Would you recommend Zwave thermostats?

[Sacedog]

I have read a lot of posts that say that they do not like their Zwave thermostats, and not many posts that actually like them. I am working on installing an Elk system in my in-laws house, and need some advice on what type of tstats to use.

They have 4 seperate Heating/AC units, with a seperate tstat for each. 2 of them I could probably run Cat5 to, 1 would be very difficult, and 1 I'm not sure I could get a wire run to. The house is rather large, with the thermostats being a ways apart from each other. Also, the wiring can is in the basement, so technically 2 floors below one of the thermostats (the one that would be the most difficult to get wire to).

Would you recommend Zwave thermostats for this type of retrofit installation? Is the range for Zwave long enough for good communication? Would I be better off cutting holes in the sheetrock to hard-wire, and hiring someone to patch the holes (so that you can't tell that they were patched)?

What I do not want to do is install a system that will not be dependable. Any suggestions or +/- comments you have on Zwave are appreciated.

 

[IVB]

Did you see Micah's emails on the subject? He didn't like the lack of interoperability between zWave vendors.

Me, I always vote hardwire as much as possible, wireless is a last-resort. If you can stomach the hole-cutting, do it.

 

[jasv]

I have read a lot of posts that say that they do not like their Zwave thermostats, and not many posts that actually like them. I am working on installing an Elk system in my in-laws house, and need some advice on what type of tstats to use.

They have 4 seperate Heating/AC units, with a seperate tstat for each. 2 of them I could probably run Cat5 to, 1 would be very difficult, and 1 I'm not sure I could get a wire run to. The house is rather large, with the thermostats being a ways apart from each other. Also, the wiring can is in the basement, so technically 2 floors below one of the thermostats (the one that would be the most difficult to get wire to).

Would you recommend Zwave thermostats for this type of retrofit installation? Is the range for Zwave long enough for good communication? Would I be better off cutting holes in the sheetrock to hard-wire, and hiring someone to patch the holes (so that you can't tell that they were patched)?

What I do not want to do is install a system that will not be dependable. Any suggestions or +/- comments you have on Zwave are appreciated.

I have 4 RCS zwave tstats in my home (one for each zone) and they have worked flawlessly for the last 18 months or so. I also have one on my vacation home and it works perfectly there also. The only troubles I had were in communicating to homeseer early on but no issues now. I've never had any issues in their ability to control the HVAC.

 

[Sacedog]

I have not read Micah's E-mail, so I will search for that.

As far as controlling a Zwave tstat goes, can an Elk control these directly, or would I need a PC based automation controller? I would prefer to keep everything on the Elk, as he is planning on using a couple of TS07s. I also want to keep the system as simple and solid as possible, so that I don't have to go over there on a regular basis to support it.

 

[Squintz]

I have the ZTT000 and the thermostat seems to perform fine and it has decent functionality but the problem I have with it is the lack of controller support. The ControlThink .net SDK, HomeSeer, and the ACT Handheld controller seem to be the only controllers that support the thermostats. CQC plans to add support in the future and the ELK will be able to control it through the new RS232 Z-Wave device but the current Z-Wave Elk Module does not support controlling the thermostat.

My personal opinon is to use on of the wired thermostats that the Elk supports. Eventually the Z-Wave thermostats may be decent but currently there is a lack of support.

 

[HighTest]

My personal opinon is to use on of the wired thermostats that the Elk supports. Eventually the Z-Wave thermostats may be decent but currently there is a lack of support.

I agree. If you want to be in a hardware controller only mode, this really is the only method that will work. The same RCS tstats are available in a Serial RS-485 format and will connect to an Elk M1XPS serial/lighting expander. HAI has an Omnistat that is also good and is RS-232, again supported directly from the M1XPS expander. Here's a link to the product page about the M1XPS expander (http://www.elkproducts.com/products/m1/M1XSP.htm), on the bottom of the page is an acrobat PDF of the installation manual, so you can see exactly how to wire one of those products up.

Here's a thread for other questions on tstats that was posted recently to the forum: http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=8781

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

I'm not a big fan of zwave thermostats. I prefer hardwired.

If this is not an option though, the new HAI zwave thermostats should be in stock by Wednesday the 6th.

 

[GT!]

I'd like to have an automated thermostatt also. Problem is I'm afraid they might not work with my system. I have a 1990 Coleman heatpump + electric furnace. About 2 yeas ago I purchased a new electronic thermostat (yes, it said it worked with multistage heat pump systems) that seemed to work fine and I was quite happy. However, I soon discovered that the heatpump was iceing up - the defrost cycle was not working. Swapping back to the original thermostat fixed the problem. I suspect it might be because this heatpump uses a defrost on demand rather than a timed cycle (which is more common), but this is just a guess. Any ideas?

-GT

 

[upstatemike]

I would go to the Resconsys site and look at some of the RCS manuals. I think they have the details of how they handle heat pumps documented there.

 

[twilo123]

i use the rcs tz40 and it works great. my biggest problem as stated earlier is a SERIOUS LACK of a good handheld remote for z-wave thermostats. the zth100 is the only one i can find that fully supports the thermostat command class and it's a dinosaur remote. if someone would fully implement thermostat control into their remotes it would help sell a lot more of these thermostats. leviton's handheld can do some basic stuff with the thermostat but definitely is not a true solution.

also, the hawking box as well as the cellular 'cell link' application will fully control z-wave thermostats. not a handheld solution (i wouldn't necessarily count cellular as handheld) but another option on the list.

 

[Rupp]

i use the rcs tz40 and it works great. my biggest problem as stated earlier is a SERIOUS LACK of a good handheld remote for z-wave thermostats. the zth100 is the only one i can find that fully supports the thermostat command class and it's a dinosaur remote. if someone would fully implement thermostat control into their remotes it would help sell a lot more of these thermostats. leviton's handheld can do some basic stuff with the thermostat but definitely is not a true solution.

also, the hawking box as well as the cellular 'cell link' application will fully control z-wave thermostats. not a handheld solution (i wouldn't necessarily count cellular as handheld) but another option on the list.

I'm not sure what level of "remote control" you are looking for, but I setup an X10 remote (HR12A) with each button labeled a temp. We have this remote in the bathroom so we can bump up the heat in the mornings. Then using HomeSeer I simply map the X10 signal to a Z-Wave command.

 

[twilo123]

i am looking for a z-wave handheld remote that fully supports thermostats. nothing complicated. don't want to use anything x10 or any computer software. i already use a hawking box for that part. just looking for a good handheld z-wave remote that fully supports thermostats for around the house use. as i already stated i have a zth100 which does this but am looking for something with an update UI. thanks for the input though.

 

[Squintz]

i am looking for a z-wave handheld remote that fully supports thermostats. nothing complicated. don't want to use anything x10 or any computer software. i already use a hawking box for that part. just looking for a good handheld z-wave remote that fully supports thermostats for around the house use. as i already stated i have a zth100 which does this but am looking for something with an update UI. thanks for the input though.

I want this also. What I really want is for Harmony to add support for being a secondary controller to their standard 890 and also add thermostat support. But you and I both know that won't happen because they are making too much money not supporting it. Eventually someone is going to give. I've be complaining to the head of the z-wave alliance for a long time about this.

 

[twilo123]

the harmony is such a disappointment. the Nevo line may show some promise although it is a bit more pricey and won't support controlling z-wave devices until sometime in 08. hopefully they will be smart enough to include full thermostat support. cooper wiring just came out with some remotes but they missed the boat too and are they are way overpriced. so far i am stuck with the $50 zth100. can't complain too much right.

 

[remoteshoppe]

the harmony is such a disappointment. the Nevo line may show some promise although it is a bit more pricey and won't support controlling z-wave devices until sometime in 08. hopefully they will be smart enough to include full thermostat support. cooper wiring just came out with some remotes but they missed the boat too and are they are way overpriced. so far i am stuck with the $50 zth100. can't complain too much right.

Sorry to resurrect an thread but I've been using the new NevoStudio Pro software with Zwave support with the Nevo Q50 remote control and have successfully programmed all my Vizia switches with ease. Now I'd like to add a Z-wave thermostat to the mix since nevo has that support as well. Is RCS still a top choice? Does anyone know of a fluch mounted thermostat that they would recommend?