Yves,
Thank you so much for adding the mode feature. By default the program requires both presence and mode – so, I added “required: false” to presenceSensor. The program doesn’t seem to resume the ecobee when i manually change the modes on the ST using the messaging “I am back” to change modes.
Am I missing something?
Hello jx99,
Well, it needs to have the mode set to the target mode AND a new presence is detected (whether is a guest or someone from the family), just changing the mode won`t be enough… That’s the way, I implemented it from your requirements.
Let me know if it`s OK.
Hello jx99,
If you just want to change the mode at the thermostat(s) based on a mode change, there is a script that was developed for the nest that you can reuse for your ecobee, see reference below:
My 2 cents.
Yves,
Is there a way to do it so that it only needs a mode change to resume program? (without requiring presence or motion)
ST messaging does a mode change based on presence so that won’t be needed in the app itself.
Thanks a bunch
Hello jx99,
To do so, just change the following logic in brian’s groovy script:
def changeMode(evt) {
if (newMode == “Away”) {
log.info(“Marking Away”)
thermostats?.away()
}
else {
log.info(“Marking Present”)
thermostats?.present()
}
}
to:
def changeMode(evt) {
if (newMode == “Away”) {
log.info(“Marking Away”)
thermostats?.away()
}
else if (newMode == ‘Home’) {
log.info("Marking Present")thermostats?.resumeProgram()
}
}
That should work!
Bye for now
Hello jx99,
I had some time this weekend to look into this further and I ended up testing a variant of Brian’s code
for the ecobee thermostat.
Please create a new smartapp called ecobeeChangeMode and copy and paste the following code at:
https://github.com/yracine/device-type.myecobee/blob/master/smartapps/ecobeeChangeMode
As Brian’s code, the smartapp lets you set a target mode (either Home or Away) manually and also subscribe to any corresponding events so that it also changes the mode automatically at the thermostat(s) according to ST mode change.
For resuming the thermostat(s) when the mode changes to Home, set the different input parameters accordingly (especially the last one, i.e. set for a specific mode).
You’d need to rename the smartapp to 2 different names to use it for both ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ modes.
Enjoy!
Yves,
This code works great. When the ST mode changes to away, the ecobee is set to away indefinitely and when the ST mode change to Home, it resumes the ecobee program. The only thing I couldn’t figure out is why the app post the message “ecobeeChangeMode>Setting the thermostat(s) to Away…” when it resumes the thermostat program. It shows the same message whenever it goes into away or when it resumes the program. Looking through the code, it looks fine and should be showing me a different message when it resumes – this is just a small matter, the most important thing is that it functions correctly. Thanks a bunch for your help – I appreciate it.
Hello jx99,
Make sure that you have the latest release of the code at
yracine/device-type.myecobee/blob/master/smartapps/ecobeeChangeMode
And, double check that you set the “Change mode” to “Home” AND the last input parameter (“Set for Specific Mode(s)”) to “Home” only. You’d need to rename the app to “ecobeeChangeToHome” (i.e., “Assign a name” input parameter).
You’d also need to create another smartapp instance for the “Away” mode, and rename it to “ecobeeChangeToAway” (i.e., “Assign a name” input parameter)…
You’d then have 2 distinct instances for both modes that you can use manually (by clicking on the play button under My Apps) and automatically for the ST mode change.
Regards.
Yves,
You are right. I had to set the “Set for Specific Mode(s)” to “Home” only (I wasn’t doing this earlier and hence the strange messages). This fixed it and now all the messages are suppressed until the “push” is switched on. The program is working fine now.
I am really learning a lot from this entire process. Now, that I got the two thermostat working right, I think I am ready to add more devices.
Last Month’s ecobee report showed that:
Thermostat 1 - ran 57% less than province, savings 7%
Thermostat 2 - ran 47% less than province, savings 19%
I think ST (in particular GeoFencing) is contributing to it running less. Haven’t figured out how to get my savings higher. I have also been hearing conflicting advice on saving energy:
(a) running the house at a constant temperature
vs
(b) shutting down the HVAC when no one is around.
Hi jx99.
As I said earlier in this thread, it really depends on your lifestyle: whether you have a fixed schedule vs. your family members have different schedules from one week to another. The strategy to set your home to «Away» mode can help you save as a thermostat’s program sometimes cannot be as flexible as your schedule.
@yvesracine I noticed that the Resume Program works well if you defined either Heat or Cool mode. If you defined Auto, it does not seems to resume program when I get home. Any ideas? Thanks!
hello @rey_rios, what do you mean by “auto”, ecobee thermostats don’t support the in between “heat” and “cool” (or auto mode).
Regards
@rey_rios, it may be something specific to ecobee3. As I don’t own an ecobee3 ( I have a Smart), I cannot see this setting.
As far as I know, all other ecobee models don’t support the auto mode.
I will look into it.
Regards.
By the way, I am using Smart SI thermostats. The reason why sometimes I use Auto, is becahse I live in Houston, TX where in the morning can be 40F and in the afternoon 78F.
@rey_rios, I added auto as a thermostatMode state in my latest github code. Just let me know if it works for you as I don’t have any way to test it here.
Bye for now.
@rey_rios, I made some changes to the auto mode to better support it after finding some issues with it. I remember that you asked for it long time ago.
Please grab the latest code at github to have better auto support.
Bye for now.
