GoControl GC-TBZ48L

[jch]

Is anyone using one of these with the ISY?

 

I bought one of these at Lowe's a few days ago and after many hours was able to fish some 18/3 wire so I could have a C-Wire.  It's made by Nortek Security and Control who also owns the 2Gig and Linear brands.  It's a simple thermostat, no programming, just a set point.  That's fine for my, I want all the smarts in the ISY.

 

It functions as a thermostat but I am not able to connect to it via Z-Wave from my ISY994.  This is my first device (well second, but my minimote won't work until the ISY supports multichannel).  

 

I think the distance from my ISY to the thermostat is 30-40' diagonally , however my house has foil faced insulation in the interior walls and lots of electronics., so I wouldn't be surprised if it really were just a range issue.

 

I'm hoping to use the thermostats as repeaters, I have a zoned heat system so they would be spread throughout the house.  But I don't want to buy another one for a zone nearer to my ISY until I know it is going to work.

[Amigo]

Good evening,

I got one of those couple days ago, just using the battery for now and it paired quickly and easily with ISY.

seems to respond well to ISY, you get heat/cool setpoints, fan mode and system mode and battery status.

I am using it in degC mode, I did notice that one night it went to 30degC setpoint but can't duplicate it any more so far.

One Thing I don't like is thermostat can move up/down in 0.5 deg increments but ISY only shows or can adjust in whole numbers. Not sure if it is the zwave portion of thermostat reporting in whole or precision in ISY.

I am using a couple of Aoetec sirens as repeaters around the house.

I am totally new to z-wave and ISY, but after reading a lot in these forums seems like that siren was the repeater of choice so I got it.

 

cheers.

[jch]

Using Aoetec sirens (or preferably the chimes which I can program with announcements) is something I considered.  It would just be so much more convenient for the thermostats to double as repeaters as there is one in every room.

 

I'll buy another and locate it closer to the ISY and see how that works.  They are $79 at Lowe's, not as inexpensive as some on Amazon, but easy to return if they don't work.

 

Hopefully I picked the worst one to do first, wiring wise.  I ran into a knee wall and another support (for the bathroom medicine cabinet on the other side of the wall) that was out of reach of my 3' (1m for you bit.  I ended up moving the thermostat location about 6" to the left and have a hole to patch.

[Amigo]

I hear you.

I don't know how many devices you presently have, but I think the more z-wave devices the better/stronger the mesh.

I guess just for testing you can put batteries in your device and move it close to ISY and see how it pairs, if you want.

have fun.

cheers.

[jch]

I bought another one today and have it hanging in the boiler room with just power.  I was easily able to include it and the first (Livingroom) thermostat in the ISY's Z-Wave network.

 

Hopefully it will also do a good job as a repeater in our bedroom, which will be easier to wire than my wife's office.

 

Thanks to Ronald Regan, I don't have to worry about the degC problem.  

[andyf0]

Can you folks that have one of these tell me whether the heat and cool stages are switched using a relay or by Triacs. That is, does it click when the heat or cool comes on/off, or is it silent? I'm currently using the Honeywell Z-Wave Stats and they click when heat or cool comes on/off and sometimes it drives me crazy.

[Amigo]

Good evening,

go control tstats have relays, so there is that noise. And besides if the Honeywell click bothers you, the 2gig buttons for up/down or mode, make an even bigger click noise when you use them because it is not touch screen.

I also have RCS/Trane TZ45, and Remotec ZTS-110US, those have relays as well.

cheers.

[jch]

@Amigo have you been able to compare these to the Remotec ZTS-110 units you said you ordered a few weeks ago?  To convert all my zones I need five more thermostats.  While these would be fine I'd save about $20/pop on the Remotec units.  I know one poster had some issues with the ZTS-110.

[Amigo]

Yes, I have a ZTS-110. So far I have only taken it out of the box to look at build quality etc. Have not powered it up.

I just got it for bench testing, it will not be installed in my current project because I need 2 heat and 2 cool, ZTS only offers 2 heat but only 1 cool.

I can tell you that the ZTS-110 seems to have a pretty decent build quality, also the docs say it supports NWI which is nice, and it also says it will act as repeater if powered via 24ac.

 

If a quick bench test is good enough for you, I can do it and report back how it pairs with ISY. Let me know.

 

cheers.

[jch]

There is a nice review on Amazon from someone who is impressed by the ZTS-110's feature list for the price.

 

Apparently the GoControl supports NWI because that's what I used to include the second thermostat.  

 

For $20 less, the ZTS-110 seems to have more features.  I'm not sure if they are things I would use or not.  

 

The big difference I see besides the price is that the ZTS has schedules, however I do not think that is necessary when I can program them into the ISY.

 

The manual for the ZTS seems more detailed.

[Amigo]

Good morning,

quick bench test results of ZTS-110 under 24ac power:

- Pairs quickly and very easily with ISY

- you get Temperature, Heat setpoint, cool setpoint, heat/cool state, fan state, fan mode and system mode.

- When unit is set to DegF, everything seems to work fine.

- When unit is set to DegC, setpoints are not reported correctly via z-wave, not usable in this case.

- When in DegC, z-wave info is rounded down.

 

This by no means is in depth testing, but I would say if anyone who wants to stick with degF operation then this tstat is worth taking a look at.

If you need degC then it is not worth it because it acts very erratically in that mode.

My test setup is using ZTS-110, firmware version 3.14

cheers.

[Amigo]

Good evening, just an update on ZTS-110 thermostat.

I can confirm that on another HA gateway, ZTS-110 in Deg C, comes up fine and all the values for setpoints and temperature are correct, and with correct precision.

So it would seem that ISY may be interpreting some z-wave data in a particular manner.

I have put UDI and the manufacturer in touch with each other, hopefully they can resolve it.

 

cheers.

[jch]

After using both for a few months I think I prefer the GoControl.  The extra features of the ZTS-110 aren't really useful when you have the smarts of the ISY.

 

One thing that's missing compared to tge ZTS-110 are the Z-Wave node configuration parameters.  I haven't found anything on the web and I e-mailed Nortek, but haven't heard anything back.  Has anyone found them?

[jch]

Lowe's had these on sale for 15% off ($67.15 each) so I bought four to finish replacing my round Honeywell dumb thermostats.  All but one is installed, that one is going to involve pulling down some ceiling tiles and I'll want to do some other wiring when I do that.  So now I have a line powered mesh of Z-Wave repeaters.

 

I figured out that I can use 5.0.4's "Online" status to know when to set the clock.  So if I unplug one for a couple seconds then plug it back in, the clock will be set momentarily.

 

I still have not found any information about the Z-Wave node configuration parameters.  I e-mailed Nortek but received no response.  However while Googling around for info, I looked up the FCC ID: WIBTZW011.  That shows that this device was certified by RCS as the TBZ48.  It is also sold by 2GiG.