I just saw this today and I’ve been in contact with them. They have chosen to support ZigBee initially but told me they have intention to integrate with Vera as one of the major players in HA. What kind of integration remains to be seen.
I would think the ideal method would be on the TCPIP side with an API to allow Vera to command and receive status over an IP connection. Let the EcoVent controller perform all the sensor/vent control stuff and let Vera integrate it into the rest of the house and keep the direct load off Vera
i like the idea behind it, but it’s super expensive to implement.
you’ll need a controller, vent(s) for each room and their plugin/temp sensor units.
I would say 1 for each room.
depending on how big of a house you have, that could get really expensive.
For me personally, I would also want to try it out before i kept it. I’m not sure how effective it would be.
I’m not an HVAC expert, but i know there are concerns over static pressure increasing to much when closing off too many vents at once.
[quote=“mvader, post:2, topic:185548”]i like the idea behind it, but it’s super expensive to implement.
you’ll need a controller, vent(s) for each room and their plugin/temp sensor units.
I would say 1 for each room.
depending on how big of a house you have, that could get really expensive.
For me personally, I would also want to try it out before i kept it. I’m not sure how effective it would be.
I’m not an HVAC expert, but i know there are concerns over static pressure increasing to much when closing off too many vents at once.[/quote]
I completely agree. There are a number of technical considerations with back pressure, air flow, etc., certainly and its not clear to me that I personally would save a lot in South Florida (open plan house, little heating lots of cooling, etc ) but it is an interesting product and I’d like to try it under the right circumstances. It is not cheap but then they haven’t entered the real world of distributors, discounting, etc., yet.
Any hope of integrating individual vents with vera. A have a few that I’d like to control that way.[/quote]
nice find.
There is another company called Keen home i think that is offering a similar product.
I see their ad on facebook, but a bunch of HVAC guys are saying it’s not worth it and will cause problems with your system.
so while i think it would be a neat thing to have just for the sake of automating the home, I just spent a fortune on a new HVAC system and don’t think i’ll be taking any risk’s with it.
Any hope of integrating individual vents with vera. A have a few that I’d like to control that way.[/quote]
nice find.
There is another company called Keen home i think that is offering a similar product.
I see their ad on facebook, but a bunch of HVAC guys are saying it’s not worth it and will cause problems with your system.
so while i think it would be a neat thing to have just for the sake of automating the home, I just spent a fortune on a new HVAC system and don’t think i’ll be taking any risk’s with it.[/quote]
Has anybody tried the Keen Vents from Lowes with Vera yet?
I just picked up a few of the keen vents, it seems like a quality constructed product; I have it working smoothly with their app at the moment, but I’m going to wait for the arrival of my VeraPlus in a few weeks to see if I can connect it up to Vera natively through the zigbee radio.
Before investing a lot more into buying these vents (and if you haven’t already done so) it is worth researching what experts in the design of HVAC systems have to say about changing the vent settings in individual rooms of a home. As has been pointed out in a few other postings in this discussion, a forced air heating/cooling system is designed to work optimally exactly as it was installed. At face value it seems these adjustable vents could be a great idea, but in reality “adjusting” the air flow with these vents will usually cause more issues than it solves and will do nothing to improve the energy efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling system.
Before investing a lot more into buying these vents (and if you haven’t already done so) it is worth researching what experts in the design of HVAC systems have to say about changing the vent settings in individual rooms of a home. As has been pointed out in a few other postings in this discussion, a forced air heating/cooling system is designed to work optimally exactly as it was installed. At face value it seems these adjustable vents could be a great idea, but in reality “adjusting” the air flow with these vents will usually cause more issues than it solves and will do nothing to improve the energy efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling system.[/quote]
I have to disagree. Whoever designed my home (Dr Horton) had no clue about even distribution of heat.
Huge master bedroom where the thermostat is in and 2 smaller bedrooms for the kids.
By the time the big bedroom is cooled down or heated up the small bedrooms are either oven hot or winter cold.
I will implement a logic and those vents for sure but I do agree to one point which is not to close all vents and have the pressure damage the system. Easy to control with logic so please don’t bash something which IS or WILL fix a common problem in this world.
I setup the VeraPlus, it does recognize the Keen Vents via zigbee and creates a device, but doesn’t have an associated device type etc, so it doesn’t allow you to do anything yet. I have opened a case with support a few days back to see if they can get it up and running - no word back yet. I’d be happy to get ON/OFF, Vent position 0%-100% and battery status so I can use it in scenes. If we get it working I’ll post an update.
@hmb, totally agree with being careful to limit the number of vents that get shutoff at any time to avoid pressure issues in the system or better to use a bypass damper - simple to install.
Support have fixed the first vent working, open / close / 0-100% level. Working in scenes, from Homewave etc. I tried adding another, but it was half detected the same way - the only options in the webgui are “Plugin Controls” | “Reviews” | “Add Review” | “Help” - so there’s no way to go manually change the impl_file or device_json fields. Support didn’t share what they did and I’m not sure how to set those settings from the command line. If anyone can point me to instructions on how to do that on UI7 I’d appreciate it.
I’m also not sure if this is state is common for most other ZigBee devices, I’ve tried 2 other battery powered zigbee devices and whilst detected they end up in the same state.
Well, I tried, but it’s not working for me at all. I tried to add a couple of KEEN vents as generic Zigbee devices on my new Vera Plus, but my system won’t recognize them at all.
Any suggestions?
Try hitting the reset button on the side of the battery holder under the vent five times to reset them. You should have a green light flashing twice if they are ready to pair.
Thanks for the quick reply, but I tried it already.
Even I refresh it by hitting the reset button 5times, still my vera plus doesn’t recognize the KEEN vent.
I just realized the difference between mine and DAV3M’s, he/she might have the KEEN bridge, but I don’t. I’m wondering that makes the difference.
Since KEEN vent itself is a Zicgbee product, Vera Plus should be able to connect to the vent without the KEEN bridge.
BTW, if anyone interested, Wink hub can connect to KEEN vent. not all sensors work, but at least you can open/close the vent with Wink hub as a generic zigbee device.
Just received one of the Keen Smart Vents 6" x 10". Was able to pair it using the generic Zigbee tab. It paired as some sort of sensor, (I didn’t pay attention as I was on a mission). In the advanced settings I changed the following to this:
WooHoo!!! it works perfectly with exception of the “UP” “STOP” “DOWN” buttons which seem to do nothing. The OPEN and CLOSE button function flawlessly as well as the slider opens or closes to any percentage I desire.
[quote=“Nutron, post:16, topic:185548”]Just received one of the Keen Smart Vents 6" x 10". Was able to pair it using the generic Zigbee tab. It paired as some sort of sensor, (I didn’t pay attention as I was on a mission). In the advanced settings I changed the following to this:
WooHoo!!! it works perfectly with exception of the “UP” “STOP” “DOWN” buttons which seem to do nothing. The OPEN and CLOSE button function flawlessly as well as the slider opens or closes to any percentage I desire.[/quote]
No I did not. Only the VeraPlus. So far day two and no lost connectivity. Not had time yet to play with controlling it via a Scene or more preferably PLEG.
If I were more knowledgeable of the .xml or .json files & syntax, I would modify them appropriately to remove the “Up”, “Stop”, “Down” buttons… Hint Hint anyone…
Hmm, I wonder if there was an update from Vera. I tried to pair KEEN vent with my vera plus SO MANY TIMES, and gave up, but that was a couple of months ago. I guess I should try it again.
Any luck with the Keen vent? I just received one and got it to pair but when going into settings it gives me an error. It doesn’t look to me like it pairs as a specific device since when i refresh the page the device disappears.
) but it is an interesting product and I’d like to try it under the right circumstances. It is not cheap but then they haven’t entered the real world of distributors, discounting, etc., yet. 
