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**jstaab** · February 26, 2009, 08:08 PM

Looks like this issue has been brought up in the past after digging around in the forum a bit. After looking at my debug log, it appears this issue only occurs when setting the heat setpoint, which may accidently set your cooling setpoint. The problem is that the 'SP' command is being used along with the SPC and SPH commands, probably for backwards compatibility. Thus, if you set the heat setpoint, it'll send the SPH AND the SP commands. However, if your thermostat is actully currently in cooling mode, it'll set the cool setpoint (because the SP command sets the setpoint of whatever mode your thermostat happens to be in).

2/26/2009 2:07:36 PM ~!~RCS Serial Thermostats DEBUG~!~Writing Data: A=1 O=00 SPH=69
2/26/2009 2:07:36 PM ~!~RCS Serial Thermostats DEBUG~!~Writing Data: A=1 O=00 SP=69

**Mountainman** · February 27, 2009, 04:53 PM

I worked with HST to correct this, and I haven't had any problems since then. See

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=132515

What version of the plug-in are you using?

**jstaab** · February 27, 2009, 05:00 PM

2.4.0.2 is what I was running and found the problem. So I reverted back to an older version, and it has the issue as well. Let me go put the latest version back in and double/triple check this again.

**jstaab** · February 27, 2009, 05:07 PM

I just reloaded 2.4.0.2 and it still has the 'SP' issue, see log below. I used the web interface, set the heat setpoint to 65, and my cool set point was set to 65. What makes matters worse then is because both setpoints can be set the same, it pushed back to my heat setpoint to 61. Since it is suppose to get cool again, I may have to disable this plug in all together. Its the time of year when your air conditioner runs during the day, and the heat runs in the morning...

2/27/2009 4:03:59 PM ~!~RCS Serial Thermostats DEBUG~!~Writing Data: A=1 O=00 SPH=65
2/27/2009 4:03:59 PM ~!~RCS Serial Thermostats DEBUG~!~Writing Data: A=1 O=00 SP=65

**Mountainman** · February 27, 2009, 05:07 PM

Maybe this is a different problem. 2.4.0.2 definitely corrected the problem with setpoints that I was seeing.

**jstaab** · February 27, 2009, 05:10 PM

Do you have a dual setpoint thermostat or zone controller? If so, can you set yours to cool, then adjust the heat via the web interface and see what happens? It definately happens here every time.

**Mountainman** · February 27, 2009, 05:11 PM

Possibly you already know this, but the RCS thermostats don't let you set the setpoints identically if you are using the factory default configuration. They must be separated by 4 degrees. If they are too close the system will oscillate between heating and cooling. You can change this setting on the thermostat, but the closer they are the more likely it will oscillate. Is your thermostat configured for a 4 degree delta?

**jstaab** · February 27, 2009, 05:15 PM

Yup, its set to four degrees. Thus, when my scripts sets the heat setpoint to 65 and then mistakenly tries to set the cool setpoint to 65, it pushes the heat setpoint back to 61.

The sort of workaround, which isn't perfect, and as you already posted in your other thread, is to set the cool setpoint ALWAYS last, thus overwrite the mistakenly set cool setpoint. However, even this results in your AC coming on for one cycle since it accidently sets the cool setpoint to a low value, then immediately corrects it. AND, even with this workaround, it pushes my heat setpoints back...

**jstaab** · February 27, 2009, 05:35 PM

This problem is compounded by the fact that I have a recovery script that sets the setpoints five times over a two hour time frame, which causes the AC to run five times for the duration of the MRT value. Thus, my house is getting fairly cold as we speak when it shouldn't even be on at all.

**Mountainman** · February 27, 2009, 06:20 PM

Originally posted by jstaab View Post

Do you have a dual setpoint thermostat or zone controller? If so, can you set yours to cool, then adjust the heat via the web interface and see what happens? It definately happens here every time.

I have TR40's (dual setpoint thermostat). I can't reproduce what you are seeing. The thermostat was running in 'heat' mode and I adjusted the cool setpoint from the web. It updated correctly on the thermostat's display, on the plug-in screen, and on the HS status screen. I adjusted the cool setpoint down via the web and everything updated as expected.

Can you avoid the heat/cool delta problem by having your script reading the other setpoint first and then avoid setting the new setpoint if it's within the delta range?

**jstaab** · February 27, 2009, 06:28 PM

Actually, the scenario is the other way around, the thermostat needs to be set to cooling, then adjust the heat setpoint. It'll then change your cool setpoint to what you set your heat to. When in heat mode, the issue doesn't surface since the SP command effectively sets the heat setpoint.

Sure, I can try to code around it, which is more work then it should be. We are talking about a one line code fix, commenting out the line of code that send the 'SP' command. It isn't being sent when setting the cool setpoint, which leads me to believe it was/is simply a mistake. We are talking about a five minute fix...

**Mountainman** · February 27, 2009, 06:49 PM

Ok, I thought I read it would happen in either scenario. I just tried setting it to 'cool' mode and then adjusted the heat setpoint. It DID cause an incorrect setpoint to get programmed for the cool setpoint (and then the heat setpoint got adjusted 4 degrees lower than that by the thermostat), so I did reproduce exactly what you are seeing. It actually turned my AC on. I don't really need the AC on at the moment since it's snowing...

Would you put a link to this thread in your help ticket? That way HST will know more than 1 person is seeing this so it appears to be a problem with the plug-in (and it sounds like you can mention exactly what they need to change). If you don't get a response reasonably quickly, let me know and I will also submit a help ticket. I definitely want to get this fixed!

**jstaab** · February 27, 2009, 06:58 PM

I may have inadvertently implied originally that this problem existed in both directions, however after reviewing the debug log a second time around, I discovered that it wasn't the case when setting the cool setpoint. The 'SP' command is not sent when adjusting the cool setpoint.

Snow, I don't miss it, I moved away from that environment. As mentioned though, right now AC runs during the day, and the heat will come on early in the morning, thus it is sort of critical for the setpoints to work properly. Granted, since it is suppose to cool off again, I may manually set it to heat for now to avoid this and manually toggle the AC when needed (so much for automation). I'll add a reference to this thread in the ticket.
Thanks for duplicating this!

**Mountainman** · February 27, 2009, 07:09 PM

I have the same need where I live: heat at night and AC in the afternoon. The daily temperature swings are tremendous due to the mountains and the radiant heat of the sun is higher at higher altitude. Since the other problems with this plug-in have been fixed late last year, I have not been using both setpoints since this in-between season hasn't arrived, yet (been using heat mode only).

It does sound like an extremely easy fix. However, I hope the command causing this problem wasn't intentionally left in the plug-in to maintain backwards compatibility with very old RCS hardware. If so, it's time to make the plug-in smarter and have it detect which version of firmware is being used. That can be done with another command. I asked RCS about getting firmware updates, and they said it isn't done unless the customer sends back the unit as defective (no way for the end customer to update the unit).

Let us know what HST says in response to your ticket.

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