Omnistat2 Failure

[thedivineblue]

I'm still learning the ins and outs of the whole system, so please bear with my newbness. We had an OmniproII professionally installed around 2 months ago. They also installed 3 Omnistat2 thermostats. Everything was working fine, until my husband got his new Xbox One.
 
Since then, the upstairs thermostat has been having comm failures left and right. I disconnected the main body of the thermostat and plugged it into a downstairs one (just to make sure it wasn't fried). It lit up and was fine. I went back upstairs and reconnected it to its original base. That night, the thermostat responded fine.
 
This morning, however we awoke to another comm failure (and a dead looking thermostat).
 
From my understanding, the installation people did nothing special to the connections. The thermostat is right next to our media/game room. A theory we have been having is that maybe we have too many electronics in that room and instead of tripping the breaker, its killing the thermostat. According to my husband, his xboxs run on low power mode (instead of shutting them off completely). We are going to test this theory and turn them off all the way and see if the thermostat will go back to working.
 
but does anyone have any ideas on what to check? Thanks

 

[neillt]

First off, do you know if these thermostats are hard wired to the OPII, or are they Zigbee?  That determines the right path for troubleshooting.
 
If you look on the Omnistats main screen and see little cell phone like signal bars, you are Zigbee.

 

[thedivineblue]

Sorry forgot to include that. It's zig bee (we have the little monitor hooked up to the omnipro.) Left the xbox physically unplugged yesterday and today and it worked fine. Assumption currently is that too many electronics drawing power causing a brownout.

 

[neillt]

Well, the Omnistat is actually powered by the furnace unit it controls, which is most likely not on the same circuit as everything else in that room.
 
However, the key thing you mentioned is that it is Zigbee.  Zigbee is a wireless mesh network that operates on the same frequencies as WiFi, Bluetooth, Microwaves, and even more importantly your XBox remotes.
 
Do you have the master code to your OPII where you can make programming changes?  You may want to try "disbanding" the thermostat giving you problems, and then re-joining it to the Zigbee mesh.  It may pick a new route that is a better quality signal than what you have now.
 
Worst case scenario you can also purchase a zigbee device such as a plug in outlet controller, and place it roughly halfway between the troublesome thermostat and the next closest Zigbee device.  That new device will provide a strong Zigbee signal to the thermostat.
 
If you were having power problems, you would be having a lot more issues than a single malfunctioning thermostat.

 

[thedivineblue]

I guess I assumed it would have a comm failure (and show a connection issue) instead of turning off completely. Like the screen dies and is non responsive, cannot even use it as a regular thermostat.

I just wanted to clear that up. I realize now how tired I was when I wrote this post.

 

[ano]

These thermostats, require a fair amount of power, and if the common wire wasn't installed for some reason, that could cause to either reset or loose power. The common wire is usually connected to terminal 3. Between terminal 1 and terminal 3 on the Omnistat2 you should measure 24VAC.
 
Its also possible a surge or static electricity could cause it to blank. Or it could just be bad.
 
In any case, if you had this installed, call them back up to fix it.

 

[thedivineblue]

I'm hesitant to call the company that installed it because if it's a wiring problem on my end, it technically is not their fault.

This house has had some work done in the past by previous owners and they admit some things were done wonky. Supposedly some outside lights were hot wired into the system as well. Idk.

The thermostat is not bad. I already checked that. It's been working 24-7 right up until my husband got his xbox one upstairs. As well as working after I asked him to stop playing it while we figure this thing out. The projector has an outlet on the ceiling that looks like it was wired into the Ac system, since that what was right above there. He noticed some screen malfunctions as well while playing.

We are going to get one of those meters to check what is pulling power from what. Then get an electrician out here to rewire that room or Ac unit.

I can still try disconnecting the thermostat and re syncing with zigbee if you think that is worth it. (Btw I have user pc access)

 

[neillt]

Ok, so the screen is going dark? If you turn on the heat or AC, setting the temp to make it kick on, does the display drop out? If so it's a common wire issue as noted before. You can pull the stat off of the base and look at the wiring, if there is no dedicated wire going to the common terminal you may have a problem there.

 

[thedivineblue]

The wiring looks fine. I attached a picture. When you mess with the thermostat it works fine. I turned the fan on in the game room and the thermostat instantly went out. The fan is directly below the Ac system so I don't doubt someone wiring it lazily. The xbox has been plugged in all day but kept off (not even low power). Starting to suspect the fan and the projector might have been wired into the Ac system along with some outdoor lights that could be draining the power.

 

[thedivineblue]

http://imgur.com/VRC7ZAi

 

[thedivineblue]

So we checked the thermostat voltage: Nada! We turned off the lights upstairs in the adjacent room and unplugged some electronics that are always on and we got 3vac....so yeah. the thermostat works and is wired correctly but this part of the house was wired by a drunk. Calling an electrician first thing in the morning to have them come in and fix the crappy wiring job. thanks everyone for your help. never would have thought to check the voltage on the thermostat.