Ecobee: Sensors and ISY.

[tibbar]

Hi.

I'm considering purchase of ecobee tstat just not sure what options to get.

Definitely could use ecobee3 to control HRV since looks like it's not available on lite version.

Any benefit to go with ecobee4 over 3 since I can do alexa with ISY already?

Can ISY see ecobee sensors being motion tripped?

Thanks.

[io_guy]

The motion trip won't work since you only get that data through their API once in a blue moon and it averages.

 

If you don't care about Alexa, E3.

If you don't care about controlling a humidifier, E3 Lite.  Lite used to not handle remote sensors but they updated the firmware.

[tibbar]

Thanks.

With Nodelink will ISY see Ecobee as a thermostat or just some device with data?

[io_guy]

Assuming you are running V5:

 

[tibbar]

Nice, thanks io_guy.

Currently I have Zwave tstat that I can control with "alexa" through ISY portal.

IF I change it for E3 could I still control it with "alexa" or would I HAVE to get E4?

Do you know if mobilinc app would see E3 as a tstat also?

Thanks a lot.

[io_guy]

Alexa talks directly to the E3, not through the ISY.

 

Mobilinc will not see the stat correctly, no app sees V5 custom nodes correctly.

[paulbates]

Nice, thanks io_guy.

Currently I have Zwave tstat that I can control with "alexa" through ISY portal.

IF I change it for E3 could I still control it with "alexa" or would I HAVE to get E4?

Do you know if mobilinc app would see E3 as a tstat also?

Thanks a lot.

 

 

Alexa talks directly to the E3, not through the ISY.

 

Mobilinc will not see the stat correctly, no app sees V5 custom nodes correctly.

 

That's also true for the venstar color touch on V5 nodelink. However vestar have a straight forward smartphone app and I've "zenned" on using that instead; having a couple of disintegrated iot apps as opposed to a single unified HA app. I set up my wife's phone with the venstar app 3+ years ago, and she's been able to control the system if she wants. 

 

Having management control of the tstat with the ISY via nodelink has been more important.

 

Paul

[larryllix]

Nice, thanks io_guy.

Currently I have Zwave tstat that I can control with "alexa" through ISY portal.

IF I change it for E3 could I still control it with "alexa" or would I HAVE to get E4?

Do you know if mobilinc app would see E3 as a tstat also?

Thanks a lot.

The ecobee stats are very well done. Just like all stats they have some weird quirks to get familiar with but the accuracy is way better than Venstar and a few others. Honeywell? Resolution is better but not sure about stability.

ecobee stats sense to a 0.1C degree resolution, allow you to set to 0.3C resolution but only ever show 0.5C resolution. This is a huge operation accuracy over most others at 0.5C resolution and switching heating at same. This causes fast cycling that many cannot resolve.

 

I have found the remote sensors and most stat automation useless. The sensors are great for monitoring purpose. MS feature is too slow for any lighting purpose.

Even the  Adaptive Intelligent Recovery had to be disabled here. I have two and they confused each other with one heat zone turning on a midnight and the other not turning on at all. The Follow Me feature is useless here. By the time it could raise my home 1 degree C I would be gone the next day again. I have written my own algorithms to enact  Adaptive Intelligent Recovery in my ISY programs. I have also written an Adaptive Intelligent Setback, which no thermostat I have seen has yet.

 

Don't get me wrong. The ecobee3 and 4 are the best stats I have ever used and I have a lot of them now. Most HA users turn off all the Nest goodies too.

[NYHeel]

I'm considering purchasing an Ecobee3 thermostat but I have a question about its ISY integration. I currently have a program that runs a certain set of light settings once a week by default. Could I add the ability to turn off the motion sensor of the ecobee3 thermostat as part of that program? Are the motion sensor options part of the ISY controlls/integration?

[larryllix]

I'm considering purchasing an Ecobee3 thermostat but I have a question about its ISY integration. I currently have a program that runs a certain set of light settings once a week by default. Could I add the ability to turn off the motion sensor of the ecobee3 thermostat as part of that program? Are the motion sensor options part of the ISY controlls/integration?

No. The ecobee stats have complete control of the motion sensor inputs (include them or not) but that control is not offered externally. The MS portion is extremely slow response. I own an ecobee3 and ecobee4.

 

I use them but they are all disabled. My home heating is too slow to respond to make use of them and I don't want my heating going up and down by itself. I already have very even temperatures throughout my home.

[NYHeel]

No. The ecobee stats have complete control of the motion sensor inputs (include them or not) but that control is not offered externally. The MS portion is extremely slow response. I own an ecobee3 and ecobee4.

 

I use them but they are all disabled. My home heating is too slow to respond to make use of them and I don't want my heating going up and down by itself. I already have very even temperatures throughout my home.

Thanks for your help. I'm actually referring to the motion sensor capabilites of the main unit. I think the function is called Smart Home/Away. I want to be able to disable that feature once a week for a day automatically. I'd rather not have to go into the settings every week to disable that feature and then turn it back on later. I figured the ISY controls might be a good way to control the feature automatically.

[io_guy]

That feature is currently not settable with NodeLink but I can add it to a future version.

[larryllix]

Thanks for your help. I'm actually referring to the motion sensor capabilites of the main unit. I think the function is called Smart Home/Away. I want to be able to disable that feature once a week for a day automatically. I'd rather not have to go into the settings every week to disable that feature and then turn it back on later. I figured the ISY controls might be a good way to control the feature automatically.

All the sensors are the same and I have them all disabled.

Note: In the below "climate type" is what ecobee API names the schedule time segments, like Home, Vacation, Sleep, Smart1, smart2,  smart3.....

 

However, I do control them manually by schedule. You can choose which sensor(s) are active for any climate type. I use my bedroom sensor for my sleep hours, but  average the two sensors, in the stat and the other end of the Gathering room for day time sensing.  This is all done in the stat or from their webpage apps.

 

AFAICT there is no remote control over these functions, although with NodeLink you can force schedule overrides, and turn schedules back on again. Whatever setpoint your pick is compared against the average of every sensor enabled.

I had to find out the hard way (ecobee support doesn't seem to understand this) that you either select "Follow Me", or schedule enable what sensors you want used. When Follow Me is on, the enables are selectable but do not function. Support can read your history and degrees to 0.1C but the enable is not in the database.

 

It should be possible to select  climate types via NodeLink. I have not tested this yet, but you can create at least 8 or more? climate types and select any one you want via NodeLink. This could turn on select sensor groups or disable them from preset groups of enables. Now you could base your climate type selection on the MS part of the sensors, that ISY can see via NodeLink.

 

After playing with these sensors and contacting  support for months, I found them basically useless and too complex, and after support was done with me offering figures that didn't even add up, not functional. I don't want  my rooms to be too hot or cold because I visited another room two hours ago. YMMV depending on how fast your heat/cool recovery is.

[NYHeel]

All the sensors are the same and I have them all disabled.

Note: In the below "climate type" is what ecobee API names the schedule time segments, like Home, Vacation, Sleep, Smart1, smart2,  smart3.....

 

However, I do control them manually by schedule. You can choose which sensor(s) are active for any climate type. I use my bedroom sensor for my sleep hours, but  average the two sensors, in the stat and the other end of the Gathering room for day time sensing.  This is all done in the stat or from their webpage apps.

 

AFAICT there is no remote control over these functions, although with NodeLink you can force schedule overrides, and turn schedules back on again. Whatever setpoint your pick is compared against the average of every sensor enabled.

I had to find out the hard way (ecobee support doesn't seem to understand this) that you either select "Follow Me", or schedule enable what sensors you want used. When Follow Me is on, the enables are selectable but do not function. Support can read your history and degrees to 0.1C but the enable is not in the database.

 

It should be possible to select  climate types via NodeLink. I have not tested this yet, but you can create at least 8 or more? climate types and select any one you want via NodeLink. This could turn on select sensor groups or disable them from preset groups of enables. Now you could base your climate type selection on the MS part of the sensors, that ISY can see via NodeLink.

 

After playing with these sensors and contacting  support for months, I found them basically useless and too complex, and after support was done with me offering figures that didn't even add up, not functional. I don't want  my rooms to be too hot or cold because I visited another room two hours ago. YMMV depending on how fast your heat/cool recovery is.

Interesting. If you have the home/away functionality disabled all of the time then what sets the Ecobee apart from a standard Honeywell thermostat that has wifi. I currently have one of those for my second floor AC/Heat and it works well. You can schedule 4 different settings for each day of the week and also have control of the thermostat via their phone app since it's connected via wifi. What does the Ecobee add to that functionality if I'm not using the home/away feature? What makes it any smarter?

[larryllix]

Interesting. If you have the home/away functionality disabled all of the time then what sets the Ecobee apart from a standard Honeywell thermostat that has wifi. I currently have one of those for my second floor AC/Heat and it works well. You can schedule 4 different settings for each day of the week and also have control of the thermostat via their phone app since it's connected via wifi. What does the Ecobee add to that functionality if I'm not using the home/away feature? What makes it any smarter?

Smarter? I don't know.

Accuracy and settability.  The ecobees sense and record the temperatures to 0.1C. They have calibratible sensing to 0.3C, but only show 0.5C changes. The sensing stability is much better than any other stat I have used.

 

The Venstars wander about 1.0C degrees from time to time over a few weeks at a time. I have two.  Honeywell I tried, not so much. Ecobees are very stable.

 

The ecobee has a very complex fan cycling algorithm. If you set it for 10 minutes per hour (misnomer) it waits for a set period of non-running and then cycles the circulation fan in cycles for about 1 to 6 cycles per hour. The ecobee stats are the most advanced in settability I have seen. I have some commercial stats worth $800 and $1200 each, with about 500 or more setting each, talk to each other with proportional information and they cannot set some of the things these ecobees can. On/Off differential of 0.5C degrees? Fast cycling control without just inserting a delay every on cycle. Second stage cooling that obeys the cycling  rules.

Dead band between heating and A/C down to 0.0C degrees.

 

Every stat I have tried (about 8 but not all smart) overshoot initially every day on setback  recovery and use the front display temperature as a fudge point o compensate for something. Ecobee does it too and this causes the overshoot on all of them. This is determined by CAO Tags (0.001C resoloution)  and the average of 6 other digital thermometers to get accuracy.

 

Two of my sons have Nests. After seeing them, I wouldn't even bother with the Nest 2 or Nest 3. I would have to disable every smart in them and they are not calibratable for matching temps. Nests have a USB port in the back to charge the carry-over battery if your HVAC stays on too long and the battery dies. This would happen here every week with our cold climate and efficient heating.

 

In short I recommend this stat for HVAC features over anything I have ever used but, like all of them, it still has minor quirks. 

[stusviews]

I have two Ecobee 3 thermostats (living room zone, bedroom zone) with three and five sensors, respectively. For our use, the sensors perform the way we want them. In particular, with "follow me" enabled, the room we're in adjusts relatively quickly. The Ecobee works by averaging the active sensors and times out if there's no activity sensed for about 30 minutes.

 

You can add more schedules, as needed. Schedules are referred to as Comfort Settings. The default is three, but we have four; Away, Home, Sleep (defaults) and Morning (added). There's even a Vacation mode available as well as maintenance reminders.

 

One of the best features for us is that we don't need to create a program for when we go out, 30 miunutes after not detecting motion the Away mode kicks in automatically. The Ecobee Alexa app allows changing the setpoint, but not changing the mode and not turning the system on or off. But the smartphone app and the computer app allow full control except for the differential which is set at the thermostat.

 

My main concern is that, if you change the setpoint by voice, it will remain at that point until reset. Adjusting the setpoint using an app offers choices as to when and if the setpoint reverts to schedule.

 

AFAIK, ISY integration requires v.5+. I'm on v.4.6.2.

[larryllix]

I have two Ecobee 3 thermostats (living room zone, bedroom zone) with three and five sensors, respectively. For our use, the sensors perform the way we want them. In particular, with "follow me" enabled, the room we're in adjusts relatively quickly. The Ecobee works by averaging the active sensors and times out if there's no activity sensed for about 30 minutes.

 

You can add more schedules, as needed. Schedules are referred to as Comfort Settings. The default is three, but we have four; Away, Home, Sleep (defaults) and Morning (added). There's even a Vacation mode available as well as maintenance reminders.

 

One of the best features for us is that we don't need to create a program for when we go out, 30 miunutes after not detecting motion the Away mode kicks in automatically. The Ecobee Alexa app allows changing the setpoint, but not changing the mode and not turning the system on or off. But the smartphone app and the computer app allow full control except for the differential which is set at the thermostat.

 

My main concern is that, if you change the setpoint by voice, it will remain at that point until reset. Adjusting the setpoint using an app offers choices as to when and if the setpoint reverts to schedule.

 

AFAIK, ISY integration requires v.5+. I'm on v.4.6.2.

ISY with NodeLink has circumvented most of that. Now you can control schedules and climate types and setpoints temporarily or permanently from echo or home voice via ISY

 

Sent from my SGH-I257M using Tapatalk

[stusviews]

I can control the setpoints. To do more requires, as I noted, v.5+

[NYHeel]

That feature is currently not settable with NodeLink but I can add it to a future version.

That would be very cool if you could do that. I'm referring to Smart home/away and Follow Me.

 

Now I just need to figure out how to install NodeLink.