I'm thinking about moving from Nest to some other thermostat - goal is to have some integration w/HE so that I can get temps and activty of the thermostat, and turn it off or up or down based on triggers.
Given the lack of connectivity for Nest in both ST and in HE (due to Google/Nest, not ST or HE), I'm starting to explore options. Our household is Google-centric, doesn't use Alexa. (I'm only allowed to have one evil empire spying on us at a time.)
Wondering what others have chosen or learned if they have recently looked at smart thermostats. Of if you're sticking w/Nest and why.
I am staying with Nest just because I don't want to put out the money for different one. It is just the wife and I so the schedule works ok for us. I don't really need to automate it. If I did the wife wouldn't like it anyway.
I just have a Trane Zwave unit, that’s been installed for about 9years. It ran on Vera before HE. I’ve got about 8 rules for each mode ( winter / summer ). I have a temp sensor near the gas fireplace and one at the wood stove. If temp goes up ( due to them being on and mode is winter ) then the fan goes from auto to on. If smoke alarms go off, furnace / ac shut down. We leave the rules running regardless of if we are home, out or vacation as we have lots of granite / concrete / tile mass that absorbs heat and it’s not beneficial to let the temperature go way (up or down ) and then try and heat / recool that mass. So we make it a few degrees cooler to sleep summer and let it drop some degrees cooler in winter to sleep. Otherwise daytime it’s 74 summer ( 40% humidity / 72 winter 55% humidity. With a stepped ramp up winter and a different time routine for weekends. I use some no name zwave tnermostat for the garage. That just stays about 60 in winter and 76 in summer. I was thinking of adding some rules like if winter - garage door closed and motion after 10 min up the temp, but it’s usually too hot at 60 once you start doing anything unless it’s a late night project.
Not too exciting.
Any problems w/it, I did read about some unhappiness w/the stability of their cloud services...is everything you do w/Ecobee cloud base, or some local, some not?
I've used it for a year now and never had a problem with the integration. The thermostat is using the cloud for it's app, weather and stuff but everything else is local.
I lost the cloud connection once in june this year for about 2 hours but the only thing that was down was the weather on the thermostat itself (I don't use the thermostat's weather) I use another third party app for Canada for my weather + a local sensor outside my house in case I loose the internet. Weather OWM-EC Canada is the name of the weather driver in case you need it but it's only for Canada.
I'm not sure why others are unhappy. I can tell you that the developer of Ecobee Suite is VERY active and always putting up updates and more features.
With Ecobee? I don't think so... Unless one is communicating to the Ecobee thermostats via Apple HomeKit, all other communications is via the cloud, as far as I know. I used Apple HomeKit to control my thermostats while our internet was out on Tuesday due to Hurrican Isaias. HomeKit devices work locally, which is pretty nice.
I have two Ecobee 3 Thermostats that I installed to replace two Nest thermostats, one which had failed. I am using Hubitat's built-in Ecobee inetgration, which is definitely cloud based. I do not believe Ecboee has a local API, so I am assuming the community Ecobee Suite is also using the Ecobee cloud (although I would be very happy to be wrong about this )
I use the Ecobee Suite with HE as well and I am pretty happy with it. I originally used the same suite in ST and moved over to HE. I have had my Ecobee for over a year now. I switched form a Nest for the same reasons. I gave the Nest to my parents who are pretty happy with it..
In both ST and HE I setup a basic schedule through the Ecobee app but with HE I can change it as needed using RM. I can override the Ecobee schedule set points based on mode.
I also monitor my pantry temp which is a room that is kept closed off and stays much cooler than the rest of the house. If we are away for long periods and the temp goes above a certain level it will kick the AC back on and cool the pantry back off.
So basically you can change the schedule set points, fan control just about anything the thermostat can do through HE. It's not local, however, and if you lose internet you lose that functionality. At that point it's a dumb thermostat. If you want true local control then probably a cheap Z-wave thermostat like a CT100.
I assume you use the do you use the Generic Zwave Thermostat driver w/the Trane thermostat. @guessed posted about using it recently as well. @guessed, do you have any comments on how the Trane has worked for you. And @ourmessages & @guessed, can you tell me which model Trane thermostats you have?
Thanks...I'm looking for local control but sometimes I don't know why I'm so concerned about that (from a reliabilty perspective anyway, forgetting privacy). In the past five or ten years I can remember one time we've lost internet.
The Ecobee ease of use from the wall unit, support for remote multiple sensors, and the features of the community integration are attractive.
Forgot to mention, this decision is made more complicated as I have the legacy Nest integration in SmartThings, so I can currently manage the Nest in ST to do the key safety actions (turn off if smoke/fire, turn off if leak, etc.). One of my options is to just leave the Nest and my smoke alarms and AC leak sensor on ST, and not try to move that stuff over to HE. But then I can't integrate any of that stuff into HE. (HubConnect is a complete fail for me, tried w/lots of help and it just does not work for me for some reason.)
The Honeywell T6 Zwave model (Honeywell TH6320ZW2003 T6, not the Pro version which is Wi-Fi only) also looks like a very interesting option, and @bcopeland has written what looks like a very nice community integration for it. Looks like some have found it for $80 on eBay.
Trane TZEMT400. It’s been 100% reliable. Heats, cools. Generic driver. I’m not sure why people use smart thermostats with a HUB. I’ve always been a set and forget home automation person. I want the home to just operate. I don’t believe I’ve manually adjusted or changed a thermostat setting in 20 years. I have a door sensor on the back door and a rule if open for 10 min, turn of thermostat so that covers if we open the house up.
The Honeywell has actually taken a bit of a lead in the race due to my wife dubbing it the easiest to read/use interface on the thermostat, so it's got the highest initial WAF at the moment. My wife does not deal w/change easily, and she continually futzes w/the thermostat to make little adjustments no matter what I've done w/automations (or the objective measured temperature in the room!). So the interface at the thermostat has to be one she likes. If she wasn't so amazing in every other way...
She only wants a touchscreen interface, and the Honeywell is the one she likes the best so far. I've been showing her pics and discussing in advance so that I don't get surprised by a negative WAF star rating, which has happened w/other automation changes in the past. I need this to get a five star rating or it will be an ongoing support issue for me forever...
I gotcha. My wife could care less as long as her car is maintained and starts, her home office is kept updated, that I use a coaster and that I empty the dishwasher before she says “did you empty the dishwasher”. If I could manage a rule to handle that I could pretty much live in the garage and tinker.
I ended up ordering a Honeywell T6 Zwave. WAF was ragingly high, and I found one on eBay open box/new (supposedly) for $60 from a private seller so I picked it up.
bcopeland has a custom driver for it, high WAF, and it looks like it'll allow me to do everything I want. Thanks for the input here from everyone.
Although I have not done this myself..... yet..... it would be extremely simple to replace your thermostat with a zooz multi relay. Green wire energizes the fan, Yellow for cool and White for heat... depending on your system you may need to energize another wire as well. Then you can use any temperature reporting device and rule machine to do what you want. I am surprised many people have not done this yet...
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