Any info on the RCS TZB20 Thermostat?

[linuxha]

I went and did something rash (won't be the last time) and picked up an RCS TZB20 (ZigBee) Thermostat. Afterward when I went searching for info I found zilch. Even RCS seems to deny knowing about this (can't find it on their site). Anyone have any clues? I'll hack at it and see what I can find out but this may be a lossed cause. At least it was cheap.

 

[electron]

If this is the ZigBee version of the TZ34, then I'm familiar with it I bought 2 of them from eBay. I think these were prototypes. I did get them com working, but could not get any RCS driver to work with this unit (the ASCII strings contained some odd characters, which I think most drivers are choking on). Would definitely love to know how far you get.

 

[linuxha]

If this is the ZigBee version of the TZ34, then I'm familiar with it I bought 2 of them from eBay. I think these were prototypes. I did get them com working, but could not get any RCS driver to work with this unit (the ASCII strings contained some odd characters, which I think most drivers are choking on). Would definitely love to know how far you get.

I've got a Simehomenet ZBPLM so once I figure out how to talk to it I can then attempt to talk to the thermostat. I can use the Raven USB stick as a sniffer (saw that on someone's blog - excellent!). So far I haven't found much on ZigBee it's more of a mystery than Z-Wave. So I'm in research mode right now. BTW, did the ebay purchase come with any docs?

Thanks

 

[houselynx]

I'm interested in that thermostat you've bought. What gateway do you have to control it, or are you still trying to hack it and figure that out? Do you know who the Zigbee chip manufacturer is on that device? Check out HouseLynx for information on my company's thermostat controller. It's an add-on box to your existing setup. We have a web app and Android App already in operation. We also have vents that give you zone control. We have remote temp sensors, motion sensor, and are working on pressure sensor. We have a prototype lock done as well, although it won't be production ready for 90 days. I've ran my house on HouseLynx stuff for 4 months now (garage door, gate, lamp module, thermostat, vents, temp sensors, motion sensor) and it all works like clock work! Now we're trying to break out and go commercial. My number is eight three two, 232 thirteen 61. Hit me up if anybody is interested in knowing more. First products ship Feb. 11th!

 

[linuxha]

I'm interested in that thermostat you've bought. What gateway do you have to control it, or are you still trying to hack it and figure that out? Do you know who the Zigbee chip manufacturer is on that device? Check out HouseLynx for information on my company's thermostat controller. It's an add-on box to your existing setup. We have a web app and Android App already in operation. We also have vents that give you zone control. We have remote temp sensors, motion sensor, and are working on pressure sensor. We have a prototype lock done as well, although it won't be production ready for 90 days. I've ran my house on HouseLynx stuff for 4 months now (garage door, gate, lamp module, thermostat, vents, temp sensors, motion sensor) and it all works like clock work! Now we're trying to break out and go commercial. My number is eight three two, 232 thirteen 61. Hit me up if anybody is interested in knowing more. First products ship Feb. 11th!

I'll have no gateway, I'll just be using the Simplehomenet ZBPLM (RS232 interface) and playing around with the ZigBee portion hoping to get it to work. So far I haven't received the thermostat but I expect it by the end of the week. I'm not worried about the warranty so I'll take a peek inside and find out more details. My stuff is heading for MisterHouse (MH) and my DollHouse (DH) projects. So far ZigBee is a bit of a mystery to me. I'm seeing thin-n-that but I can't tell the misconceptions from the truth yet.

 

[electron]

I didn't get any documentation with mine either, but basically they changed the firmware of the Z-Wave version so you can join/part a ZigBee network. The ZigBee chip is used as a 'wireless serial' link, it isn't using the ZigBee PRO Home Automation profile or anything like that.

I purchased another ZigBee chip + serial port adapter, uploaded the correct firmware to the ZigBee modem, and was able to successfully communicate with the thermostat.

 

[linuxha]

Okay, I just received my Thermostat. I must say RCS makes a nice package. The feel of this device is nicely done. I haven't powered it up yet (I have electric baseboard) and have to get a 24v AC wall wart first. Any hints on which pins are the AC power? It has the standard HVAC connections plus 4 connectors for 2 external sensors.

Inside is a TI MSP430 4371 unit (32K flash, 256b flash storage, 1024k ram) it has no ADC and only 1 serial port. The uC is meant to talk to an LCD. Inside is the text TR20 so this model is based on the TR20 series thermostat. I wouldn't exactly call these ZigBee, they use the Digi XBee 2 boards to communicate. This would be equivalent to an RS485 network. I have the older XBee boards and I'll need to get one of the XBee 2 (Pro?) boards. I'm pretty sure I can just tap right into the pins and communicate serially.

 

[linuxha]

Okay, I also just found this: Serial Protocol from RCS which will probably be related to this thermostat.

 

[electron]

Okay, I just received my Thermostat. I must say RCS makes a nice package. The feel of this device is nicely done. I haven't powered it up yet (I have electric baseboard) and have to get a 24v AC wall wart first. Any hints on which pins are the AC power? It has the standard HVAC connections plus 4 connectors for 2 external sensors.

Inside is a TI MSP430 4371 unit (32K flash, 256b flash storage, 1024k ram) it has no ADC and only 1 serial port. The uC is meant to talk to an LCD. Inside is the text TR20 so this model is based on the TR20 series thermostat. I wouldn't exactly call these ZigBee, they use the Digi XBee 2 boards to communicate. This would be equivalent to an RS485 network. I have the older XBee boards and I'll need to get one of the XBee 2 (Pro?) boards. I'm pretty sure I can just tap right into the pins and communicate serially.

I am guessing you have a different thermostat than what I have here. I have 2 of these:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/231214/IMG_7291.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/231214/IMG_7292.JPG

I did have to get the XBee 2 Pro board in order to make this work, but in the end, ZigBee is just being used as a point-to-point wireless connection. I would kill to make these work with my M1, since the protocol does seem to be almost identical to what the RCS documents show.

 

[linuxha]

I am guessing you have a different thermostat than what I have here. I have 2 of these:

http://dl.dropbox.co...14/IMG_7291.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.co...14/IMG_7292.JPG

I have the '20 (based on the TR20, looks like the TZ16) and you have the '43 (based on the TZ43 <- hmph, Z-Wave interesting). I suspect they are similar, it looks like you have a TI MSP430 and though the board is layed out differently it has the same general parts. I just found the information on how to hook power to this thermostat so in the next day or two I may have something working. Once I had a reference it turns out the HVAC is not the magic I once thought it might be. It's mostly just 24vAC.

I did have to get the XBee 2 Pro board in order to make this work, but in the end, ZigBee is just being used as a point-to-point wireless connection. I would kill to make these work with my M1, since the protocol does seem to be almost identical to what the RCS documents show.

I wonder if there is something additional needed or needed to be removed with the XBee sitting in between? Do you have the protocol of the M1?

 

[electron]

Not sure what you mean by 'M1 protocol', since I think the M1 is communicating with the RCS thermostats using the RCS protocol (which is plain ASCII).

I did try to communicate with the pins directly, so I could use it as a serial thermostat, but had no luck with that.

My only show stopper was the protocol itself. It looked like there were some non-ASCII characters appended to the commands. I might have to send you my 2nd one if don't get anywhere with yours, and think you can make mine work

 

[linuxha]

Not sure what you mean by 'M1 protocol', since I think the M1 is communicating with the RCS thermostats using the RCS protocol (which is plain ASCII).

I did try to communicate with the pins directly, so I could use it as a serial thermostat, but had no luck with that.

My only show stopper was the protocol itself. It looked like there were some non-ASCII characters appended to the commands. I might have to send you my 2nd one if don't get anywhere with yours, and think you can make mine work

Ah, that's what I thought might be happening. That sounds like it might be the XBee and it's probably a CRC or something. I'll need to get my hands on the XBee 2 manuals. But now I've got to work on the snow (15" of it).:nutz:

 

[linuxha]

Okay, I'm on break from the shoveling (I'll be taking a lot of them) and I found that Misterhouse has the commands to talk to a TR40 via RS485 (the XBee Pro allows for a multidrop setup). I believe this should help me a bit.

 

[linuxha]

I've found the respective documentation for the TZB20 thermostats. I now have 6 of them and I'll steal one of the chips (when it arrives) to test them out. I have to read the documentation to find out how different the chip really is from the rest of the XBee family (I have the BWIT chips, I think). Dan what did you use to talk to this thing?. My wife didn't want the TZB40 so I stuck with the TZB20. New web page for my TZB20 notes:

TZB20 Notes

I'll post links to the documents and anything else I find. For now it's just a place holder. I'll get real info on later this weekend.

 

[electron]

Did you get anywhere with this? I have 2 ZigBee tstats sitting here, and trying to decide if I should invest in more Z-Wave hardware so I can interface my Radioshack one (identical model, just Z-Wave), or try again with the ZigBee version, since in theory, I should be able to use it directly with an ELK M1 XSP.