Anyone using an RCS TZ43 (or any other RCS thermostat)?

drzeller · April 7, 2009, 7:26pm

I’ve been working with support on a problem I have been having with a new RCS TZ43. I cannot set the heat and cool points.

We can control the heat/cool mode, so we have working communications.

I was wondering if anyone else has one and if it is working as expected. If it is working for you, I’ll get a replacement. If not, I’ll keep going with RCS and MCV’s support.

Thanks,
David

networkxx · April 7, 2009, 11:24pm

I just installed the same stat Sunday.The space temperature (display) on my RCS TZ43 is hunting all the time. I am still learning about the settings, the schedule built into the thermostat was active so I disabled it. My events logs were going crazy 200 events etc. I think all the errors and traffic were confusing Vera. I installed the additional outside air temperature sensor and that’s pretty nice. I was hoping it might show up on Vera. No luck
I am getting node (TZ43) never responded from Vera. If I figure out what going on I will let You know.

I have a Wayne Dalton WDTC-20 also, and I am very Happy with the last upgrade from Micasaverde it is very solid now.

zmistro · April 8, 2009, 5:03am

Have you checked the log files to see if the commands are being sent and received

drzeller · April 8, 2009, 12:18pm

zmistro - not sure who you were asking, but in my case, yes the commands are sent and received. Also, changes to heat/cool mode are processed correctly.

D.

drzeller · April 8, 2009, 7:14pm

Update: I am able to control my thermostat using a sample program from the Z-Wave PC SDK and a ControlThink ThinkStick USB controller. So, it would seem we may have a problem with Vera. I’m still working with RCS and MCV support.

D.

zmistro · April 8, 2009, 11:18pm

That is so weird.
So Dr are you saying that Vera is actually sending the commands to set temp and the thermostat fails to respond?

I wonder what RCS could be doing that is throwing the system off?

drzeller · April 9, 2009, 7:08pm

I am waiting for Aaron (MVC support) to try having Vera send the commands in fahrenheit instead of celsius, as that is the way the other program sends the commands. RCS support questioned why we sent commands in C instead of F, as the thermostat is set to display in F. MVC sends their commands to all thermostats in C, from I can understand, so the RCS behavior is questionable to me. Since the commands actually specify what units are used, I would expect the thermostat to handle both sets of units - not just the one that the thermostat is currently displaying.

I did change the thermostat to C, and the commands took.

Another oddity that RCS cannot explain is that my status screen shows all zeros for the home and node ID’s – which they say means that it is not part of a network. They can’t explain why the thermostat is responding to commands if it is not part of a network. ;D The tone of their support has not been the nicest, to be honest. I think there is a problem with either their firmware or my thermostat, but we’ll see.

D.

B0SST0N · May 20, 2009, 3:53am

I just bought 2 of the same thermostats. I am having many of the same issues. The cool/heat setpoints settings are unpredictable (looks like a conversion error C>F). I cannot set my fan to auto, but I can set it to “on”. I submitted a support ticket, hopefully MCV will get these issues fixed soon. These are some expensive tstats.

B0SST0N · May 20, 2009, 4:00am

Also, I have these 2 thermostats controlling a single heatpump. The 2 zones are controlled with dampers in the hvac ductwork. The problem is that vera is seeing these 2 tstats as seperate systems and is showing 1500W for each when both are on. Is there any way for vera to calculate the 2 tstats as 1500W whether one is on or both are on? It doesnt matter whether the hvac call comes from upstairs or downstair, or both for that matter, the system is just either off or on. The dampers in the ductwork just tell the air where its needed based on the tstat call. Any suggestions mcv?

B0SST0N · May 21, 2009, 4:11am

[quote=“drzeller, post:7, topic:164432”]I am waiting for Aaron (MVC support) to try having Vera send the commands in fahrenheit instead of celsius, as that is the way the other program sends the commands. RCS support questioned why we sent commands in C instead of F, as the thermostat is set to display in F. MVC sends their commands to all thermostats in C, from I can understand, so the RCS behavior is questionable to me. Since the commands actually specify what units are used, I would expect the thermostat to handle both sets of units - not just the one that the thermostat is currently displaying.

I did change the thermostat to C, and the commands took.

Another oddity that RCS cannot explain is that my status screen shows all zeros for the home and node ID’s – which they say means that it is not part of a network. They can’t explain why the thermostat is responding to commands if it is not part of a network. ;D The tone of their support has not been the nicest, to be honest. I think there is a problem with either their firmware or my thermostat, but we’ll see.

D.[/quote]

DrZeller-

Have you gotten anywhere with this problem? Where are you checking the home and node ID from? It does seem there may be some sort of C>F issue as the setpoints are the major issue. However, I can not set the Fan to “Auto” either. I can set the Fan to “On”, but not “Auto”. The tstat also likes to set the mode to “Away” if I send an “Off” command to the tstat, wheras it should just set the system to “Off”. I have no way of setting the tstat back to “Hold” once it is set to “Away” and all zwave commands become useless. I like the thermostats… but they are about 150$ too expensive for being able to control them with just the local buttons, haha.