tmbrown97
Senior Member
OK - that's what I'd do (go with the omnistats) - it'll be the cleanest to interface, and you can put up to 4 on a single XSP.
The thing to make sure of with the thermostats is to make sure there's a dedicated power - what some people run into is that the thermostats installed can either leach power off another terminal or use batteries, so they come up one conductor short, and to save a little money the installer uses the lower gauge wire. I can't tell exactly how many conductors are needed because a lot of factors play in depending on the type of system and the options, but as long as your installer knows your intentions he should be fine; also there's no reason not to just buy the thermostats and have those installed with the system, instead of whatever generic ones he'd otherwise install; they work just fine without the automation tied in (I did this at my last house - replaced HVAC a week after I bought the house, installed the Omnistat, then came in 6 months later and hooked it into the Elk).
Of course after that, yes, you need a cat5 - run that at the same time he runs the thermostat wires.
The thing to make sure of with the thermostats is to make sure there's a dedicated power - what some people run into is that the thermostats installed can either leach power off another terminal or use batteries, so they come up one conductor short, and to save a little money the installer uses the lower gauge wire. I can't tell exactly how many conductors are needed because a lot of factors play in depending on the type of system and the options, but as long as your installer knows your intentions he should be fine; also there's no reason not to just buy the thermostats and have those installed with the system, instead of whatever generic ones he'd otherwise install; they work just fine without the automation tied in (I did this at my last house - replaced HVAC a week after I bought the house, installed the Omnistat, then came in 6 months later and hooked it into the Elk).
Of course after that, yes, you need a cat5 - run that at the same time he runs the thermostat wires.
