled the order for the cable and will test it to see how it goes.  I have many 8 Z-Wave devices in total spread throughout the house, and then about 20 Insteon ones.  The thermostat as I mentioned is right beside the ISY, and a switch, so I don't really think it would add much value as a repeater anyway, especially when I have had zero issues with Z-Wave.

[fastbird1]

Hi,

I also bought 6 of these ct100 units for a vacation rental.  I wanted to be able to combine them with motion sensors or door sensors to change the set points and or shut them off completely.  I am a long time user ISY with insteon but decided to buy a Veralite to handle this.  I can tell you that veralite is just horrible.  I want to send it back and buy the ISY but I just need to know if I can accomplish the above tasks?  Can I program a Z-wave device the same way I would program an insteon device?

Thanks

[416to305]

You can program it the same way for the most part yes. I haven't used this one with the Vera directly but have on the Vera as a secondary controller and also with the ISY plugin for Vera. The thermostat works as you would expect it to, it shows the current temperature, let's use at how hot you wanted or how cold and also if you want to manually turn the fan on or off. You can then write programs such as if the temperature is this or that turn this light on or whatever. The only limitation I have found with it is that you cannot change it from Fahrenheit to Celsius in the ISY so all programs have to be converted. The unit itself can display in Celsius though. You may want the C wire if possible though, as you can see from the past posts I canceled my order for a new cable and am running off of battery like the other poster suggested but I have had this about a month now and the battery says 97%. So about 3% a month based on my first month of having it, but I might also have been using it more often.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Panda88]

Does anybody know the polling interval and resulting battery life when used with zwave automation?

I just want to use this as a sensor - and use a program on ISY to control the second thermostat.  I have it working with Inseton wireless thermostat, but it creates a lot of traffic causing some level of interference (I believe - system has become less robust after the wireless thermostat was added - I 5V power the wireless theromstat)

 

I want to move the thermostat to zwave to see if this helps

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Panda88,

 

There shouldn't be any polling. This thermostat sends status updates to ISY.

 

With kind regards,