Set Variable Based on Thermostat Temp, Cool & Heat Setpoints

[ISYhbsh01]

Hi,

 

Now that the Insteon wireless thermostat #2441ZTH is supported in the current beta, it opens up a lot of possibilities. I for one am planning to get one in every room in the house & design programs to have them control my Venstar thermostats which are actually hooked up to & controlling my HVAC system. There have been some discussions on this forum of some people who used some extra Venstars hooked up to a 24 VAC transformer to do this. But they are much more expensive compared to the 2441ZTH which is only $79.99, it includes a humidity sensor, and can run on batteries.

 

One example that would be very common is if I want to set the A/C should run according to the temperature in the master bedroom & not according to the temp in the hallway where the Venstar is located. As some helpful people discussed on this forum, the way to do this would be as follows: Lets say you want the cool setpoint to be 70 degrees (according to the MBR temp), you would do:

 

If MBR temp => 70

Turn Venstar cool on with a very low setpoint.

Else

Turn Venstar cool off (Or set cool setpoint at a very high number).

 

The above is a simple example. However, when you want to accomplish something more than just one setpoint setting of 70, you would need to start to use variables. So here is where the ISY can use a big improvement.

 

If it would have been currently possible to make the following 3 programs, life would have been great:

1) Variable 1=Tstat1 temp

2) Variable 2=Tstat1 cool setpoint

3) Variable 3=Tstat1 heat setpoint

 

If the above can be done in the ISY the possibilities would be endless & it would be a cakewalk to do anything with it. Unfortunately this is not possible today. So to use variables now, you would have to make a separate program to set a variable for each possible degree in your normal range. So for example my normal range would be between 67 to 82 degrees. This means that before I even make a single program to accomplish what I want to do, I would need to first have 45 (!) programs for each thermostat (!) to set the variables for the actual temp, cool setpoint, and heat setpoint.

 

So now that the #2441ZTH Is supported, are there any plans to implement this in the near future?

 

Thank you very much

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello hbsh01,

 

Yes, indeed planned.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[ISYhbsh01]

Thanks for quick reply.

 

Any estimated ETA? Do you think in the range of days, weeks, or months?

[C Martin]

hbsh01,

This was a good post.

I like what you want to do and I plan to try doing something similar.

[ISYhbsh01]

Thanks.

 

My post was based on ideas I got from others on this forum, so the credit is theirs.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi hbsh01,

 

Normally, I don't mind giving an ETA but it seems that most of our estimates, even though accurate, are completely dictated by external things of which we are not in control. A case in point is I2CS which basically put us back for about 5 months trying to address a variety of issues and anomalies.

 

I can tell you that it's planned for the release cycle following the end of the current INSTEON project.

 

I am so very sorry I cannot be more specific.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[ISYhbsh01]

I understand. Thanks Michel for everything.

[sorka]

Hmm, was this every supported? I need to get temperature readings, multiple temperature readings, into variables so I can do arbitrarily complex actions based on a variety of conditions. Being able to reading temperature from an insteon thermostat would save me having to add CAI webcontrol devices when I already want to have an Insteon thermostat.

[LeeG]

Variables do not yet support direct assignment of temperature.

[sorka]

Is there any way to get temperature into the ISY even if it means just passing it up to Homeseer?

[LeeG]

The ambient temperature being measured by the thermostat is available in the ISY. The specific temperature can be checked in the If section of an ISY Program. This value is available for an application to read if it chooses. Do not know what Homeseer does.