Hello, I’m considering the Ecobee3 w/ remote sensors. I’m also thinking that it would be nice for those remote sensors to be pulled into ST. For example I saw that something of the system does humidity, I would hope all sensor units do. It would be nice to turn humidifiers in the various rooms on and off based on that.
I did see that there’s a slow refresh rate in another post, I don’t know that that’s a major problem for me. I don’t intend to use the motion.
Thanks for any replies!
Hello @keithcroshaw, as you may know, I’ve developed the custom ecobee device that is used by many ST users out there for their ecobee thermostats`s integration (ecobee3, Stat-02,Smart-SI, EMS).
See the following github link for reference:
I’ve contacted the ecobee support many times about the ecobee3’s remote sensors. See this thread for example:
At the moment, there is very few details available about the data that will be available through the APIs. All I know is that the new APIs will be released in March.
The way I see it, you won`t be able to use the remote sensors as independent sensors (humidity, motion, temperature) within the ST ecosystem, just like any connected sensors.
However, you`ll be able to get sensor data (refresh rate to be confirmed) every x minutes. My ecobee device is
already capable of getting report & sensor data and do some basic calculations on the report & sensor data (e.g. sum, avg, min, max) available. Ecobee users can also process the raw data according to their needs.
Regards.
Thanks for the reply. I did notice your contributions and read through some of your posts. I’ll keep an ear out come March. It just seems silly to have two temp/humidity sensors per bedroom.
@keithcroshaw, I understand your point of view. You have to understand that the ecobee3’s communication protocol with its sensors is neither z-wave or zigbee: only these 2 HA protocols are compatible with SmartThings. Ecobee3 uses a proprietary communication protocol that is not compatible with ST.
Regards.
Oh I do completely understand that, but with the power of the interwebs the only thing standing it the way of two devices both connected to the same interwebs is the API’s they’re hiding behind.
This opens up a whole other discussion of open protocols which everyone should use, and stop all of the wars too while they’re at it. The Ecobee should say hello Keith! Here are your Ecobee Temps and Humidities! Have fun using them as you desire! At which point I point ST to said sensors and make magic happen.
But for now they sit behind their walls of sad forcing me to buy more crap I don’t need. 
@keithcroshaw, that what Apple’s homekit is promising… We’ll see if they can deliver what they promise… I don’t think that it will be that easy for a while…
Yea I’m cautiously optimistic about homekit. Vaporware as of yet.
@yvesracine – as our resident Ecobee3 expert, would you know whether existing ST temperature and motion detectors can substitute for the Ecobee provided ones? It seems this conversation has been about whether ST could see the Ecobee detectors, but I’m curious about going the other way-- whether Ecobee can utilize data from ST devices to drive state and temperature adjustments. I’ve been thinking about picking one up in the spring.
PS. I would be wary of Homekit… Look what happened to Revolv users. If ST goes belly up tomorrow (or something better comes along) you can move Zigbee and Zwave devices to Wink, or an HA router (Almond+), or some other, better platform. The open system protects users from being orphaned and keeps ST on their toes, innovating. As soon as you buy into a closed system, you’re not a user but a hostage.
@matt, I’ve coded many smartapps that take advantage of the connected (humidity, motion, temperature) sensors in ST.
For example, see this thread:
Another example is the MonitorAndSetEcobeeHumidity smartapp which monitors the indoor humidity and turn on the humidifier or the dehumidifier (if they are connected to your ecobee thermostat) based on some indoor/outdoor humidity sensors connected to ST. It can also trigger your HRV/ERV for a certain number of minutes per hour when the outdoor temperature is not too cold or the outdoor humidity is not too high.
See device-type.myecobee/smartapps at master · yracine/device-type.myecobee · GitHub
Regards
P.S. I don’t have an ecobee3 myself… I use ST connected sensors to control my ecobee STAT-02 thermostat’s scheduling (ex. set my ecobee’s program to ‘Away’ with ST goodbye hello mode or to ‘Home’ when I’m back)
Yea I thought about that approach, but then I thought about priorities. I want to make sure the Ecobee gets its data immediately and I’ve been unimpressed with analog value update times with ST.
Also the direction I started off with would seem to be the “easier” path but nothing is easy in this space yet…
@keithcroshaw, it also varies from sensor to sensor. I’m personally using some wiress tags (http://wirelesstag.net) as indoor humidity/temperature sensors and I’m pretty happy with them.
For external sensors, I use the Aeon Multisensors as they also provide motion activities. Their performance varies a lot from one device to another.
Bye for now.
I guess you need the ENET Tag manager though? I guess it would be cheaper after a while. But if I only need 3 I’ll save $15 and possibly have to deal with compatibility issues…
Neat though, I hadn’t heard of these. Thanks!
Yes, you’d need the Ethernet tag manager ($52). The cost of the manager decreases as you plug in more wireless tags to it.
My 2 cents.
P.S. Another thing that I like about using ST connected sensors (over ecobee’s own sensors) is that I can set my ecobee thermostat to ‘Away’ more rapidly than just using the ecobee3 ‘Auto Away’ mode which actually does it only after 2 hours of inactivity
Yea I was wondering how that worked with ST. So your app, can it work to condition the average of the occupied rooms like the Ecobee would with it’s remote sensors?
Then maybe 2 bedrooms at night?
That would be my ideal control.
@keithcroshaw, I made some changes to the MonitorAndSetEcobeeTemp smartapp to be able to
adjust the thermostat’s setpoint based on the avg temp at multiple indoor sensors.
This is an optional setting.
The logic is a bit similar to what ecobee3 does with its remote sensors, but the smartapp does it with ST connected temp sensors. Based on ST motion sensors, it can also override the ecobee thermostat’s regular scheduling to set its program schedule to ‘Away’ or ‘Home’.
Regards.
Thanks a lot for the info. I’ll take this into consideration when I’m ready to purchase.
Here’s a question. Is there really any benefit to using the Ecobee? If I’m buying z-wave temp/humidity sensors and I buy the standard Honeywell z-wave thermostat can’t it just use the same SmartApp? The capabilities should be pretty much the same.
Hello @keithcroshaw,
No, you cannot use the same smartapp as z-wave thermostats are not smart at all when they are connected to a HA hub like smartThings. They don’t have any scheduling capabilities.
In my smartapps, I usually take advantage of ecobee’s climate settings (or programs) as they are defined in its schedule. For example, you may set your program schedule to be ‘Home’ on the weekends, but ‘Away’ on weekdays from 8h30 to 17h00.
I only use ST to adjust the temp based on ecobee’s program schedule or set my ecobee thermostat to ‘Away’ or ‘Home’ when my schedule is not as usual. The MonitorAndSetEcobeeTemp would use ecobee’s scheduling as much as possible and “resume” the program when a “hold” (adjustment override over the current program) is no longer required.
I think that this ecobee-ST integration is the best way to have better comfort while being energy-efficient.
Regards.
Ok thanks for your input. I appreciate it and will consider it when purchasing. Not looking forward to that part…