How to best use Climate Module to control HVAC?

[mitch236]

I live in S. Florida which is normally quite warm. The past week though, and the temps have dropped into the 40's and I've had to consider heating in my HVAC programming. I wrote a new program to control my HVAC and tied the If statement to the Climate Module. However, because the Module polls every minute, I've created a massive amount of network traffic as my program updates the Venstar T-stats every minute (I have four).

 

Here's a copy of one of the HVAC programs. For now, I've changed the polling interval to 900 seconds to lessen the traffic but I'm sure there is a better solution as the one I'm using doesn't allow for local changes to the T-stat as the ISY will reset it back to program settings once the Climate Module polls and runs the program.

 

The Heater On program: (I had to replace the "less than" sign with the wording as it doesn't post correctly otherwise)

 

If

From 7:30:00PM

To 8:00:00AM (next day)

And Module 'Climate' Temperature (less than) 60 °F

 

Then

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Mode Auto

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Fan Auto

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 76° (Heat Setpoint)

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 82° (Cool Setpoint)

 

Else

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 80° (Cool Setpoint)

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 40° (Heat Setpoint)

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Fan Auto

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Mode Auto

 

 

 

 

The A/C On program:

 

If

From 7:30:00PM

To 8:00:00AM (next day)

And Module 'Climate' Temperature >= 60 °F

 

Then

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Mode Auto

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Fan Auto

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 60° (Heat Setpoint)

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 77° (Cool Setpoint)

 

Else

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 80° (Cool Setpoint)

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' 40° (Heat Setpoint)

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Fan Auto

Wait 5 seconds

Set 'Indoor / Thermostats / Master Suite / HVAC Master Suite' Mode Auto

 

 

[mitch236]

I realized one problem. I removed the Else statement from both programs. That was duplicative. So please ignore the Else statemtents in the above programs!

 

Thanks!

[Sub-Routine]

Hi mitch236,

 

This is similar to this Wiki article: ISY-99i_Series_INSTEON:Light_Data_Program in that you only want to change the settings once for each transition. This will also allow you to make local changes that won't be changed by the ISY until the temperature crosses the threshold again. Adding a 10 minute Wait keeps the settings from cycling too often.

 

You can create scenes for the thermostats rather than making specific settings in your programs. For example you can create a Cold scene and a Warm scene, each of which contains the setpoints, fan state, and thermostat modes.

 

Wait to Change Thermos

If
  - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition')

Then
       Wait  10 minutes 
       Set Scene 'Thermostat Warm' On

Else
       Wait  10 minutes 
       Set Scene 'Thermostat Cold' On

 

Create a new folder with the time constraints.

Folder Conditions for 'Night Time'
Add conditions to limit when programs in this folder are allowed to run.



If
       From     7:30:00PM
       To       8:00:00AM (next day)

Then
  Allow the programs in this folder to run.

 

And within this folder are two programs.

Cold

If
       Module 'Climate' Temperature < 60 °F
   And Program 'Wait to Change Thermos' is True

Then
       Run Program 'Wait to Change Thermos' (Else Path)

Else
  - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

Warm

If
       Module 'Climate' Temperature >= 60 °F
   And Program 'Wait to Change Thermos' is False

Then
       Run Program 'Wait to Change Thermos' (Then Path)

Else
  - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

Rand

[mitch236]

Awesome! Thanks so much!