Thermostat Shopping - As basic as Possible

I know similar topics have been kicked around here and there...apologies in advance.
We need a basic zigbee or z-wave...no cloud needed kinda thermostat.
This Centralite seems to be playing nicely with ST, am hoping the same for HE.
The slams it gets on Amazon are all from reviews of it not working with Cox Homelife. Non- Issue for me.
Any input would be BIGTIME appreciated. Your opinions have counted A LOT to us as we're building out our Hubitat.

Have one and love it! It's very basic which a lot of people don't like, but that makes it really easy for you to do with what you want.

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Good to hear...sounds like exactly what we're wanting for this one. E-Bay brand new same model for $40...I think I may need to snag one.

May I recommend the search feature of the forum.

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Ohhhh I know it...I found that post with a few Thermo's mentioned. I always troll before I ask.

Depending on where you live, your electric utility might offer rebates and shopping links to different devices, thermostats included. In Southern California where I live, we can get from $75 up to $125 rebate on different smart thermostats and it’s a simple form to poly for the rebate. Also, as touchy a subject as it may be, I think of everything “Smart Home” I buy in regards to being as many platforms as possible because, you know, stuff happened and sometimes we change smart platforms. Alexa, Google and Homekit support to any degree possible can’t hurt to have in any device. I have a Nest e and it’s fine, but I’m getting an ecobee 3lite today because Neat is walling themselves off, which I think they will regret.

I have an (older) Honeywell Z-Wave and a Centralite Pearl. Both work well. I think the Honeywell has a better control algorithm but I've not tested the Pearl with different deadband settings.

That being said, I really want a thermostat with a "real or integrated" remote temperature sensor. I was looking at the ecobee 3 lite and it seemed to be a winner BUT.... one article I read explained all control goes through the ecobee servers. I have not had a chance to fully understand what that meant for my application but it put me off, at least until I can fully understand it.

One reason I moved to Hubitat was the lack of need for internet connection. I feel even more adamant for my home HVAC control. So for now the ecobee is on hold (pardon the pun) :slight_smile:

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That cloud interface is a good point. I’d like to avoid that as well if possible. I’m already on the Nest though so it’s a draw. I don’t have much need for a thermostat really where I live. Heat maybe a few times a year. I just like gadgets though.

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@denise.grider Hi, I've read several of your posts on the Pearl thermostat. Do you a a remote sensor in your system? If so how did you integrate it into the thermostat control?

Thanks

John

I like to use the ST_Anything DS18B20 devices and plan on using them as my remote temperatures for the other side of the house. I have A TON of ESP8266's all over the house as motion and temp sensors among other things. They all communicate locally with the Hub so no cloud required for them.

I thought of a similar route, it has some very interesting potential, especially since I have 3 heat zones. However I've not yet found a thermostat that will natively integrate a remote sensor. At least none that are not cloud based.

My issue is with the heating algorithm. Most thermostats use a "cycles per hour" approach and the temperature controls the ON time for each cycle. This mimics somewhat a proportional control, and replaces the "anticipator" circuit found in the old Honeywell round mechanical thermostats.

So the only path to do what I ultimately want is to discard the thermostats and control the heating with a microprocessor based system, which I am not ready to do yet.

So I'm still thinking and researching :slight_smile:

We bought the Pearl because of its simplicity (and especially no cloud required)...and hubby wanted it to work just like the old Honeywell that it replaced :slight_smile:. So currently we use the Hubitat Thermostat Scheduler and set the setpoints that way.

I haven't looked but think that Rule Machine can handle thermostat setpoints, so you would just set up a rule that monitors temperature sensors and sets your setpoints accordingly. Or if you know Groovy, you could write your own app, if for instance you wanted to use an average temperature.

I switched over to a Pearl about two weeks ago and couldn’t be happier! To me, the simplicity makes it much more flexible. In the thermostat’s settings, dead band, min and max set points can be adjusted which makes it dummy (B.J.) proof. It does not support auto changeover, so I have a couple of triggers in RM to emulate that. @Cobra Average All app makes it easy to use all of the temp readings from around the house to make rules to minimize hot/cold spots.

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Sounds good to me FOR SURE. Thanks for the input...mucho appreciated!

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+1 for the Pearl. I've had it for a couple of years, and like the simplicity also. Bought it new from eBay for cheap.

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Plus one for pearl. I have two and love them the thermostat schedular is fantastic.

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Yeahh...initially found it on Amazon but some dude on eBay was selling the same for 1/2 the price. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!! :smile:

Just bought 2 as well thanks for the heads up! These are replacing my CT101s which work but are too large for SOAF/WAF. sigh for sunk cost...

It's in there! Installed without a hitch after I figured out the connection mapping from the REAL OLD Honeywell Tstat that was there. Thanks everyone for your advice...much appreciated! (Even Wifey digs it...Yeahh Babyyy!!) PS... I added it to HE after the pic was taken, that is why no antenna icon on it's screen. It joined No Problemo!

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