Keen Smart Vents

JasonJoel · October 12, 2020, 4:40pm

Same here. If I decide I need more control, it will be via positional duct damper controllers.

aaiyar · October 12, 2020, 4:43pm

I'm planning on a remodel in a couple years - this is definitely on the cards!

parish99 · October 13, 2020, 5:11am

Most of mine have been going strong for quite some time, almost all of them are hardwired though, and the couple I have left that I haven't converted yet have been lasting well over six months or better on the stock driver and batteries. For me, it was way cheaper to spend the money on the Keens vs separate dampers for everything. I use a custom code for the vent control and I am probably adjusting the vents at a much higher frequency than the Keenlight code and the battery ones still seem to last quite a while.

kahn-hubitat · October 13, 2020, 5:13am

are u successfully reading the vent temp and pressure

parish99 · October 13, 2020, 5:15am

I was using a different driver on one of the vents to read them, but the readings seemed pretty useless. Right now all (16) but one vent is on the stock HE driver

kahn-hubitat · October 14, 2020, 3:54am

OK I figured it out and fixed it in hubitat.. here is my new driver which shows correct temp and pressure.

// lgk 10/20 had to modify by calling this function to get the corrected description map in Hubitat.. This was not necesary in Smartthings so something is different in the underlying achitecture.
// zigbee.parseDescriptionAsMap(description)

this wes necessary even before reversing the bytes.

the results were as follows (example first is pressure, second is temp)

new map = [raw:5D760104030C200022E93E0F, dni:5D76, endpoint:01, cluster:0403, size:0C, attrId:0020, encoding:22, command:0A, value:0F3EE9, clusterInt:1027, attrInt:32]
orig map = [raw:5D760104030C200022E93E0F, dni:5D76, endpoint:01, cluster:0403, size:0C, attrId:0020, encoding:22, command:0A, value:E93E0F]

Corrected map = [raw:5D760104020C000029AD08, dni:5D76, endpoint:01, cluster:0402, size:0C, attrId:0000, encoding:29, command:01, value:08AD, clusterInt:1026, attrInt:0]
orig map = [raw:5D760104020C000029AD08, dni:5D76, endpoint:01, cluster:0402, size:0C, attrId:0000, encoding:29, command:01, value:AD08]
mple, first is pressure second is temp)

Anyway here is the github
make sure to hit configure after changing drivers..

github.com

lgkahn/hubitat/blob/master/keenventlgk.groovy

metadata {
    definition (name: "Keen Home Smart Vent - lgk V2", namespace: "lgkapps", author: "Keen Home, lgkahn") {
        capability "Switch Level"
        capability "Switch"
        capability "Configuration"
        capability "Refresh"
        capability "Sensor"
        capability "Temperature Measurement"
        capability "Battery"

       // lgk modifications to add door and contact control, so you can open/close in alexa and view status as open/closed in contacts
       // also add label/words open closed when viewing from list of devices in room
       // lgk 10/20 had to modify by calling this function to get the corrected description map in Hubitat.. This was not necesary in Snmarthings so something is different in the underlying achitecture.
       // zigbee.parseDescriptionAsMap(description) 
        
		capability "Door Control"
        capability "Contact Sensor"

        command "getLevel"
        command "getOnOff"

This file has been truncated. show original

stevenascott · October 19, 2020, 2:19am

Running your previous version of the driver, and I noticed that it always reports that it opened/closed regardless of it actually opening/closing. I didn't realize this and it made my test run worthless, haha. I take it there's no confirmation built into your driver at all? I was able to go back through the logs and see the last crazy temperature reading and my batteries lasted from 9/29 to 10/11. I think that's actually worse than the stock driver.

kahn-hubitat · October 19, 2020, 3:54am

The new.one has fixed for temps and open close always works mow. Why are you running old version.

ksummers · October 19, 2020, 6:13pm

Hi everyone,

We recently installed a new furnace and A/C system. 2-stage high efficiency heating and cooling. To make the most of the investment I decided to see what I could do about evening out the temperatures throughout the house. Generally in the summer the finished basement (family room, one bedroom, one bathroom) is freezing, even with the vents closed, while the upstairs at the end of the main duct run takes a while to cool down. In the winter the basement becomes an oven and the far bedrooms are freezing.

I've been trying my best over the last 10 days to get Flair vents and Ecobee working with SmartThings and automating it with WebCoRE. While for the most part it works, the delays between the command being issued, the Flair vent opening or closing, and the values being updated in SmartThings for WebCoRE to detect a change are unacceptable. 5 to 10 minutes is to long to get the updated status of the vents at the end of the house so I can make sure the duct booster fan is switched off if the vents are closed.

I've decided to send all of the Flair stuff, and the SmartThings hub back.

Thus the search began for an off-line locally processed system. So here I am.

After doing some research I've ordered,

A Hubitat
Keen vents
Aqara Temperature sensors (which look a LOT like the Keen sensors, but $10 less)
Zen Thermostat
Centralite Smart Outlet (to control the duct booster fan)

None of the above are dependent on having an internet connection.

I'll be using whatever drivers give me direct control to read the temp sensors, control the mode and setpoint of the thermostat, open/close the vents and turn on/off the booster fan. I'll be crafting the automation myself to run on the Hubitat.

Am I headed the right direction here, or am I chasing rainbows?

reid.a.baldwin · October 19, 2020, 6:44pm

It sounds like the basement is getting too much airflow all year. You may not need to be able to dynamically adjust vents to solve this problem. Manual dampers that restrict the flow to the basement registers should be your first step.

aaiyar · October 19, 2020, 6:45pm

If you are planning on powering these using batteries, be aware that multiple individuals have observed them to have ridiculously short battery life (like ~2 weeks). It would be prudent to hardwire 3V DC power to them.

Must say from a HVAC reliability perspective, I would rather have motorized dampers.

ksummers · October 19, 2020, 8:49pm

Dampers wouldn't help the basement, or any other part of the house really as the main duct runs in a straight line the length of the house and goes directly through there. The vents in the basement are straight off of that main duct. There are a couple of spots where I suspect there are duct leaks, and one spot that I know there is a "mess" with probably a lot of leaks. Previous contractors that did the addition to the house apparently didn't want to, or couldn't find an adapter to go from 8" square vent to 8" round vent, so they attempted to make one out of 1/4" plywood. Gonna have to rip that out and do it properly for sure.

My plan is to close the basement vents when heating/cooling, and let the upstairs get close to temp, then turn off the heating/cooling and run the duct booster fan pulling that extra heat/cool up into the bedrooms. After fixing the known leaks I suspect this will work better, but at the moment it does fine with the Flair system if I do it all manually. The automation script worked as expected, but the lag times for web services was just to high.

reid.a.baldwin · October 20, 2020, 12:22pm

If you have bad leaks from your ducts into your basement, I don't see how anything you do with controllable vents would help that. A duct booster downstream of the leak might make it a little less bad by slightly decreasing the pressure in the duct near the leak. Fix the leaks first. Then, see how the system performs and whether additional tuning is needed.

ksummers · October 20, 2020, 4:12pm

The vents and booster fan will help until I can get to patching the leaks.
Right now the space is occupied, so I have to coordinate with them a good time to move all of their stuff out of the area where I have to tear into the drywall.
Getting those closed up is going to be the next step.

ksummers · November 28, 2020, 2:00am

I ended up returning all of the Flair vents and Pucks and got Keen Vents and Samsung Door Sensors (they report temperature).

The Flair system was flaky. I kept losing connection with some of the vents, even with a Gateway Puck at each end of the house, and it really started to bother me that if I lost internet then all the Flair vents would just open and stay that way, with no way to manually close any of them.

The Keen vents have been solid from day 1. They connected right up to HE and KeenectLight is working great.

danabw · November 28, 2020, 2:16am

Thanks for the update. I'll have to be making a decision about vents in a few months, very helpful.

Is this a router you use for your network, or ? How is it related to the Keen Vents? I thought that you said it connected up to HE - are you controlling them w/HE or w/"KeenectLight" or both?

ksummers · November 28, 2020, 2:26am

Sorry, it's KeenectLite...

[Keenect Lite (Release)]

A Hubitat App for controlling the Keen Vents using your own temperature sensors.
Plus, now that the latest HE update has Thermostat Controller it all works even better.

danabw · November 28, 2020, 2:31am

LOL, OK, thanks for straightening me out.

Now I expect you to report back weekly on your status, OK?

ksummers · November 28, 2020, 2:36am

You would think in the middle of a shutdown during this pandemic that I'd have more time on my hands, but I've been crazy busy with getting a new HVAC system installed, new Solar panel system installed, trial and error for the last few months with Home Automation hubs, sensors, vents, switches, light bulbs, etc...

but, I'll see what I can do about that weekly report..

kahn-hubitat · November 28, 2020, 3:10am

i have my own driver for the keen vent where i got the built presure and temp sensors working and reporting.. it is on hubitat package manager if you search