Im deciding whether or not to get a smart thermostat [Nest, Ecobee3] but i just wanted to get an idea of the potential use cases. Im sure this has been beat to death but i havent been able to find a list of what a smart thermostat can offer, specifically when integrated into Smartthings.
From what ive gathered, a therm. can learn when i like it cooler/warmer, do auto away, and managing my two zones through remote temp/humidity sensors (can nest do this?).
I will have in my new condo 2 thermostats with auto closing air duct dampers and a whole home de/humidifier.
It seems to me like this is a large cost for an overall low impact result. Am I missing anything?
I only have 1 zone in my house, and I just started HA with ST Hub V2, so I donāt have many of the things you will be utilizing.
For those reasons, I went with the Fidure TStat for $59 that can do everything except ālearnā your desired temps.
I have my Fidure TStat set temps based upon presence using Rule Machine, so I donāt need any learning feature provided by the TStat.
As far as the return on investment, it is a long-term return. But, I like the fact that my house automagically changes to a comfortable temp when any of us are home, and adjusts up/down when we all leave.
In my case, I had some of my Nests purchased before I invested into ST. Besides that, here are good reasons to invest in Nest/Ecobee:
Aesthetics - Some of the cheaper thermostats donāt look as visually appealing. Some people have to mount their thermostats in visible areas. People spend money on art and decor, so spending some extra on a good looking thermostat goes along those lines. Now, if your thermostat is hidden, itās not such a big deal.
Reliability - While Iāve had issues with Nestās reliability over the past couple of years, itās still far more stable than ST. Now Nest integrates with my alarm system, SimpliSafe to activate Home and Away modes in my Nest when I come and go in the house and not have to rely on flakey ST mobile presence. Nest offers a number of cool integrations as part of the āWorks with Nestā program.
Both points made above by @JH1 are the reasons I didnāt invest in Nest/Ecobee, plus I didnāt want a wifi thermo and having to integrate ST with their APIās.
My choice for thermos was Evolveās T100R in white (you can get black, but itās hard) with the glass face. Looks great, and works flawlessly with ST:
All good point which is more or less what i suspected. I am, however, a gadget nerd. Haha. Just looking for someone to tell me a nest/ecobee changed their life.
Nice thread - Iām in the same scenario you are it sounds like - trying to determine which smart thermostat to get (or even if I should just wait and address it later).
@johnconstantelo@JH1 - have you run into any issues with ST reliability since the connection is depending on the ST hub as opposed to something like Nest, which has itās own connectivity (which also can have downsides as well I know)ā¦
I use them to adjust the temps for 3 major catagories - Home Night, Home Day, Away.
These, despite STās issues, have always worked. And the thermos are adjustable on the wall, so there is always a backup.
As was mentioned, Nest has issues as well. I want one place to manage my Smart Homeā¦ and try to avoid cloud to cloud integration whenever possible as this is just complication.
I use an Ecobee 3, and it is very useful in my 1500 sq. ft. home. The remote sensors are unique, and allow me to control the temperature in my master bedroom or the LR when watching TV, while the rest of the house cools off.
Aside the from that, and the ease of programming it, thereās really only a small financial advantage, but the potential advantage in comfort is considerable.
I also use Keen Smart Vents for various reasons, but I see no need to connect them to the E3, and to date, that doesnāt work reliably anyway.
I used to own two ecobee siāsā¦
They were too smart, I kept fighting the built in schedules, so I ditched them in favor of a zen and a perl. Much happier with dumb zigbee thermostats.
Same comments as @JH1. Iām one of the lucky few where my issues with ST have been nowhere near what others experience. It could be that my mesh networks are large and dense, or I limit things like 3rd party APIās (Harmony, Sonos, etc).
The seller listing the Evolve T100r on eBay confirmed itās the glass faced version. If I had to get another, this is a good deal. btw - Iām not the seller
Haha. Didnāt even cross my mind that youād be the seller.
Thatās certainly at the top of my wish list right now.
bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
15
I have two Honeywell Zwave thermostats. They are just your average looking devices.
I started with dumb ones, I hated them.
I moved to a Wi-Fi Honeywell setup. Hated it. The cloud to cloud integration really sucked. It was always losing connection and I ended up having to use the Honeywell app. Kind of defeated my purpose of HA.
I then got the cheap Zwave thermos, like the ct100 I think. They might of been like the ct30. Either way, they sucked. Very slow to respond. No backup on device programming.
Finally I got the Zwave Honeywell thermos. Model 8320. I love them! Instant response to the hub. Never had a single problem with them. Programming available at the device. Fully programmable via the ST app.
I like to keep my system basic but still do everything I want.
My thermos run on auto 99% of the time. The upstairs thermo is on auto with a 5Ā° range. It never changes unless the wife is inconsiderable and changes it via the app.
The downstairs thermo is the same way, except that when I go into āgoodnightā the thermo is set to 65 great and 78 cool. In the morning when āgood morningā occurs the temps are automatically readjusted.
Agreed. Anything cloud to cloud has been terrible for me. Loved my Ecobee3 but it disconnected every other day. I would go with a zigbee/ z-wave device so there is no cloud to cloud issue.
Using the Honeywell touchscreen thermostat. Works great. When everyone is gone, it goes to 18 deg. C and returns to 23 when someone arrives. We can also trigger the setback or restore routines manually if necessary. When we go to bed, we set it to schedule mode.
Using the ecobee Smart Si here. Iāve integrated it with ST using a simulated switch as a trigger for IFTTT actions. The simulated switch is toggled by āIām back!ā and āGoodbye!ā routines. The Goodbye routine turns off the switch, triggering IFTTT to run the ecobee āAwayā comfort profile. Conversely, the Iām back routine turns the switch back on to run the ecobee āHomeā profile. The IFTTT routines are set the run a profile until the next scheduled ecobee action, so the established ecobee schedules are followed, for example for Sleep and Awake profiles.
I went with Ecobee3ās, mostly for the remote sensors. I have 2200 sq/ft and rooms I never use but also more importantly to me is being comfortable in the rooms I care about. Reason why instead of anything elseā¦ Iām fine with my t-stat being a t-stat. It knowing when I leave or return so far has been great. Sure it might take a little longer to know I am gone than ST, but instant āgoneā isnt a concern. I so rarely touch my t-stat and so rarely am concerned with āa centralā control. I set the t-stat and so far have forgot that its there. It has surprised me more than once when I work from home and think āoh i should tell the t-stat im going to be hereā, and to find out it already had set itself to home mode.
I may not have the most complicated ST setup, but it does what I want which is a lot of lighting control. I once put in the ecobee code to pull it into STā¦and honestly never used it so I removed it. I just dont see a need personally, to have ST control it or even know about it.
