Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

Posted on
Wed Nov 18, 2020 7:00 pm
omnikey offline
Posts: 16
Joined: Jul 26, 2016

Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

Do any of you have a suggestion for a reliable Z-wave thermostat that has worked for at least two years without incident?
I installed two Trane XR524's last December, and one has failed already, so this is out for me, along with anything else by Trane.

I am open to IP devices if there are no decent Z-wave products, or even rolling my own with a Raspberry Pi at this point.

Thanks and stay healthy everyone!
Bill
KE8PJC

Posted on
Wed Nov 18, 2020 7:49 pm
peszko offline
Posts: 311
Joined: Mar 07, 2012

Re: Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

I'm using the TRANE XR524 for a while and happy with it. I used an insteon before and had issues. I'm not sure if one failure would dissuade me from using a product. I would rather look at general reliability in the community and ease of replacement when failed. When I was switching to z-wave and did some research id didn't find a lot of issues with Trane being reported.

Posted on
Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:55 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Location: Southwest Florida, USA

Re: Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

I'm a big fan of the Ecobee units. The major downside is that the Indigo integration is via their cloud server, so if you loose Internet, you loose control of the thermostat.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Thu Nov 19, 2020 7:40 am
omnikey offline
Posts: 16
Joined: Jul 26, 2016

Re: Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

Thank you for your responses.
I agree with peszko that in some cases you just replace a defective product with the same model. I had a failure of my GE Z wave contractor module that controls my water pump, and replaced it since there is just no alternative. In the case of thermostats, I was hoping there was a good alternative to the Trane XR524.

I have used products by "ControlByWeb" for nearly 10 years and am thinking of trying this product:

https://www.controlbyweb.com/x405/

This the costs about $50 more than the Trane XR524, but has a 5 year warranty, and is very versatile.
There is no console for this unit, but it has a nice web UI.
I have interfaced other ControlByWeb products with some Python code to allow control / monitoring with Inidigo,
I will keep you all posted.
Best,
Bill - KE8PJC

Posted on
Thu Nov 19, 2020 12:04 pm
peszko offline
Posts: 311
Joined: Mar 07, 2012

Re: Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

omnikey wrote:
There is no console for this unit, but it has a nice web UI.
I have interfaced other ControlByWeb products with some Python code to allow control / monitoring with Inidigo,


One issue with web interfaces is that it introduces a bit more complexity and there is not as simple fall back. With standard thermostats with z-wave or Insteon, if indigo or z-wave goes down, I can still just walk up to it and change the temperature. Even more so for my family. Plus I like native support. Or at least through a reputable plugin. The less moving parts the less to have issues with :-)

With cloud there is even bigger risk for me as you are then very dependent on the vendor for reliability and support. Not to mention, all my HA devices are in separate subnet with not access to the internet.

Posted on
Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:43 am
jay (support) offline
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Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

I wonder if you just got a lemon. I had 2 of them running for 3 years in my last house without any issues.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Fri Nov 27, 2020 10:53 pm
aldera offline
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Joined: Aug 30, 2016
Location: Michigan, USA

Re: Need suggestion for reliable Z-wave thermostat

I’ve had one for 4 years and one for 2 years and never had any problems with either of them. They’ve been pretty rock-solid.

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