Keen Smart Home Vents

[johnconstantelo]

Just to let you know, my zoned heating/cooling smartapps use the pressure in Pa reported by the vents

Yep, I was just looking at your code @yvesracine. I personally don’t use it, but if others are, I’ll change mine back. Github will be updated shortly.

[heatherdiamondfour (Mrs. Diamond)]

findings

Any update on if you feel they are worth the investment?

[Thayios (Eric)]

By no fault of Yves app, I decided to offload my vents finally (new house, half fit, and I didn’t want to hunt down vents). I had issues with them staying connected and keeping up with the logic, but I also think that was highly related to my GE Link bulbs that I got rid of finally.

I do think they drop the CFM a bit at the register compared to one without the electronics in the way.

If someone came out and did this in Z-Wave, with a less restrictive vent design, I would go for it.

[yvesracine]

Hi Eric,
Have you tried to use the Keen Home Hub as a ZigBee repeater? I had some disconnect issues at the beginning, but by adding a ZigBee repeater, I solved the disconnect issues.

Refer to

Hi Christopher, Just by adding the Keen Home hub to ST, it becomes a de facto zigbee repeater. No device handler is required to do so, it is just a generic device then. I’ve done it myself and I haven’t had any disconnected smart vents since then. My house is around 2700 sqf… Here are the instructions to do it: From: Will from Keen Home will@keenhome.io Sent: Monday, February 8, 2016 5:10 PM Subject: Re: Hi, how can I connect the bridge to my Smartthings hub to act as a … Hi, You can add a Smart Bridge as a repeater to SmartThings by going into the smart things app and adding it as a generic zigbee device: Plug smart bridge into power but not ethernet (if you’ve already plugged it into ethernet, you can reset it by holding down the button on the bottom for 5 seconds). …

Regards.

[Thayios (Eric)]

I had one and it didn’t make a difference. My finger still points at the GE Links bulb being the culprit.

[yvesracine]

Here are some testimonials under my SmartThings thread:

[RELEASE] New version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions

I’ve been using Yves’ heating/cooling solutions apps for almost 10 months now with my 4 Keen smart vents. My 2nd floor bedrooms were always much too hot in the summer & cold in the winter due to a poor design by the HVAC “professionals”. Now with the Keen Smart Vents and Yves’ app, my first and 2nd floors are balanced to within 2 degrees. I don’t let the vents close to less than 20% and with only 4 smart vents it doesn’t put too much back pressure on the system. This setup saved me $7500 which was the quote I got to convert my HVAC system to 2 ducted zones.

[RELEASE] New version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions

yvesracine - this is really a great app and well worth every penny in my opinion. I’m using it with 28 keen vents, 2 ecobee3’s with 12 remote sensors and it’s done a fantastic job at zoning and keeping each room at very similar temps. Thanks!

[RELEASE] New version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions

I recently started using your Smartthings App - zoned heating/cooling with 6 Keen Smart Vents and 2 Samsung Motion/Temperature Sensors for a recently finished basement. My Furnace Thermostat is on the first floor and does a great job of keeping that floor at 70 degrees, however; my basement temperature would fluctuate. With your app and the 2 Samsung Motion/Temperature Sensors, I can keep the basement from becoming over-heated (I set the temperature for heating to 70 degrees for the 2 zones I created and use the Samsung sensors to read that temperature.) I am thinking of purchasing an Ecobee 3 Thermostat to put in the basement (mainly as a way to allow people to think they are setting the basement thermostat.) This would replace me setting a threshold temperature in the Smart Things ap…

[RELEASE] New version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions

Excellent SmartApp and a great example of real integration using ST. I replaced all my vents with Keen, have a nest thermostat and ST with ScheduleTstatZones SmartApp from @yvesracine ruling them all. The Smartapp has soooo many features that you will definitely find the combination of settings that works for your house. The app is being improved constantly through updates and the developer is always available to answers questions quickly.

[RELEASE] New version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions

Great Smart App. My Setup is an Ecobee3 with 8 sensors and 7 comfort settings. SmartThings with 5 ST Temp/Humidity sensors, 3 EcoNet Controls smart vents, and 6 (so far) Keen Home smart vents. Was able to integrate it all into the app and run it with the Ecobee3 comfort profiles. In the app I have set up 6 rooms, 5 zones, and all 7 schedules. One of my comfort settings/schedules excludes the E3 remote temp sensors and closes the vents in my 2 bedrooms on Wednesday and Thursday when nobody is there. The main one of many features that I like and sets this app above the Keen Home app and others is the ability to open all the vents when the E3 is set to fan on to circulate the air in the main level and basement. Next up for me will be setup a smart outlet in the basement to power a fan …

[RELEASE] New version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions

I’m just beginning to realize how powerful this solution can be. Living in Arizona is hard on any cooling system during the summer. I’m definitely interested in exploring the benefits of smart vents. I’ve been very satisfied using the ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule smartapp to control my ecobee 3 thermostat and sensors. Adding smart vents to my system may be the next step for me.

[RELEASE] New version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions

Great work! I upgrade from an older version of ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule, to the new V8.1.4. Lot’s of changes, and new functionalality, easy upgrade and works great. I have 20 keen vents all being driven by two ecobee’s and being controlled by your app. Very cool! THX

[RELEASE] Resilient - My Ecobee Device & ecosystem v5 - The smartest thermostat under ST with new "comfort tips" features and Unique Integration with Echo/Ask Alexa

OK so this is an unsolicited post of praise. We have been using this SmartApp for about a week. I purchased this app ONLY to control and give me action routines on the Ecobee sensors and system. What I didn’t expect (and am quite delighted in) is the comfort settings. Our home has two rooms on the second floor which are always colder than the others. Even when an Ecobee sensor is in the room there isn’t much difference in comfort. After installing this SmartApp (and encouraging the wifey NOT to change the settings on the Ecobee) we have experienced three days of incredible comfort even with the outside temperature being -13 degrees. I am quite amazed how the entire house maintained 68 degrees and it was all done through the single stage furnace I have. I just want to say THANK YOU …

P.S. And, now my zoned Heating/Cooling solutions work much better with Nest using this DTH:

[RELEASE] Resilient MyNextManager & MyNext Devices for your Nest® products with native UI (for faster rendering on Android/iOS) & all ST standard capabilities + high refresh rates + No complicated developer account setup!

I’m happy to announce a new alternative for ST users who have Nest products at home. This new alternative leverages the standard ST UI (for faster rendering on both Android & iOS) & all ST standard capabilities plus new features from the Nest APIs for better synergy between the 2 ecosystems (ex. setETA for geofencing and comfort & energy saving tips with the NestGetTips smartapp and voice commands). With my code, there is no need to create a Nest Developer account and set up different permissions as Nest has authorized MyNextManager app for many users. This simplifies the Nest Setup process a lot for the end users and avoid subsequent errors/exceptions in operations. The code has been designed to work with an ecosystem of smartapps acting as “micro services”. The design is NOT a big m…

[Tvot84]

Way back when these vents first came out, there were a few community members that rigged up pressure meters/sensors trying to do something with that value, but nothing ever came about figuring out a good use for that value.

Would a pressure meter be able to be used to alert you the air filter needs changing? For example: normal pressure (when active) drops by so much.

[Benji]

I had one and it didn’t make a difference. My finger still points at the GE Links bulb being the culprit.

Almost certainly, if they were acting as relay points in the mesh to some of your vents then yes, it’s highly likely the issues you experienced were because of your GE Link bulbs.

[johnconstantelo]

My finger still points at the GE Links bulb being the culprit.

I got rid of all my GE Links (except the Daylight version). One of the best things I’ve done to improve my zigbee mesh.

[johnconstantelo]

Would a pressure meter be able to be used to alert you the air filter needs changing? For example: normal pressure (when active) drops by so much.

When these vents first came out, we all thought you’d be able to do something like that. @yvesracine’s app’s use pressure for safeguard purposes, but not really for a use case like yours. It would be nice though. Perhaps he can chime it.

[yvesracine]

The pressure differential would certainly vary from one furnace to another, and probably from one filter to another… So, I don’t see a systematic algorithm to do this in a reliable way…

My 2 cents.

[Automatic00]

Hi- is anyone else experiencing delayed responses from these Keen vents, or sometimes no response at all until a soft reset?

Any advise as to how to increase reliability and/or repose time of these vents?

[yvesracine]

Hi,

You can use a zigbee repeater to avoid disconnects. The Keen home hub can be paired to the SmartThings hub to act as a repeater. See the instructions in my previous post in this thread:

Keen Smart Home Vents

Hi Christopher, Just by adding the Keen Home hub to ST, it becomes a de facto zigbee repeater. No device handler is required to do so, it is just a generic device then. I’ve done it myself and I haven’t had any disconnected smart vents since then. My house is around 2700 sqf… Here are the instructions to do it: From: Will from Keen Home will@keenhome.io Sent: Monday, February 8, 2016 5:10 PM Subject: Re: Hi, how can I connect the bridge to my Smartthings hub to act as a … Hi, You can add a Smart Bridge as a repeater to SmartThings by going into the smart things app and adding it as a generic zigbee device: Plug smart bridge into power but not ethernet (if you’ve already plugged it into ethernet, you can reset it by holding down the button on the bottom for 5 seconds). In the S…

Regards

[Automatic00]

Thanks for the help. I’ll try that. I have a few filters on order, so I guess I’ll be adding to it now.
That’s the price we pay for greatness

[LadySapphy (Megan)]

I have random vents that “lose” connection. what it really is, is the batteries expand and shrink as the temp in the vent swings and eventually get “stuck” in such a way they loose contact.

Things I have done to make that better

• pulled the foam off one side to make the batteries more loose in the battery holder.

• pulled the springs a little to make them taller.

Please Note, These are fixes I have done, and am not telling you you should do it too. If you break your vent or void anything, that is on you.

[pcotter (Paul Cotter)]

I just purchased the scheduletsatZones app a few days ago, and I have 8 rooms with 6 zones configured. Each of the rooms has a temperature sensor assigned, and each of the zones has a cooling offset applied. However, I am noticing that none of my vents are opening more than 25%, even when the room is far out of range of the set temperature (e.g. 80 vs. a set temp of 72). Any idea why this would happen?

[yvesracine]

Hi @pcotter,

As indicated in the installation file (in the downloaded zip), all the use cases for the ScheduleTstatZones smartapp are documented at the ST community wiki.

• First, have you set up the vent control settings in GeneralSetup?

ScheduleTstatZones has many features and you need to set up the vent control flag to true in order to control the vents (the default is false).

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=ScheduleTstatZones#Use_case_.234:_I_want_to_control_my_smart_vents_to_create_my_physical_zones_using_the_smartapp

• If the vent control flag is set, could you send some logs from the IDE using Live logging?

It`s hard for me to tell you if you have some configuration issues without any logs…

Refer to the ST community wiki for more details:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=ScheduleTstatZones#Use_case_.2314:_I_want_detailed_logging.2FNotifications_or_I_want_to_enable_Ask_Alexa_Notifications

And, send me the logs to services@maisonsecomatiq.com.
Regards.

EDIT: After checking your logs, the issue is the custom DTH that you are using which returns “program” as the thermostatMode and does not follow the ST standard capabilities. My smartapp cannot then determine if your thermostat is in cool, heat, or auto mode.

[pcotter (Paul Cotter)]

#1 - yes, that is enabled.

#2 - I will send you the logs I have for now, let me know if you need more

[BatraD (Devesh Batra)]

is there a DH for the Keen Vents that will let them execute locally ?
Trying to reduce my cloud dependency if possible and will probably switch to a ZWAVE thermostat and get rid of the ecobee

thanks

[nathancu (Nathan Curtis)]

There is currently no such thing as a custom DTH that executes locally. Only ST built device handlers get that privelige…