[RELEASE] Smart Vent Manager - smartapp commissioned by Keen Home

Has anyone noticed that when a vent is open (100% for my case) and a room becomes unoccupied (using motion sensors), the vent remains open (100%) for the remainder of the unoccupied period? From an energy conservation standpoint, I would think it would make sense to close the vents (20% for my case) when the unoccupied period starts.

Hi, are you using the smartapp with a thermostat or not?

Please note of the following implementation:

  • If a thermostat is provided as input, the smartapp will adjust the vents only if the thermostatā€™s Operating State is not ā€˜idleā€™ (so your HVAC is either ā€˜Heatingā€™ or ā€˜Coolingā€™ or the fan is running).

  • If a thermostat is not provided, it will adjust the vents the next time the vent temperature changes (which should be every 5-10 minutes).

P.S. If this implementation does not suit you, I have some more sophisticated Zoned Cooling/Solutions at my store that allow to ā€œschedule and forceā€ the vent adjustments (every 5 minutes if needed).

http://www.ecomatiqhomes.com/store
Regards.

Is Keen what I need?
We are considering building a small (5Ɨ6) closet in our attic for off season clothes. I would like to tap into our air conditioning supply line in order to moderate the temperature in it. While I donā€™t need it the same temp. as the downstairs, I donā€™t want 120 degrees that the attic can reach in the summer. I was hoping to find a smart vent that would open and close based on the temperature in the closet. So is Keen what I need? Any advice? Thanks.

Hi @jgirvine, refer to my previous post here:

For the moment, Keen Home smart vents are the best quality for the price. Iā€™ve been using them (16 smart vents) for almost 2 years now without any major issues.

And, you can get them for less with this referral link (for $25 less)

Regards.

Thankyouā€¦one more question, do I need the Keen hub if I plan to just use SmartThings? Thanks

Hi @jgirvine,

If your home is a big house, Iā€™d recommend to purchase a Keen Hub as it acts as a zigbee repeater for your vents. The hub will not control your vents directly as the vents will be connected to SmartThings.

My house is 2700 sqf, and I found out that I needed a Keen hub upstairs as some vents were disconnecting from time to time. As soon as I added the hub, the problem disappeared.

If your house is smaller, then you can start without a hub, and then add it later. BTW, I have 2 extra hubs I can sell if anybody is interested.

Regards.

I have 15 keen vents and Iā€™m using two of the Keen hubs as repeaters. Our
house as ~3700sqft on three levels. You may also want to consider using a
Zigbee based receptacle as a repeater so it can serve multiple purposes.
The only reason I went with the Keen hubs over zigbee receptacles is at the
time the keen hub were cheap (you could an find them under $25) and I also
plan to experiment with the Keen / Ecobee direct integration (you will need
the Keen hubs to do this) and hopefully remove my hvac system from
smartthings altogether to help reduce the traffic on the Smartthings hub.
You can usually find the keen vents and hubs on Amazon, Ebay, and at
Lowes at reduced prices.

Thanks, Michael

Iā€™ve purchased two Keen Smart Vents and am eager to get your app working to control them. I followed the instructions and updated the code from Guthub but get an error ā€™ You are not authorized to perform the requested operation" when setting up room#1.

Have I done something wrong? I tried OAuth but that didnt seem to help.

Any support would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi @ravend,

I couldnā€™t reproduce your issue.

You should try againā€¦It could be a temporary ST issue (not my code).

If you still have some issues, just use Live Logging (go to https://graph.api.smartthings.com/ide/logs), click on the name of the smartapp at the top, set detailedNotification to true in the smartapp and send me the logs to services@maisonsecomatiq.com.

Regards.

Thanks. Giving it a try now. Will install the app again from code instead of github too. Ill post the logs if Iā€™m still having trouble.

Thanks.

@ravend, donā€™t post logs in the community forum, there could be some sensitive info about your setup. If there is any issue, send me the logs by email as indicated in my last post.

App was easy to install and setupā€¦thanks.

One issue/question: When the Vent hits the set point it closes, but it never seems to open backup later?

I have an Ecobee3 set as thermostat and sensor for this room/Vent.

Only have 1 Vent installed due to waiting from my preorder.

Hi @sjones0812, it will open when the temp is below the roomā€™s threshold and your HVAC is running (not idle) as indicated in the 1st post.

Regards.

Thanks, I did read thatā€¦but it seemed like it didnā€™t work.

I went back to the setting and adjusted it more and then it opened up. Guess my settings where too close together.

1 question, since this can work with or without a thermostat setup, what is the pros and cons of using or not using a thermostat in the app settings?

Hi,

When you use the smartapp with a thermostat, the vents will be adjusted only when your HVAC is running (not idle) which could save the batteries on the long run. The vents settings are applied only when itā€™s necessary.

When you use it w/o thermostat, the vent settings will be applied every time a change in temperature is detected at any of your vents. Iā€™d recommend to use one of the DTHs I refer to in the 1st post for this kind of configuration.

Regards.

great, makes total sense now.

I did see the note about clicking config not showing anything.

Can I tell from the logs on the IDE what the polling rate is?

Hi @sjones0812, you can tell by clicking on the deviceā€™s list of events and note the new temp reporting time which should be 5-10 min.

Regards

I got it to work by posting the code directly and bypassing the github
integration. Just picked up an ecobee3 and 3 sensors so Iā€™ll be looking at
your other applications too.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

1 Like

Iā€™ve been attempting to connect my Keen vents to Smartthings using the Keen Vent Manager smartapp.

Iā€™ve successfully connected a couple of rooms using the Keen vent in the room coupled with either a Smartthings motion/temperature sensor or a Smartthings temperature/humidity sensor. After getting a couple of rooms successfully connected, when I attempt to add the third room I get an error in the Smartthings app saying ā€œError saving pageā€. Here is the log entry from graph.api:

4:59:54 PM: error org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.typehandling.GroovyCastException: Cannot cast object ā€˜nullā€™ with class ā€˜nullā€™ to class ā€˜floatā€™. Try ā€˜java.lang.Floatā€™ instead @ line 769

Any thoughts?

@Curtis_Edsall,

You must have some null values in Room setup. Review your rooms Setup and complete any room with null values.

To avoid null values, you should use the links inside the app to naviguate instead of using the ā€œbackā€ button of your mobile.

P.S. In some cases, you may have to re-install the smartapp and restart from scratch.
Regards.