HAI Omnistat RC-80 replacement?

[michae1a1ee]

I have an Omnistat RC-80 thermostat in use at my house with an Omni Pro II. I am investigating a possible replacement of the RC-80 with a modern smart thermostat, mostly so that I'll have better access to the thermostat settings through Google Home, both while at home and away. Communication between the OP2 panel and either HomeSeer or any Android control app is spotty, due to the OP2's 10baseT Ethernet port.

Has anyone replaced their old RC-80 with something new? Anything I should be aware of or consider before doing this?

 

[pete_c]

Welcome to the Cocoontech forum.

Here utilize Homeseer and Home Assistant and OmniPro plugins / addons.

Here still using a wired Omnistat 2 which works well.

That said also have a Zigbee ZIM and using a Zigbee thermostat which also works well with the OmniPro 2 panel.

What kind of issues are you having with the OP2 Ethernet port?

Have you tried my OP2 Ethernet port fix documented here==>

Microrouter DIY for use with the Omni Pro Panel Ethernet port

 

[michae1a1ee]

Yes, you helped me with it last year. My connection is still very intermittent. Through PC Access or the Android app I have, neither can make an Ethernet connection with the OP2 that lasts long enough to even transfer a few setup changes. Or in the case of setting up a new installation of an Android app, I can't maintain a connection with the OP2 long enough for it to pull in the configuration of the OP2 into the app as part of the setup process.

 

[pete_c]

Yes then you might have a failure of hardware specifically the Ethernet port on the OP2 which cannot be fixed with software.

Thinking we ruled out that you WAN router / LAN switch ISP connection was fine eh?

 

[michae1a1ee]

I've got a 100Mbps router between my main network and the OP2. I even set the WAN port on that 100Mbps router to 10Mbps.
Sometimes from the 100Mbps router I use it's built in PING test to ping the OP2 successfully; other times even that test fails. The Ethernet port on the OP2 is so delicate, it can't stay connected more than several seconds. Another test I did - from PC Access, trying to do something as simple as Read from the Controller, just Events.... In PC Access I connect via Ethernet successfully after several seconds, start the Read of the Events from the Controller, and within the time to download about 40-50 Events, PC Access is already reporting that the connection is retrying and eventually it just fails and is fully disconnected from the OP2. The reliability of using the OP2 is going down. At this point I can't expect to be able to change anything on it, I can't even read Events that it's logged, off of the OP2 board.

I know you're going to mention that I should try a Serial connection too. I've tried that. I have what seems to be a good RJ11 4-pin cable to what I think is a 21A05 9-pin adapter. I've tried using those two items with a Serial to USB adapter in to a laptop USB port, and can see the red light on the OP2 serial port light up on the OP2 board when everything is connected, but in PC Access on the laptop I'm not able to establish a Serial connection. I don't have other hardware setup yet to test without using the Serial to USB adapter, but that would be my next test; easier said than it is to setup as I don't have any old laptops any longer with 9-pin Serial ports unfortunately. Never thought I needed to keep one of those.

 

[pete_c]

Relating to the router: the failure of that connection indicates a hardware issue. I would leave the Ethernet port unplugged at this time.That issue affects the serial bus on the OP2 panel.


Relating to the serial connection:
Yes here have been using a 3 wire serial connection to the panel for over 10 years which is connected to software. It would be just the RX, TX and ground connection going to a serial to USB device which is what I am using these days. Its a Digi 8 port serial to USB device. With this connection you would only be able to user PCA (serially) and no other remote network apps.

Only thing with the old software plugin is that it messes with the thermostat polling and changing the serially connected thermostat.

 

[michae1a1ee]

Since I last wrote in this particular thread I've been able to get the Serial connection to the OP2 up and running with a different (an actual/proper) HAI 21A05 9-pin adapter, along with a Serial-to-USB adapter to a PC. I can now successfully connect to the board using a Serial connection in PCA which is useful because it's the first time in ages I could make a reliable/consistent connection with the OP2 without the connection dropping. The OP2 Ethernet port of course remains an issue, even having since swapped out the old router I was using for a 10BaseT hub. It's just too intermittent and unreliable to depend on the Ethernet port for software communications with the OP2 board, be it Android apps like NQLink or Snaplink, or my PC apps such as HomeSeer or Home Assistant.

I'm continuing to look into replacing the Omnistat thermostat with something new that I'll be able to communicate with through Google Home and Home Assistant, possibly an Ecobee. I've just checked the wiring to the Omnistat and it seems like I've got the R, G, Y and W wires running from the thermostat location back to my Hi-Velocity blower unit (I don't have a regular furnace). With the Ecobee Power Extender Kit I'll be able to add the needed "C" wire without an additional cable run. This is assuming that the additional 4-wire COMM plug on the back of the Omnistat is not useful to be used as a C wire.

I'm guessing I can just leave the OmniStat wiring on the OP2 board as is (Zone 16) even once the Omnistat is disconnected, or do they need to be disconnected and something changed in Dealer PC Access?