Has anyone played with an HAI RC1000 to see, when it's in heat mode, how long it will run the heat pump before it concludes that the the heat pump isn't meeting the rate-of-rise, and call for second stage heat? My current thermostats (contractor-installed, electronic, but not able to interface with an HA system) are terrible about calling for second stage heat at the slightest provocation, which needless to say is bad for the electric bill, plus it makes the house drafty and uncomfortable. Currently, in the spring and fall when the weather is not extreme, I get around this problem by reconfiguring the thermostats to disable the second stage heat, but we have three zones and that's a lot of trouble. I've had other heat pump t-stats in the past that were also too quick to call for second stage, although none as bad as these. (The thing about modern heat pumps is that as the outdoor temp goes down, they produce less heat -- but they also draw less current. The efficiency curve, BTUs produced per kWh consumed, is fairly flat until you get down close to the temp where the heat pump isn't capable of reaching the setpoint. Most heat pump t-stats will call for second stage if the setpoint isn't reached in a certain amount of time, which limits how much of a setback you can usefully program in cold weather.)
I just installed an RC1000 on the basement zone that I've been playing with, but as yet the weather isn't cold enough (we're in north Alabama) to really make the system work, and I haven't seen the second stage called for by the thermostat. I'm thinking about installing a relay module in my OmniPro II, and wiring all of the second stage signal lines to relays. Then, I can program the OmniPro to keep the relays open until the outdoor temp falls below a setpoint on the external temp sensor, so that the thermostats can't call for second stage heat. But first I'd like to gather some info on how the RC1000 performs in this respect, to see if that's going to be necessary.
I just installed an RC1000 on the basement zone that I've been playing with, but as yet the weather isn't cold enough (we're in north Alabama) to really make the system work, and I haven't seen the second stage called for by the thermostat. I'm thinking about installing a relay module in my OmniPro II, and wiring all of the second stage signal lines to relays. Then, I can program the OmniPro to keep the relays open until the outdoor temp falls below a setpoint on the external temp sensor, so that the thermostats can't call for second stage heat. But first I'd like to gather some info on how the RC1000 performs in this respect, to see if that's going to be necessary.
