*** No longer supported *** [OBSOLETE] Introducing ScheduleTstatZones: multi zoned heating/cooling solution for your home

Hi,
I have recently installed Honeywell Evohome. Their app is pretty poor. I’m a little unclear can I use your app to schedule and control Evohome, which zones are integrated into ST. Thanks

@davidj, yes, it can control any ST connected thermostat. What do you mean by “which zones are integrated into ST”, you can configure your own zones (composed of 1 to many rooms)?

Regards.

I was merely saying that I have Evohome set up in ST already. Thanks i’ll give it a try.

Hi,

Today, I sent out a new major version of my Zoned Heating/Cooling solutions to all my active contributors.

The new versions enable dynamic temp adjustments (+/- degrees) based on the thermostat’s setpoints for warmer/cooler zones inside the home.

This feature is added to the long list of features of the smartapps, amongst others:

  • Ability to schedule the thermostat’s setpoints and to set some predefined vent levels in different rooms permanently or only for some schedules (ex. at Night) temporarily

  • Ability to control the vents based on all ST connected sensors: contact, motion, and presence sensors (using the ST hello modes and routines)

The new versions are available now at my store:

This looks pretty cool, wanted to confirm it could resolve a problem w/our home.

We have a ranch style house, aligned along North/South, and south end of the house (living room/office/family room) is always warmer than the north end (bedrooms). So we get:

  • Winter: Heat enough to warm south end, and then the north end is too cold.
  • Summer: Cool enough to cool south end, and then the north end is again too cold.

So it seems like I could use the smart vents and smartapps/DTHs, to set up a system where the temperature is balanced across the house, with the hotter south end getting less heat/more cooling, and the cooler north end geting more heat, less cooling.

Assuming above is true, the HW to do this would be:

  • 9 smart vents to replace the 9 “dumb” vents we have in the house
  • Temp sensors in each room

Questions:

  1. My Nest thermostat is programmed w/several temperature ranges during the day - I have temperature range settings for early AM, mid-morning to afternoon, afternoon to evening, and then bedtime. Does this system support that level of control?
  2. Do the current vents on the Keen site include the pressure sensor? Can’t find a model number on them on the site.
  3. If we only replace a subset of vents (in the too cold and too warm rooms) does that really work well? Seems like the remaining dumb vents would siphon off hot/cold air and make it harder for the system to balance temperatures properly.

Thanks!

Hi, as you asked the same questions in my other thread, I answered them over there:

Regards.

1 Like

@yvesracine

First off, thanks again for your work here.

I have been using this SmartApp for quite a while, but only in testing. Since I didn’t have a smart tstat actually connected to my real HVAC system, I’ve never really gone through and configured the whole thing. Now that I’m in that process, I’m confused…

I see that I can create up to 12 schedules.
In any one of them, I see how to set the start and end time.

However, I don’t see an option to add a second set of setpoint change times on the same day.
e.g. On Monday’s, I want the temp to go up to a certain temp at the time we wake up in the morning, and then go back down when we leave for work, and then go back up when we get home from work, and then go back down when we go to sleep at night.

With the way it looks in here right now, this would require two schedules (whereas, I’m used to tstat scheduling systems that allow for all of that in a single Day schedule).

Am I missing something?

Yes, if you have different setpoints at different times of the day, then to you need to create different schedules for mornings, evenings, etc.

For more details about configuration, please refer to

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=ScheduleTstatZones#Configuration

Regards

1 Like

OK, thanks. :slight_smile:
With that setup, I would need more than 12 schedules. So, I think I may just end up doing my Thermostat scheduling in CoRE or something like that.

EDIT: Or…I don’t know…I’m going to rethink how I use the 12 schedules and see if I can get done what I want here…

I’m sure that 12 schedules is enough… You could have the same schedule for weekdays’ mornings, the same one for weekdays’ evenings, a different one for the weekends’ mornings, another one for weekends’ evenings and so on.

Regards

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Yes. I get that. It’s just that, with our various work schedules, etc, every day is different, and none are exactly the same. I think the only things that are exactly the same are wake and sleep times. lol

I will give it a try, and see if I can make it work…

@yvesracine

Sorry, but one more question…
Is it possible to have more than one copy of this SmartApp installed at a time?
If so, I would use a separate one for each season.

Hi, yes, you need to rename the smartapp on the last page.

Regards.

1 Like

Hi,

Today I released a new version of my Zoned Heating/Cooling smartapps (ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule v7.2.6) & ScheduleTstatZones v7.2.3) with a new settings in the General Setup Page.

The thermostat’s setpoints can now be adjusted based on a choice of calculation methods
using all temps collected at the indoor temp sensors:

  • Avg (Average) which is the default (this is similar to the ecobee’s follow me feature)
  • Med (Median)
  • Min (MInimum)
  • Max (Maximum)
  • Heat Min/Cool Max: this method will take the minimum when the tstat’s mode is heating or the maximum when the tstat’s mode is cooling (useful when tstat’s mode is auto).

The new versions of the smartapps are available at my store:

www.ecomatiqhomes.com/store

For more details on the smartapps, refer to the ST community wiki:

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

Hi,

Today I released new versions of my Zoned Heating/Cooling smartapps (ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule & ScheduleTstatZones v7.3, ScheduleRoomTempControl v3.3) with new HVAC Pressure checks.

  • Added new baseline pressure sensor configuration in Rooms Setup page for checking the vent pressure vs. a given sensor’s baseline pressure.
  • Modified the Config Page to display the baseline pressure, the vent pressure, and the offset between the vent pressure and the baseline pressure. The offset
    should be around 0.5-0.8 inches of water (124.54-200 Pa) which is the maximum static pressure in a standard HVAC (residential).
  • Ideally, the baseline pressure sensor should be located in the main supply plenum, just after the furnace. Otherwise, you may also place a pressure sensor
    in the same room as the vent, but you’d need to fine tune the offset (as the range in Pa above would likely not be right) in the GeneralSetup page accordingly.
  • The standard pressure offset (124.54 Pa) in the General Setup page can be modified under the safeguards section according to your own HVAC specifications.
    - Made some design changes to avoid ST runtime timeouts (due to rate limiting) in the smartapps (observed sometimes when a lot of rooms/zones/vents are configured).

The new versions of the smartapps are available at my store:

www.ecomatiqhomes.com/store

For more details on the smartapps, refer to the ST community wiki:

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

P.S. The new versions have been distributed to all my active contributors.

Regards.

Hi,

I’ve sent out a new version of ScheduleTstatZones to all my active contributors today.

  • The smartapp has now better support for Nest thermostats (especially when using the Nest Manager DTH).

The Nest Manager DTH nullifies the cooling setpoint when the tstat is heating and does the same with the heating setpoint when cooling (which is not standard under the ST platform).

The code now implements a workaround to supply default values in all cases.

The new version is available for download at my store.

Regards.

1 Like

To whom it may concern,

I’m about to release a new release (v7.4) of my zoned Heating/Cooling solutions with new contact Sensor Logic

  • Allows you to invert the default logic of the contact Sensor(s): when contact is left open=> keep the vent open instead of closing it (default behavior:useful for windows or entry doors ).

  • The new contact logic uses event handlers for immediate action when the door/window contacts are open/closed.

For all contributors, make sure to follow the update procedure in order to get the new release.

The updated version is also available now at my store.

Regards

Yesterday, I released a new version of my zoned Heating/Cooling Solutions (v7.4.2) which now allows to specify a temp differential to be applied to room/zone thermostats based on the Schedules’ cooling/heating setpoints in order to have warmer or cooler zoned rooms.

Those new zone’ input parameters allows for more better adjustments of portable heaters, eTRVs, hot valves, radiators, windows or split AC units which act as secondary cooling/heating units in your house.

The new version of ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule and ScheduleTstatZones is available for download at my store and has been distributed to all my active contributors.

I’ve just released new versions of the zoned Heating/Cooling solution smartapps to all my active contributors. The new versions take advantage of the new Message Queue mechanisms put in place in Ask Alexa.

  • My Zoned Heating/Cooling solution smartapps can also send any informational (current zone(s) and schedules running) or exception events to your chosen Ask Alexa’s Message Queue(s) as verbal notifications;

  • The new settings are part of the “Notification and Other settings” page. You can specify the logging level (INFO, WARN, ERROR) to be sent to Ask Alexa according to your own requirements.

The new versions can be downloaded now at my store:

Regards.

Hi,

I just released a new version this past week of this popular app with additional features for zone/room thermostats

  • The smartapp is now able to turn off any room/zone thermostats that are not part of the scheduled zone(s) at a given time of the day;

  • The smartapp is also able to automatically control the fan mode & speed of any room/zone thermostats based on the temp differential between the room’s ambient temperature and the desired setpoints for the schedule zone(s).

The new version (v.7.6.2) is available for download at my store.

www.ecomatiqhomes.com/store

As a reminder, the smartapp uses the main thermostat’s settings as a baseline for controlling the zone/room thermostats (thermostat mode, setpoints) which are considered slaves to the master. The zones can be virtual or physical (i.e. orchestrated with smart vents to “close” a specific zone where the airflow is directed inside your home).

You can also enter a delta temperature for the scheduled zone(s) to make a zone (composed of 1 to many rooms) cooler or hotter.

The room thermostats are useful to control baseboards, eTRVs (water valves), portable heaters/coolers, mini/windows splits, etc.

P.S. All my contributors who have followed the updates procedure should have received the update by now. Otherwise, check your spam or trash folders.

Regards.