Configure Nest thermostat to Vera3 Nest Plugin

Other Devices & Integrations Climate Control & Temperature Sensors
#1

I just installed the Nest thermostat and configured it properly. I downloaded the Nest Plugin for my Vera 3 and can’t seem to the get it configured,

I added my user name and password for the nest account and also added the ip address of the Nest under advanced, unfortunately I get a “Device Not Ready” Message.

I would be greatful if someone that has their Nest configured properly with Vera if could advise how to get it connected.

Thanks

#2

The Nest plugin can only communicate with your thermostat(s) via the service that Nest Labs provides on the Internet. You should only supply your username and password as it exists at the service at nest.com. Do not configure any IP address in the plugin. This of course means that the plugin relies on an Internet connection to function; at this time, there is no other known approach. However, most users seem to be satisfied with this.

Please see more information at [url=http://cocu.la/vera/nest/README.md]http://cocu.la/vera/nest/README.md[/url].

Also please note that there is an outstanding issue with passwords containing odd characters like “&” and “{” for example. For now, if you have non-alphanumeric characters in your Nest password, you would have to change your password to remove them.

I hope this helps!

watou

#3

Thanks so much for the prompt reply , I now realize what happened, I had downloaded the app a week ago before getting the nest and did not fill out the login info the first time. I ended up deleting the app and reinstalling and now works perfectly. Great app!!!

Incidentally I noticed that this plugin does not show up on the Apple iOS app: ivera, vera mobile it does however show up on the app called Automator.

I have already corresponded with the ivera support team about seeing if they could add it to their app so can control from the iPhone , they needed the device file and device type for the thermostat off the advanced tab.

Thanks for your help

#4

[quote=“dinochronos, post:3, topic:175163”]Thanks so much for the prompt reply , I now realize what happened, I had downloaded the app a week ago before getting the nest and did not fill out the login info the first time. I ended up deleting the app and reinstalling and now works perfectly. Great app!!!

Incidentally I noticed that this plugin does not show up on the Apple iOS app: ivera, vera mobile it does however show up on the app called Automator.

I have already corresponded with the ivera support team about seeing if they could add it to their app so can control from the iPhone , they needed the device file and device type for the thermostat off the advanced tab.

Thanks for your help[/quote]

You’re very welcome! Glad it’s working now. And thank you if your intervention leads to the plugin showing up in the iVera app on iOS – I didn’t use the standard thermostat device type in this plugin and some of the mobile apps had issue with this. The AutHomation, SQRemote and a few others see and interact with the plugin properly; it would be great if iVera were to do the same.

Please report back if you see any strange behavior.

Regards,
watou

1 Like
#5

Not to be a downer on iVera, but I wouldn’t hold your breath on updates to the app. According to the iTunes store, the last update was July 2011. I’m pretty convinced that any development of the app has been abandoned.

Another great app to try is Homewave. It’s really fantastic, the developer is active here, and the price is right as far as I’m concerned! The Nest plugin works well with it too.

Dave

#6

iVera is still active, I’m beta testing it as we speak, even in the process of including the nest in the app.

#7

That’s great to hear. The more apps supporting the platform, the better.

#8

Greetings,

So I’ve successfully integrated the Nest into a Vera lite UI5. Works great!

One thing I noticed, is that it seems to place the “Away / Home” toggle object under lights. This is just a minor quirk, but as my client has a system running with multiple integrated lights, one could accidentally flip the Nest to away mode by accident when playing on his tablet.

I tried playing with the “category_num” variable. It works briefly, until the next polling of the Nest. Then, it flips back into becoming a ‘light’. The humidity object is very cool, and I’d enjoy being able to place it in the ‘climate’ section, although ‘sensors’ does make sense too in this case.

Maybe what I’m asking for is to be able to change what type of device the Vera thinks these objects are?

Thanks in advance!

#9

I don’t know what the side effects might be for changing the [tt]category_num[/tt] of one of the Nest plugin devices, but the lines in I_Nest1.xml to change the Home/Away device’s [tt]category_num[/tt] persistently are 499-501:

[url=https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/blob/master/src/I_Nest1.xml#L499]vera-nest/I_Nest1.xml at master · watou/vera-nest · GitHub

You could download the file from your Vera, change those lines are re-upload it. (You would have to change this on subsequent plugin releases, too.)

watou

#10

I have downloaded the app for Vera. I put in my username and password, but it says it cannot connect. Anything else I need to configure?

#11

I don’t know if there is some other issue in play right now, but I do know that passwords with unusual characters, like &, can cause the authentication to fail. It’s an outstanding bug I haven’t fixed yet. So maybe try changing your password if it has punctuation or other non alphanumeric letters, and try again.

Let us know either way. Thanks!

watou

#12

Hello. I currently have the Nest thermostat properly integrated and reporting correctly. All other functions seem to work.

I have a smoke detector in the furnace room also integrated. When this smoke triggers, I want the furnace to quit. Since I’m in Canada, I prefer to set the heat point to 5 degrees C, to avoid pipe freeze in the event of false alarm. I figure since 4 degrees would cause the furnace to stop for a very long time anyways, this is sufficient. Likewise, the air conditioning I set way high, to stop that, as well.

When implementing this scene, I simply manually toggle the COOL temp up, and i manually toggle the HEAT temp down. In the Advanced tab, it looks like this;

Delay: Immediate
Thermostat SetCurrentSetpoint
NewCurrentSetpoint 30

Thermostat SetCurrentSetpoint
NewCurrentSetpoint 5

When I test this scene, the COOL temp changes, but the HEAT one does not. I get the following error in the dash at the top;

“Nest : Failed to send heat setpoint command.”

Thanks in advance for any help.

#13

[quote=“Pestus, post:12, topic:175163”]When I test this scene, the COOL temp changes, but the HEAT one does not. I get the following error in the dash at the top;
“Nest : Failed to send heat setpoint command.”
Thanks in advance for any help.[/quote]

Could you verify that you are running plugin version 1.3 (the latest)? I made a change in this part of the code in that version that attempts to avoid a problem with stale data when multiple setpoint and mode changes are made very quickly (as in, via automation). See here: [url=https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/issues/26]https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/issues/26[/url].

Could you also verify that you are in AutoChangeOver mode?

Have you considered instead switching the HVAC to “away” mode, which has the effect of causing the setback/setforward to extremes that you set via the thermostat or nest.com interface?

If none of the above help, could you insert a short delay between setting one setpoint and then the next? These Luup actions result in direct HTTPS posts to nest.com, and they may not like being posted at in immediate succession.

Lastly, I would be happy to look at logs if none of the above possibilities help the situation. But really I recommend “away” mode as a cleaner approach. And in a world where money is no object (joking), the new Nest Protect is supposed to ship this month, and the “turn off the furnace if smoke is detected” feature is supposed to be natively integrated.

Regards,
watou

#14

I have a first generation nest thermostat and a second generation nest thermostat… both work well with the Vera3 nest plugin. The major difference between the two generations is the first generation shows ‘Home’ or ‘Away’ as a separate component in the Vera UI whereas the second generation does not and I therefore cannot use this as a trigger. Since I have numerous thermostats in my home, not all Nest but all Vera controlled, I am trying to use the ‘Home’ ‘Away’ function to trigger turning on the heat upon occupancy in non Nest thermostats. Can anyone tell me why the ‘Home’ ‘Away’ functionality only works in the Nest Gen1 thermostat and not Gen2, or perhaps it is something that I have not configured properly? Thanks

#15

I have a second Gen NEST and I have HOME and AWAY device… maybe you should remove and reinstall the plugin.

#16

I second this advice, as there ought not be anything about the plugin that cares whether you have a 1st or 2nd generation Nest thermostat.

watou

#17

[quote=“Pestus, post:8, topic:175163”]Greetings,

So I’ve successfully integrated the Nest into a Vera lite UI5. Works great!
One thing I noticed, is that it seems to place the “Away / Home” toggle object under lights.
I tried playing with the “category_num” variable. It works briefly, until the next polling of the Nest. Then, it flips back into becoming a ‘light’.
Thanks in advance![/quote]

Hello guys,

I have the exact same issue. Whatever I change it always comes back as “Lights” device. I don’t want to mess around with the source code as suggested in the response to this quote above.

Would it be possible to get a 1.4 release please to get this fixed? If not, any advise on how to fix that myself would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

#18

[quote=“Pseudomizer, post:17, topic:175163”][quote=“Pestus, post:8, topic:175163”]Greetings,

So I’ve successfully integrated the Nest into a Vera lite UI5. Works great!
One thing I noticed, is that it seems to place the “Away / Home” toggle object under lights.
I tried playing with the “category_num” variable. It works briefly, until the next polling of the Nest. Then, it flips back into becoming a ‘light’.
Thanks in advance![/quote]

Hello guys,

I have the exact same issue. Whatever I change it always comes back as “Lights” device. I don’t want to mess around with the source code as suggested in the response to this quote above.

Would it be possible to get a 1.4 release please to get this fixed? If not, any advise on how to fix that myself would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.[/quote]

Hello, if there’s general agreement on the forum here that 1) a different [tt]category_num[/tt] is more appropriate for the Home/Away device (which one? 5 for HVAC instead of the current 3 for SWITCH?), and 2) there are no ill effects from changing the current categorisation, I am happy to change it for a 1.4 release.

If you can’t wait for people to chime in to come to consensus on whether to make this change, and you’re running 1.3 of the plugin, you can download the latest I_Nest1.xml from here: [url=https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/raw/master/src/I_Nest1.xml]https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/raw/master/src/I_Nest1.xml[/url], and then note lines 501 through 504 here: [url=https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/blob/master/src/I_Nest1.xml#L501]vera-nest/I_Nest1.xml at master · watou/vera-nest · GitHub for the lines that need changing, make the change in a proper plain text editor, and then upload the modified file to your Vera, restarting the Luup engine. This ought to recategorise the Home/Away device to the new [tt]category_num[/tt] you chose.

But hopefully enough people lodge their opinions on it here so we can decide if this is a good change to make for current and future plugin users.

watou

#19
But hopefully enough people lodge their opinions on it here so we can decide if this is a good change to make for current and future plugin users.

I personally don’t have a problem with the way the plugin currently handles the Home/Away status. I don’t filter/group by device type so it doesn’t present a problem for me. I primarily use the HomeWave app to control my Nest.

That being said, the change that is proposed probably also would not be an issue for me because of the above reason.

#20

[quote=“watou, post:18, topic:175163”]Hello, if there’s general agreement on the forum here that 1) a different [tt]category_num[/tt] is more appropriate for the Home/Away device (which one? 5 for HVAC instead of the current 3 for SWITCH?), and 2) there are no ill effects from changing the current categorisation, I am happy to change it for a 1.4 release.

If you can’t wait for people to chime in to come to consensus on whether to make this change, and you’re running 1.3 of the plugin, you can download the latest I_Nest1.xml from here: [url=https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/raw/master/src/I_Nest1.xml]https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/raw/master/src/I_Nest1.xml[/url], and then note lines 501 through 504 here: [url=https://github.com/watou/vera-nest-thermostat/blob/master/src/I_Nest1.xml#L501]vera-nest/I_Nest1.xml at master · watou/vera-nest · GitHub for the lines that need changing, make the change in a proper plain text editor, and then upload the modified file to your Vera, restarting the Luup engine. This ought to recategorise the Home/Away device to the new [tt]category_num[/tt] you chose.

But hopefully enough people lodge their opinions on it here so we can decide if this is a good change to make for current and future plugin users.

watou[/quote]

Fast reply. Thanks. So far you have 2 votes to move it. I will take a look at your suggested approach above as I am brand new to Vera but I love it so far.