Controlling Thermostats from Elk Keypad

[upstatemike]

I'm just getting around to unpacking and looking over the Elk system I bought several months ago and I am trying to understand how the Thermostat interface works. I don't think I am seeing what I expected but maybe I'm just not reading this right:

Expected-

1- Some way to get to a thermostat menu (F key or whatever)
2- A way to scroll through different thermosts such as left and right arrows
3- The display to show the temp and set point of the currently displayed thermostat
4- A way to change the set point such as up and down arrows

What I think I am reading-

1- There is a way to get to a thermostat menu
2- You can scroll through different thermostats using the up and down arrows
3- The display shows the temp but not the set point?
4- There is no way to adjust the set point?

I need someone to show me where I am misreading this. Certainly there is no point in knowing the temperature in a remote location if you can't do anything about it!

This also would crash my plans to migrate the thermostats from Stargate to the M1. I need the ability to control the thermostats from a lot of low-cost interfaces (currently using several $300 Stargate LCD keypads). I can't put $1000+ touch screens in all of these locations and I was counting on using the Elk Keypads to do this.

 

[opie]

Assumptions 1-3 are correct but there is a way to adjust a thermostat from a keypad.


To adjust thermostats from the keypads you need to set up "Tasks" to do so. I have tasks that change the set points to custom values like economy mode, comfort mode and so on. These values typically don't need to be changed but this way you don't need to get into the rules to change what set point the task uses. This also works well for changing via the telephone interface.

 

[carry15+1]

There is no way on the standard Elk kpd to do the control of the thermostat that you are looking for.

You can however create tasks to set various parameters on the thermostat.

An example would be a rule named "set heat 72" You could then display the task(s) on any kpd and activate it to set the temperature and mode of HVAC. The things you seem to want should be available with the Elk touchscreen interface. For my purposes I don't really care what the thermostat is set to or what state it's in, I just want to set it to a mode and temperature so the standard keypad works out pretty well.

 

[upstatemike]

Hmmm.... I guess I use my thermostats quite a bit differently than most folks. Living in a drafty old house I can't just pick some predefined set points to use all the time. I need to be able to tweak things for how I feel. I might go a degree warmer if it is particularly windy out or drop down a degree or two below the normal setting if I am getting a lot of extra sunshine making me feel warmer than what the thermometer says.

If I can write a rule to increment or decrement the thermostat and then show me the new setting then that would be OK but a rule to go to some preset value is not of any use to me.

I guess I don't see why this isn't already in there. The keypad has the arrow buttons needed to support this, the display can certainly support it, and the M1 has all the data it needs from the thermostat interface to support it.

Does anybody know if the Omni Pro II supports controlling thermostats from a keypad?

 

[Spanky]

Setting the temperature from a keypad is on the list.

The wheel just has not squeeked loud enough to grease it!

 

[upstatemike]

Setting the temperature from a keypad is on the list.

The wheel just has not squeeked loud enough to grease it!

I don't see anybody else chiming in so I guess I'm going to be stuck keeping my thermostats on Stargate for quite awhile.

 

[acheslow]

I would definitely see value in this.

 

[Digger]

I will most likely want this feature in a few months (at least by the next heating season). A little further down on my list is a thermostat hooked to my M1.

For the moment I run my thermostat circuit through a relay on my alarm system that opens on arm and closes on disarm. Basically a poor mans setback on arm. I have a rule that if the temp ever dropped to less than 55 degrees (as noted on a keypad temp sensor) the relay would close again.

I might add another rule that closes the relay about 30 mins before the normal time my wife comes home etc.

Its actually working very well the way it is and I might just leave it if I dont have the money for a thermostat later.