Thermostat Strategy

[upstatemike]

I am thinking of moving my RCS RS485 thermostats eventually to either an Elk M1 or directly to Homeseer (via RS232-RS485 converter) and I need some advice on the pros and cons of each option.

Looks like Elk has a nice touch screen interface but the coding options with the Elk implementation are pretty limited. (Can't have verbal confirmation of manual setpoint changes etc.)

The Homeseer interface would give me more programming options (I assume) but I'm not sure of the current state of the plugin and if there are any issues or limitations I need to watch out for.

Since this is just setback and automation functions I am not worried about PC vs hardware controller type issues. The RCS stats continue to work just fine in manual mode if the automation system is down. Just looking for thoughts on one approach vs the other so I can decide on a future strategy.

 

[DavidL]

If you were using Homeseer, and connected the thermo to the ELK, then you can always have HS send to the ELK commands to do X with the thermo.

Same is true with MainLobby Server, which is how most users are using it.

 

[upstatemike]

If you were using Homeseer, and connected the thermo to the ELK, then you can always have HS send to the ELK commands to do X with the thermo.

Same is true with MainLobby Server, which is how most users are using it.

Not worried about controlling the thermostats... I know I can do that easily no matter which way I hook them up. I am more concerned about what I can do in reponse to manual adjustments of the stats. In other words I do a lot where a manual change to a thermostat is the trigger for an action. The M1 is limited in this area and even if I have HS and/or ML connected to the Elk, I'm not sure all of the info about manual operations gets passed between the systems. This is why I wonder if a direct connection to a PC might be better (except I would lose the thermostat functions on the TS07 that way).