Interesting Ecobee nodeserver behavior with cool mode set to 76F

[JBanaszak]

Jimbo,

First, thanks for building this awesome nodeserver!  I noticed some interesting behavior when cool mode on my Ecobee is set to 76F.  I setup my Ecobee in cool mode with a daily schedule; daytime cool set point is 76F.

As you can see from the photo, when the set point temp is 76 the Ecobee app and thermostat (not in photo) are correct. However, the nodeserver page shows the set point as 75F in the node window and on the drop-down list.  I have not tried every temp but if I manually set the temp (either via the Ecobee app, thermostat, or nodeserver) to 74, 75, 77, or 78 everything matches.  

If I set the temp to 76F via the drop down menu, the Ecobee sees the correct temperature as a "hold" on the schedule.  In other words, all temps show 76F but the schedule goes into hold mode until the next transition time.  If I cancel the hold (again via any path) the Ecobee stays at 76F and the node server reverts to 75F.

In summary, this appears to be a nodeserver display, not operational, issue.  Let me know if it would be helpful to repeat any of the above scenarios and send a log to help ID the source.

Thanks again!

Jim

[larryllix]

Sounds like a round-off error.

A setpoint of 76 converts to 24.44444 C and possibly likely the ecobee uses Celcius temperatures.

If the .444444 gets truncated then 24.0 C converts back to 75.2F. Truncated again would show 75F.

 

Since most stats support C in half degrees possibly rounding off on conversion would correct this somewhat but possibly cause other conversions to go the other way.

[JBanaszak]

1 hour ago, larryllix said:

Sounds like a round-off error.

A setpoint of 76 converts to 24.44444 C and possibly likely the ecobee uses Celcius temperatures.

If the .444444 gets truncated then 24.0 C converts back to 75.2F. Truncated again would show 75F.

 

Since most stats support C in half degrees possibly rounding off on conversion would correct this somewhat but possibly cause other conversions to go the other way.

Interesting theory Larryllix.  I checked 85F (29.44C) and 67F (19.44C) and could not replicate....:)

[JBanaszak]

Just for fun I checked behavior with other modes:

- Auto settings 76 cool 71 heat; shows in nodeserver as 75 and 70

- Heat setting 71; shows in nodeserver as 70

The nodeserver displays -1F from the set point when the schedule is running, at least under the conditions tested today.

[tmorse305]

For what its worth I could not duplicate the problem.  Running version 2.1.23 of the NS and 5.0.16C

[larryllix]

7 hours ago, JBanaszak said:

Interesting theory Larryllix.  I checked 85F (29.44C) and 67F (19.44C) and could not replicate....:)

Yeah. The same roundOff error should have applied there too if that was happening.

Are you are aware that ecobee will not allow updates faster than every three minutes? Update lag can play a part in confusion for people, if that isn't considered.
I don't use F temperatures and have only looked at the admin console device a page a few times so I would not likely have ever noticed.
@Jimbo is a very polished coder so I wouldn't think he wouldn't have missed that one, anyway. He may have some ideas on this.

It is always possible ISY decimal values  still have some quirks, also. In the past we found a truncation of 2.9999, instead of 3.0000 showing up.

[Jimbo.Automates]

@tmorse305 Yes, mostly likely some weirdness with converting from C to F.  As @larryllix mentioned, I think all the values come as C and are converted to F, but I'd have to review the code.  I'll test what you have done when I have some time and see if there is anything can do about it.

 

[tmorse305]

4 hours ago, Jimbo said:

@tmorse305 Yes, mostly likely some weirdness with converting from C to F.  As @larryllix mentioned, I think all the values come as C and are converted to F, but I'd have to review the code.  I'll test what you have done when I have some time and see if there is anything can do about it.

 

@JBanaszak is having the issue with his.  Mine is working correctly.  That would suggest a more complicated situation than just converting C to F.  @JBanaszakare you also running NS  version 2.1.23?

[JBanaszak]

Just now, tmorse305 said:

@JBanaszak is having the issue with his.  Mine is working correctly.  That would suggest a more complicated situation than just converting C to F.  @JBanaszakare you also running NS  version 2.1.23?

Thanks.  Yes I'm running NS version 2.1.23 and ISY Version 5.0.16C.

[Jimbo.Automates]

Yes, I remembered incorrectly, the temperatures do come from the API in F, but they have decimal values, so there must be some rounding happening for some reason.  When I set my cool to 76, it comes across the API 760, which if you put the controller in debug mode you can see in the log:

  "desiredCool": 760,
 

 

[tmorse305]

I don't think you can set the temperature with any more precision than whole numbers so it seems like the 3rd digit will always be 0.  @JBanaszak is it just a coincidence that the problem value of 76 also happens to be the set point of your  Home Mode?  If you change the Home Mode set point to 77 does the problem shift to 77?

[JBanaszak]

I don't think you can set the temperature with any more precision than whole numbers so it seems like the 3rd digit will always be 0.  @JBanaszak is it just a coincidence that the problem value of 76 also happens to be the set point of your  Home Mode?  If you change the Home Mode set point to 77 does the problem shift to 77?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, for fun I checked behavior with other modes:

- Auto settings 76 cool 71 heat; shows in nodeserver as 75 and 70

- Heat setting 71; shows in nodeserver as 70

The nodeserver displays -1F from the set point when the schedule is running, at least under the conditions tested today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tmorse305]

13 minutes ago, JBanaszak said:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, for fun I checked behavior with other modes:

- Auto settings 76 cool 71 heat; shows in nodeserver as 75 and 70

- Heat setting 71; shows in nodeserver as 70

The nodeserver displays -1F from the set point when the schedule is running, at least under the conditions tested today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I do recall you saying that but since you chose 76 as the test number I was wondering what happens if you try something different like 77.  Are saying that the NS display will always be 1 degree less than the set point when the thermostat is running in one of its normal modes?  The problem is not specific to 76, rather the problem is the NS reporting 1 degree less whenever the thermostat is running in any mode.

[JBanaszak]

I do recall you saying that but since you chose 76 as the test number I was wondering what happens if you try something different like 77.  Are saying that the NS display will always be 1 degree less than the set point when the thermostat is running in one of its normal modes?  The problem is not specific to 76, rather the problem is the NS reporting 1 degree less whenever the thermostat is running in any mode.

Ah sorry. When I tried 77 or 75 manually all looked normal, but that was not using a schedule. What I will try today is changing a schedule to see what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JBanaszak]

So thanks @tmorse305 for the suggestion!  Here is what I did:

- Changed the daytime "comfort setting" to 70/74; all was well

- Change the comfort setting back to the original 71/76; the NS now displays correctly.  

For some reason it appears the NS was subtracting "1" from the comfort setting until I reset it.

@Jimbo, I downloaded the log package from the timeframe where I made the changes if helpful.  Let me know and I will send via PM.

Thanks all for the help!

 

[larryllix]

20 minutes ago, JBanaszak said:

So thanks @tmorse305 for the suggestion!  Here is what I did:

- Changed the daytime "comfort setting" to 70/74; all was well

- Change the comfort setting back to the original 71/76; the NS now displays correctly.  

For some reason it appears the NS was subtracting "1" from the comfort setting until I reset it.

@Jimbo, I downloaded the log package from the timeframe where I made the changes if helpful.  Let me know and I will send via PM.

Thanks all for the help!

+1

[Jimbo.Automates]

I don't think you can set the temperature with any more precision than whole numbers so it seems like the 3rd digit will always be 0.  @JBanaszak is it just a coincidence that the problem value of 76 also happens to be the set point of your  Home Mode?  If you change the Home Mode set point to 77 does the problem shift to 77?

In C mode they can be set with more precision, I was saying you can look at the log and see what ecobee is telling me the setpoint...

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Jimbo.Automates]

So thanks @tmorse305 for the suggestion!  Here is what I did:
- Changed the daytime "comfort setting" to 70/74; all was well
- Change the comfort setting back to the original 71/76; the NS now displays correctly.  
For some reason it appears the NS was subtracting "1" from the comfort setting until I reset it.
@Jimbo, I downloaded the log package from the timeframe where I made the changes if helpful.  Let me know and I will send via PM.
Thanks all for the help!
 

Yes, send me the log package and I'll look at it when I get some free time.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[JBanaszak]

17 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Yes, send me the log package and I'll look at it when I get some free time.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 

Done.  Thank you!

[Jimbo.Automates]

If anyone else sees a similar issue, select the controller and put log level in Debug mode, then change the set point and send me the download log package.  I reviewed @JBanaszak log but it was in Info mode so I can see what Ecobee is saying...

 

[alambertus]

I actually have this same issue, with a few twists. 

Today I noticed when I turned on my heat (set at 70), it showed up in my ISY as 69. When my system sent a command (Fan Mode to On, Hold Next), it also set the heat setpoint on the Ecobee to 69 degrees, with a Hold Indefinite. If we're looking at a C conversion, 21 C is 69.8 F

Also, I can't see or access any of the drop down menus on the Ecobee - Thermostat page on my laptop, but from what I read elsewhere on the forum that's not a high priority fix as they are transitioning away from Java.