one more question from me too: can * thermostatThreshold : **0.5** be changed after the child is created? I have created 3 thermostats one for each room and I just realised that 0.5 is just too much. I want to try 0.3 and 02 instead. I have an electric heater and its better to turn off and on more often than have it go for 30-35 min in a single run.
I see its a one time thing and after the child is created, this setting is invisible.
If you were using a regular physical thermostat, this would be the only way to do it.
Can we update the app so that disabling the thermostat device also cancels the recurring job "setOutletState"?
Not really, better to just turn the device to off.
At the moment no, it can't be changed after the child is created, you will have to remove the child and create a new one, a new "Advanced vThermostat Controller app" that will be compatible with Homekit is in the works and will allow this to be changed. Stay tuned...
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@nclark, would you be willing to add an option to disable the safety feature? I’m trying to use this for a fully virtual use-case where the safety feature is not only unnecessary (no physical device to protect), but also potentially problematic in a few edge cases. If it’s hard or maybe controversial, I’ll retract the request as it’s not truly critical.
Separately, just for my context, does the built-in Hubitat virtual thermostat device still not behave as a real thermostat would? I’ve been playing with it recently and I get odd behavior from time to time.
Any chance the ability to use a contact sensor with this? So for example if a contact sensor is opened, the thermostat turns off?
I'm completely rewriting it to now use the built in virtual thermostat (won't be able to upgrade, will be an all new app), there will be an option to not use the safety feature for those special cases where risk is very low or non existent like hydroponic heating.
Not exactly sure what you mean, it does behave like a real thermostat as long as you have some way to feed it temperatures via RM or an app like mine. Let me know if you see something weird that I might not have seen.
You could set the device to off via RM, not sure it is really needed in app. But after my rewrite and testing is over, I might consider it.
I've been seeing odd behavior with the operating state not changing when the temperature and setpoint cross (even accounting for hysteresis). But I can't seem to reproduce it now, so maybe there was something else going on.
I'm also a bit confused about how/if fan mode and thermostat mode relate. But I doubt that's a problem with the driver.
Let me ask you this way -- if the regular Hubitat driver for vThermostat works fine, why have an Advanced driver. What does this driver solve/address that the built-in one doesn't.
TIA....
even if I modify it while creating the child, it remains 0.5c for some reason. its fine, I can live with it just though I mention
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I'm sorry to report that turning the thermostat to "off" does not disable the thermostat's control of the switch. When I turn the thermostat to "off" it first turns off the fireplace. Then, when my wife goes to the wall switch to turn on the fireplace, the thermostat turns the fireplace back off a few minutes later.
So, it seems there is no way to switch a device back to manual control once a vThermostat is installed. Neither "disabling" the thermostat nor switching to to "off" will disable the background process that turns the switch back off every few seconds.
Sorry to here that, I sent you a PM so you try something for me.
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I'm new to Hubitat and shortly after posing this question i realized i could just create a quick rule that sets the thermostat mode to off if a contact sensor is opened, and set it back on if contact sensor closes. On a side note would it be hard to create a "Virtual Humidistat" that largely functioned the same, but took a humidity sensors reading to control a plug which a humidifier was plugged in to?
I could modify it to do that, it would be a stripped down version with no safety checks since it's not needed or anything. Let me finish V2 that should be out in a week or so, and I'll change it for that, I could probably even use it myself 
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Hi @nclark.
Thanks for the app. I have been using it to create a virtual thermostat out of a temperature sensor and a Sinopé load controller which switches on a 5000W garage heater, and it works great. Much better than crude rules I could have written.
I have been thinking that I should add contact sensors to my garage doors, and I would like to disable the heating/cooling if any of the door is opened. I think it would be fairly straightforward to add, and I could volunteer a pull request if you think it's a good idea of feature.
EDIT: and I just saw that some comments above had the same idea...
I guess a rule in RM would work. If contact sensors are open, turn thermostat off, if they are close, put it back on auto.
Thoughts ?
This is what I do. A RM rule may be a bettor choice as most would want a delay once the contact is open, and that will probably vary from user to user based on their situation.
I also have a motion rule setup. In my shop if I turn up the heat or air and there is no motion detected for a preset amount of time it will set the temp back to the default levels.
IMO the thermostat should just control your heat and air and you can use external rules to do things like these for each use case.
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Makes sense
@nclark your thermostat is awesome. we got home after holidays to a warm apartment thanks to your app. IF you can merge a PR to have have [auto,cool,emergency heat,heat,off] => ["auto","cool","emergency heat","heat","off"] that would help a lot. I was accidentally clicked on "configure" and it reset my hand-hacked settings discussed in another thread, rendered the thermostat to be in "emergency stop" and didn't work anymore since I hand-hacked again (set back to Virtual thermostat , set the modes with proper "" , updated, set back to vThermostat) apart from that this is an awesome piece of stuff!
also: if I copypaste a newer version to custom app code overwriting the existing, I assume I have to rebuild everything from scratch right? recreate childs, configure them, adding them to dashboard again, etc... right ? ) so there's no easy upgrade:)
Done, go in HPM and do a repair, then go to the device and hit configure. Should be ok now.
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@nclark THANK YOU very much! small observation "emergency heat" (whatever that meant) was removed as I see. assume its not affecting the "emergency stop" if no data from the sensor. it should be something else. (I've not read your code just trust it as is)
BTW: updated code works like charm!
THANKS again!
Emergency heat is a special case mode that is only needed when you have 2 different heating systems, it usually uses an outside temp sensor to determine very cold weather to kick in a the second heat source (with and/or without the first one). This second heat source usually costs more to use and is only used in rare occasions.
