Installed our RCS TR40 thermostat

[miked]

I installed our RCS TR40 thermostat over the weekend. This was a retrofit install, so I installed the control unit in the garage next to the furnace (no freezing concerns here in the Pacific Northwest), and used the existing thermostat wiring to connect the control unit to the wall display unit. The RS485 connection was made with standard CAT5 cable, from a closet in which our automation PC is located, to the crawl space, and up to the garage. Worked out pretty nicely. I used a couple of barrier strips and a Radio Shack project box to splice into the existing thermostat wiring in a clean way.

Thermostat works great! Right now, automation-wise, I'm using it mainly as an inside temperature sensor, and also shooting outside temperature to the thermostat for display on the wall display unit. I keep the backlighting on all the time -- the display is really nice. We don't have AC (again, that Pacific Northwest thing), and keep our heating at a set temp all the time (I work out of the home, so someone's around 24/7). But, it will be nice to turn down the temp when we make a yearly trek for a month down to the southwest, and be able to turn the temp back up the morning that we're set to arrive back in town.

My only "wishlist" is that I wish that when you send messages to the display, that they would automatically be displayed, instead of requiring the user to press a messages button. That way I could use the thermostat as a caller ID display as well. As it is, this doesn't work, as someone would have to go to the thermostat, and press a button, which isn't that convenient.

So, overall, 9 out of 10 stars!

 

[Spanky]

Discussed sending messages to the TR40 display from the M1. It can be done. Just need to change the M1XSP software to handle it and find a time slot for the work.

 

[frankdr]

Did the TR40 you installed have a 12v power supply connection on the Control Unit? I just installed one with the rev L board which does not have a 12v power input on it and the instructions with the Elk serial expander don't work in that case. I had to run 4 wires from the XSP to the TR40 CU to provide the 12v from the XSP. Once I added that, everything worked. I've got two more TR40's to add and I might used a powered 485 hub instead of pulling power off the Elk 485 bus.

I assume that as long as one of the units on the 485 is powering the network, it should be fine.

Later,
Frank

 

[jeffx]

Did the TR40 you installed have a 12v power supply connection on the Control Unit? I just installed one with the rev L board which does not have a 12v power input on it and the instructions with the Elk serial expander don't work in that case. I had to run 4 wires from the XSP to the TR40 CU to provide the 12v from the XSP. Once I added that, everything worked. I've got two more TR40's to add and I might used a powered 485 hub instead of pulling power off the Elk 485 bus.

I assume that as long as one of the units on the 485 is powering the network, it should be fine.

Later,
Frank

the new TR40 and TR16 revisions are powered from the 24V common of your HVAC unit. There is a transformer on the board that drops it down to 12v.

 

[SpaceCowboy]

Discussed sending messages to the TR40 display from the M1. It can be done. Just need to change the M1XSP software to handle it and find a time slot for the work.

I'd love to see that functionality. I think we've chatted about it in the past. If you need some volunteer test cycles let me know - I'd love to help out again...