Humidifier wiring

[Gouldc]

Looking for some quick guidance on wiring a humidifier. I have replaced my stand alone humidistat with a Venstar. The old humidistat had two wires, one to W1 on the other to the humidifier. I suspect I only need to connect the one wire from the Venstar AUX to the humidifier and no longer require the second that runs to W1. Just looking for validation.

 

Thanks

 

 

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[larryllix]

That makes sense. I assume the humidifier is mounted on the furnace and you don't want the humidifier running unless the heat is running.  There may be logic to do this in the Venstar. Testing should tell.

[paulbates]

Looking for some quick guidance on wiring a humidifier. I have replaced my stand alone humidistat with a Venstar. The old humidistat had two wires, one to W1 on the other to the humidifier. I suspect I only need to connect the one wire from the Venstar AUX to the humidifier and no longer require the second that runs to W1. Just looking for validation.

 

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Correct. Assuming you are using a Venstar Colortouch, you also need to configure the Aux port for the Humidity call under Settings/Installation Settings/Aux output/Output Use... select Hum

 

You can then validate the configuration using Settings/Installation Settings/Test Outputs/Hum. You will see Aux light up on the stat and hear the "thonk"  from the valve, or go manually observe that its working.

Edited December 5, 2015 by paulbates

[Gouldc]

Sorry guys, didn't receive a notification on your responses. Larry, the humidifier is attached to the cold air return and is ducted into the heat run. Paul, it is the colortouch and I have set the auxiliary port to humidifier. I didn't know about the test setting, I will wire and test. Thanks!

[paulbates]

Sorry guys, didn't receive a notification on your responses. Larry, the humidifier is attached to the cold air return and is ducted into the heat run. Paul, it is the colortouch and I have set the auxiliary port to humidifier. I didn't know about the test setting, I will wire and test. Thanks!

 

I forgot to mention that there are 2 humidification modes. You can use one or the other.

• Humidify with heat. This is how most humidity systems operate. The humidify setpoint will indicate the humidity level where it will stop calling for humidity. It may or may not keep the ambient humidity at the setpoint evenly.

   

• Run fan w/ humidity demand. This mode will start the fan and turn on water to the humidifier when the humidity falls below the setpoint. This keeps humidity at your setpoint (with a couple % deadband). I use this one and it provides great comfort and better health, in my experience, for the residents. Things to be aware of:
  • You want your system plumbed to hot water to increase evaporation / humidification
  • You'll go through humidity pads more quickly
  • If you live where the temps swing below 20, you'll want venlink (Isy v4) or NodeLink (isy v5). It will lower the humidity set point to match the temperature drop swings so the windows won't frost

Paul

 

Edited December 12, 2015 by paulbates

[stusviews]

Arizona-heat-humidifier, only in summer when the AC is running

[Gouldc]

Happy to report a successful install. Next battle is configuring VenLink. Running on a Mac for now but will eventually move it to my Unraid NAS. I have the web server up and running but am at a loss trying to find a VenLink how-to. Anyone with a bookmark handy?

[paulbates]

Happy to report a successful install. Next battle is configuring VenLink. Running on a Mac for now but will eventually move it to my Unraid NAS. I have the web server up and running but am at a loss trying to find a VenLink how-to. Anyone with a bookmark handy?

 

Venlink works by querying the thermostat and populating that information into ISY variables. Here are the steps, and if there is a set button associated, you need to perform the entry, then press set, and then move to the next entry

 

1- create state variables in the ISY to hold the values you want. Look at the variables tab to see what is possible to retrieve. I would add what you are ready to use, and then add more later if you decide you need them. use a prefix naming scheme so you can sort them together later: v_heatsetpoint, etc

 

2- configure venlink to login into your isy.. ip, account and password (same as admin console login)

 

3- add the ip for the venstar

 

4-  press the restart button on the system config tab

 

5- use the ISY variables tab drop downs to match the variables you created to the thermostat function

 

See if the values show up in the isy, if not, restart it one more time

 

Once you get that going, move on to special features like sending commands using the network module, humidity control, etc, if needed.. we can look at that next

 

Paul

Edited December 13, 2015 by paulbates

[Gouldc]

Thanks Paul, that certainly gets me going. I now have all of the variables defined that I see myself using in the near future and the values are being populated into ISY accurately. One thing that isn't clear is the humidity set point. I don't see within VenLink a humidity set point. I have a cool and heat set point and a humidity reading but no set point.

[paulbates]

I run NodeLink now, but I still had VenLink on my server and fired up both copies. I get both setpoint and indoor humidity values reporting from my t5900 and t7900.

 

You don't see both these values on your variables tab, or they don't copy to the ISY?

 

Paul

[Gouldc]

Does NodeLink work with ISY version 4.x or only 5?

 

Unless I'm just missing something simple here, all that I see relative to humidity is the current indoor reading not set point.

 

 

[paulbates]

Yes, NodeLink is the v5 Nodeserver expression of io_guys products.

 

Here is my venlink, its v 0.5.18. There was a problem getting humidity readings that was venstar firmware related, but mine seems to be working