Keen Smart Vents

[napalmcsr]

Truthfully, I have had 2 outages on my any of my vents since I put them on Hubitat instead of the Keen hub. You might split your losses by just moving one vent to Hubitat to start and playing around.

[rwzehr]

Running the Keen vents from Hubitat has been solid for me. Attaching anything that used the Ecobee API was stunningly unreliable, due to ongoing frequent outages of the Ecobee servers.
I'll never buy an HVAC product again that requires an active Internet connection to continue running - thus the Flair vents are out for me.

[leo_charles]

Supposedly, Keen vents were designed with back-pressure from HVAC in mind as completely closing all vents can damage a system (estimates for longevity differ.) I’m not sure if these vents allow enough air through when they’re in a fully closed state to accommodate that or if there’s a pressure sensor within the vents themselves that self-regulate the system.

Does anyone know if directly connecting them to Hubitat takes that ‘back pressure’ into consideration?

As for smart vents/climate control in general, I was an early adopter so I went with the most widely supported systems (ecobee + keen + ecobee sensors.) We had a completely new HVAC system installed and mechanical zoning was quoted around $4k for just two separate zones (upstairs and downstairs.) we also have cathedral ceilings And skylights upstairs which throws the temperatures wildly around. For under $1,000, in theory we could’ve achieved room-by-room climate control at a fraction of the cost.

They haven’t always been perfect, but I do believe once we mostly dialed the vents in, we saved money (they paid for themselves) and have made the house more comfortable. It would be the best next step to disconnect them from the cloud if possible. It’s a poor implementation. I’m not quite sure why Keen ever had to communicate with Ecobee’s cloud.

[napalmcsr]

I have never seen the back pressure alarm. The app I use, lets me set a minimum opening, so I never fully close a vent to keep back pressure issues down. The Hubitat driver does not support some of the functionality in the vent because that functionality is either not stable, or mostly not usable.

[leo_charles]

@napalmcsr

The app I use, lets me set a minimum opening

That’s one smart way to go about this. The app you use? Which one is that? Also, are many of you Keen vent owners using the ‘level’ template for these tiles? Thanks for all the advice/input. Users here have been really helpful. I might just keep this hub around

[napalmcsr]

This is an app Mike originally made for smartthings that I refactored/forked for hubitat.

Keenect Lite (Release)

So I refactored the Keenect Code I have been using to simplify the code and the setup. I have removed a lot of the things I did not use, hence the Lite moniker. The code was reduced to about 25% of the Keenect I ported from ST. If you want to move to this and I removed a critical piece of functionality, let me know. Kudos to @mike.maxwell who created the original app. Parent: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/napalmcsr/Hubitat_Napalmcsr/master/Apps/KeenectLite/KeenectLiteMaster.src Child: …

[napalmcsr]

oh, and I think I used a dimmer tile, but I rarely change the level manually.

I also am like Wayne and left NEST for a zen thermostat, couldn't be happier.

[leo_charles]

As it is, I discovered that I have to pick up a Lutron Caseta Pro Bridge today (many of my lights are Lutron and I even have an old hub that’s either in a dump or a bucket somewhere) bringing my Hubitat expenditures to $170. Switching thermostats (as much as I hear you) might be the final straw that makes my wife go postal on me.

I’d love to be able to test Keenect without completely severing my existing Ecobee connection (Via Built-in ecobee integration?) in order to get the Keenect tiles installed and and an Ecobee sensor talking to a vent. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[waynespringer79]

@leo_charles

I’d love to be able to test Keenect without completely severing my existing Ecobee connection (Via Built-in ecobee integration

Keenect to my knowledge isn't in anyway related to Ecobee in any fashion, it's solely for the Keen Vents.

The native Ecobee integration is the only thing related to Ecobee, unless using a user created integration instead.

[leo_charles]

@waynespringer79

Keenect to my knowledge isn't in anyway related to Ecobee in any fashion, it's solely for the Keen Vents.

After copying the Keenect Lite code from Github and trying to install it as a user app, it’s asking for the Main Thermostat*. Since I don’t have the Ecobee integration installed presently or any other thermostats, Keenect Lite won’t allow me to proceed any further. So, you’re right that they’re not related but I need to somehow install a thermostat or sensor that acts like one for testing purposes. Suppose I just wait until the family isn’t around.

[waynespringer79]

@leo_charles

install a thermostat or sensor that acts like one for testing purposes.

The only way to do this using an ecobee, is by installing the native ecobee integration also, or the user created ecobee integration.

[napalmcsr]

you can cheat by adding a virtual thermostat and using that for the main thermostat. The only thing that Keenect cares about is the Main thermostat operating state.

[mike.maxwell]

@leo_charles

I’m not sure if these vents allow enough air through when they’re in a fully closed state to accommodate that

they do...

@leo_charles

if there’s a pressure sensor within the vents

there is, and it's worthless from any practical perspective, I don't care what anyone else including Keen says about this, it's the wrong type of sensor mounted in the wrong location to measure system back pressure, its that simple.

[leo_charles]

@mike.maxwell

there is, and it's worthless from any practical perspective

Just being on the forum for the day and noticing your posts, I’d believe your statement. Honestly, the way I look at it when I bought these is even if the vents shave off 6 months off of a blower motor, it’s not THAT big of a deal for making a home more comfortable. My house was so unbalanced before this system that it definitely has made a huge difference.

[mike.maxwell]

I have no beef with the vents proper, just the temp and pressure sensor.

[parish99]

This is directly from Keen's site referencing back pressure prevention.

"We then added another layer of safety by designing the vents with pressure bypass dampers that leak air when the pressure builds up so that even if the system is offline, pressure won't be a problem. The vents themselves are designed not to seal closed. The only thing we recommend against is trying to close off every vent in your home at the same time - even with manual vents."

Keenhome

[leo_charles]

@rwzehr

The Keen Hub, not connected to Ethernet, seems to work fine as a Zigbee repeater.
It is discoverable in HE, and does appear to work as a repeater without a connected Keen Hub.

Pardon my ignorance (I’m new here), but if it’s acting as a repeater, does this need to be added to HE or does it work just by being plugged in? If it needs to be added, then under what devices? I tried searching here but there’s almost too much to read forum-wise.

[waynespringer79]

The only way for something to act as a repeater is to be included into your existing mesh. However, the recommended use is to connect these vents directly to the hub, and not use the keen hub. The existing repeaters of your zigbee mesh will work.

[rwzehr]

And if you don't have any other repeaters, just plug in the Keen Hub. You'll find info about it on the Keen Vent web site.

[waynespringer79]

@rwzehr

And if you don't have any other repeaters

Just like any other zigbee devices, will probably not operate well within hubitat. Zigbee is designed to operate as a mesh network, and part of that mesh requires repeating devices.

Hubitat has drivers for the Keen vents to be paired directly to the hub. If you're going to use the Keen hub it's probably best not to pair the devices to hubitat and use the keen app to control them.