Okay, I’m less than a newbie here; I bought a Samsung SmartThings Hub, hoping to control my door lock, and that hasn’t worked, but in looking for help with problems with my Keen Home Vents, I stumbled upon posts about SmartApps that would control them. I’m using an Ecobee4 thermostat and 12 vents.
Then problem I’m having is that they seem to disconnect, not respond, etc., some but not all, and it appears they may be more stable with a SmartThings Hub. I found some posts about Keenect, for example, but tried to follow the setup instructions and got COMPLETELY lost. I’m computer literate, but apparently not SmartApps literate, and when someone says “Pop into your IDE” (it took hours to figure that out) “click on the SmartApps tab then Settings” (there are no Settings on my SmartApps tab, but then I don’t have any SmartApps), and “If your Git integration is broken” (I signed up on Git, but have no idea why or what it does), I feel like I landed on a different planet.
I’m not interested in programming, but would like to manually, and perhaps automatically, control my Keen Vents with some kind of app, other than what Keen Home provides for use with their hub. Is this something I can manage? Would it be controlled from my smartphone’s SmartThings app? If so, IN SIMPLE STEP_BY_STEP instructions, what app do I get and how can I install and use it?
Thanks in advance for any help in this new-to-me and very confusing topic.
Forgot to mention, that while I have found, and been able to pair, my Ecobee4 thermostat with the SmartThings app, I don’t see Keen vents or anything similar listed, so don’t know how to pair them to SmartTehings.
Try using the Classic app to pair them. I have 11 of them paired that way.
Also, you’re going to want to make sure you have a good zigbee mesh. What other zigbee devices do you have that are mains (house) powered? Switches? Iris/SmartThings/GE wall plugs?
Thanks for all the info. I bought all my Keen vents, Keen temperature sensors, Ecobee4 with 2 remote T-stats and 2 smart bridges last July. Have been using the Keen Home app, but know it falls far short of what could/should be accomplished with that hardware.
The thread you referenced is right at 3 years in length, but the first post has the most up-to-date information??
In reading your first post, I have no idea what DTHs are, or what they’re used for. Of your apps, I think I need/want the ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule one. I’m hoping that will allow for varying vent openings in response to schedule and maintain desired room temperatures.
So I went to your web site, and I’m afraid I’m lost again. I assume I have to buy/contribute the ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule under Zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions for SmartThings. But it mentions it works with My EcoBee Device for SmartThings, which is sold separately. Is this an app, hardware or what? And do I need other bundles? And while these are apps (Github apps?), there’s a note saying complimentary Smartapps are available on the Github. But that’s not /these/ apps, right?
And do these apps work on a Smartphone (Galaxy 9 on Android), within the SmartThings app, or what? I’m a (Basic and VB) programmer myself, and quite computer-literate, but I have never felt like such a a fish out of water.
Hi, in my last post, I recommended to you My ecobee bundle which includes the Device Type Handler or DTH (which is the interface between SmartThings and the ecobee APIs for implementing the required thermostat capabilities & commands) and the zoning smartapp called ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule which orchestrates your ecobee thermostat and your smart vents based on the concepts of rooms/zones/schedules. The smartapp can use any ST connected temp/motion/contact/presence sensors to control your vents.
Please refer to the ST community wiki for more information about features, look and feel, configuration and troubleshooting.
All up to date information is documented at the ST community wiki. The thread gives you a high level of features & capabilities, and this has not changed in the last 4 years.
Regards.
These apps (all SmartApps) and device handlers work within the SmartThings app (depending upon if it’s the Classic or new app). Since you’re new to all of this, I highly recommend you read this (if it’s not already linked within those other links):
You’re going to need to get into the IDE (ide.smartthings.com), so get yourself comfortable there. That’s where you’ll save and publish your code, manage devices, and view many different type of event logs. There are tons of community topics and discussions about using custom code, the IDE, etc. The search feature will definitely be your friend on this site trying to find information.
Thanks for the responses. I’ve got a lot of reading to do. I did find out that most all batteries in my vents were dead (from last August), so upon replacing them, they’re working as intended. But I’d still like to do more with them. Right now, using Keen software, after adjusting normal vent % open, the best you can do is shut certain rooms down for certain times of the day. I’d like more, so will be investigating the above suggestions and learning how to use SmartThings.
One quick question, though: would I have to remove the vents from the Keen Home Smart Bridges in order to connect them to SmartThings hub? I’m assuming so, as I don’t see them on the ST hub. So I’d want to just remove a couple vents from the bridge first to experiment with.
