Ecobee3 Away/Resume with ST

Continuing the discussion from Official Ecobee 3 Integration:

IMHO the ST control for Ecobee only needs to do 2 control commands:

  • Permanent Away: set the Ecobee to Away when the ST changes it’s Mode to Away and
  • Resume to normal Ecobee schedule when the Mode changes back to Home, Dusk, etc.

This is simple and you don’t need to define temperature settings in ST.
The Ecobee has very good scheduling functions allowing to contour the desired temperature band to the time of use electricity schedule provided by your utility (off-peak, on-peak, super-peak on weekdays, one band on weekends). In addition Ecobee allows you to define the Away temperature band. So, the only thing you really need the ST for, is to tell Ecobee when you are Away and when you are back. That’s it. Nothing more.

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Hi @HubertHafner,

On my side, I have many ecobee climates defined as I want to maximize energy savings during the whole week.

For example, you may want to set your ecobee thermostat’s settings lower at nights & in the mornings to avoid heating/cooling your home when you’re still asleep.

Also, there may be some specific time of the day where you want to run your fan for better air circulation.

My ecobee thermostat is also connected to my humidifier/dehumidifier and my HRV, and at summer time, I like to use the free cooling feature available. I have also some smart vents that I use to heat/cool specific zones in my house during the day.

For all these reasons, the basic “away” and “present” approach is not sufficient for a lot of ecobee users.

That’s why I created a custom ecobee device which brings much more features than the stock ecobee device, as it allows you to fully take advantage of the rich ecobee APIs…

All the additional features are available now. See this thread for more details:

Regards.

If that’s what works for you than you only need to use those 2 commands. For others that their lifestyle or work schedule differs, you need more commands.

For instance, my thermostat is programmed for me to be away from 7 am to 4 pm so my settings are 55 heat 80 cool.

The aforementioned would be my “Resume” schedule when I decide to come home early and work…wouldn’t be a good plan.

I use away indefinite, sleep next transition, home next transition, resume schedule all depending on if anyone else is home and time of day.

Not sure I understand your logic. I am starting with the premise that I have geofencing configured using my and my wife’s iPhones. Thus I don’t need to schedule any away time up front. I schedule the Ecobee as if I am always at home and I set the Away band independently of schedules. I have it at 65/85.
Having done so, whenever both of us are not at home the ST switches the Ecobee to the Away band. This way, if one of us is sick, stays or works from home, the heating or cooling does not automatically switch to Away. Same logic if we both are gone for several days. This is the value proposition for the ST/Ecobee integration, at least for me: hands off, smart automation that automatically helps you save money without loosing comfort. ST knows when I am not at home, it just needs to tell Ecobee.
Unfortunately the current ST Ecobee App only allows me to define a band and not simply to set Away. It also does not allow to switch from a permanent hold to resume normal schedule. I either have to schedule all the bands with ST or I loose my Away setting at the next schedule point of Ecobee. Both are less optimal.

Good point. I was not critiquing your application, but the default one that comes with ST. There are so many threats it’s hard to find the correct one. Can you direct me to good one. I’d like my comments to reach the ST Product Manager.

Looks like “MyEcobee Device v4” is the application I need.

I suppose it depends on how reliable you feel / your experience with smartthings is for handling your away and Resume commands.

As mine is set if ST has issues than Ecobee handles just fine. Consider my logic backup.

As yours is set if ST has Oauth issues your thermostat will stay in home mode…correct?

Agreed. I find the ST is not 100% reliable and it sometimes misses to trigger the Away or I am Back routines. I had hoped with V2 this would not occur anymore but it still does and I get false alarms. It still happened this week. I hope this will be solved eventually.

I purchased your SW and it works very well, as expected. I am using the ecobeeChangeMode and ecobeeResumeProg apps.

I also tried to use the app “WindowOrDoorOpen!” but it does not work for my needs. It switches off the Thermostat when the windows are open. This also switches off the fan, which is not what I want/need.
Background information: I have a DC fan. This is highly efficient and thus I run my fan 24x7 which keeps the temperature in my house homogeneous.

I thus would like to propose an improvement:

In Summer, when the HVAC is cooling, but the windows or doors are open:

  • Outside temperature > Inside temperature: switch off the thermostat (this will prevent distribution of heat that comes through the open window)
  • Outside temperature < Inside temperature: switch thermostat to Away (and keep fan running). (this will distribute colder air throughout the house)

In Winter, in heat mode, inverse the logic.

@HubertHafner,

The thermostat is an optional parameter in WindowOrDoorOpen!, so if you do not want
the thermostat to be turned off, just omit this parameter.

Some of your requested features above would require some custom development and
some consulting fees are involved.

If you’re still interested, contact me at services@maisonsecomatiq.com.

Regards.

How can I set up so that the EcoBee utilizes the built in Geofence on the ST in addition to the sensors for updating home/away?

I use CoRE to setup custom rules for the ecobee integration. I know that there are smart apps that can accomplish this but I rather have full control of my stats and rules.

Here is an example of a Piston that I use to override the ecobee’s built in scheduling. I have a Virtual Switch that controls both of my stats and I use Alexa to say turn On/Off HVAC which in the Alexa App is Air or Heat.

Works Great! Have noticed a significant amount in energy savings.

The HVAC switch is also tied to my I’m Back and I’m Gone Routines so the updates are way faster than using the built in EcoBee settings.

It’s an old post but for someone like me looking for a simple solution below works. Install and use the mode/routine/program child handler.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-free-ecobee-suite-version-1-6-1/132248

BTW, I got the device in use error when trying to save. I had to remove two newly created ecobeeXXX devices from the device list first and then I can save and configure.

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