Ecobee Plug-in - Beta Testing

[wposner]

Looking forward to the next update with the new features!!!

[spud]

in version 3.0.0.2 I have added a "Send Message" to make your thermostat display a message from a HS event:





And I have added on the root device one control to "Resume Program" and one for each comfort settings (Home/Away/Sleep,...)

[wposner]

Awesome!!! Can you also make it report the current comfort setting to events? For example, right now the only important items the events are seeing for "This device changes and becomes" are "Online" and "Offline". Since ecobee's don't behave like Nests and set global status I'm hoping I can achieve the same functionality through the plugin. So if I arm my alarm and leave for the day, I can immediately force all my Ecobee's to away mode.

[kideon]

Is there a way to detect if the Ecobee has lost its connection and have a trigger? Mine keeps losing its connection and I have to physically restart it. Going to call Ecobee support though I suspect it is a bug the firmware will eventually fix.

[wposner]

Is there a way to detect if the Ecobee has lost its connection and have a trigger? Mine keeps losing its connection and I have to physically restart it. Going to call Ecobee support though I suspect it is a bug the firmware will eventually fix.

I've had this problem too. Ecobee did push a firmware update which seems to have fixed the problem for me.

It looks like you can use an event to see if it's status is offline and then do something like send an email.

[spud]

Is there a way to detect if the Ecobee has lost its connection and have a trigger? Mine keeps losing its connection and I have to physically restart it. Going to call Ecobee support though I suspect it is a bug the firmware will eventually fix.

the root device has offline/online for possible statuses, so you can use a trigger of type "A device value changes and becomes" to trigger an event when the thermostat goes offline.

[wposner]

Is there any way to access the different comfort modes/programs from an event? Is this a feature you can add? I really want an event that will allow me to force all my Ecobees to "Away" when I arm my alarm and then set them all back to "Home" when I return home and disarm the alarm.

[spud]

Is there any way to access the different comfort modes/programs from an event? Is this a feature you can add? I really want an event that will allow me to force all my Ecobees to "Away" when I arm my alarm and then set them all back to "Home" when I return home and disarm the alarm.

you can use the event action "Control a Device", select your Ecobee root device, and then select the Home/Away control

Am I missing something?

[bphillips]

Could you add the current status to the root device? Instead of "Online" and "Offline", it would be cool if it could show something like "Sleep/Home/Away", "70 and holding", "70 until 8:00pm", or "Offline"? Also, could you add support for the holding times? This is the holding time menu I'm talking about:


Other than that, the only thing that I think is missing is the native HSTouch support. Without any additional configuration, HSTouch sees the thermostats as thermostats, but the "Mode" and "Fan" buttons and statuses don't act as they should.

I fixed the statuses by just creating three thermostat pages (one for each thermostat) and changing the status tracking to "XXX thermostat mode status" and "XXX thermostat fan status" from what they were set to originally that only displayed "On" or "Idle" for the mode and "On" or "Auto" for the fan. (For the fan status, it was always on Auto but would show On when the fan was running).

***Side note for anyone working with HSTouch: I put the ecobee icon on my "Thermostat select" page that opens the ecobee3 app when tapped. You can use "Launch Application: ecobee3://" and it will open the app (if installed) on any iOS-based client. I'm not sure about android.

Thanks so much for this plug-in, features, and feedback! I'm excited that I finally have awesome, reliable control over my thermostats without having to do any major rewiring (since my old ZWave thermostats were awful because I didn't have a C wire and the batteries only lasted about 2 months at a time).

[wposner]

you can use the event action "Control a Device", select your Ecobee root device, and then select the Home/Away control

Am I missing something?

The part of the workflow you just described works, but then there's the other part where I'd like to use the Ecobee to control my locks and alarm. For example a programmed vacation mode. When the Ecobee changes and becomes "Vacation" (or whatever the actual mode is when the Ecobee vacation trigger is activated), then lock the doors and arm the alarm. Currently, I can only do things based on Online and Offline.

[spud]

Could you add the current status to the root device? Instead of "Online" and "Offline", it would be cool if it could show something like "Sleep/Home/Away", "70 and holding", "70 until 8:00pm", or "Offline"? Also, could you add support for the holding times? This is the holding time menu I'm talking about:.

The part of the workflow you just described works, but then there's the other part where I'd like to use the Ecobee to control my locks and alarm. For example a programmed vacation mode. When the Ecobee changes and becomes "Vacation" (or whatever the actual mode is when the Ecobee vacation trigger is activated), then lock the doors and arm the alarm. Currently, I can only do things based on Online and Offline.

I think I'm going to add a "Current Program" device which will have as possible statuses "Sleep/Home/Away/..." and I will move the associated controls from the root device to this new device.
"Vacation" is kind of a specific mode that does not use any predefined comfort settings, so I may add it as an additional possible status for this new device.

I will also add a "hold action" setting in the config page that will let you decide for how much time a hold action will be effective: 2 hours, 4 hours, until the next schedule activity, until I change it
right now it's hard coded as "until the next schedule activity"

[spud]

version 3.0.0.3 available on first post of this thread
- Fixed HSTouch integration / thermostat API
- Added "Current Program" device and moved confort controls to this device
- Added "Hold Action For" setting in the config page

[langenet]

This looks really great - I like that fact you can send messages to it and display it as well is really nice.

Forgive my ignorance, but this T-stat requires the cloud service in order for it to work with HS correct? There's also a phone app to connect to the cloud to control this as well - correct? So if your home ISP decides to drop offline (had a 6 hour outage once) , HS cannot then control this... am I correct as well?
So the only advantage to go with this or any other cloud service based T-stat is to be able to trigger events based on conditions in the house - such as arming your home security etc. Your full control of the stat is based on you ability to access the cloud service...

I'm currently looking closely for a replacement T-Stat for my move to HS3, hence trying to get my head around these type of stats. I believe Honeywell is the same with their WIFI... Though, any stat which is strictly Z-wave is independent of any cloud service... I think.

Does this work with HStouch?

Where in Canada are you Spud?

Thanks

Robert

[spud]

Forgive my ignorance, but this T-stat requires the cloud service in order for it to work with HS correct? There's also a phone app to connect to the cloud to control this as well - correct? So if your home ISP decides to drop offline (had a 6 hour outage once) , HS cannot then control this... am I correct as well?

Correct

Does this work with HStouch?

yes

Where in Canada are you Spud?

Montreal

[wposner]

Awesome! Exactly what I needed. Question--why does it show that the plugin is loaded remotely under the "Enable" column in the Plugin Management page?