Great summary, thanks. I'm not familiar at all w/the brand, I'll take a look at it.
Yes, you an do all that. All local
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 
)
1 Like
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.
2 Likes
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.
1 Like
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.
1 Like
Thanks for the additional info.
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.
4 Likes
We can but dream...
1 Like
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.
1 Like
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...
2 Likes
Thermostats are engineered and designed to run an HVAC system, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There is a lot more to a thermostat than simple on/off control. There are PID Control loops running, multistage heating and cooling, safeguard logic to prevent equipment damage, fan control, auxiliary and emergency heating, etc...
I would never trust a home automation hub to control my HVAC. I’d use it to set a target temperature based on whatever logic one desires, but I’d always let a thermostat handle the actual control.
6 Likes
We are talking residential here. Many hvac units are very simple on/ off. Multistage = two sage, some units require one more wire attached and easily controlled as is a reversing valve for a heat pump. If you have a Goodman or Amana, their to stage is controlled by the condenser and is operated by a straight cool or heat call, a algorithm takes care of the second stage by the parameter you program into the unit during setup and has nothing to do with the thermostat at all. Using a relay setup you will in fact have much more control of pre and post fan operation and be able to do things such as run the fan for 30 minutes after a compressor call is complete to dry the evaporator coil. Also using this setup would enable more control off the two stages for dehumidification and also control of emergency heat. Thermostats are mostly stupid devices and if you dive into a HVAC forum you will see that ALL techs jump at the chance to throw Nest thermostats in the trash.
My Trane is an older (regular ZWave with Beaming, 40kbit) that I used prior to the Nest (gen1) stuff. It works fine, has local schedule, etc.
I currently have the local schedule disabled, and I’m trialing hubitat’s Thermostat Scheduler. There are a few kinks to get ironed out there, but it generally works fine.
It’s very vanilla looking, details are in the post, incl a picture :
I forgot to ask you back when we were talking, does the Trane allow you to feed it an external temperature? I.e., create a virtual temp sensor that is an average of a bunch of sensors in my home, and feed that temp to the trane and it uses that rather than its internal temp sensor to manage HVAC?
The units I’m using are fairly basic and don’t support remote temperature sensors. I’m using the HE Thermostst Scheduler app to control them, and it doesn’t look like it (currently) has that functionality either.
Thanks, yeah. That app does not have the ability to take an external temperature. Thanks for your feedback.
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
