I ran both the Zen and Pearl on battery power for several months (as a dumb thermostat) and it reacted to commands immediately...that said, it was acting as a dry contact directly to the fireplace and not driving another switch, which I think is your use case.
Actually in my case I wouldn't have anything connected to it. I would just set the thermostat to heat mode and use RM to monitor for idle or heat mode. Then RM would send the command to the set the smart switch to on or off.
I may see if I can find one and try it. I would really only need it to last a few months anyway. We don't have very long winters here in the South. I would just use some command strips to stick it to the wall and pull it down once spring rolls around.
Ah...I understand...well...in order for RM to query it, it will need to stay on the Zigbee network, which I was unable to get it to do for longer than 3-4 hours.
That's the question, is it a mesh issue or is it because of being on battery power? Since you powered the Zen and it fell off as well it sounds like maybe a mesh issue?
Did you just keep re-pairing?
Both the Zen and the Pearl fell off even when powered with a 24V adapter. I tried every troubleshooting avenue that I could including a rule that issue a command every hour, setting up a secondary Zigbee mesh with a line of sight to the thermostat and every possible combination ended up failing. The only suggestion that I had that I did not try was to "add more devices" to build a stronger mesh, which felt pretty ambiguous to me.
Just used it as a dumb thermostat. I did notice that pulling the batteries out and putting them back in it would rejoin automatically.
I am now considering keeping my dumb thermostat for the esthetic and form factor but adding a relay between the wires from the thermstat and the TH terminals of fireplace. Since I am very new to relays and not 100% how they work, I assume this will give some smart control over when the circuit is closed (thermostat calling for heat) and the Millivolt valve gets the signal to open the gas, is that right? So if I leave my thermostat on accidentally overnight I can lower it using a temp sensor and the relay, yes?
I am accurate in assuming that if I turn the thermostat to off that the relay will not have any impact on the millivolt valve operation?
Also, since the relay and the USB cord will be underneath the appliance, are there any issues with heat? I do have a 120V outlet for the blower.
I just installed a Zen Zigbee thermostat about 10 days ago, no issue and it has been reliable. I do have the C-wire to power it. Prior I had a Vivint Element Z-wave thermostat, which kept dropping off the mesh until it was power cycled. Funny tho for 2 years prior it was fine, although that was on my C7 hub, and I've switched to a C8 pro
Now I am feeling envy...can you tell me how many Zigbee repeaters you have in your mesh? That is the only troubleshooting tip that I have not yet tried.
Umm you don't want to know. I have about 24, which is probably overkill. Get the zigbee map app by Dan Danache, it will show your connections and their quality. My Zen thermostat likes to connect through my Inovelli Blue Zigbee wall switch
Thanks...perhaps that is my issue then...I only have 3 (I have 5 other end devices). I do have the zigbee map app and even paired with the repeater that 1 metre away...and it still dropped.
I am quite new to this, and have only automated a few outlets, roller blinds and temp sensors...so perhaps thermostats (for some reason that is not clear to me) require a stronger mesh to be present. Weird that my roller shades and temp sensors do not have any issue staying on as an end point device.
Hmm, what Zigbee channel are you on? And if possible use Zigbee 25 and WiFi 1. Any close neighbors with Wifi blasting channel 12 @ 40mHz?
Your C8 pro Zigbee power should be at 8, most people are happy with 8.
Do you have a C wire
I am using a C7, so I can't modify the power. I am on channel 15 now, but had the same result on 25. I also tried setting up a new zigbee mesh using Home Assistant, paired my 3 repeaters and had the exact same resut. HA auto selected 25. My troubleshooting goal with HA was to see if the Hubitat driver, range and channel was the issue.
Wow, wait you had the same issue on HA, that's interesting. If that's the case it seems like something environmental, outside of the Zen itself being defective.
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I have a bit of a random question, is your C wire part of the wiring harness to your thermostat or are you running a separate power adapter? I ask since this is a 2 wire setup (replacing a dumb on/off switch) and when I added the adapter I put one end on C and the other on Rc, I think my Rh and Rc are jumped to a single contact. The thermostat works fine offline and stays powered...so I assume my wiring is correct but wondered if that might have an impact on staying connected?
Yes, I have a separate power supply.
And it's hooked up like below.
Power supply goes to Rc and C. In the photo it's the green &green/white wires.
Yes, like that.
My relay is upside down compared to the Zooz diagram (center left. The USB-C power brick is on the right. A relay like this acts slightly like a 3-way switch - changing the state of the dumb wall switch or the smart switch will cause the relay to determine whether to close or open the connection on R1. The knob is to control the speed of the circulating fan that I installed.
Thanks! And I presume both of your links are inserted in the back of the Zen?
yes, that is correct, both links left in place. Did you find your secret"code" to set operating mode? Zen does not make it easy to find. Mine is single stage single zone heat, no fan, no A/C, so i used "10C" as setup code.
Yes, i did find the code. Other than it dropping off the network, i love this thermostat and it works great, nice esthetic and with power the display stays on. I did find the code and yes, it was not super easy to configure (unlike the Centralite that figured it out based on connected wires)
Thanks!
That said, I am a little confused on how a relay works, is it really like a 3-way light switch? A 3 way light swicth needs both open or both closed for the circuit to run power, is that how a relay works? I assumed the smart switch would be in series and provide more smart control when the dumb switch was on (closed) and not do anything when the swicth was off (open).
