Indigo Domotics

This thread is for any discussions on the TRV Controller.

Further progress made today :This plugin differs from the Stella-Z plugin in that the controller device (i.e the device controlling the TRV device) is setup as an Indigo Thermostat; so all the standard Indigo controls and viewing options are available to the controlling device. The battery level is derived from the controlled TRV and/or Remote Thermostat - the plugin uses the battery level value from the device (TRV or Remote) with the lowest value.

Still some rough edges to sort out on this phase of the development but the TrV Controller device now accurately tracks the controlled TRV and Remote Thermostat devices i.e. temperature changes and manual adjustment of the devices.

Next update is likely to be in a few days away as I am busy for the next couple of days.

Wow, amazing, happy to help anyway I can

So, I know you aren't even in alpha, but when better to ask for features
Seriously though, I'm excited for this as starting to need to make better use of my zwave TRVs and want to get some more. However most of my house works with Heatmiser, which through 10 stats does my underfloor and radiator heating.

I have 3 stats which control the radiators on each floor. For now the zwave TRVs are overrides for off, ie turn off a room we aren't using, or limit heat.
What would be amazing would be for them to call for heat when required. Is it possible further down the road to have an action group as the heat source controller. I would then have the action group set to boost the temp on the required stat, using the Heatmiser plugin which would get the boiler fired up.

Also, I'm wondering about temperature. I have cat 6 going to all the bedrooms on the chimney breast, so middle of the room. Could I connect a small one wire temp sensor to one of these( I have 4 sockets in reach room, probably overkill!) , then back at the patch panel, connect to my pi and using pibeacon plugin use these as temp rather than the reading on the trv? Should be more reliable?

My wife and newborn twins (reason for getting more precise on heating) thank you



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Simon,
I am making progress and starting to test the scheduling.

At the moment the plugin's TRV Controller Device controls a TRV and can also be linked to one remote thermostat - so this is used to control the temperature rather than the reading from the TRV on the radiator. Are you suggesting that you want up to four remote stats for a TRV? If so how would you want the these remote stats to be processed in order to determine whether to turn on the TRV.

Linked to each TRV Controller device is a Heat Source Device which is used to turn on the boiler. I also had half in mind to set a variable to be True if calling for heat otherwise False. So this could be used instead to trigger an Action Group on change of state of the variable.

What type of Z-Wave TRVs are you using?

My wife and newborn twins (reason for getting more precise on heating) thank you

No pressure then!

Seriously, after having to child mind my 21 month old grandson two days a week, this is my priority task at the moment.

autolog wrote:

Hi Simon,
I am making progress and starting to test the scheduling.

At the moment the plugin's TRV Controller Device controls a TRV and can also be linked to one remote thermostat - so this is used to control the temperature rather than the reading from the TRV on the radiator. Are you suggesting that you want up to four remote stats for a TRV? If so how would you want the these remote stats to be processed in order to determine whether to turn on the TRV.

No, one remote thermostat per TRV is fine. Going to use pibeacon temperature devices for these.

autolog wrote:

Linked to each TRV Controller device is a Heat Source Device which is used to turn on the boiler. I also had half in mind to set a variable to be True if calling for heat otherwise False. So this could be used instead to trigger an Action Group on change of state of the variable.

My need is for the heat source device to be another thermostat device (in form of a stat from another plugin) that calls for heat from the boiler. That device obviously doesn't have a simple on or off.

More detail on my setup. I have 3 Heatmiser thermostats that are controllable in indigo with the Heatmiser plugin. Each controls heating to a number of radiators.
The first floor one for instance is on the landing and has 3 bedrooms and the landing rads. It's possible that one of the bedrooms drops under temp whilst the stat on the landing is still over the set temperature so no hot water is flowing.
What I'd like is to be able to cause the landing stat to cause hot water to flow if say the twins bedroom needed heating even if the landing didn't.
I was thinking of an action group in the plugin, but as you say, a heat is on variable would work too that I could trigger from to cause a boost in temp to the landing set point above its current temp. It would heat the landing as well but if the other bedrooms have zwave TRVs that would be ok as they wouldnt.

autolog wrote:

What type of Z-Wave TRVs are you using?

My wife and newborn twins (reason for getting more precise on heating) thank you

No pressure then!

Seriously, after having to child mind my 21 month old grandson two days a week, this is my priority task at the moment.

Haha. I'm using devolo and popp. Was going to get the fibaro with remote temp sensors bit this feels a more customisable solution.

Weekday/weekend scheduling would be amazing as well


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

siclark wrote:

... Weekday/weekend scheduling would be amazing as well

I think you will be able to do this.

When you define a TRV Controller device, you setup a default schedule - there are up to three separate times in a day (e.g. morning, midday and evening). This schedule can be overridden by a plugin action where you define an alternate set of times for a day. So once you have the Action Group set-up, you can use an Indigo schedule to run the action at say 00:01 a.m. on a Saturday and the schedule will remain in place until either it is overridden again or the override is cancelled and the schedule is set back to default. So you could cancel the action at 00:01 on Monday morning.

Doing it this way allows some flexibility for users who may wish to alter their schedules on different days of the week.

I am hoping that I will have something that can be released for alpha testing at the end of next week.

Sounds like a good solution. Looking forward to it, and happy to help in testing!

Another idea, as trying to think of more reliable solutions than battery, is per the discussion on this thread.

Considering evohome - i'd welcome your views please
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_ ... are_type=t

What are changes of getting a standard relay to be the TRV using a remote temperature sensor? That could make for a really interesting way to have mains powered, so instant responding, zwave radiators.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

siclark wrote:

What are changes of getting a standard relay to be the TRV using a remote temperature sensor? That could make for a really interesting way to have mains powered, so instant responding, zwave radiators.

That is doable - phase II maybe

I think I have now got the EUROTronic Spirit z-wave thermostats working well with a combination of thermostat and valve control messages. Sometimes they can show a status as being off and still be on [hopefully I have now resolved this issue]. In my testing I have a Spirit attached to a TRV valve on my desk (not plumbed in!), so I can easily see what the state of the physical valve is. I also have a Popp TRV setup like that as well for testing.

Now that I think I have resolved the off/on issue, I am really pleased with them. I dial in the required temperature on my remote thermostat and (via my TRV plugin) the Spirits respond instantly because of their FLiRS capability.

I have found a cheaper source for them [Conrad UK]: Eurotronic Spirit Z-Wave Plus Wireless Thermostat. This is a lot cheaper than Amazon and other well know UK suppliers! They ship from Germany and postage is £6.99. I have no relationship with the company - just a satisfied customer.

Wow. That's a good price. At that price and instant response that's better than hassle of mains devices. What's the battery life like?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

autolog wrote:

I have found a cheaper source for them [Conrad UK]: Eurotronic Spirit Z-Wave Plus Wireless Thermostat. This is a lot cheaper than Amazon and other well know UK suppliers! They ship from Germany and postage is £6.99. I have no relationship with the company - just a satisfied customer.

How are you finding the Spirits from a hardware point of view? Things like battery life, noise, responsiveness, that sort of thing.

At that price I could go all in and get 8, getting rid of the two StellaZs which don’t have FLiRS, eat batteries and just don’t work that well.

I was also thinking of double AA battery eliminators, to help some locations in the house with the constant battery changes.

Sam.

I think the battery life is reasonable so far, however I can't back this up with detail as I haven't been using the Spirits in earnest yet.

They are very quiet, certainly when compared to the Stella-Zs.

As I said previously, the responsiveness is effectively instantaneous - it's like having a mains powered Z-Wave device.

I think the build quality is good.

The setup inclusion/exclusion and general controls are also very good. I found the Stella-Zs to be a complete pain to try and include and setup. The Spirits are in a different class altogether.

I did consider the new Fibaro Thermostat but it isn't FLiRS capable AFAIK.

I think if you are in the market for a new Z-Wave TRV device, then IMHO the Spirit is a no-brainer choice.

autolog wrote:

I did consider the new Fibaro Thermostat but it isn't FLiRS capable AFAIK.

I think if you are in the market for a new Z-Wave TRV device, then IMHO the Spirit is a no-brainer choice.

I don't believe the Fibaro is FLiRS either. I was more concerned with the price of them, relative to similar, and the battery. I initially thought the rechargeable inbuilt battery might be good, but it isn't replaceable. I also ended up on a Fibaro forum where the discussion on these devices was ... robust!

Anyway, thanks Jon, good information. Think I will go for it, plus I can then use your new plugin (to bring this back on topic!)

Sam.

Hm. Just noticed from the Spirit manual that it states ‘do not use rechargeable batteries’.

That seemed a bit odd. I was wondering if it was a heat problem (not sure why, radiators don’t get that hot).

Checked the StellaZs, they don’t mention anything about not using rechargeables.

Checked the Honeywell Evohome HR92s, that manual actually suggests rechargeable batteries..

Back to square one. Not going to be able to get Spirit TRVs if I really can’t have rechargeable batteries in them!

Sam.

I was interested in the fibaro for the remote temperature sensor but with your plugin and pibeacon this seems a better, and cheaper solution.

The inclusion and use of the Popp and danfoss is a nightmare as well so happy to hear these are easier to use.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk