Looking for ecobee introductory/reference info

[photogeek54]

Just installed an ecobee premium and the ecobee plugin. I'm figuring out what all the settings and variables mean but I'm guessing there is some kind of reference material somewhere that would make my learning easier. For example:

How does the "Home/my ecobee" sensor work (the child of the main ecobee in admin console)? It shows a temperature that is higher than what shows on the thermostat display or the 2 remote sensors. Which sensor is it using to actually decide when to activate the furnace (I have all 3 enabled in the "home" comfort setting ).

How long does it take for a sensor to see motion and decide the room is occupied, is it time in the room or does it need to see some minimum amount of motion? How does it decide when the room is unoccupied?

Is there a way to enable more advanced/HVACprofessional settings? I see lots of settings/values in the debug log that I cannot set in the ecobee ios app.

What causes the ecobee to go into these Eco+ states? Mine normally uses 0, 6 and 7 not 1.

EN_ECOHCS-0 = Idle
EN_ECOHCS-1 = Heat
EN_ECOHCS-6 = AuxHeat
EN_ECOHCS-7 = AuxHeat2
EN_ECOHCS-8 = AuxHeat3

 

[paulbates]

I've had an ecobee for year. I came from Venstar Colortouchs that had tons of settings and adjustments you can make. I also had a lot of iox programming to keep things adjusted.

The ecobee is the opposite of that... it takes care of just about everything on its own. You'll want to get used to letting it do its thing and also looking at the app for settings and features.

For the occupied sensors, they change to occupied immediately when something crosses their path. I use the remote sensor on our master bedroom to turn off the suite lights when not occupied.. its exactly 30 minutes to the second after the last motion sensed

The eco+ is an install time decision, or later with the app. You can look in the app, or here

The value I get from the plugin is some notifications for reporting, turning lights off when leaving an area also to activate the HVAC fan to follow up outdoor vent fan automation for our master bath and upstairs laundry.

Edit:

What causes the ecobee to go into these Eco+ states? Mine normally uses 0, 6 and 7 not 1.

EN_ECOHCS-0 = Idle
EN_ECOHCS-1 = Heat
EN_ECOHCS-6 = AuxHeat
EN_ECOHCS-7 = AuxHeat2
EN_ECOHCS-8 = AuxHeat3

I'm not sure this is right. Do you have a heat pump? Can indicate which wires from your system go to which wiring spot on the ecobee?

Edited December 28, 2024 by paulbates

[larryllix]

19 hours ago, photogeek54 said:

Just installed an ecobee premium and the ecobee plugin. I'm figuring out what all the settings and variables mean but I'm guessing there is some kind of reference material somewhere that would make my learning easier. For example:

How does the "Home/my ecobee" sensor work (the child of the main ecobee in admin console)? It shows a temperature that is higher than what shows on the thermostat display or the 2 remote sensors. Which sensor is it using to actually decide when to activate the furnace (I have all 3 enabled in the "home" comfort setting ).

How long does it take for a sensor to see motion and decide the room is occupied, is it time in the room or does it need to see some minimum amount of motion? How does it decide when the room is unoccupied?

Is there a way to enable more advanced/HVACprofessional settings? I see lots of settings/values in the debug log that I cannot set in the ecobee ios app.

What causes the ecobee to go into these Eco+ states? Mine normally uses 0, 6 and 7 not 1.

EN_ECOHCS-0 = Idle
EN_ECOHCS-1 = Heat
EN_ECOHCS-6 = AuxHeat
EN_ECOHCS-7 = AuxHeat2
EN_ECOHCS-8 = AuxHeat3

 

IIRC, those "climates" are spare climates/time segments for custom heat schedules that you can name in your schedule tables on the ecobee stat.
I have several custom named schedules like Afternoon, Evening, and Wee Hours, that show up as selectable in my ISY.  I might mention that these are safer to use than meddling with the setpoints. They can also eliminate the possibility of programs ramping setpoints to the top or to the bottom in the event of an ISY program logic runaway error.

Your stat will not show the actual temperature accurately. The displayed reading will be a result of all your remote sensor's average and possibly the result of a advanced setback or setup compensation. For accurate reading see the downloadable spreadsheet information available in the ecobee webpages. It gives 15 minute updates to every sensor including stat readings and averages to 0.1c resolution accuracies. Stat rounds off to 0.3c. This is why the ecobee stats are so accurate and can operate to such tiny differentials to eliminate heat waves better than most other brands.

[photogeek54]

I’d love to download a detailed spreadsheet, I’ve looked on their website but don’t see such a thing. Where do you find it?

[paulbates]

 

log in to your Ecobee account on the website, navigate to the "Home IQ" section, then select "System Monitor" where you can choose a date range and download your data as a CSV file; this will provide you with a detailed record of your temperature and humidity readings from your thermostat.

  

 

 

[photogeek54]

This is VERY helpful! The web site explains a lot.

I find that my 2 remote sensors disagree on temperature by .7 degrees F when put in the same place and the main thermostat sensor register 3.3 degree hotter than the remotes. The thermostat itself feels warm from the electronics which probably explains that difference.

Is there a way to calibrate the sensors or apply an offset to get them more accurate?

[larryllix]

10 hours ago, photogeek54 said:

This is VERY helpful! The web site explains a lot.

I find that my 2 remote sensors disagree on temperature by .7 degrees F when put in the same place and the main thermostat sensor register 3.3 degree hotter than the remotes. The thermostat itself feels warm from the electronics which probably explains that difference.

Is there a way to calibrate the sensors or apply an offset to get them more accurate?

You can calibrate the sensor on the main unit only.
I found sensors with varying distances to the wall makes a big difference. Don't place sensors above the stat electronics or you'll get about 3-4F higher readings.

Careful with the calibration and repeat after sitting for a few hours keeping in mind the math the stat does on the front face. Use the CSV file reports for more accuracy.

The sensors in the main stat are placed at the bottom to eliminate heat influences from the electronics. This is a big problem with many stats where WiFi is a big heat source. The user cannot compensate for it as the manufacturers would like you to believe. Trying to compensate makes the stat sensitive to draughts across the sensor and you will get heat waves from your HVAC system.

Yeah, I am very sensitive to 0.5c changes. That is why I am stuck on ecobee stats. I don't like the 3-5F temperature swings built into other brands.

Edited December 30, 2024 by larryllix

[photogeek54]

Thanks for the tip about settings only available on the thermostat. I hadn't found them. I've adjusted the temp there down by 1.5 degrees and is tracking well now.