CT-101 (Iris) Thermostat does not report humidity

[Archcantor]

It seems there might be two different CT-101 Thermostats available. One type on Amazon is only about $50 and has Iris in the description. Iris is a home control system sold only in Lowes. The other CT-101 thermostats are about $100.

Both are CT-101 b y Radio Thermostat and look the same. But the Iris one does not report humidity properly. I worked on this for some time trying things like excluding and adding the device. In Homeseer, when you poll the device the status display shows a humidity value read but Homeseer does not parse this value into the humidity device value. Homeseer shows 0. This is a problem with the Iris version of the CT-101, not Homeseer. The problem also appears when using the CT-101 on other controllers. Apparently the Iris CT-101 replies to the request for humidity with the wrong sub-command, which gets parsed with no error, but does not result in getting any data.

Here are some links to places that define the problem:

OpenHAB 2Gig CT101 (Iris) Humidity Reporting Bug #1179 https://goo.gl/bt9G4b

Homeseer Forum Bug 1552 – CT100 Thermostat Zwave Relative Humidity device shows 0
https://goo.gl/2eZpPS

Apparently a workaround can be designed into the Z-Wave plugin but it would be sort of a hack, since the real problem is in the thermostat code.

I just wanted to let folks know so they don't waste their time trying to get the humidity to read. For $50 the Iris version of the CT-101 is still a good value as long as you know you can't read the humidity.

-Rick

[reidfo]

Thanks for posting this, Rick. I just bought one of these to install in a second home. I think I'll return it and get the regular CT-101 instead.

[ewkearns]

If the CT-101 is no better than the CT-100 (I have 4 of them), I suggest that you return it for something else. Most CT-100 child devices won't report without polling and the clock won't update. Too frequent rebooting of the thermostat is also necessary. RTC says it is an HS, problem. HS, of course, says RTC is at fault.

So, unless you actually enjoy being the "man in the middle," I'd call HS and find out what they recommend that is fully supported and fully functional under HS3.

[Archcantor]

The CT-101 has the ability to run a schedule internally without being connected to a controller. The CT-100 has no internal scheduler. Both can be scheduled by Homeseer through Events or BLStat. The Iris version of the CT-101 is $50. The regular CT-101 is $100. I have not looked recently but I think the CT-100s are still close to $80. Just warning about the humidity reading problem. The Iris $50 CT-101 is a good price. Yes, you do have to poll any of them to get all the values. It's worth noting that all controllers have a problem reading the humidity and there's a bug opened against the thermostat. In my opinion it's clearly not a Homeseer problem. Plus Homeseer reads the CT-100 humidity fine as long as you don't have an older Z-Wave plugin version.

Correction 01-28-2018: The CT-101 internal schedule apparently only works if it is not included in a Z-Wave network. So, as ewkerns said, the CT-101 is not really better than the CT-100.

[reidfo]

Have you had any issues with the thermostat not responding and needing to be reset? I experienced that with the CT-100, which is why I am replacing it. It worked fine for about a year, and now doesn't respond at all remotely. The house is normally vacant, so I need something reliable. Honestly I would prefer to go with something other than Radio Thermostat since I've never had one of their products that did not have problems. Need something that supports humidity and auto switch between AC and heat.

[Archcantor]

Have you had any issues with the thermostat not responding and needing to be reset? I experienced that with the CT-100, which is why I am replacing it. It worked fine for about a year, and now doesn't respond at all remotely. The house is normally vacant, so I need something reliable. Honestly I would prefer to go with something other than Radio Thermostat since I've never had one of their products that did not have problems. Need something that supports humidity and auto switch between AC and heat.

I have three CT-100 thermostats running for two years. In that time I have never had to reset them. I do have them powered from the boiler using the C-Wire. I also have a failsafe mechanical (mercury) thermostat in the house set to 50 degrees as a freeze protection. It operates a relay which in turn operates all the zone valves. I hear you. Nothing is 100% foolproof. -Rick

[ewkearns]

My CT-100s report humidity. They are powered by the "C" wire, too. CT-100s support the following, but (per the company) only with polling.... and I think polling, over time, hoses the thermostat.

I think there was a thread within the last couple of months where HS made a thermostat recommendation. It probably isn't a coincidence that HS no longer stocks RTC in their store....

There are known RTC problems with numerous unresolved entries in Bugzilla. This is pretty close to beating a dead horse, but as my 8th grade science teacher liked to remind us, "Forewarned is forearmed."

From RTC:
Z-Wave Product Information
Supports Z-Wave Beaming Technology? Yes
Supports Z-Wave Network Security? Yes
Supports Z-Wave AES-128 Security? No
Z-Wave Technical Information
Z-Wave Frequency: United States
Z-Wave Device Class: GENERIC_TYPE_THERMOSTAT / SPECIFIC_TYPE_THERMOSTAT_V2
Z-Wave Supported Command Classes:
COMMAND_CLASS_THERMOSTAT_FAN_STATE, COMMAND_CLASS_THERMOSTAT_MODE, COMMAND_CLASS_ASSOCIATION, COMMAND_CLASS_CLOCK, COMMAND_CLASS_BASIC, COMMAND_CLASS_BATTERY, COMMAND_CLASS_MULTI_CHANNEL, COMMAND_CLASS_THERMOSTAT_OPERATING_STATE, COMMAND_CLASS_VERSION, COMMAND_CLASS_MANUFACTURER_SPECIFIC, COMMAND_CLASS_THERMOSTAT_FAN_MODE, COMMAND_CLASS_INDICATOR, COMMAND_CLASS_CONFIGURATION, COMMAND_CLASS_SENSOR_MULTILEVEL, COMMAND_CLASS_THERMOSTAT_SETPOINT