NA Home wifi thermostats

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Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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west Texas
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Dave Taylor
Needs:
-programmable (weekly is all I need)
-autochangeover (who actually enjoys Heat/Cold/Off thermostats anyway)
-this is a heat pump with heat strips.
-the air handler seems to have a gradual start, ie it does not come on blasting away - it starts up so slowly you don't notice it starting. I don't think it is a two-stage unit.
-wifi
-optional battery but normal power would be 24v

Shoot this one down.
All I can find is a one-year warranty on it, ick.
 
Check out iris at Lowe's.. the thermostat starter bundle is cheaper than most standalone wifi's... plus it gets you started on all kinds of automation.
 
Well crap - I bought that one I linked to, knowing the ad said "C-wire mandatory" - all the while thinking surely mine has a C wire or I can always find 24V on the attic unit.
Of course it doesn't. At least, not that I can tell - I guess it could have a mislabeled C-wire.

My old unit was battery powered, and has these connections labeled inside it, with wires attached:
G Y R O W2
plus these unused wires: Blu, Blk, Brn

Maybe there is 24v there, but which is the ground I can test each of them with?
 
Missed this, should have bought this one, I just put one in in September. https://www.ecobee.com/ecobee3/

As always, a picture is worth a thousand words. Picture of wiring diagrams from units you are hooking up big plus. Usually on an inside panel. Chances are you have 24v somewhere, and you have extra wires so you should be able to make it run.
 
Well crap - I bought that one I linked to, knowing the ad said "C-wire mandatory" - all the while thinking surely mine has a C wire or I can always find 24V on the attic unit.
Of course it doesn't. At least, not that I can tell - I guess it could have a mislabeled C-wire.

My old unit was battery powered, and has these connections labeled inside it, with wires attached:
G Y R O W2
plus these unused wires: Blu, Blk, Brn

Maybe there is 24v there, but which is the ground I can test each of them with?

Nothing at the thermostat is a ground. This is transformer fed AC not DC.

The C-wire is Common. It goes to the common side of the 24 Volt AC transformer in the system.

R, usually run on red wire, is the power side of the transformer.
C, usually run on black wire, goes to the other terminal of the transformer.

Remember this is AC, so current goes both ways. All the t-stat is doing is closing the circuits, when it wants a service like Heat, Cooling, or Fan.

This web page has a nice electrical diagram about halfway down:

http://www.how-to-wire-it.com/wire-a-thermostat.html

5fb773c26852e39d7c86bc551cf3555a.jpg


What you're doing when adding a Common Wire is giving the thermostat a closed AC loop that's always closed/on and connected to both terminals of the 24 VAC transformer so it can power itself off of that circuit.

All the other circuits, are "normally open" switches inside the t-stat, that the t-stat closes, to "ask for" or "request" things.

Remember the earliest simple thermostats were mechanical and when a coil of metal changed temperature, that would tip over a mercury switch... some mercury inside a glass vial that would make contact between the R and W when it got too cold in the room, and when it warmed back up, the mercury would tip the other way and open that circuit.

Make sense?

Also you want to mention exactly what kind of system you've got there, because if it's a heat pump it gets more complex. And because you say you have O and Y2 connected...
 
Its a heat pump with strips. Have figured ^^ out since posting last, and will be going into attic to connect spare blue wire to C terminal on circuit board or to 'other' side of transformer.
Thanks
 
When I changed some stuff around in my house as part of installing a new heat system, they gave me a portable wifi thermostat. The concept was great. Just carry it into the room where I would be for a while.

Battery life was terrible. Reliability was even worse.

I ended up running the wire to a new location and installing one of those bulletproof dumb thermostats. Ya know, the kind without cheap electronics that will goes tango uniform in less than 5 years.

ymmv
 
Needs:
-programmable (weekly is all I need)
-autochangeover (who actually enjoys Heat/Cold/Off thermostats anyway)
-this is a heat pump with heat strips.
-the air handler seems to have a gradual start, ie it does not come on blasting away - it starts up so slowly you don't notice it starting. I don't think it is a two-stage unit.
-wifi
-optional battery but normal power would be 24v

Shoot this one down.
All I can find is a one-year warranty on it, ick.
I have 2 of these in 2 different houses and really like them. They're not "smart" like the Nest and learn when to change the heat but I don't like that, I want to set my own program. Never had a problem with either unit.
 
I have RadioThermostat (I think that's the brand name). My are Z-Wave but they also make a wifi module. I've seen them at the home centers.
 
Fixed. Have connected C-wire and thermostat is performing as advertised.
Struggled with wifi option to no avail. May try again later.
 
About a year ago I was looking into one of these and found several docs showing how to connect that extra wire. I would have to do that on mine, too. I put off getting the thermostat, though, sort of lost interest. Then, last night, my thermostat crapped out. I messed with it and got it working again, so now I bought some more time. But it's probably ready for replacement - an 18yo Honeywell programmable.
 
Threadjack, but since we're all here: anyone know of an SMS controlled thermostat for a simple gas furnace at a mountain home? I just use a phone hotspot for wifi when I get there, so wifi not an option to preheat the place. All I have found is Multi-euro versions with way more options than I need.
 
Threadjack, but since we're all here: anyone know of an SMS controlled thermostat for a simple gas furnace at a mountain home? I just use a phone hotspot for wifi when I get there, so wifi not an option to preheat the place. All I have found is Multi-euro versions with way more options than I need.
Switchbox control? (The ones they market for planes)
 
You know I have three of these (well, one of them is the somewhat more costly color display touchscreen model). They work famously for me, including the one at the Log Bauble, connected by cellular hotspot.

I had to connect the needed C wire here at the house (2 locations) as well. Easy-Peasy.
 
Switchbox control? (The ones they market for planes)

Hmmm, probably not, what I need is to bump the thermostat from 50* freeze protection setting to 68* comfort setting. But thinking on it, I think folks suggest an SMS powered relay as an alternative to the Switchbox, maybe something like that could close the circuit on a second thermostat wired in parallel. I'll research that.
 
You'd think it would be connected at install. Easy nuff to cap off @ the t'stat
 
Liking it.
Have a place with three thermostats. Wondering if it's possible to remotely control three identical tstats, all connected to the same wifi.
 
Liking it.
Have a place with three thermostats. Wondering if it's possible to remotely control three identical tstats, all connected to the same wifi.
Been thinking about just having 3 temperature sensors on wifi then use an app to monitor them and command a heat call (close a relay) right at the furnace/boiler/heatpump/whatever. It'd be simple to do from an equipment point of view I think. It'd also solve my wiring problem since it would be difficult to add the common wire to power the tstat at one location.
 
Just installed some wemo switches, they are wifi which I prefer to that 900mz crap, it's more plug and play with my house, no need for hubs and extra junk,mand it also tucks into my wifi encryption, which makes me feel better as I think all the 900mhz units send in the clear, yeah, I know, it's just my exterior lights lol

Thinking of adding a Honeywell wifi thermostat to it, seems like it all works well.
 
some units require the manufacturer supplied thermostat and will not work with other types. Basically they are communicating with the computers in the indoor and outdoor units not to relays. Broan IQ Drive units are this way.
 
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