Thermostat: Raise or Lower the Setpoint

[MikeK]

Hello

I've very new to Homeseer and HSTouch
I've been trying to get "Thermostat: Raise or Lower the Setpoint" to work in HSTouch for a iPad interface. I have two buttons set up one for raise the setpiont by 1 degree this function works fine. The other button to lower the setpoint by -1 degree does not work looking at the logfile shows no command even being sent or seen. I'm using a 2245-222 hub with the following plugins Insteon Thermostat 3.0.6.3 Insteon 3.0.6.30 Any help would be great -Thanks

[nfrobertson]

Hello Mike.

What version of HS3 are you using?

Do you have both Log Info and Log Debug checked on the general tab of the Insteon Thermostat plugin?

The HSTouch capabilities are based on HomeSeer's "Thermostat API" which allows HS3 to map the HSTouch action request to the correct virtual HS3 device. All that up-front work is part of HS3/HSTouch. Once the call comes into the virtual device, in this case either the heat or cool setpoint, then you'd see my plugin start it's work to turn that call into commands to the real hardware.

Assuming you have info/debug turned on for logging, go to the "Home" page in HS3 and find the set of virtual devices for the thermostat. It should like sort of like the image attached to this post. You definitely should have both the heat and cool setpoint devices with the + / - option right there on the devices page. Exercise those + / - options and make sure you see logging from this plugin and a change in your hardware. Assuming so, that confirms this plugin is working as expected.

Assuming this plugin is working for cool/heat setpoints, the next step is to research HSTouch and see if the current version is having any reported issues. I don't do much with HSTouch myself but I'll fire up my test system and see if I can test your scenario with the slightly older HS3/HStouch on my test system. If I can get that to work, I'll upgrade to the latest HS3/HStouch and see if things change.

Nathan

[MikeK]

Hello Mr. Robertson

I'm running HomeSeer Version: HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.368 (Windows) with HSTouch 3.0.30
After making my post I did find one mistake
I did have one of the buttons set to Thermostat:Raise or Lower the setpoint
and the other set to Thermostat:Rasise or Lower the Heat Setpoint
Once I switched both to Thermostat:Raise or Lower the Heat Setpoint
The Heat setpoints does now works.
That being said I'm trying to get the Thermostat:Raise or Lower the Setpoint working
So that it will offset both the heating and cooling setpoints at the same time as if your were using the buttons on the Thermostat it self if that makes sense?

I also noticed after you posting your picture that you are getting reading for all of your Heating, Cooling and Temperature yet I have not been able to see these on my Device Management page. (please see below)

[nfrobertson]

It sounds as if your 2441th (wired Insteon thermostat based on the DEVCAT 050B) isn't setup for reporting back to the plugin correctly. There are several "links" that have to be in the thermostat to report back to your Insteon hub on device changes like temp, setpoints, fan (humidity if yours has it like my Venstar T1800 does). In the plugin config page on the thermostats tab is a button to "Update Links" Please try that and then immediately monitor the log. you should see the attempt to update the links table in the thermostat. There's also a "Read Links" button you could try first to see if it comes back with the required links or not. It might be good to do the read links, note the result and then do the update links and then when all is quiet (give it 2-3 minutes) then try read links again to see if you have more now.

As for your second issue, I will have to test the HSTouch operation and can't confirm whether "Termostat:Raise or Lower the Setpoint" will work. I would expect it to but if it's not I suspect it's an HS3 issue. My plugin receives the calls for change to the virtual devices but if they are never sent it can't take any action. I'll get back with you when I've had a chance to test it.

Nathan

[MikeK]

Another update
I'm slowly getting close, I now have device management status for the thermostat working. It turns out that even though I had set the Bounds Low point to 0c it did now set the value start point in the Edit Status Text for device. So every now looks correct in HS.
I did have HS set to metric and the low value was set to 30 before I changed them.
My next question is regarding the Edit Status Text for Device page there is two additional Control Use: one for looks for + and the other for - the value set for these are 251 and 252 can you explain this function or point me in the doc that does?

Again Thank you for your support.

Mk

[nfrobertson]

The + and - are the controls you see on the home page for the virtual device heat setpoint and cool setpoint. It gives the simple click a + or - to change the value. This is in addition to the text drop down which lets you pick a specific value.

The bounds values in the config page were really meant to make sure values coming into the plugin made sense. There have been cases of flaky hardware sending bogus signals in. I don't recall if setting those also adjusts the value range on the virtual device so will look at that. It's possible you've found something that needs fixing

You said things are working now in HS3. Does that include the HSTouch setpoint change as well?

[MikeK]

Hi Nathan

Once I had everything looking right in HS and then tried changing it in HSTouch and it's still not working So I'm a loss I was really hoping the bounds thing was the problem?

[nfrobertson]

Mike,

Today I was able to test out HSTouch and the commands sent to the Insteon Thermostat plugin in various situations. It turns out what you are seeing is how HS3 behaves when the thermostat mode is set to AUTO. In AUTO, it's not specifically heat or cool but rather both. Apparently HST (company that makes HS3) chose to not send setpoint changes for both heat/cool when using "Thermostat:Raise or Lower the setpoint" and the mode is AUTO. I did verify in AUTO that the other two options like "Thermostat:Raise or Lower the Heat Setpoint" or "Thermostat:Raise or Lower the Cool Setpoint" do work as that is giving it a specific command where HS3 doesn't have to interpret based on the thermostat mode value.

If you change the thermostat to either HEAT or COOL mode, then using "Thermostat:Raise or Lower the setpoint" works as expected and only adjusts the one setpoint that aligns with the selected mode.

It is possible to use a VB script to achieve finer control over what you wish to have happen. If you look in the scripts directory of your HS3 installation, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeSeer HS3\scripts, you will find an example script in there InsteonThermostat_toggle_mode.vb This was an example on how a script could be written so that the MODE button on HSTouch could toggle back/forth between modes instead of cycling through all the various modes. Again this is only an example. You might work up a script that when the MODE is AUTO you decide to move both cool/heat setpoints or maybe based on a day of year move only cool or heat? You'd want to also still handle the case of HEAT or COOL mode as well.

Below is an image in the HS Designer of how I call that example script. Noticed I pass in a ScriptParameter1 which happens to be the thermostat name from a text field. The VB code uses that name to know which thermostat to work with.

I hope this helps explain this behavior and your option to work past it.

Nathan