Ditch Nest for EcoBee?

[larryllix]

Smart1 - smart7 are your user defined climate types (online names) Comfort settings (stat names?). You will have to rest your NS to get it to update the names in ISY.

I can set anything on my stats and many more settings than online apps of NS settings. Most of it is not wanted to be changeable online of form remote setting anyway. eg. hardware connections are not going to change without changing wire connections etc..

I never use "Away" I don;t find it useful. Vacation can be set from anywhere and is what I use to control my ISY vacation setting. It is pre-settable ahead of time before you leave for a vacation and forget it. I guess "Away" is useful for the automatic occupancy setting, which I cannot use. I end my vacation mode a day ahead of arriving home usually as I set things back to 10c and it takes over 24 hours to get the temps back up.

I set my manual override to cancel at the next climate change. It avoids forgetting to set it back and if set from ISY forgives any failure of settings from ISY.

 

[jtara92101]

I did reset the NodeServer, but the Climate Type names did not update. No biggie, since I know which custom ones are which, since they are numbered in the Ecobee UIs.

I also tried in the ISY Main display. I set Climate Type for example to Home, press button to left, there is a delay and it gets set back to Away. Same thing if I set Smart1. It just seems to ignore the setting, and still if I query I get Request Failed popup.

I will try on the EcoBee Nodeserver thread.

[jtara92101]

Oh. Some little bit of progress. I closed and reopened the ISY control panel, and now my Climate Type names appear. Smart1 and Smart2 have been replaced with Work and Windows Open.

Still, I can't change it though.

[lilyoyo1]

1 hour ago, jtara92101 said:

Disappointing to find that you cannot directly set any Comfort Setting other than Home or Away directly from either the device itself or app! So, for example, if you go to sleep early, there is no way to set Sleep.

Yet it is possible to choose a Comfort Setting via API and thus through the Ecobee NodeServer.

So, I see I can create a program to Set Ecobee - Thermostat Climate Type to Sleep.

Well, that's the theory, but it seems not to work at all. I created a program that sets the Climate Type to Sleep and manually ran the Then. Doesn't do anything. Same thing with Home/Away.

Confused about Climate Type vs. Comfort Setting. Are they two names for the same thing? It seems a bit muddled.

Also, I guess the NodeServer doesn't get the names of custom Comfort Settings/Climate Types. And there are several I don't recognize.

- Away

- Home

-  Sleep

- Smart1 through Smart7

- Vacation

- SmartAway

- SmartHome

- DemandResponse

- Unknown

- WakeUp

 

I created Work (I'm in my office) and Windows Open (don't want to run heat/cool with the windows open!). I see 1 and 2 next to them in the UI, so I guess these are Smart1 and Smart2. But don't seem to be able to activate them. And I set it to use bedroom sensor temp for Sleep, LR thermostat temp for Home, and office sensor temp for Work.

Not being able to set Climate Type/Comfort Setting on the device or app is not a deal breaker, since really my intention is to use window switches for Windows Open and a keypad button toggle for office occupancy. I'd like to do the latter actually for office, bedroom, and main area - I've done this before in another residence. The last button on keypad (I will swap from 6-button to 8-button) will be occupancy, just tap the button, and that room/area is occupied and the backlight lights up and other backlights turned off.

Oh, yea, one more thing - querying Ecobee - Thermostat in ISY gets a Request Failed popup.

 

 

You can set a sleep setting with the ecobee app as well as other setting that you may choose to have such as a vacation mode. 

I think ecobee set out to make the app as simple as possible since the avg user generally wont use most of those settings. The API is designed for those who are much more advanced which allows them to use whatever they may like. While this may turn off advance users, this portion of their base is much smaller than those who simply want something to usable

It's a balancing act that I think they've done well. The app works for simple control but home automation systems allow me to add more complex controls that I otherwise wouldn't have

[larryllix]

1 hour ago, lilyoyo1 said:

You can set a sleep setting with the ecobee app as well as other setting that you may choose to have such as a vacation mode. 

I think ecobee set out to make the app as simple as possible since the avg user generally wont use most of those settings. The API is designed for those who are much more advanced which allows them to use whatever they may like. While this may turn off advance users, this portion of their base is much smaller than those who simply want something to usable

It's a balancing act that I think they've done well. The app works for simple control but home automation systems allow me to add more complex controls that I otherwise wouldn't have

Oh yeah.... I hardly ever use the app. I use the ecobee webpage and you can set most of everything on a Win 10 laptop.

[lilyoyo1]

1 hour ago, larryllix said:

Oh yeah.... I hardly ever use the app. I use the ecobee webpage and you can set most of everything on a Win 10 laptop.

I rarely do myself as well since the ISY. I used it to set up most of the stuff that I wanted (before the nodeserver came  into the picture) and for the rest, voice control gave me the little things. For the most part, its still that way

[larryllix]

On 5/23/2020 at 11:06 AM, jtara92101 said:

I installed the Ecobee 3 Lite.

- It turns out the 3 Lite does NOT have a built-in occupancy sensor. But of course it has temperature and humidity. It does sense a person walking by in order to turn on the display, though.

<snipped>

I just thought of this and you should be able to tell if that local stat occupancy sensor exists or not.

Here is a screenshot of my ecobee3's monitoring, from the app. It shows my baseboard sensor detect my wife entering and leaving the recreation room from my baseboard sensor, and also occupying the room on the stat sensor, for the hour+ she was down there.

 

Also... I have moved a sensor to my baseboard level and I think this may work better with floor slab heat (averaged with the stat temp sensor).  This is while my A/C runs up stairs...LOL. To be fair, my ice cold well water runs through the slab, and chills it, so the shots of heat take the chill off the floor, and that heat is reclaimed before the cold well water hits the water heater. Not much energy waste.

 

[lilyoyo1]

1 hour ago, larryllix said:

I just thought of this and you should be able to tell if that local stat occupancy sensor exists or not.

Here is a screenshot of my ecobee3's monitoring, from the app. It shows my baseboard sensor detect my wife entering and leaving the recreation room from my baseboard sensor, and also occupying the room on the stat sensor, for the hour+ she was down there.

 

Also... I have moved a sensor to my baseboard level and I think this may work better with floor slab heat (averaged with the stat temp sensor).  This is while my A/C runs up stairs...LOL. To be fair, my ice cold well water runs through the slab, and chills it, so the shots of heat take the chill off the floor, and that heat is reclaimed before the cold well water hits the water heater. Not much energy waste.

 

The new lite version removed the occupancy from the thermostat vs just the sensors. He would need to add a sensor to the room

[larryllix]

4 hours ago, lilyoyo1 said:

The new lite version removed the occupancy from the thermostat vs just the sensors. He would need to add a sensor to the room

Maybe that is an admission their "follow-me" didn't work and also a money saving feature.

[lilyoyo1]

Probably money saving/force you to upgrade to more expensive model

[madcodger]

I haven't read every line of this thread, but just a quick warning for those reading it in the future that the "lite" model also lacks the ability to control a humidifier. It does have a humidistat built in, so if you just need that function, it's fine. But the internal on/off switching for the humidifier is missing from the "lite" model. And, the back plates / wiring are a bit different for each model as I recall so you can't just switch models around. I learned all this from having two lites and a "regular" model in a building, and of course the "regular" model isn't on the floor where I'd like to have it.

[larryllix]

42 minutes ago, madcodger said:

I haven't read every line of this thread, but just a quick warning for those reading it in the future that the "lite" model also lacks the ability to control a humidifier. It does have a humidistat built in, so if you just need that function, it's fine. But the internal on/off switching for the humidifier is missing from the "lite" model. And, the back plates / wiring are a bit different for each model as I recall so you can't just switch models around. I learned all this from having two lites and a "regular" model in a building, and of course the "regular" model isn't on the floor where I'd like to have it.

That's really dumb. The only other model then is the ecobee4 with a crippled  Alexa built in. Several times I have attempted to enable it but with a single microphone tight against the wall, it really doesn't hear well and babbles back to TV noise about 3-4 times per hour. In contrast to that, the Amazon 8" Show, can understand you talking inside  the neighbour's house.

[madcodger]

22 hours ago, larryllix said:

That's really dumb. The only other model then is the ecobee4 with a crippled  Alexa built in. Several times I have attempted to enable it but with a single microphone tight against the wall, it really doesn't hear well and babbles back to TV noise about 3-4 times per hour. In contrast to that, the Amazon 8" Show, can understand you talking inside  the neighbour's house.

I agree all 'round. I had no idea about the lite model lacking humidifier control and ended up with a standard (at the time, a 3, I think) ecobee only because Lowes only had two Lite models in stock and I was putting them in our small office building. In a previous house I also had an ecobee 4 with Alexa and it was a horrible Alexa device, just as you note. I like ecobee better than Nest, but have now gone to z-wave (GoControl) for the heat-only systems in our Maine property. They've been fantastic. The new Daikin minisplits being installed next week can't use those, and have wifi controls. That'll take some getting used to...The other heating system remains for backup and really cold weather, though, so I'll have much to monitor.

 

[larryllix]

6 hours ago, madcodger said:

I agree all 'round. I had no idea about the lite model lacking humidifier control and ended up with a standard (at the time, a 3, I think) ecobee only because Lowes only had two Lite models in stock and I was putting them in our small office building. In a previous house I also had an ecobee 4 with Alexa and it was a horrible Alexa device, just as you note. I like ecobee better than Nest, but have now gone to z-wave (GoControl) for the heat-only systems in our Maine property. They've been fantastic. The new Daikin minisplits being installed next week can't use those, and have wifi controls. That'll take some getting used to...The other heating system remains for backup and really cold weather, though, so I'll have much to monitor.

 

I don't know? My thoughts are you should call ecobee and tell them you got the wrong stat, maybe try getting some sympathy on a swap up??? Pull the poor advertising card based on the old ecobee3.

Not sure about Lowes, but in Canada, if you repacked it real nice you could take the whole thing back to the Borg (HD), at the current listed prices you could get the ecobee4 for about the same price. That would only come with one sensor, but the new ecobee4 supports 2.4 and 5GHz now, and I did see one store (in Canada) offering 25% off. Can''t find it now

[madcodger]

Thanks, @larryllix. I should have been more clear... Really nothing to fix here - just an observation / warning to those looking to purchase an ecobee stat (but I appreciate the response). They've changed up their models over the past 2-3 years, and it's easy to fall for the "deal" of the lite models without realizing what you won't be getting, so I just didn't want others to have a problem.

It's a disappointing move by ecobee, IMO. The Alexa device add-on is just a poor implementation that few need, done as a marketing gimmick. It's the equivalent of adding Alexa to you refrigerator or oven. So now you are forced to buy either a stripped-down lite version (that lacks fairly typical and useful features like humidifier controls), OR you have to buy the over-gadgeted version that has unneeded things like built-in Alexa.  I've spent most of my working life in marketing, and this is the type of useless thing that makes people hate marketers. Sigh...