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Scripting Help with RCS Serial Plug-in for HS2

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    Scripting Help with RCS Serial Plug-in for HS2

    Here is my set-up: Dual Fuel HeatPump with propane back-up controlled by a ZCV4 Zone Controller and connected via a serial port to HS2Pro running on a Hometroller S4. Calls for heat when the ambient temp is above 35 F start with the compressor and if the call is not met within 15 minutes, then the compressor shuts down and the gas kicks in. Calls when the ambient is below 35 go straight to gas. The temperature switchover is controlled by the HVAC system, not the ZCV4 or the HomeTroller.

    Here is my situation: This past weekend, the outside unit of our Heat Pump experienced a hiccup. When a call for service occurs it the compressor, all we get is a loud buzzing sound from the outside unit which I think it is either a bad relay or start-up capacitor. Whatever the case, the entire system is down except for the inside fan. With compressor locked out, the gas back-up gets locked out too. I plan to get the HVAC folks out here early this week to look at it, but my guess is that it will be an easy fix. Of course as luck would have it, this breakdown occurred when we were 10 driving hours away and I could only watch via HS Touch as our house grew colder and colder. Interestingly, you can't toggle the Aux Heat mode from within HS Touch. The app will cycle through all of the HVAC modes EXCEPT for Aux Heat. Now you can activate Aux Heat if you are logged into the HS Console and use the RCS Serial Thermostats Page. The Security Certificate for my domain has not yet been updated to the SHA-2 standard now required by JAVA (yet another thing to do ASAP), so I was sort of dead in the water. Fortunately, I was able to find a PC with a rather ancient copy of Java that disregarded the non-compliant certificate and I was finally able to get in. Crisis averted!


    Here is my challenge: I'm looking for guidance on how to write a script that will take the ZCV4 zones to Emergency Heat. I figure this has to be do-able since I can get it into Aux mode from within the HS console. Then I can install a button on my HS Touch screens that will execute said script and give me some piece of mind in the future. Oh... one more thing. If the system is in Emergency Heat (Aux) mode, then HS Touch app displays it as such. You just can't get it into Aux mode from the default HS Touch set-up.

    #2
    It's been a couple of months so I thought I'd bump this thread. As suspected my HVAC problem was a bad contactor (aka relay) that was the problem and $15 worth of parts fixed it DIY style.

    I'm fairly clueless about scripting so my script challenge remains. Can anyone advise on a simple script to change the mode on my ZCV4 to Aux Heat. I've got references to the Set Mode Command of the RCS stats.

    CmdSetMode
    • Thermostat number (NThermostats) as Integer
    • Mode as Integer
    • Temperature Sensor (NTemps) as Integer


    where mode is represented by:0=Off, 1=Heat, 2=Cool, 3=Auto, 4=Aux

    How would I set tis up in a script so that I could move the mode between 2 (Heat) and 4 (Aux).

    Any help would be appreciated.

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