Can I make my Ecobee smarter with SmartThings?

I have an Ecobee4. Kind of disappointed to find out it has no learning mode.

I was thinking about using motion sensors and SmartThings to automatically raise and lower temperature based on occupancy.

If I set a temperature to always use the sleep or away temp (or just set a manual temp) could I then use smart things to overwrite the standard temp to a higher temp when motion is detected on any any sensor. And then return to the standard temperature after a preset time limit (unless further motion is detected)

Checkout the work that @yvesracine has done.

I’m not sure his Device Type and SmartApp(s) handle your exact cases, but he can discuss them with you.

2 Likes

Hi @Sector7G,

My Ecobee device can achieve this use case for the ecobee and much more…

Please refer to this ST community thread for more details

Or the ST community wiki:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=EcobeeSetZoneWithSchedule
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=My_Ecobee_Device

The best smartapp for more flexibility is ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule which allows you to structure your home and choose the temp/motion sensors to be used at a given time based on the concepts of rooms/zones/schedules. There are many use cases supported as described under the configuration section at the ST community wiki (ex. automatic switch to Away or resuming your program based on your motion sensors, control of slave thermostats, control of different switches for better air circulation and alternative cooling, proportional control of smart vents, etc).

For each room, you can specify any ST connected motion/temp sensor to adjust your setpoints based on an occupancy status in the last x minutes (customizable threshold)… If motion has been detected, then the temp reading in the occupied room(s) will be used to adjust the ecobee’s setpoints (just like the follow me features of the ecobee).

You can even use different calculations methods for your remote sensors (avg, median, min, max, heat/min- cool/max) to adjust your setpoints.

I’d recommend My ecobee bundle at my store:

www.ecomatiqhomes.com/store

With My Ecobee device, you can also use some complimentary smartapps to better control your ecobee4’s audio capabilities (mic enabled, playback volume, alertsound volume, etc.) and backlight settings:

Regards.

2 Likes

I replaced the Nest with Ecobee due to “learning mode” and it’s lack of having multi room capabilities. Nest assumes you are in a single apartment with one or two people with a fixed schedule. Once you get out of that mode it just goes crazy with family type schedules. I know during the holidays it took over a week to determine that we are home during that time.

Ecobee does know how to pre-heat/cool your home and has “follow me” to make sure the rooms you are in are set to the right temperatures and then when not occupied can exclude them. Now granted it doesn’t shut down the heating or cooling to the room unless you have smart vents but it does keep us very comfortable.

1 Like

Yeah, the ‘learning’ in Nest seems to be a bit less awesome than it’s cracked up to be. Two households in my extended family have them, and while both were initially very satisfied they’ve found themselves a bit annoyed that the learning is not constant.

Yes, you can make ecobee smarter as you are seeking, the Racine dth/suite seems to work well from everything I’ve read. There’s another dth/suite available that I use, and it’s also terrific.

In either instance, you certainly can use temps provided by Smartthings sensors to assist in keeping yourselves comfortable. Just be certain that with any sensors involved in that process that your batteries are not dying; you need to be certain you are getting consistent information from them.

Where Webcore really shines with ecobee is if you have two or more ecobees in your home. In essence, you can slave one to another. I have a piston that ensures, for example, that if AC is running in one zone the heat will never go on in another - necessary in my home where the sun can heat the upstairs zone above the cooling threshold on a cool but sunny day, while the downstairs zone is still cool enough to trigger heating. I also have a piston that says “on very cold days below X degrees, if upstairs temp falls belowY then put downstairs ecobee into “freeze” comfort setting” (the upstairs zone is AC only).

Hmmm, the “Follow Me” feature is pretty much what you are after. It knows what rooms are occupied and uses the remote temps from those rooms to satisfy your desired temperatures.

Furthermore, you can set schedules but have them ignored if the sensors detect you are either present or away.

One of the major added benefit of using SmartThings (ST) is you can use cheaper sensors and get instant updates of occupancy. The Ecobee remote sensors take about 30 minutes to determine an occupied or unoccupied status.

Also, just like @Glen_King stated, you can better sync your therms if you have more than one.

Finally, using ST with the Ecobee, “You” are in total control! I have a virtual switch (VS) called HVAC Automation that if on, ST is in control of the Ecobees and another VS called HVAC that I use to turn the systems all the way off/on.

For example:
If front door stays open for 2 minutes and heat is on, then turn off HVAC until door is closed.

Or

If window is open and ac is on then turn off ac until window is closed.

Yep, the Ecobees are awesome but are even more awesome when you have total control.

I use @yvesracine integration (Device Handler) but cook up my own rules with webCoRE.

Good Luck!!

Hey All, thanks for the replies.

I’ll try and explain what I have a little better, then perhaps you can suggest what the best option might be.

This would be my first addition to SmartThings via this forum. So I’m not 100% on what’s required. Is it similar to adding the Ecobee or Google home smart apps?

I have 1 main entrance with a SmartThings motion sensors, 1 Ecobee room sensor upstairs (not in a room just in open living area) an additional Ecobee room sensor downstairs in the general living area.

I would have the temp set on the Ecobee to 18.5c 65f. When motion is detected on any sensor I would want the temperature to automatically bump to 21c 70f.

I’m not completely sure if the system would continuously poll for movement, or just check periodically.

I have rooms rented downstairs and of course everyone’s schedule is different, but if someone gets to @ 6 am, and others are still sleeping, I would ideally like to bump temp for the early riser, then when he/she leaves drop back to sleep/away temp.

I’m not really concerned about individual room temperature. When I have the temp set now it does a good job of keeping things consistent throughout the house. (It’s not a very big house)

I also have follow me and smart home/away enabled on my thermostat, with away and sleep temps set, but the thermostat never changes temperatures.

Your use case is a common one, and not all that complicated.

In fact, it should be pretty easy without any of the advanced capabilities of the two Ecobee DTH’s discussed above (full disclosure: I am the author of Ecobee Suite). The only problem is that the Ecobee sensors generally take up to 15 minutes to register occupancy - by design. If that’s good enough for you, then fine - you just need either the Stock SmartThings Ecobee Thermostat/Sensor DTH, or you can use my (free) Ecobee Suite.

But you’ll probably be happier with real SmartThings-compatible motion sensors.

Here’s the suggested setup:

  • Create and use SmartThings Routines to change the Location Mode - the default ones do this just fine (I’m Back and Good Morning! set Location = Home, Goodbye sets Location = Away, and Goodnight! sets location = Night/Sleep).
  • For each of these, set them to set the thermostat to your desired temp (Away and Sleep = 18.5C, Home = 21C).
  • Have any motion when the house is in Sleep/Night run Good Morning!, any motion when Away runs I’m Back
  • Finally, have NO MOTION while Home run Goodnight! when the time is between (10pm-8am), and have it run I’m Back! between 8am-10pm

You can get fancier using presence sensors (or phones), or even Alexa commands (“Alexa, Good Night!”) to change the modes. My Ecobee Suite adds the ability to change the thermostat Program whenever the Location Mode changes, and even vice versa (e.g. run Good Night! when the thermostat program changes to Sleep), along with literally dozens of other such automations. But I don’t think you really need them, and surely you don’t need to pay for an Ecobee DTH to accomplish what you describe - you already have everything you need (except probably 1 or 2 SmartThings-compatible motion sensors).

2 Likes