larryllix Posted June 29, 2016 Posted June 29, 2016 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? Voltage indicators usually will not usually detect low voltages like 24vac on stats.
stusviews Posted June 29, 2016 Posted June 29, 2016 Not so. There are low voltage indicators. I used them years back to trace circuits on car, boat and small aircraft engines.
kohai Posted June 30, 2016 Posted June 30, 2016 I'm kind of turned off on the Honeywell wifi thermostats (not zwave). I have 5. After working with their support for a long time, they think my Honeywell zone controller/furnace has enough fluctuation in voltage to the thermostats that they occasionally lose their wifi connection. In my measuring of voltage, it fluctuates slightly but is still well within their specs. It seems to be specific to only happening in the winter. I'll see when it gets cold again. I spent way too much money on spectrum analzyer, etc, to debug it. I should have cut them loose and tried to return them.
larryllix Posted June 30, 2016 Posted June 30, 2016 (edited) Spectrum analyser? Ouch! I was just going to mention that an RMS voltmeter may not be showing the whole voltage glitch picture but spectrum analyser? I'll retract any thoughts I had there. I think many are finding these thermostat companies are getting computer companies to attempt to build these designs. If the high-tech is stable then the concept an user interface is a POS. They all seem to have problems and those problems rear their ugly heads in only certain applications while others have no perceived problems at all. I have a Venstar with lots of deficiencies and was going to go to the ecobee3 but now I read the A/C relay contact overheats the stats raising sensed temperature up 6-10 degrees. Factory solution? Install an interposing relay between the stat and contactor. We would be better with one unit with three bimetal contacts and a separate logic somewhere else to select between them. No heat in the stat to make the sensing wander and a stable CPU to interface to the rest of the world. Edited June 30, 2016 by larryllix
kohai Posted June 30, 2016 Posted June 30, 2016 I should have stated the spectrum analyzer was because Honeywell support was blaming RF interference on the wifi issue. Once I ruled that out, they moved on to blaming the voltage. I didn't have more than a volt meter to have that debate and after showing that the voltage was high enough I decided to stop fighting. My theory is the slight fluctuation in the voltage causes the problem (assuming Honeywell is right that it is a voltage problem... it is location specific and not thermostat specific so this makes sense). Anyway, that's a bit of a tangent to the thread.
KeviNH Posted July 1, 2016 Posted July 1, 2016 I'm kind of turned off on the Honeywell wifi thermostats (not zwave). FWIW, my monochrome touchscreen Honeywell Z-Wave thermostat doesn't have the same issues as their WiFi models. No unexplained dropouts, and the temperature reported by the thermostat is always within half a degree of the temperature reported by an Aeotec Zwave multisensor (about 8 feet away). The user interface is almost as good as the older Honeywell monochrome touchscreen thermostat, it does lack the ability to set "Hold temperature until ..." when manually setting the temperature at the thermostat.
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 2, 2016 Author Posted July 2, 2016 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. AC guy came to my house today to fix my drier LOL and he said that I do have the blue common wire. So i guess now its just deciding on a thermostat.
G W Posted July 2, 2016 Posted July 2, 2016 I like the Venstar 7900 and I just installed to to play with. I also have the RCS TZ45R which I will install so the ISY can have control. Best regards, Gary Funk
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 2, 2016 Author Posted July 2, 2016 I like the Venstar 7900 and I just installed to to play with. I also have the RCS TZ45R which I will install so the ISY can have control. Best regards, Gary Funk Can i control the venstar 7900 with my isy? I like the Venstar 7900 and I just installed to to play with. I also have the RCS TZ45R which I will install so the ISY can have control. Best regards, Gary Funk a little pricey https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=venstar+7900
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 2, 2016 Author Posted July 2, 2016 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. According to an amazon review if the power goes out you have to reset the time manually and you cant control it if you're out of town. Is this true?
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 8, 2016 Author Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) Can the Nest be used with the ISY? Edited July 8, 2016 by BigEfromDaBx
G W Posted July 8, 2016 Posted July 8, 2016 I took Michel's recommendation and bought RCS TZ45R. It works great. Best regards, Gary Funk
larryllix Posted July 9, 2016 Posted July 9, 2016 (edited) Can the Nest be used with the ISY?Yes through another computer that accesses their cloud service. AFAIK the Venstars are the only stats that can be accessed from ISY without cloud access/accounts. EDIT: Sorry, incorrect. The only WiFi thermostats that can be accessed without cloud service. Insteon and Zwave thermostats can do this directly to ISY/PLM. Edited July 9, 2016 by larryllix
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 10, 2016 Author Posted July 10, 2016 Yes through another computer that accesses their cloud service. AFAIK the Venstars are the only stats that can be accessed from ISY without cloud access/accounts. EDIT: Sorry, incorrect. The only WiFi thermostats that can be accessed without cloud service. Insteon and Zwave thermostats can do this directly to ISY/PLM. What kind of stats do you speak of?
stusviews Posted July 10, 2016 Posted July 10, 2016 What kind of stats do you speak of? I believe that larryflix is referring to Insteon and Z-Wave compatible thermostats that do not require access to the cloud (actually remote hard drives plus a service to access those drives). A WAN is not required, only your LAN.
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 10, 2016 Author Posted July 10, 2016 I believe that larryflix is referring to Insteon and Z-Wave compatible thermostats that do not require access to the cloud (actually remote hard drives plus a service to access those drives). A WAN is not required, only your LAN. I get that. But what kind of stats do you get from the thermostat? Stats as in how long the ac has been running that month or day? Do they give you Humidity etc?
paulbates Posted July 10, 2016 Posted July 10, 2016 @larryllix, somewhere in the forums you did an exhaustive comparison of TSTATs that covers a number of the ones discussed here and their trade offs. Can you post a link to that? Paul
larryllix Posted July 10, 2016 Posted July 10, 2016 (edited) @larryllix, somewhere in the forums you did an exhaustive comparison of TSTATs that covers a number of the ones discussed here and their trade offs. Can you post a link to that? Paul Was a bit hard to find and I wasn't very proud of the details and updates done and wasn't happy about the charting capabilities in the forum but.... I am finding you really need to own and use a thermostat for almost a year to actually try it out. Thermostat information is always very vague, they state nothing n the box, and the real information needed, that makes a stat different from the rest is not stated anywhere. It works on the dreamware advertising technique. You dream it has a feature and will never know until it isn't returnable. http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/17816-thermostat-features/?hl=%20thermostat%20%20comparison Edited July 10, 2016 by larryllix
KeviNH Posted July 11, 2016 Posted July 11, 2016 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... According to an amazon review if the power goes out you have to reset the time manually and you cant control it if you're out of town. Is this true? I'm not sure what they're thinking -- The ISY994zw has full control of the Z-wave thermostat, so you control it just like you would anything else connected to your ISY, e.g. via the Portal. While the ISY has a "Synchronize Clock" button on the UI, that does not work (returns a "Request failed" message). However the thermostat has a CR2032 coin cell battery to maintain the clock, though if you fail to replace the battery then the thermostat would lose the time and other settings when the power goes out.
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 11, 2016 Author Posted July 11, 2016 I'm not sure what they're thinking -- The ISY994zw has full control of the Z-wave thermostat, so you control it just like you would anything else connected to your ISY, e.g. via the Portal. While the ISY has a "Synchronize Clock" button on the UI, that does not work (returns a "Request failed" message). However the thermostat has a CR2032 coin cell battery to maintain the clock, though if you fail to replace the battery then the thermostat would lose the time and other settings when the power goes out. Thanks.
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 11, 2016 Author Posted July 11, 2016 (edited) Nobody has mentioned anything about the 2441TH. Im guessing its not that great. I read here on the forum that its sensitve and freezes and that you can really read the screen. But I do like the fact that it has a humidity reading while the others done. I really like the ecobee3 but from what I read its not as easy to control as other unit. But I like the idea of the remote sensors. Im torn between the 2441TH, Honeywell YTH8320ZW1007/U Z-Wave Edited July 11, 2016 by BigEfromDaBx
G W Posted July 11, 2016 Posted July 11, 2016 I've never heard anyone say the love the SmartHome thermostats. Best regards, Gary Funk
BigEfromDaBx Posted July 11, 2016 Author Posted July 11, 2016 I've never heard anyone say the love the SmartHome thermostats. Best regards, Gary Funk LOL
paulbates Posted July 12, 2016 Posted July 12, 2016 It comes down to: every thermostat model has benefits and warts. You have to decide what you can live with. Its not uncommon for people to try a couple out. If there are any you can return after trying for a few weeks, it would probably be worth trying them and see what you like. Paul
stusviews Posted July 12, 2016 Posted July 12, 2016 I've never heard anyone say the love the SmartHome thermostats. Best regards, Gary Funk I do. I did want voice control, so I purchased a Honeywell WiFi voice control thermostat which, BTW, now has an Echo skill. But, I'm unable to use my voice turn heating or cooling on or off. A few program let me do that with the insteon thermostat. Others may have the same capability, but I've never had a problem using Insteon thermostats. That includes Insteon wireless thermostats for each zone and a wireless thermostat dedicated to the bedroom fireplace. OK, maybe I don't love them, but I have no reason to dislike them
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