HVAC Thermostat

[dmusel]

I've been using Homeseer for about 6 months now and want to expand. What, in anyone's opinion, is the best thermostat to use? I have a two zone house. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks
Dave

[Rupp]

Do a search on the web as well as this BB for RCS TX15B and any other RCS tstats. A lot of us on the HS BB use the X15B and there are several scripts that communicate with this stat.

-Rupp
Isn't Disney World a people trap operated by a mouse?

[dmusel]

Thanks

[anogee]

Is there any reason you don't want to go with the HAI thermostats? You can control those from the Omni, directly from HomeSeer, or even from HomeSeer through the Omni. I have a quite elaborate temp scheme and find that the Omni controlling it directly works best for me. Its reliable (most important), I can control it from the panels, phone, or HomeSeer web site, etc. I have experience with X-10 controlled thermostats, and wouldn't recommend one of these.

[Rick Tinker]

The X-10 thermostat can be retrofit installed. All of the others require some new wires be run from the thermostat to where your HomeSeer PC is located - that is by far the largest determining factor in people's decision on which thermostat to use.

If the wiring is not an issue, then consider this: My HAI thermostats are going to get moved OFF of the panel as soon as the new thermostat plug-ins are done. The reason is, HAI for some bizzare reason failed to provide the same capabilities their thermostats have in RS-232 mode when they are connected to the HAI panel. I cannot put the thermostat into Auxiliary Heat mode via the Omni (thus via HomeSeer) and that is very important when you consider that I have a heat pump system and an outdoor temperature sensor. I cannot tell when the system is actually calling for heat or cool, and I cannot tell when the filters need changing without looking at the wall display units. There are several more pieces of information that I would like to have access to. I may only use 2 or 3 of these features that are missing when the thermostat is connected through the Omni, but at least one of those 2 or 3 features is a critical one and I am very disappointed in HAI for this lapse of functionality.


Regards,

Rick Tinker
HomeSeer Technologies

[anogee]

The great thing about the HAI thermostats is that they give you the flexibility to go both ways, and that is really nice. I definitly agree with you Rick, that HAI failed by leaving out support for those extra features. They came in near the top on of the future enhancements to be added. Hopefully it will only require a firmware upgrade. I built little relays into mine to give the Omni panel back info on when the A/C units are running because I needed that.

The problem that I see, and should be considered, is reliability. The Omni isn't the greatest for features but it does always work. For me, its never crashed, never froze, never had to be rebooted. Ever. In fact, as long as I've owned it, I never once had an occasion where it failed to act exactly as expected.

HomeSeer, on the other hand, is another matter. I haven't seen that reliability in HomeSeer, and I'm not just pointing a finger at HomeSeer, you are at the mercy of Windows, PC hardware, Way2Call hardware, etc. Coming home after a winter weekend to find my pipes frozen after someone called my Way2Call and locked up the system, isn't that much of a stretch. Until this changes, I can't trust security, fire alarms, HVAC control, or any other critical function with HomeSeer.