Smart thermostat - ecobee3 [Archive] - Beyond.ca - Car Forums

ganesh

12-11-2014, 02:43 PM

Anyone here has any experience with ecobee3?
It is highly rated in smartthermostat.com (4.5 stars out of 5) and from the review it looks like a very solid product. The bonus is that it is a Canadian Company.
http://smartthermostatguide.com/ecobee3-smart-thermostat-review/

I have a two zone furnace and looking for a smart thermostat. Up until now I was zeroing in on Lyric but this seems like a better product.

Any feedback will be much appreciated.

Tik-Tok

12-11-2014, 03:35 PM

Originally posted by ganesh
Anyone here has any experience with ecobee3?
It is highly rated in smartthermostat.com (4.5 stars out of 5) and from the review it looks like a very solid product. The bonus is that it is a Canadian Company.
http://smartthermostatguide.com/ecobee3-smart-thermostat-review/

I have a two zone furnace and looking for a smart thermostat. Up until now I was zeroing in on Lyric but this seems like a better product.

Any feedback will be much appreciated.

No experience other than I've been looking at it for a couple of months now. I like the remote sensors, as my thermostat is located in a terrible spot in the house. Would love to have one sensor in the living room, and another in the bedroom, and have them switch from one to the other at a pre-programmed time.

But just like the "nest", too much for my wallet.

C_Dave45

12-11-2014, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by Tik-Tok

But just like the "nest", too much for my wallet.
I'm of that mindset. I looked at the Nest. Very Cool!!! access from my smartphone....AWESOME!!! Learning a schedule...NEATO!

HOW MUCH, you say??? Meh....my $20 2/5 programmable stat does the job just fine right now.

killramos

12-11-2014, 03:43 PM

Originally posted by C_Dave45

I'm of that mindset. I looked at the Nest. Very Cool!!! access from my smartphone....AWESOME!!! Learning a schedule...NEATO!

HOW MUCH, you say??? Meh....my $20 2/5 programmable stat does the job just fine right now.

That's why i justified it by fixing my own furnace one time :D

1 repair bill ~= 1 nest

But who knows i just installed it so maybe the thing blows, i don't know yet.

ZeroGravity

12-11-2014, 05:56 PM

Originally posted by Tik-Tok

No experience other than I've been looking at it for a couple of months now. I like the remote sensors, as my thermostat is located in a terrible spot in the house. Would love to have one sensor in the living room, and another in the bedroom, and have them switch from one to the other at a pre-programmed time.

But just like the "nest", too much for my wallet.

I have mine for about a month or so. From what I know, I don't think it can switch do use different sensors at a pre-programmed time.

However, you can use the "follow-me" feature. From the group of sensors selected to "follow-me", it will warm or cool your house until the average temperature of those sensor readings equal your set temperature. Sensors which have detected occupancy takes precedence in this calculation. If you have selected 5 sensors, and only 3 has detected occupancy, it will only use the 3 sensors for calculating the average temperature. But say when everyone is asleep, and none of the sensors has detected occupancy, it uses the last occupancy data and "gradually average" out until all selected sensor readings are used for averaging.

Go4Long

12-11-2014, 10:23 PM

damn...that thing looks sexy (for a thermostat) hmmmm...I wonder if I can return the unopened WallyHome system that I just ordered to go with the Nest which I ordered for the wife.

killramos

12-12-2014, 08:28 AM

Originally posted by Go4Long
damn...that thing looks sexy (for a thermostat) hmmmm...I wonder if I can return the unopened WallyHome system that I just ordered to go with the Nest which I ordered for the wife.

lol if you really decide you don't want it ill buy the wally off you for 50 less msrp :P

Win Win :rofl:

ganesh

12-12-2014, 09:48 AM

Originally posted by ZeroGravity

I have mine for about a month or so. From what I know, I don't think it can switch do use different sensors at a pre-programmed time.

However, you can use the "follow-me" feature. From the group of sensors selected to "follow-me", it will warm or cool your house until the average temperature of those sensor readings equal your set temperature. Sensors which have detected occupancy takes precedence in this calculation. If you have selected 5 sensors, and only 3 has detected occupancy, it will only use the 3 sensors for calculating the average temperature. But say when everyone is asleep, and none of the sensors has detected occupancy, it uses the last occupancy data and "gradually average" out until all selected sensor readings are used for averaging.
Did you do the installation? Or did you hire someone to do it for you?
I had a chat with ecobee and since mine has two zones they are recommending me to get it installed professionally. Not only that I need two ecobee3¡¦s because of the two zones. Man this is going to be pricey ƒº

ZeroGravity

12-12-2014, 10:09 AM

Originally posted by ganesh

Did you do the installation? Or did you hire someone to do it for you?
I had a chat with ecobee and since mine has two zones they are recommending me to get it installed professionally. Not only that I need two ecobee3¡¦s because of the two zones. Man this is going to be pricey ƒº

We only have one furnace for the whole house and just one zone :P. But yes, I installed it myself. Didn't have the c-wire, but saw that they have two unused wires from the bunch, so I just connected the other end to the c terminal of the furnace and didn't have to use the power extension kit that it came with.

Go4Long

12-13-2014, 02:33 PM

Originally posted by killramos

lol if you really decide you don't want it ill buy the wally off you for 50 less msrp :P

Win Win :rofl:

It seems like the Wallyhome does some things that the Ecobee doesn't. The ecobee's remote sensor just tells the Ecobee that you want THAT room to be the desired temperature, while Wallyhome seems to focus on trying to balance the home...don't know if that's true or not, but I'll give it a shot...and get credit for 4 gifts :P

ganesh

12-15-2014, 09:56 AM

Endure Electric who is the authorized installer for the ecobee quoted $1,100 + Tax for the job. They want $ 400 + for each of the thermostat even though the listed price at ecobee is $ 249. They refused to just do the install.

ZeroGravity

12-15-2014, 10:08 AM

Originally posted by ganesh
Endure Electric who is the authorized installer for the ecobee quoted $1,100 + Tax for the job. They want $ 400 + for each of the thermostat even though the listed price at ecobee is $ 249. They refused to just do the install.

Ouch. That's quite expensive. I'm not familiar with 2 zone systems, but isn't it essentially one furnace connected to two thermostat which independently can turn on the furnace and have the air flow directed to the zone that turned on the furnace? I would assume it is just a matter of replacing the two existing thermostat with two ecobee units. Then pair the remote sensors with the correct ecobee main unit. I suppose wiring the additional c-wire could be more tricky.

killramos

12-15-2014, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by ZeroGravity

Ouch. That's quite expensive. I'm not familiar with 2 zone systems, but isn't it essentially one furnace connected to two thermostat which independently can turn on the furnace and have the air flow directed to the zone that turned on the furnace? I would assume it is just a matter of replacing the two existing thermostat with two ecobee units. Then pair the remote sensors with the correct ecobee main unit. I suppose wiring the additional c-wire could be more tricky.

It depends, some systems talk to each other some don't. My parents have 2 furnaces, old school system. The furnaces don't talk to each other and run independently off their own thermostat.

I know Nest can accommodate such systems but will "talk" to try and improve overall system efficiency.

Then there are systems with 1 big furnace with automatic dampers that direct heat flow to 2 or more zones. Those are MUCH more complicated and I am not sure if consumer grade thermostats can always accommodate them depending on number of zones, voltage, control systems for the dampers etc.

Things aren't black and white in this case. Nest uses the "works with 95%" of systems" nomenclature for this reason. Almost everyone has a simple system esp in the US where it by and large doesn't get that cold and fancy furnaces are more of a moot point.

This is why if your system is even a modicum of complicated they tell you to call a pro so you don't fuck things up.

killramos

12-15-2014, 10:27 AM

Originally posted by ganesh
Endure Electric who is the authorized installer for the ecobee quoted $1,100 + Tax for the job. They want $ 400 + for each of the thermostat even though the listed price at ecobee is $ 249. They refused to just do the install.

Same reason you cant bring car parts to your mechanic and ask them to install them...

:rolleyes:

ganesh

12-15-2014, 10:53 AM

Originally posted by killramos

Same reason you cant bring car parts to your mechanic and ask them to install them...

:rolleyes:

Thanks for the education :)

Go4Long

12-15-2014, 11:26 AM

Contact ecobee and tell them their recommended installer is price gouging.

ganesh

12-15-2014, 11:27 AM

Originally posted by Go4Long
Contact ecobee and tell them their recommended installer is price gouging.
I already did that and they are following this up with the regional manager.

jwslam

12-29-2014, 12:59 AM

FML

Just bought a honeywell wifi thermostat on price match.
Get home and realize I don't actually have a C-Wire. (no clue how the last home owners were running a nest).

Anyone here able to do my wiring (or recommend someone)? Or Find me another solution?
THANKS

mix123

12-29-2014, 09:43 AM

Anyone know if this would work well for a thermostat in a bad location? We just moved into a new house and the tstat is right by a drafty patio door and above a heat vent. In this cold weather heat runs super frequent from the drafty doors. Just wondering if this would help average the temp between the thermostats reading and another warmer room where the remote sensor could be until we get the doors replaced.

killramos

12-29-2014, 09:58 AM

Originally posted by jwslam
FML

Just bought a honeywell wifi thermostat on price match.
Get home and realize I don't actually have a C-Wire. (no clue how the last home owners were running a nest).

Anyone here able to do my wiring (or recommend someone)? Or Find me another solution?
THANKS

My nest is hooked up without a Common wire. It works fine if you run your system regularly.

There was a post in one of the 69 thermostat threads on here on a kit that adds a wire. Poster said he had an extra. Try searching through I cant rmeber which thread.

jdmakkord

12-29-2014, 11:22 AM

Originally posted by jwslam
FML

Just bought a honeywell wifi thermostat on price match.
Get home and realize I don't actually have a C-Wire. (no clue how the last home owners were running a nest).

Anyone here able to do my wiring (or recommend someone)? Or Find me another solution?
THANKS

The install instructions should have a link to their support site. I wired one last month without a C wire. Worked great for a month till it died Dec 24th after home depot closed. Promptly ripped it out and swapped it for a Nest on the 26th.

jwslam

12-29-2014, 11:57 AM

I'm more confused now...
So the bottom picture is from the furnace. No C-24V wire
The top picture is the thermostat. Why are there so many more wires?? :confused: :confused:

Someone wanna help me? Will repay in beer and food! :D

killramos

12-29-2014, 12:16 PM

jwslam

01-05-2015, 03:35 PM

So I was reading that because I have both RC and RH wires, I can jumper them to the 24V C???

killramos

01-05-2015, 03:44 PM

Originally posted by jwslam
So I was reading that because I have both RC and RH wires, I can jumper them to the 24V C???

That sounds like a bad idea but then again i don't know what i am talking about.

Follow the cable from the furnace, eventually you should meet with the Ethernet style cable wrap with a bunch of wires in it, use one of those for common. Might have to extend it with a extra piece of wire if its cut.

If they are all at the thermostat they are all in the furnace room somewhere, likely just trimmed to be neat. :dunno:

jwslam

01-05-2015, 04:01 PM

Originally posted by killramos
Follow the cable from the furnace, eventually you should meet with the Ethernet style cable wrap with a bunch of wires in it, use one of those for common. Might have to extend it with a extra piece of wire if its cut.
My basement is developed :banghead: :banghead:

killramos

01-05-2015, 04:06 PM

Originally posted by jwslam

My basement is developed :banghead: :banghead:

It is likely inside the furnace room or even inside the furnace housing. Mine is split just inside the housing before the control panel. the installer is probably to lazy for the split to occur in the wall etc.

This is exactly what it looks like in my wall / furnace

https://www.temcocontrols.com/images/cable.gif

Do you have something similar?

:dunno:

I am really trying to do something about my posting habits... These helpful posts are really a setback today...

mr2mike

01-05-2015, 05:06 PM

http://cdn.schematic.pics/images/img210.imageshack.us/img210/8608/hw5220.jpg
Different style but the wires do the same thing. They're labelled here.

What do you have in your house? Just a Furnance? A/C too?

Some of those wires looks like you have the option setup to run the furnace fan without heat in the summer for air circulation.

Notice that most simple setups have the R and Rc jumpered.

EDIT: Looking at your setup off the furnace would be:

1 wire into R. It's the red one.
1 wire into W1. Usually white but for you looks like black.
Then hook up the green wire to your fan as per the pics attached.
BUT I DON'T THINK YOU"RE FINISHED YET. DO YOU HAVE A/C??
HARD TO TELL BUT I THINK YOU DO.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attachments/product-reviews/3662d1384973239-motison-cyberstat-cy1201-wifi-thermostat-installation-review-aprilaireintelligentthermostatwiring-gif

jwslam

01-05-2015, 10:14 PM

Originally posted by mr2mike
BUT I DON'T THINK YOU"RE FINISHED YET. DO YOU HAVE A/C??
HARD TO TELL BUT I THINK YOU DO.
Pretty sure I don't have AC, otherwise I wouldn't be living in 28°C in the summer

Go4Long

01-05-2015, 10:32 PM

That's one thing I really liked with the nest. One of the wires didn't make sense and there was a1-800 number to call for support.

Chris Ng

01-05-2015, 10:47 PM

Originally posted by jwslam

My basement is developed :banghead: :banghead:

If you confirmed that you do not have an extra wire in the harness to use to connect to the C terminal, you can use this device :

https://www.aartech.ca/acc0410.html

To give you a c wire

Chris Ng

01-05-2015, 11:12 PM

Originally posted by jwslam
I'm more confused now...
So the bottom picture is from the furnace. No C-24V wire
The top picture is the thermostat. Why are there so many more wires?? :confused: :confused:

Someone wanna help me? Will repay in beer and food! :D

Is the white wire that is connected to the terminal with the green wire on the furnace board coming out of the same wirebundle??
Is the wire that is connected to the w terminal on the furnace board black or brown? Hard to tell...
You've got 2 wires on the R terminal on the furnace board, need to know if the black wire is part of the same wire bundle as well..

I would assume the white wire is Not part of the same bundle and goes somewhere else that controls the fan.. If the rest of the wires are part of the same wire bundle, then I would disconnect them all and hook them up as follows

Green wire to G terminal on ecobee and furnace (fan)
Red wire to Rh on ecobee and R on furnace (heat transformer)
Black wire to C on ecobee and furnace (24vac common)
Looks like you have a spare Blue wire in your harness that isn't being used, that can connect to the W terminal on the ecobee and furnace (heating stage)..

You do not need to jumper rc and rh on the ecobee...

Chris Ng

01-05-2015, 11:18 PM

For anyone else with questions about the ecobee, the best resource is

Www.smarthomehub.net

Ecobee reps monitor the forms and can get you answers , as well as plenty of discussions in regards to the ecobee features..

I was one of the firsts to get the ecobee3 and replaced my 2nd gen nest with it.. Absolutely no regrets in doing so..overall comfort in the house is much better than with the nest..
Nobody complains that they are too hot or too cold anymore.

If anyone wants to buy a cheap Nest, let me know, I'll sell you mine

jwslam

01-06-2015, 12:33 PM

I didn't get an ecobee. I'm just here to de-rail the thread lol.

I got this
http://yourhome.honeywell.com/home/Products/Thermostats/7-Day-Programmable/Wi-Fi+Smart+Thermostat.htm

phreezee

12-02-2016, 04:56 PM

Bumping this thread to share my experience with Ecobee3.

I got everything wired up RGYWC + Acc+ wires and my Lennox ML193UH would not ignite the burners. A whole day passed before I realized that just the blower was running. Spent an hour on hold for Ecobee3 Support and they ended up with the conclusion that it was not compatible with the furnace despite having all the wires connected properly and configured properly.

Wasted 2 days on this thing :banghead:

Thaco

12-02-2016, 05:13 PM

i have had this t-stat for a while now (probably a couple years or more), i love it, i have an old 2 wire furnace, had to install a transformer and run a couple more wires for power, but after the initial setup its been rock solid.

rage2

12-02-2016, 05:25 PM

I haven't touched my thermostat since I installed this thing. Works so well. The multi-room sensors is something I've needed since forever.

TurboMedic

12-02-2016, 06:16 PM

I find mine still runs the furnace for 20 min, shuts off, restarts after about 1 min. Does this all the way to set temp. Tried adjusting the delta and everything, not sure why its doing it.

suntan

01-11-2017, 11:35 AM

THIS THING CAN CONTROL THE HUMIDIFIER BASED ON OUTSIDE TEMP, I HAVE TO BUY IT TODAY!

kenny

01-11-2017, 12:08 PM

Originally posted by TurboMedic
I find mine still runs the furnace for 20 min, shuts off, restarts after about 1 min. Does this all the way to set temp. Tried adjusting the delta and everything, not sure why its doing it.

Might not be the thermostat, it could be furnace hitting too high of a temp for running that long then shutting down?

suntan

01-11-2017, 10:13 PM

Welp, checked for C wire.

No connected C wire. But it's there. So I connected it to my existing thermostat. Connected it to furnace. It works!

Took forever to fish the wire out of the wall though. They wrapped the damn wire around like 10 times. :rofl:

Humidifier has 24V as well, so this is going to be really straightforward.

suntan

01-16-2017, 01:19 PM

Installed it on thursday. Seems to be working well. Love the automatic humidistat control, the remote thermostats and auto-off.

drtoohotty1

01-23-2017, 04:40 PM

If anyone is interested amazon has an error right now where you can stack their 3 promos for an ecobee3 and 3 monitors if you and a buddy each get a set.http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg230/drtoohotty/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_20170123-153622_zpslzqv0bkq.png

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg230/drtoohotty/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_20170123-153653_zpsjqdlrg0a.png

rage2

01-23-2017, 05:30 PM

Nice find. Just confirmed it still works.

rage2

02-17-2017, 09:14 AM

Missed this last month:

https://www.ecobee.com/2017/01/works-with-keen-smart-vents/

Ecobee now supports Keen Smart Vents. Basically multizone retrofit. :drool:

lilmira

02-17-2017, 09:31 AM

That's interesting.

TurboMedic

02-17-2017, 01:43 PM

Very interesting. I added more sensors to my home and made the main one not active in any setting, and that made a huge difference to the comfort of the house. I may look into that system now too

killramos

02-17-2017, 02:16 PM

Originally posted by rage2
Missed this last month:

https://www.ecobee.com/2017/01/works-with-keen-smart-vents/

Ecobee now supports Keen Smart Vents. Basically multizone retrofit. :drool:

What happened to your skepticism over keen?

Thinking i might end up replacing the nest with an ecobee3 this spring to try and cool the bedroom off a bit more when its hot.

Have heard too many good things to not consider giving it a shot. Nest seems to be a bit of a dead in the water project based on how often they lose staff and excecutives.