Thanks for looking into this! Winter has indeed come where I am so I think I'm set for now on all heat all the time.
The version of the Smart Mode Helper that you provided I think would work great - except I don't think it's going to be wife approved because of the aggravation you mentioned. Thanks anyway!
I'm a new user of Hubitat, Ecobee, AND your Suite. I am having difficulty triggering a rule to run when my furnace starts. I'm trying to trigger the rule based on the "Custom Attribute" equipmentOperatingState changing. I can see the value change in the device settings, but the rule never runs. I've also tried the capability "Thermostat State" changed as well. I suspect I have created the trigger wrong, but I've done it multiple ways with no change. Any help is appreciated.
Side note: Even if/when I get this to work, I understand there may be a significant delay between the status change and the rule trigger (based on the polling interval, currently 3 minutes). If there is a method of speeding this up without polling the ecobee service every minute, I'd like to hear it.
I suggest reporting the first issue to Hubitat support - many of the HE principles run my Evobee Suite, so they should be able to help.
For the second point, there is no reason NOT to be running 1-minute polls. Ecobee Suite is optimized for this, without disturbing the Ecobee overhead limits.
Understood. Honestly, what I'm trying to accomplish is a humidity control nearly exactly like your humidity helper, but using a duct- mounted humidifier that is NOT connected to the Ecobee. I was hoping to turn a smart plug ON or OFF to enable or disable it. I don't suppose you have a way to control an external switch with your helper app? Sure would save me a lot of time!
On a side note, I've only brushed the surface of your app but the execution of what I have seen (humidity helper) seems far superior to ecobee's built in frost control. I'm glad someone has put the effort into making ecobee's hardware live up to its potential.
Why not just use a simple Rule Manager rule?
This update adds proper handling for heatPump-only systems without auxHeat so that "heat" mode is enabled.
It also adds handling for the new Eco+ touPreCool and touPreHeat system events (tou = Time Of Use).
Files changed:
These updates are recommended for relevant installations
That was and still is my plan, but it wasn't as simple as I first thought. First milestone was to get the WeatherMap API loaded and pulling a 3 day forecast and a build a related rule comparing the 3 forecasted low temperatures and assigning the lowest value to a variable. Then I set up some math to establish a relationship between the outdoor temp and the indoor humidity setpoint. I wasn't sure that the relationship would be linear, so I set things up to use a cubic polynomial. Probably not necessary, but I wanted to have the option to use it if needed. Rule machine doesn't have a native option for exponents in variable math, so I had to use a lot if intermediate variables to get to the end result. My next step was going to be making a bunch of observations of outdoor temp, indoor humidity, and whether or not there was condensation on my windows. I was planning to plot that data in excel and fit a curve to it in order to determine the constants for the temp-humidity relationship. Then just add an offset to easily shift the relationship up or down over the entire range. Final step would be to compare the actual vs. target humidity and turn the humidifier on or off as needed...and BAM!...Bob's your uncle, as they say. Just that easy! Or maybe I'm doing things the hard way...I dunno.
Since I've already got the math parts built, I may just dig into your app to approximate the same temp-humidity relationship you've implemented and start from there. That should still save me quite a bit of time.
Ok, so I understand now what you are up to.
I’ll have a look to see if I can extend what I’ve already done for your use case...
I think if you add "humidifying" as an operating state option in the Smart Switch/Dimmer/Fan Helper that would do it.
I have to thank you once again for all of your hard work on this and I think everyone else is on the same page here. Your app is simply awesome especially when paired with smart vents.
I have a feature request if you have the time: Seasonal Presets (Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall.) Perhaps this could be a wrapper around all of the the helpers. Maybe a little section within the Seasonal Presets where we can add notes to ourselves too.
I ask because each season I find myself having to adjust various settings (smart vents, temps, humidifier, and even dampers) and I’m always forgetting what I had settings set to from year to year. Thanks!
Question: I’m confused about the option under your Smart Vents:
“Always adjust vents/switches”
Ordinarily, is this something you want on or off?
The way I read/understand it (and I’m probably wrong) if this is “off” then the vents will use less battery and wear and tear and will only open or close and adjust if the Ecobee is currently running. Otherwise if it’s “on” then the vents are constantly adjusting even if your heating/ac system is not running. It seems like ‘on” would be pointless so why even bother having it?
If it does serve a purpose, then you might want to indicate a *default for this option.
If you have this set to "off", the vents will remain in the last state they were in, and won't be adjusted until the thermostat calls for heat/cool/fan only - actually, they won't be adjusted until the NEXT refresh cycle after the thermostat calls. This can be as little as a minute, or it can be quite a while longer (depending on your cycle time setting is ES Manager).
Always Adjust was added for a couple of reasons:
In practice, the vent really doesn't open/close that much more often, and in most cases it just does what it would have done when the HVAC started pushing air anyway.
YMMV, of course, but the option is there for a reason (was actually a request by another user).
The default is off, and the first time you go through setting up the Helper, you will see the feature is disabled. Turn it on if you want it, or leave it off. But annotating which is the "default" doesn't add much value IMHO.
Thanks for the clarification. I would have thought having it always adjusting would create more movement/battery drain depending on your home’s situation (drafts, sealing, locations, etc.) whereas only moving when called for would be less taxing albeit at less responsiveness. But, I see what you’re saying.
One other question: the vent state for “fan only.”
I have my system to run/circulate at least 15-minutes/hour in colder months for air filtration.
I’m thinking of running it more during colder months for more balance and even more filtration.
Does “fan only’ apply to my situation above and should I have it it set to “open” or “percentage” or does “unchanged” just mean that the vents were left in their previous states or do they change automatically depending on the room/zone temps that I indicate?
Personally, I create different instances of the Helpers as needed for each season, including the season in the name. Then I simply disable (Pause) the ones not intended for the current season, and enable the ones I want to be running now. While not as elegant as your suggestion, it does the job...
Thanks again Barry—hadn’t even considered this but will definitely use that suggestion.
One other question: the vent fan options listed defaults to “unchanged.” Does this mean that the vents simply respect the thermostat set temps (if used) and will still auto adjust accordingly?
“Unchanged” means exactly that: the vent position won’t be changed from whatever position they are in when the system changes to ‘fan only.’
Hi, not sure if this is the thread to ask this in, but I'm getting this error from HPM when trying to update the app:
**Error Occurred During Installation**
An error occurred while installing the package: Failed to upgrade app https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SANdood/Ecobee-Suite/master/smartapps/sandood/ecobee-suite-manager.src/ecobee-suite-manager.groovy.
Any ideas?
Here's what showed up in the logs:
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:23.957 pm infoFatal error occurred, rolling back
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:23.953 pm errorError upgrading app: groovyx.net.http.ResponseParseException: Server Error
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:23.859 pm infoUpgrading Ecobee Suite Manager
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:23.856 pm errorError retrieving app source: groovyx.net.http.ResponseParseException: Server Error
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:23.385 pm infoDownloading Ecobee Suite Thermostat
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:22.951 pm infoDownloading Ecobee Suite Manager
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:22.599 pm debugPerforming update
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:19.227 pm debugprefPkgVerifyUpdates
app:3282020-12-07 03:05:14.690 pm debugUpdates available
Looks like an issue with HPM and/or GitHub is returning an unexpected error.
You might reach out to the HPM author...
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