I have a few keen vents and keen temp sensors. I got the vents and temp sensors to pair and work with ST. Now is there a smart app that will open and close the vents based on a set temperature of the room by taking temp readings from the sensors? I have the keen hub but it goes down to much. I want to do what the keen app does and more.
Yes, you’ll find several smartapps below depending on your thermostat models (ecobee or others) and your use cases. The zoning smartapp can even create some virtual zone devices for better control of your own custom zones inside your home.
Do you want just to open at 100%/close the vents based on some cooling/heating temp thresholds for each room or you want proportional vent control based on your temp sensors?
For more details, refer to
Regards.
I would like to have them open and close to maintain a set temperature by reading the sensors. I seen your post and I used the device handler but Im having a hard time setting up the rules or smart app. sorry im still learning.
Update: for the smart app I should use this one that say (Works with Any ST Connected thermostat, temp/motion/contact sensors & smart vents)
Do you have any walk through videos lol. This app has alot of stuff witch is great but I just want the vents to open and close to keep the room at a set temperature.
Hi, there is no videos, but there is a community wiki where the use cases are explained.
https://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=ScheduleRoomTempControl#Configuration
For your use case, depending if you have a thermostat exposed to SmartThings or not, you just need to set up your rooms with your room’s temp/motion/contact sensors, and indicate your vents under RoomSetup>VentSettings. The main benefit of inputting a thermostat in the smartapp is that you can then orchestrate your smart vents with your thermostat’s heating/cooling setpoints.
After doing this, you can set up your zones (composed of 1 to many rooms) with your temp thresholds for each zone. You can indicate static temp thresholds (ex. cooling threshold 72F, heating threshold 70F) or dynamic ones based on the thermostat’s setpoints - if any (ex. +/- 2F based on the setpoints for each of your zones). When created (optional), the virtual zone devices can override those temp deltas for easier control of your colder/hotter rooms.
After setting up your zones, you have to set up your schedules which trigger your zones at a given day/time.
That’s it.
For more details, refer to the ST community wiki (link above).
If you need my expertise to help you with the best configuration for your home, then please contribute to my consulting services at my store. I will then ask your questions about your house layout & insulation level, your lifestyle, etc, and recommend the best configuration for your needs.
Regards.
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Thanks so much, ill take a look at the link. I asked keen if they had a way to kick the room out of unoccupied when someone walked in the room and they said no. Looks like I can do that with your app, this is going to be fun 
Thanks
Hi rhconcepts,
I am planning to buy the keenhome vents and was wondering if can share with me your views about the product and your reasons for installing smart vents.
Thanks for your help.
I have 2 videos on YouTube
And
They might help, if you have more questions feel free to email me at rhconcepts11@gmail.com
Hi Rick, thank you for mentioning my company name (www.ecomatiqhomes.com) in your video under your YouTube channel…
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I see you found it on the one video and I just added it to the other one.
Thanks Ricky for sharing the youtube and your insight.
You clearly have a unique insight into this segment, Another follow up question if you do not mind: is temperature variation between different rooms a common problem in single family homes? and in your opinion, which factors are more relevant to consumers: improving comfort inside the home or reduce energy consumption as many smart vent vendors claim that their solution reduce energy consumption?
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts
I would say every house is definitely different on the way the heating and cooling ductwork is set up. In my house one room is just above the furnace so it is the first feed off the main Plenum. That room definitely benefits from a smart vent. When that room is closed I do notice more airflow coming out of the vents at the end of the line. As for energy-saving I don’t think it does much at all, but it definitely evens the temperature between the rooms. The best part of smart vents is they can work with other devices in your home, so if a guest room is not being used the vents will remain closed. I suppose that could save some money but it would be pretty hard to calculate and see if it is saving you money.
And one thing people worry about is pressure build up in the system. Many people worry that if too many vents are closed it could damage the furnace motor because of pressure buildup. When I had my furnace replaced I brought my concerns to the installer. He said he could build a chamber under the furnace to help relieve static pressure buildup. Now the motor can flow freely if too many vents are closed.
In the end all my rooms maintain a set temperature except for the basement, cold air will always drop. So in the summer the basement is always much cooler.
Hope this helps
And, for a limited time, there is a huge discount on keen smart vents
WAREHOUSE CLEARANCE SALE!
As part of our merger with Ecovent, we’re consolidating our warehousing and logistics solutions and we have a bit of inventory remaining at our old warehouse. Instead of paying to pack this inventory up, ship it, and re-stock it, we’re going to pass those savings on to our customers.
While supplies last*:
All discounts already reflected in the store. No discount code required.
Regards
I need to hire you to help setup Keen Vents with Temp Sensor and Bridge…not working properly…Google Nest Thermostat not connecting since Works with Google upgrade.
Looking to connect vents to Smartthings and control with Alexa. I have vents for 3 rooms.
roy.chand@gmail.com
Hi, for the Nest tstat, please contribute to the MyNextBundle at my store.
The consulting services bundle is also offered at my store.
Regards
Hello Yvesracine,
Have a question please.
I have setup/install the Keen vent DTH for all my vents(using your less polling Device Handler) and using the smart vent mamager. I read the instructions on the vents DTH, but how do I change the polling if all I have now is the New Smartthings App? I don’t have the classic app anymore. The instructions are for the Classic App.
Thanks
Hi, You’d need to call the configure() method using WebCore or any other rule engines (ex. Sharptools).
Regards.
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Thanks for the reply. I know there is more than likely a way. I think that it’s above my head though. I tried Sharptools, and couldn’t figure it out. Is there anyway to change to Device Handler code to default to a poll value? Or a way to have the configure button on the new Smartthings app?
May just go back to the Keen App. The only thing I don’t like about their app is that when Ecobee changes something, or the wind blows the wrong way, their app goes down. Sometime for a long time. My Ecobee3 and Keen smart vents seem to work better through Smartthings, but I hate having to go through batteries in the vents like crazy. (Or recharging them alot) Would be nice if it only poll the vent at a longer interval when thermostat is not being used. I would get your Smartapps bundle, but all I want is to be able to have the vents set to a certain temp. per. room. That’s what your Smart vent manager does.
Thanks
Hi again, I’m not planning to make any UI changes at this point as this method should be only called once. You can contact @joshua_lyon if you need help about Sharptools…
The zoning smartapps have the ability to only change the vent level when the tstat is running (not idle)… You may want to use one of my zoning smartapps instead of SmartVentManager for such capabilities…You’d then need MyEcobee bunde which includes the Ecobee DTH, and the zoning smartapp called ecobeeSetZoneWithSchedule. The zoning smartapp can use your existing ecobee climates (comfort settings) for scheduling…
Can you share some details about what you tried?
From what I understand, the general idea would be to create a rule that runs the configure() command on the device and then trigger that rule. Personally, I would just create a rule with only that one action then add the rule to a dashboard so I could trigger it.
(Alternatively, you could add something as the ‘trigger’ for the rule, like a switch turning on, and then activate that switch to trigger the rule)
Edit
Here’s a short clip showing how to add the rule to a dashboard and run it.
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Thanks Joshua And Yvesracine,
I did figure it out. Again, Thanks. Yvesracine, I am getting an error after hitting the Config. Button on some of my vents. I was wondering if you knew anything about it. The vents that I am getting this error on do not seem to be setting the delay polling:
11:02:19 AM: debug description: catchall: 0104 0403 01 01 0000 00 022F 00 00 0000 01 01 200086
11:02:19 AM: error java.lang.NumberFormatException: null @line 88 (parse)
Thanks