Keen Vents - How to control?

I’ve just installed two of these and they are connected to ST. It doesn’t let me do anything other than see the temp and let me force it to close/open.

Also when the heat is on it’s reading 111 degrees and such…

So how is this supposed to work?? Am I missing something?

Check this thread, great discussion going on about the vents…

That sounds about right. Remember, the temp sensor is inside the vent, so it’s measuring the actual air temp in your vents, not the ambient room temperature.

Besides being able to open/close the vent, you should also see a slider bar, similar to a dimmer switch, that allows you to set the opening to any % you want.

And as @SBDOBRESCU just said, check out the thread in his reply for a lot of valuable information. A search for “keen vent” should have found that for you too. It’s a long discussion, so perhaps start at the bottom and work up. You’ll also find a few of us in the community have published custom device handlers that you may want to try as well.

Do I need a Smart Bridge to control the Keen Smart vents, or can this be done via the SmartThings hub?

My vents are 8x10. Is there an adapter for the 6x10 vents to fit?

Nope. You can use the ST default device handler or Community developed ones. ST discovers them just fine. There are also a couple really good SmartApps you should also experiment with, specifically this one:

I had a similar problem with 4x12 vents needing to fit into a larger opening. I was able to make an adapter plate using a solid white plastic cutting board.

You can also check here:

https://www.ponoko.com/account/login

Here’s more info:

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My smartapps are now officially approved by Keen Home:

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

They are available for download at my store:

P.S. The benefits of my smartapps are the following:

  • You can schedule the vents control (ex. at nights, open all my master bedroom’s vents to 100% or let the smartapp calculates the right vent level during the day).

  • My smartapps also work in conjunction with your thermostat’s setpoints to achieve the best comfort. You can not only schedule your thermostat setpoints but also the control of any vents inside a zone based on your rooms’ temp & motion sensors.

  • As an option, the smartapps can open the vents in occupied rooms only with a custom occupied threshold per room. You can use any ST motion sensors to detect occupancy.

  • There are many more features (apart from controlling the vents and setpoints): the smartapps can also average out all temp sensors in the active zones to ajust your setpoints at your thermostat (similar to the ecobee3’s follow me feature, but with more options) and set your smart thermostat to away or present (for Nest, Lyric and ecobee) based on all your motion sensors.

  • Some of my smartapps can also trigger the use of alternative cooling using any ventilator/damper/evaporative cooler/Big Fan switch(es) when some outdoor/indoor conditions are met for maximum energy savings.

Regards.

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The best way to control temperature using the Keen Vents is to use Fibaro Door/Window sensors as accurate and responsive temp sensors, and an application to control the vents based on room temperature.
Don’t even consider the Keen Hub - it’s SW is nearly worthless, as you have noticed.

@EldRitch, good point about the temp sensors (and do no think about the vents’ temp sensors as they are affected by the airflow).

I’d add also that if you have an ecobee3 thermostat, don’t even think about its remote sensors to detect occupancy as they are not meant to be used in real time HA scenarios. The time lag for detecting occupancy is way too long (at a minimum 30 minutes).

The Iris Temp/Motion sensors (2nd gen) can also to be considered as a cheaper alternative to Fibaro.

Regards.

So here’s a suggested feature for controllable register Keen Vents that I haven’t seen, and for which I maintain a copy of a now-withdrawn ST application in order to implement.
The issue is ceiling-mounted registers. These are fine for cooling, but for heating, they are pretty bad.
They heat the upper half of the room until they warm it up down to the thermostat, and when heating stops, it leaves the seating level and floor much colder.
The solution is straightforward with a temperature sensor in the room, and a ST app:

  • if the room temp sensor is a few degrees cooler than the setpoint, open the register wide open to 100%, in order to blow as much hot air downward as hard as possible and produce best-possible circulation.
  • as the room temperature approaches the desired temperature, close the register to 50-70%, to continue warming without superheating the room.
  • when the temperature in the room is at the setpoint, close the register to 10-20%, to maintain comfortable air circulation until the HVAC stops heating.

I’ve also elaborated on this, to close the vent in my bathroom automatically when the system is cooling (and to prevent cold duct air from entering the bathroom during initial heating). I have it set so that if the Keen Vent temperature sensor is lower than 70F, it closes the register to 10% until hot airflow warms the vent.

So that’s the notion - it could be a simple setting - “Celling Register” or perhaps with a second level of more-detailed settings for the temp thresholds.

Hi,

I’ve just released a basic (free) version of my zoned heating/cooling solutions. The smartapp was commissioned by Keen Home.

See this thread for more details:

Regards.

Hi,

I’ve just released new major versions of my zoned heating/cooling solutions (ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule & ScheduleTstatZones v8.0 ) and ScheduleTempControl (v4.0) with the option to create new virtual Zone Devices under ST for easier control of your targeted heating/cooling zones inside your home!!

Here is the new virtual zone UI:

For more details on the zone control possible, refer to the ST community wiki (sections look and feel and configuration):

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=EcobeeSetZoneWithSchedule#Look_.26_Feel
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=EcobeeSetZoneWithSchedule#Use_Case_.2319:_I_want_to_manually_control_my_zone.28s.29_using_virtual_Zone_devices_under_ST

The new code can be downloaded at my store:

www.ecomatiqhomes.com/store

Regards.