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Thermostat Recommendations


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Posted

I just purchased a ISY994iZW.  I was told buy the sales agent that he prefers insteon when it comes to switches and stuff but when it came to thermostats and sensors he prefers z-wave. I been to the z-wave website and they have a bunch of thermostats but I want to make sure that when I buy one I can control it with my ISY994iZW.

 

Can anyone recommend a decent thermostat.  I live in south florida.  My home is exactly 10 years old.  Dont know If I have the common wire which gives the power i guess.  

 

Thanks in advance

Posted

Be prepared before buying any thermostat. Open the thermostat and post what you find, the wire colors and what each is connected to. There is no need to disconnect anything at this point.

Posted

Hi BigEfromDaBx,

 

All Z-Wave thermostats should work. I personally use RCS Z-Wave (TZ45) thermostats as they are quite robust.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

And I just ordered a Venstar 7900.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Posted (edited)

I'm happy with my Honeywell YTH8320ZW1007 z-wave thermostat.   I've had it installed for a year, am about to install a second one for my other zone.

 

With no dependency on WiFi/Cloud, it works great as a 7-day programmable without depending on outside resources, and provides fast remote control and reporting via Z-Wave.    I track how many minutes/day the heat or AC is running with a simple ISY program, and also have a program to do geofencing so the thermostat switches to "Energy Save" mode when nobody is home.

 

The Honeywell package includes a "wire saver module" for upgrading 4-wire installs.

Edited by KeviNH
Posted

When I get back home im actually out of town.  I will take a pic of the wiring and post it.  To see if you guys see anything that might be of interest.

 

Thanks

You will need a common "C" wire for any smart thermostat.

 

The Nest stat and some others advertise that you don't need a "C" wire, and can use it without one, but the battery (or carry-over capacitor) in it goes dead if your A/C or heat is on too long, each cycle.  Both my sons using a Nest experienced this, and had to run a new cable to get power to their stats in the middle of the winter when long furnace run cycles are experienced.

 

Another item with Wi-Fi stats, is they generate electronics heat inside, and the sensing has compensation to make it read the correct temperature. If any draughts from the back hole or room breezes are experienced the sensor cools down and the room temperature may vary all over the place.  It's the nature of the beast that didn't happen with lower energy or mechanical thermostats.

Posted

I have a 2gig CT100 Z-Wave Thermostat and a RCS TZ45 Thermostat. The 2gig is being used where there was not a common 'C" wire. Both thermostats have  been installed for about a year and have worked flawlessly. The battery has not needed replacement in the 2gig thermostat yet.

Posted

I have taken pictures of my current wiring.  I have a blue wire which I was told by smarthome that the blue would be the common wire. But as you can tell by the picture im not using it.  The thermostat im using now is a 10 year old one which I installed when i replaced generic thermostat that the builder put in.  Im guessing that generic thermostat didnt need the blue wire and so didnt the one i bought to replace it which was battery operated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u8lnf7qumj1abqi/IMG_1560.JPG?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/495rnpu3vp72y1l/IMG_1561.JPG?dl=0

Posted

1. The thermostat shows two red wires. The cable image show one cable. What does the other red wire connect to?

 

2. What does the other end of the thermostat cable connect to (the one with the clipped blue wire)?

Posted

1. The thermostat shows two red wires. The cable image show one cable. What does the other red wire connect to?

 

2. What does the other end of the thermostat cable connect to (the one with the clipped blue wire)?

Its just one red wire coming into the base from the wall.  The other red looks like a jumper.  it only connects the red wire to that one terminal and then the other terminal.  Dont know why I did it like that 10 years ago.  I probably just copied the original wiring from the first thermostat.

 

The blue wire connects to nothing.

Posted

At the end where the blue wire connects to noting (not the thermostat end), is there a terminal labelled C?

Posted

The other end of the thermostat cable goes to a control panel, usually located on or near the furnace. You'll need to locate that end and post what you find.

Posted

The other end of the thermostat cable goes to a control panel, usually located on or near the furnace. You'll need to locate that end and post what you find.

 

So I traced the wire back into the unit. Only two wires from that line are actually connected.  The red wire and the white wire.  Red connects to a yellow line and the white wire connects to a blue line.  See picture below.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9haxr363p4s7mwt/IMG_1565.JPG?dl=0

Posted

That seems to be the other end of the cable that runs to the compressor. What about the other thermostat cable? And what do the heavier wires connect to?

Posted

Something is amiss. If only the red and white wires to the thermostat are connected at the other end, then the thermostat would control heat only.

Posted

If the green and yellow wires are not connected to anything, then it's not possible to control cooling. So the thermostat cable in this image cannot be the other end of the cable coming from the thermostat. There is also a second cable shown. Where does that cable come from?

Posted

If the green and yellow wires are not connected to anything, then it's not possible to control cooling. So the thermostat cable in this image cannot be the other end of the cable coming from the thermostat. There is also a second cable shown. Where does that cable come from?

I think you're right.  There are actually two sets of brown wire that each have five wires inside them (White, Green, Yellow, Blue, Red).  I was giving you the info on the wrong set of wires. I was giving you info on wire #2.  

 

If you look at wire #1 (see attachment)

 

Thermostat (wire #1): white Connects to Furnace: white

Thermostat (wire #1): green to Furnace: Green

Thermostat (wire #1): Yellow Connects to 2nd cable: red

Thermostat (wire #1): Red Connects to Furnace: yellow

 

If you look at Wire#2 (see attachment)

 

Wire2: white connects to Furnace Blue

Wire2: red connects to Thermostat (wire #1) Red

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o061gmqi0rsytgi/IMG_1570.JPG?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1w4asr9exd0xks/IMG_1569.JPG?dl=0

Posted

1. There is a somewhat larger blue wire coming from the top connected to a white wire on cable 2.

 

2. There is a red wire from cable 1 connected to a heavier yellow wire from the bottom.

 

What is the voltage between 1 and 2? You will need a meter. If you don't have one, even the least costly is adequate. A voltage indicator won't suffice.

Posted

So I need to know the voltage but I cant use a voltage indicator?  Im confused.  Insnt a voltage indicator telling you the voltage?

 

Is a multimeter good enough?

Yes, a multimeter will be fine. 

 

I think by "Voltage Indicator" he means the simple single-lamp devices intended to just show that some AC voltage exists (also known as a "Voltage Detector"), but not the voltage level (e,g, 24, 48, or 120VAC).

 

The multimeter will give the voltage level.

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