Carrier Infinity

[zpollock]

Zac,

I might consider paying $600 for one of those. How did he get it so cheap? No one I have spoken to even keeps it in stock and they all quote list price. There can't be more than $50 in manufacturing costs for something like that and if carrier just charged $200 I bet they would get half or more of the installations to include it. At $1500 I can't believe they sell but a couple a year.

My friend had been quoted the same ridiculous prices by his Carrier contractor and never purchased one. A year later his girlfriend was in the process of having a new Infinity system installed in her home, and she inquired about the SAM and was quoted a much more reasonable rate, so she purchased one for herself and one for him. This is for the newer model that has the serial interface, as well an ethernet connection and built-in web server. They don't use the Carrier subscription service, but can control the system from the built-in web server as well as through the serial port.

If there's interest I can ask her to check with her HVAC contractor to see if additional units could be purchased at that price.

 

[apostolakisl]

Zac,

I might consider paying $600 for one of those. How did he get it so cheap? No one I have spoken to even keeps it in stock and they all quote list price. There can't be more than $50 in manufacturing costs for something like that and if carrier just charged $200 I bet they would get half or more of the installations to include it. At $1500 I can't believe they sell but a couple a year.

My friend had been quoted the same ridiculous prices by his Carrier contractor and never purchased one. A year later his girlfriend was in the process of having a new Infinity system installed in her home, and she inquired about the SAM and was quoted a much more reasonable rate, so she purchased one for herself and one for him. This is for the newer model that has the serial interface, as well an ethernet connection and built-in web server. They don't use the Carrier subscription service, but can control the system from the built-in web server as well as through the serial port.

If there's interest I can ask her to check with her HVAC contractor to see if additional units could be purchased at that price.

My unit was installed about 2 years ago and I moved in about 18 months ago. So it is pretty new. I still think $600 is pretty steep, but I might do it. If you could let me know the dealer I would be much appreciative.

 

[zpollock]

Hi Lou, sorry I missed this reply.

The person that purchased it is on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I'll try to find out who the dealer was once they return.

 

[apostolakisl]

Hi Lou, sorry I missed this reply.

The person that purchased it is on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I'll try to find out who the dealer was once they return.

Thanks. Obviously not in any big hurry as I truly never expected to own one once I heard the list price.

 

[apostolakisl]

Would this thing make snooping on the Carrier easier?

http://usbee.com/sx.html

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Just a note guys. It appears that the SAM interface has commands that should be documented but aren't. If you look at the documentation for the Skytel version you'll note that the Skytel interface can determine that state of the water sensors. There is no command documented in SAM that says you can.

Note it also states that a dealer can interrogate the furnace errors, so they are not documented either. It also seems that SAM is is tied to the Infinity Stat model. I believe it must be a revision -B or better for SAM to work.

The APM used for diagnostics comes with a serial to ABCD bus converter, but to use the program the thermostat must be disconnected.

I thought it would be fun too, but I don't have the time. I've got a spare furnace board and stat for a 58MVP, but no wiring harness. I also have APM.

 

[zpollock]

Just a note guys. It appears that the SAM interface has commands that should be documented but aren't. If you look at the documentation for the Skytel version you'll note that the Skytel interface can determine that state of the water sensors. There is no command documented in SAM that says you can.

Yes, there are definitley a few status requests available in the SAM that aren't documented in the public protocol, but all of the "important" stuff seems to be covered.

 

[DevXen]

Thanks 3tones; I've been working on this today and your post have been helpful.

Though, I actually observed that byte 5 is length and byte 8 is function; can you confirm?

To answer Jay's questions:

Here is the general packet structure:

[---------- HEADER ------------------------------]
[2 bytes][2 bytes][1 byte][1 byte][1 byte][1 byte][X bytes][2 bytes]
  Dest	  Src	 Func	 ?	   ?	 Length   Data	Checksum

 

[3tones]

Yes, you are correct. That was a typo.

Thanks 3tones; I've been working on this today and your post have been helpful.

Though, I actually observed that byte 5 is length and byte 8 is function; can you confirm?

 

[programmergeek]

FYI I just got a press release that the HAI system will now communicate directly with the carrier thermostats.

 

[apostolakisl]

FYI I just got a press release that the HAI system will now communicate directly with the carrier thermostats.

It appears that it communicates with the SAM, not the thermostats.

"Integration is easy using HAI’s Serial Connectivity Adapter Kit (HAI part number 36A05-4) connected to the Carrier/Bryant Serial Access Module (SAM). Then, simply set the HAI serial port to “Carrier/Bryantâ€.

 

[dlmerchant]

FYI I just got a press release that the HAI system will now communicate directly with the carrier thermostats.

It appears that it communicates with the SAM, not the thermostats.

"Integration is easy using HAI’s Serial Connectivity Adapter Kit (HAI part number 36A05-4) connected to the Carrier/Bryant Serial Access Module (SAM). Then, simply set the HAI serial port to “Carrier/Bryantâ€.

Yup. Version 3.5 of the HAI firmware now supports direct integration with the Carrier SAM. I have a Carrier SYSTXCCRCT01 up and running with (2) furnaces, each with 3 zones. There still seem to be a couple of bugs. For example, every 30-seconds or so, some of the temperature fields (setpoints or room temps) will read 0 degrees. It seems to correct itself over a couple of polling intervals. Secondly, output #8 on the HAI OmniPro2 board becomes unusable when the Carrier thermostats are configured. This is not documented anywhere. This is likely because the Carrier integration is made to emulate an HAI Omnistat thermostat, and HAI uses output 8 to send data to their thermostats.

Dave

 

[Brian Yokum]

Dave,

Version 3.5a firmware should correct the issues you are seeing. It should be available by the weekend. Check for updates with PC Access to get the latest firmware.

 

[bwestrum]

Yup. Version 3.5 of the HAI firmware now supports direct integration with the Carrier SAM. I have a Carrier SYSTXCCRCT01 up and running with (2) furnaces, each with 3 zones. There still seem to be a couple of bugs. For example, every 30-seconds or so, some of the temperature fields (setpoints or room temps) will read 0 degrees. It seems to correct itself over a couple of polling intervals. Secondly, output #8 on the HAI OmniPro2 board becomes unusable when the Carrier thermostats are configured. This is not documented anywhere. This is likely because the Carrier integration is made to emulate an HAI Omnistat thermostat, and HAI uses output 8 to send data to their thermostats.

Dave

Are you using the RS-232 to connect to the SAM? Are the two furnaces located next to each other or are you running the 3-conductor wire a distance to the 2nd furnace?

 

[nebulous]

You might be interested in a project I'm working on to replace Carrier's webservice with a local one. It's working for my Infinity Touch for weather and status updates now, with the rest as I have tuits and interest from the community.

Github page: https://github.com/nebulous/infinitude

I also left an rs485 dumper running overnight for a 600+Meg dump file of traffic between airhandler/heatpump/thermostat. It looks like it either doesn't quite fit the frame description in prior posts or there are near constant collisions on the network (or both).
 
For instance here's what appears to be one frame from the air handler to the thermostat containing "VARIABLE SPEED FAN COB"

20 01 42 01 7B 00 00 06 00 01 04 56 41 52 49 41 42 4C 45 20 53 50 45 45 44 20 46 41 4E 20 43 4F 42 01 20 01 03 00 00 0B 00 03 0D A7 A0

but if I'm reading the prior posts correctly that would be length 7B (ie 123 bytes) which is far longer than this entire frame, much less its payload.
 
I'd love to have some other owners test Infinitude to see if it works for them. At the very least its already making a pretty web page, displaying/feeding weather, and pulling the complete config from the thermostat.