TRV Controller Discussion Thread

Oh wow. These are awesome!! Included and installed in 3 mins, even across different floor from Mac. Instant response. Wish I had bought these sooner!



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... The plugin went into a Z-Wave loop and locked out Indigo which I eventually managed to get into to be able to stop and restart the Indigo server. ....

Sorted that problem - still some tidying up to do but good progress is being made.

Oh wow. These are awesome!! Included and installed in 3 mins, even across different floor from Mac. Instant response. Wish I had bought these sooner!

Sounds like you are as impressed as I was when comparing them to previous TRVs.

On a more general Spirit TRV note. How do you have them setup? I got confused with the valve device until I've realised it wasn't being reported. I have it set to 10, thinking that would limit updates and save battery but not sure. Also should I untick all the exclude boxes to get all days sent on polling or is that not needed?

I had an issue last night when the radiators kept heating to 25c despite being set to 21. Not sure if that was just residual heat or the valve was still open?

The valve control doesn't work (is ignored) if you haven't switched the Spirit into Valve Control Mode. At the moment, the Indigo UI doesn't enable you to do this. You would have to use a Z-Wave raw command. Once this is done, then the valve slider will work, that is until the TRV is put back into normal mode which will happen if you press any of the TRV buttons or select a Mode in the UI .

The Z-wave raw command is:

Code: Select all

0x40, 0x01, 0x1F

As regards the temperature, I am not convinced that it is reporting on temperature change (I have it set to 0.5C). I think that the thermostat might have to be polled to provide a timely update. I wasn't actually expecting this as I thought it would update when it changed. However, I suppose it could make sense as most of the time it is sleeping just waiting for a command.

I think that my plugin could poll the Spirit, say every 5 minutes (but user definable) , whilst the Spirit is in an active heating schedule, otherwise it won't.

Having used these for a while, I'm confused at to how the plugin works with the remote temperature sensor?
If the set point is 20, the spirit is measuring 21 but the remote sensor says 18, how does it tell the spirit to come on? Does it force it into boost, therefore 100% open, or adjust the set point on the spirit?
Watching the way the spirit controls the valve, as the temp approaches the set point the valve slowly closes, reducing the hot water so slowing the temp increase so it doesn't over shoot. (in theory)
Also it keeps it slightly open whilst temp is above set point to ensure the room temp doesn't drop quickly. Not sure if the Stella was same or just on or off only?

It adjusts the set point on the Spirit by a user defined amount (TRV Delta Max) - as in configuration shown below:

configure_trv_controller.png (184.4 KiB) Viewed 5301 times

I may refine this approach once I have got everything working: with the Spirits it would be possible, for example, for the plugin to fully control them using the valve controls. I could enable the configuration to be set up to be able to specify the valve opening depending on degrees difference.

A number of things have conspired against me this week which have resulted in slower progress than I would have liked: extra unplanned grandson minding; having to climb up on the roof to clear a gulley which had filled with moss and was causing a leak in the garage etc etc!

I may refine this approach once I have got everything working: with the Spirits it would be possible, for example, for the plugin to fully control them using the valve controls. I could enable the configuration to be set up to be able to specify the valve opening depending on degrees difference.

It sounds pretty clever anyway but this would be awesome.

You said you have one on your desk testing, but have you got one on a radiator?

It would be cool if you could get to the point of controlling the valve directly and stop the m temperature shooting they the set point. I think the valve should start closing before the set point is reached.

IMG_1138.jpg (65.06 KiB) Viewed 5250 times

Ignore the axis titles. This is temp and set point on top, and valve % open below. It seems to nicely ramp the valve when increasing openness. However as temp increases it is full open until temp shoots through the set point. It doesn't lead to a smooth temperature profile!

If the thermometer is away from the heater you will always have a delay in temp measurement. And the heater also has some capacity it will continue to heat even when it is off.


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You said you have one on your desk testing, but have you got one on a radiator?

I have another ten Spirits already attached to radiators.

It would be cool if you could get to the point of controlling the valve directly and stop the m temperature shooting they the set point. I think the valve should start closing before the set point is reached.. ...

I think this idea is worth pursuing because I have noticed the same thing. I will add it to the list of things to do once I have got the beta out the door.

If the thermometer is away from the heater you will always have a delay in temp measurement. And the heater also has some capacity it will continue to heat even when it is off.


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This thermometer is on the radiator as part of the trv. Agree the over heat can occur as the radiator still has hot water in it once the valve is turned off, which is why on what is already a smart trv, it doesn't take that into account. It clearly has the ability to part close the valve so could do to try and reduce this effect.

Although once I can learn how to solder I'm going to use pibeacon to get the temperature from better positioned temp sensors.

This is perfect example. It slowly reopens the valve to start heating (although doesn't do much good as boiler is off) but doesn't slowly close the valve.

A quick update, an alpha release is getting closer - could be this week.

There has definitely been a case of two steps forward and one step back over the last week as I have been developing and testing it.

However, I think I now have scheduling working.

However, I am hesitant to release it until I have knocked one final intermittent bug on the head. I expect bugs (as this is an alpha) but this one causes Indigo to completely lock out as the plugin went into a tight loop and I don't want to release it if I think that could happen.

I am risking the displeasure of SWMBO by running our CH system using the plugin, so it is in my best interest to get it working ASAP. .

More news soon .

Thats awesome, thanks Jon.

I am on the verge of removing them for now as I cant rely on them to get the heat right. We had to open the window in one of our boys' room yesterday as despite being set to 20, the room was at 25. I never had that issue on the manual TRVs .

Interesting

It looks to me as if the Spirit isn't updating its temperature unless asked (polled) which isn't how I understand it should work.
You can test this by pressing the status button in the Indigo UI and seeing how much it updates by. I have my Spirits to update on a 0.5 deg C change but they don't appear to be doing this.
I might be missing something - always possible.
In the short term I will add polling in, to update the status say every 5 minutes while a schedule is active.

This could be done without the plugin by setting polling in the Spirit's device settings.
Whether this would kick it into action, I haven't yet tested.

In the medium term, I am very tempted to go down the direct valve control route.