Is thermostat as device a know issue?

[Clever1]

Is there a know issue with adding the HAI thermostats as devices in Homeseer?

When I add my one thremostat and its settings as devices in HomeSeer through the HAI plugin my setpoints are being set to 40 for heat and 51 for cooling.

[gtheo3rd]

I finally hooked up my Omnistat and had a hard time with the setpoints changing. I didn't realize that you have to release the thermostat from HOLD mode, set the temp through Homeseer then place the thermostat in back in HOLD mode.

If it's in HOLD, Homeseer will not control the setpoints. If you don't place it back in HOLD mode, then the programs in the thermostat will modify the setpoints. It is annoying and I wish there was a way to shut off the internal schedule of the thermostat so I could just allow Homeseer access with local overrise control.

[Rupp]

I finally hooked up my Omnistat and had a hard time with the setpoints changing. I didn't realize that you have to release the thermostat from HOLD mode, set the temp through Homeseer then place the thermostat in back in HOLD mode.

If it's in HOLD, Homeseer will not control the setpoints. If you don't place it back in HOLD mode, then the programs in the thermostat will modify the setpoints. It is annoying and I wish there was a way to shut off the internal schedule of the thermostat so I could just allow Homeseer access with local overrise control.

Why not directly control the stat with HomeSeer? This would make it much easier and remove another layer of potential issues.

[gtheo3rd]

Why not directly control the stat with HomeSeer? This would make it much easier and remove another layer of potential issues.

Am I doing something wrong with that setup? I do control it with Homeseer, but every time I want to change the setpoint I have to add 2 extra commands to bring it out of HOLD mode then back into hold mode. I tried it without doing that and the Omnistat programming would modify the setpoints at the preset times.

The Omnistat manual specifically said the Omnistat cannot be controlled remotely when in HOLD mode. The problem is that I can't shut off the built-in programming schedule when out of HOLD mode. Did I miss another option for settings?

I do like to be able to locally increase/decrease temp from Omnistat unit manually when I walk past it, but I could live without that and use Homeseer interface only.

So I guess my question is - did I miss an option that allows Homeseer-only (no built-in scheduling) in non-hold mode?

Thanks

[Rupp]

Are you using the HomeSeer HAI Thermostat Plug-In? This is what needs to be used to control the stat directly with HomeSeer.

[Rick Tinker]

First we need to make sure of the environment we are talking about - are the thermostats connected to the HAI Panel, and using the HAI Panel plug-in, or are they connected to a serial port on your HomeSeer computer using the HAI Thermostat plug-in?

Whichever you choose, the thermostats have to be configured specifically for that setup.

The recommendation is to use the HAI Thermostat plug-in because the panel plug-in puts limitations on what you can do with the thermostats (which I learned recently HAI changed, but I am still a ways from getting the panel plug-in updated to support this).

Next, you have to understand that schedules are stored in the thermostat and are executed by the thermostat - there is nothing that either plug-in can do with these except to fight them. Schedules are pretty useless when you have a security system and HomeSeer anyway - why have a schedule that says turn on the heat at 8AM on a workday when you are vacationing in the Bahamas? You should WIPE OUT the schedule, and do everything with events in HomeSeer, regardless of which way you communicate with the thermostats.

The issue of HOLD I believe is dealt with differently by each plug-in. Although I use the thermostat plug-in, I never use HOLD so I cannot say for certain if it honors HOLD or not, but I do know for a fact that the thermostat actually ACCEPTS commands when in HOLD mode - remotely controlled overrides HOLD every time. Back when the panel plug-in came out, I had to tell people that you need to check the status of the HOLD mode before you send a command - there might have even been a setting to allow HOLD mode to be honored - I can't remember since that was written 6 years ago.

Finally, there were issues in the thermostat with the panel plug-in based upon the thermostat type and firmware version in the HAI panel, so if you are using the panel plug-in, then it could be something there or bad panel communications. If you get a lot of Re-Sync messages in the log about the panel, then you have to resolve that issue first.