Ecobee - Anyone actually using it?

And I've had the Keen servers die on me four times this past heating season, for several days each time,
No more.

The go control thermostat doesn’t appear to support humidity control.

Man, I’d like to move off this cloud solution too, but I need two main functions. One where I can heat based if remote temp readings, and secondly a way to control the humidity in the house....

Ecobee does the first and can do the latter based on the humidity sensor in the thermostat (but not remote sensors).
HE can easily do the second if more granular control is needed.
No cloud necessary for operation of either.

It doesn't.

I have 3 Ecobee thermostats (wall units, not room sensors) in my house. If 1 of the 3 goes to smart home/away I have the hub mirror that to the other 2. I'm planning to add something to compare the temperatures between the 3 bees and their room sensors, and if there's a large difference, run the fan on 1 or more thermostats to even things out without running the A/C, but I haven't started that one yet.

For those interested in exploring other neat things you can do with Ecobee and Hubitat, yesterday I released my full Ecobee Suite for Hubitat. It includes a Suite of helper apps that can handle mode/program changes, turning the HVAC on/off based on open/closed windows and doors, and even automated Thermal Comfort settings. You can even access pretty much ALL of the Ecobee settings programmatically (e.g. Rule Machine) for even more customization!

Previous versions were used by hundreds of SmartThings users, and the adoption rate is accelerating on Hubitat now that it is out of Beta.

Oh, and it's free.

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@storageanarchy can you help explain what Thermal Comfort does and perhaps some best practices in using it?

From the documentation (README.md): Google Search for Thermal Comfort

Said simply, the Thermal Comfort helper first guides you through the factors that will arrive at temperature setpoints that you think are comfortable RIGHT NOW (based on your current humidity and the settings you choose). Once you find settings that match your comfort given the selected conditions, you essentially "lock in" all the parameters except Current Relative Humidity. As RH changes, the Thermal Comfort Helper will re-calculate what should be "comfortable" at the current RH given the parameters you've chosen - and if necessary it will adjust the setpoint(s) of the current program/schedule/climate.

Play with it - when you go to set it up, you can play with all the parameters to see how they effect the target setpoint...

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@storageanarchy I'd rather understand in the case of the house temp than suffer through experimentation. :wink: When choosing an item in PMV in [X] mode - am I telling the system how I want to feel? For example, when Typing, with Typical Summer indoor clothing, I want to feel Cool?

If the settings "Typical Summer indoor clothing" and I want to feel "Cool" gives you an answer close to your current setpoints, and it feels good to you, then that's what you want.

I really can't explain it such that you have a simple answer - the whole idea is that there is a temperature given the current settings and humidity that feels good to you - and hopefully, once you choose the parameters, as the humidity changes, your setpoints will continue to feel good to you.

It's all so subjective that you really do have to experiment with it. Or ignore it altogether - nothing says that computers are really able to read your mind :wink:!!!

I accomplish something that pretty much does the same thing as this with 2 simple rules in rule machine and a virtual switch. One rule takes the humidity readings from 2 motion sensor values and when one goes above a set humidity value it triggers the virtual switch, and when the virtual switch is triggered and cues this rule to run

@storageanarchy I guess what I should be confirming is if my logic above was correct.

I'm pretty sure your rules will make a lot more adjustments than Thermal Comfort.

Basically, it appears that your rule says "As long as the humidity is higher than X when humidity changes, then set a temporary hold that reduces the target temp by -1°"

Seems like you could get to coolingSetpoint = 50°F pretty quickly on a humid day.

Here's the differences that I can see:

  • Yours does nothing in the winter, where higher humidity makes you feel warmer - Thermal Comfort works year round...
  • Thermal setpoint's algorithms won't blindly lower the coolingSetpoint lower and lower and lower - it usually takes maybe something like +/- 5°F before the setpoint changes +/- 1°
  • changing the program setpoint is persistent over days - your approach will restart the -1°F cycle every time the Thermostat changes programs
  • Thermal Comfort can change the setpoints for ALL your programs/climates/schedules persistently for each program...

That said, if you like yours, there's no requirement that you have to stop using it...I offer options, not rules!

NO, because if you read the rule it only adjust -1 degree for when the condition is true, and when the condition becomes false it adds +1 degree.....It's a conditions based rule not a trigger rule

Same rule applies in heat or cool mode.

And neither will this as a true condition only adjusts 1 degree, and doesn't adjust any further no matter how long the condition remains true, it ONLY adjusts 1 degree BACK when becoming false.

No my approach is triggered by humidity readings at which the sensors configuration isn't set to even report unless there is a 5% change from the previous report.

Hey, if it works, enjoy it!

Yep, no daily hotfixes needed....it works

Yes - that's the idea. You find settings that arrive at a temperature you agree is "comfortable", and from there, the system tries to adjust to keep you comfortable as the humidity changes.

I wish that the other inputs (activity & clothing) were dynamic in some way, but for now you are stuck picking a set of preferences to go with. As this is brandy-new, maybe we'll think of something that allows the "profile" to change more dynamically.

Suggestions welcome...

Are the settings exposed in such a way that I could tell Google to flip a virtual switch to go from typing to sleeping?

Precisely. Check out the documentation on the Smart Mode/Switch/Program Helper on my Github.

I'd recommend using a different thermostat program for your normal daily activities (e.g. "Home") and another for when you're sleeping (e.g. "Night"). You can then set up different Thermal Comfort clothing/activities for each thermostat program. Then simply automate the changing of the programs, and the appropriate Thermal Comfort settings will be applied automagically.

Enjoy!

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How to I set Away mode and Home ?