jeffpdavis1 Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 I posted a topic back in October and November about needing a wireless basement temp sensor to work with a Venstar T1900 thermostat upstairs. viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7167 Putting in more wiring at this point would be hard. Anyway, there was some talk about UDI providing support for the Energy Display presenting the remote temperature to the ISY-99i. I've even seen some posts after that about that possibility again. Michel, I believe it was you who asked in another post if just providing the temperature would be enough. Yes it would. Has that been done yet? If not, I'm looking for an even kludgier way of dealing with the problem. I have the T1900 with the Insteon adapter (not integrated). I also have the Add-A-Wireless Thermostat T1119RF. They each work fine but not together. In the absence of the cleanest solution (Energy Display), I'm looking for a way to wire both dongles into some new RJ11 A/B switch that can be electronically controlled via some other Insteon device to pick which dongle is active. I would like to have my cake and eat it too. I know that there are A/B RJ11 switches with a manual switch, which would only replace the action of unplugging one dongle and plugging in the other. It just seems that there should be some electronic way to flip all 4 pins on the RJ11 input of the T1900 from one dongle to the other dongle and have that be controlled through Insteon and the ISY-99i. I know, it's a really roundabout way of getting a wireless temperature sensor integrated into the Insteon ISY-99i systems. I'm sure open to other approaches.
Teken Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 To clarify: You would like to be able to view the separate temperatures via the Energy Display? Teken . . .
jeffpdavis1 Posted January 27, 2012 Author Posted January 27, 2012 No, I would like to know what the temperature is in the basement on the Energy Display so that I could use the ISY to set a new setpoint on the ONLY house thermostat to heat the basement up more than it usually would be. I know that it would make the temperature on the main level warmer than I wanted but I can live with that. I was just reading about this Venstar ACC0414RF(#30408) and ACC0414REC(#30422) combination for reading and reacting to external temperatures. Apparently, one could have up to 8 of the transmitters that get averaged by the T1900. For some reason, when I was researching this months ago, I wrote down next to these that they would not work w/T1900 but now I can't figure out why I did that. Do you have knowledge of this option?
Teken Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 No, I would like to know what the temperature is in the basement on the Energy Display so that I could use the ISY to set a new setpoint on the ONLY house thermostat to heat the basement up more than it usually would be. I know that it would make the temperature on the main level warmer than I wanted but I can live with that. I was just reading about this Venstar ACC0414RF(#30408) and ACC0414REC(#30422) combination for reading and reacting to external temperatures. Apparently, one could have up to 8 of the transmitters that get averaged by the T1900. For some reason, when I was researching this months ago, I wrote down next to these that they would not work w/T1900 but now I can't figure out why I did that. Do you have knowledge of this option? Sorry for late reply as I did not subscribe to this thread correctly. As far as I am aware you can not use those external sensors with the ISY. Meaning, the ISY will have no interaction with those external sensors. Having said this I would be curious to see what would happen to the TSTAT, while it was connected to the ISY. As far as I am aware nobody has ever gone this route to find out what type of results would come out of this set up. If you decide to pursue this avenue please do keep us all informed as to the outcome and how it interacts with the ISY platform. Teken . . .
jeffpdavis1 Posted February 4, 2012 Author Posted February 4, 2012 No problem. I did go this route with one receiver and one sensor. You're right that it doesn't directly interact with the ISY ( I didn't expect it to though). BUT it does go a long way toward solving my problem. I wanted some way to have the TSTAT react to another WIRELESS sensor (or set of them) somewhere else in the house, WITHOUT losing the TSTAT's Insteon connection to the ISY. Formerly I had resigned to using the Venstar Add-A-Wireless Thermostat (T1119RF) option to the T-1900. This HAD to use the RJ-11 dongle connector thus disallowing the Insteon dongle from using it on the bottom of the TSTAT and my ability to control it from anywhere. Soooo... I set up the House Code on the wireless receiver with the jumpers to be HC1 and hooked up the 3 wires onto the TSTAT according to the directions. I set up the sensor to be on the same HC1 and the unit number to be ID1 (could have been anything from 0 to 7). I then pressed the button on the sensor to (I think) force a send of the temperature. An LED on the receiver lit up indicating that it had received it. I then pushed the receiver inside the wall. I placed the sensor in a much colder part of the house. I tried pressing the buttons on the TSTAT to get it to at least display the temp of the sensor, but only dashes. I moved it closer to the receiver and tried it again and it displayed the temp. I don't know why it didn't work the first time...maybe distance Still, that's only part of it. I went into the TSTAT settings #38 and #39 and changed them. #38 was changed to NO to control to remote sensor. That is the key. When I exited the setup, the temp changed from what it was internally at the TSTAT to what it was at the remote sensor. This means that the TSTAT will ignore its internal sensor and use the remote one instead. The one it's displaying on the front is the one that the ISY sees and responds to. So I inserted the Insteon dongle into the bottom of the TSTAT again. It lit up and seemed like it could co-exist with the other receiver inside the wall now. I went to the admin page of the ISY and IT WORKED! It was displaying the temp of the remote sensor. A change in the setpoint now was compared to the remote sensor (wherever it was). If more remote sensors are set up on the same House Code (HC1 in my case) and with different Unit IDs, the receiver inside the wall behind the TSTAT will average all the temps before sending it to the TSTAT as one number. Not ideal, but ok. Setup option #39 on the TSTAT makes the TSTAT average whatever temp the receiver reports from its (up to remote sensor(s) with the TSTAT's internal sensor and that is the number that is displayed and reported to the ISY. Another option that may have some utility. This is not the optimal interaction with the ISY but for me it's sufficient. It would be best if the ISY could receive both the internal TSTAT sensor and the (average of the) remote sensor(s) so that I could decide what to do on the ISY platform, but this works. I may get one or two other remote sensors and stick them strategically around the house but I may be at a point of diminishing returns with the resulting averaging. More thought needed on that one. One other note: I thought it may be a long shot in trying to integrate the Add-A-Wireless thermostat I already bought earlier with the new receiver setup. I tried setting the T1119RF to the same House Code and gave it a different Unit Code. But no joy, it either was on a different frequency or was doing much more (it was) than just sending its temperature. The receiver may not have known what to do with it. It was a long shot. The good part is that I have my Insteon adapter communicating with ISY and thus my Iphone AND I can sense and react to temperatures elsewhere in the house from anywhere in the world, at least to a degree. Ha. Jeff
Teken Posted February 4, 2012 Posted February 4, 2012 No problem. I did go this route with one receiver and one sensor. You're right that it doesn't directly interact with the ISY ( I didn't expect it to though). BUT it does go a long way toward solving my problem. I wanted some way to have the TSTAT react to another WIRELESS sensor (or set of them) somewhere else in the house, WITHOUT losing the TSTAT's Insteon connection to the ISY. Formerly I had resigned to using the Venstar Add-A-Wireless Thermostat (T1119RF) option to the T-1900. This HAD to use the RJ-11 dongle connector thus disallowing the Insteon dongle from using it on the bottom of the TSTAT and my ability to control it from anywhere. Soooo... I set up the House Code on the wireless receiver with the jumpers to be HC1 and hooked up the 3 wires onto the TSTAT according to the directions. I set up the sensor to be on the same HC1 and the unit number to be ID1 (could have been anything from 0 to 7). I then pressed the button on the sensor to (I think) force a send of the temperature. An LED on the receiver lit up indicating that it had received it. I then pushed the receiver inside the wall. I placed the sensor in a much colder part of the house. I tried pressing the buttons on the TSTAT to get it to at least display the temp of the sensor, but only dashes. I moved it closer to the receiver and tried it again and it displayed the temp. I don't know why it didn't work the first time...maybe distance Still, that's only part of it. I went into the TSTAT settings #38 and #39 and changed them. #38 was changed to NO to control to remote sensor. That is the key. When I exited the setup, the temp changed from what it was internally at the TSTAT to what it was at the remote sensor. This means that the TSTAT will ignore its internal sensor and use the remote one instead. The one it's displaying on the front is the one that the ISY sees and responds to. So I inserted the Insteon dongle into the bottom of the TSTAT again. It lit up and seemed like it could co-exist with the other receiver inside the wall now. I went to the admin page of the ISY and IT WORKED! It was displaying the temp of the remote sensor. A change in the setpoint now was compared to the remote sensor (wherever it was). If more remote sensors are set up on the same House Code (HC1 in my case) and with different Unit IDs, the receiver inside the wall behind the TSTAT will average all the temps before sending it to the TSTAT as one number. Not ideal, but ok. Setup option #39 on the TSTAT makes the TSTAT average whatever temp the receiver reports from its (up to remote sensor(s) with the TSTAT's internal sensor and that is the number that is displayed and reported to the ISY. Another option that may have some utility. This is not the optimal interaction with the ISY but for me it's sufficient. It would be best if the ISY could receive both the internal TSTAT sensor and the (average of the) remote sensor(s) so that I could decide what to do on the ISY platform, but this works. I may get one or two other remote sensors and stick them strategically around the house but I may be at a point of diminishing returns with the resulting averaging. More thought needed on that one. One other note: I thought it may be a long shot in trying to integrate the Add-A-Wireless thermostat I already bought earlier with the new receiver setup. I tried setting the T1119RF to the same House Code and gave it a different Unit Code. But no joy, it either was on a different frequency or was doing much more (it was) than just sending its temperature. The receiver may not have known what to do with it. It was a long shot. The good part is that I have my Insteon adapter communicating with ISY and thus my Iphone AND I can sense and react to temperatures elsewhere in the house from anywhere in the world, at least to a degree. Ha. Jeff Jeff, That is simply outstanding to say the least! I went the other direction as you, and invested in five Venstar 1800 thermostats along with the humidity sensors. Right now I am just playing around with programs to see if my logic is sound and IF it will do as I expect in the near future. I currently have one in the basement, living room, master bedroom, and hall way. The intent for me is to reduce my energy costs to the bare minimum. All the while taking advantage of all the wasted heat in the ceiling areas. My goal is to locate all the remote TSTAT's high up in the ceiling to read the actual temperatures up there. If a threshold is met (depends on winter / summer) the ceiling fans will turn on (forward / reverse) to move the air up or down to best utilize all that wasted hot / cool ambient air. The bigger picture is to have the whole HA be self aware and to react to the immediate temperature, light, energy, status of each device. It will then place the home in several states to ensure minimal power, while balancing heat, electrical needs for the home and family. I am currently on phase two of the goal and hope to be at phase six in the next 5 years. Thank you for your follow up and feed back. Please do keep us all updated with the end results of the other remote sensors etc. Teken . . .
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