Honeywell Wifi vs Z wave?

Other Devices & Integrations Climate Control & Temperature Sensors
1

I have searched the forums and have determined that the results folk have gotten with the Honeywell Z wave is sketchy, but due to the UI7 issues, folks do not have total control over the Honeywell Wifi using JoeyDs (Awesome) plug in?

I have to replace my Trane due to incompatability with my system (just had a looong talk with the AC guy) and I am trying to decide - Widi Honeywell or the Z wave (which is not on their web site anymore…and maybe not supported?)

2

[quote=“Dtutwiler, post:1, topic:187021”]I have searched the forums and have determined that the results folk have gotten with the Honeywell Z wave is sketchy, but due to the UI7 issues, folks do not have total control over the Honeywell Wifi using JoeyDs (Awesome) plug in?

I have to replace my Trane due to incompatability with my system (just had a looong talk with the AC guy) and I am trying to decide - Widi Honeywell or the Z wave (which is not on their web site anymore…and maybe not supported?)[/quote]

Which Trane are you replacing why only honeywell? I have had both and I think both of mine had the same amount of cooling and heating stages. So same controls.

I have only stuck with z-wave thermostats as it works good with VERA. Wifi some people like the fact they can use honeywells website or app to have a 2nd option or backup if they can’t or don’t want to use their VERA app. Feel its like a failsafe or backup.

I personally don’t like to many chiefs. One master controller works better for me.

3

This is the Trane.

The problem is the power to the changeover valve. The Trane has no power when cooling and power when heating vs what my heat pump needs - the opposite (think I said that right). The valve is making a racket at times so the tech advised I replace the thermostat with a honeywell which has the correct power set up

I’d like the Z wave but don’t see it on Honeywells site so I am worried about support.

4

[quote=“Dtutwiler, post:3, topic:187021”]This is the Trane.

The problem is the power to the changeover valve. The Trane has no power when cooling and power when heating vs what my heat pump needs - the opposite (think I said that right). The valve is making a racket at times so the tech advised I replace the thermostat with a honeywell which has the correct power set up

I’d like the Z wave but don’t see it on Honeywells site so I am worried about support.[/quote]

Get a new tech. That thermostat can be set either way same as the honeywell. The wiring is actually the same.

When you have a heat pump you need to either energize the reversing valve or de energize it. Most thermostats can be wired either way as the install is not always the same in every house. There is actually two different settings that need to be looked at. One is done in the thermostat settings. It can be set to power the reversing valve on either heat or cool and needs to be turned on in either case if you have a heatpump.

Also there are different ways of wiring it depending on how you want it to work also. Either way could be fixed. Thing is tho if the heating and cooling are working right now, then the valve must be working. If not it would be backwards.

Manual is here.

The thermostat is going to be the same as a honeywell, RCS and others. They are universal as long as they have the right amount or more stages of heating and cooling you need. This trane will do up to 3 stages of heat and 2 stages of cool which should be more then what u have.

Is this a new install? I think the guy was just lost and is only used to install one type of thermostat. Likely he didn’t know the settings in this unit either.

Going in and reversing the valve now tho will reverse your heat and cool settings. Unless they are currently not working and backwards this shouldn’t be your problem.

5

Page 13 of the manual

Box 18C “Heat Pump Mechanical Settings” letter “i” specifically shows you how to switch the reversing valve from on when in heat or on when in cool. Or what they mean is reverse when that “reversing valve” is powered up.

There is even a picture of this on the right of that same page. Making sure since you have a Heat pump you enable that setting then setup properly for you setup.

EDIT: If they have been playing with it for sometime and tried to manually wire it up differently to make it work, without setting this properly. I would also recheck that it’s currently wired up correctly. They might have very well had it wired right in the beginning but without setting the settings in the thermostat up could have thought there was a problem and now started swapping wires around leaving you with not only changing these settings now but also putting the wires back to normal. If that makes any sense.

6

Funny - after I posted I started digging into it and found exactly what you posted. Interestingly enough the unit is a Am St/Trane!!!?! For some reason there was no voltage to the Changeover vlave in cooling mode although it was correctly set up in the thermostat. They are coming back out today as the entire unit lost power at midnight. :confused:

7

Hope you get it handled, I’m very confident you don’t need to change the thermostat due to incapability. If you would like to change it or if you if have a defective Trane thermostat thats different.

The power going out to the reversing valve is power that is coming in from the air handler. There is also several jumpers in the thermostat that may need to be added or removed depending on setup.

Seeing that the unit is having other issues (lost power) leads me to believe there is either a defective part or incorrect installation somewhere in the a/c or air handler unit.

Lets us know how it goes.

8

Well it turns out the Trane was wired correctly…but was NOT sending the correct voltage. After every bit of troubleshooting he and I could do…it looked like the Therm was going bad. I had to have AC so I got a Honeywell Wifi. I would much rather have a Z wave but this will work…for now.

Thanks for the assistance! I really appreciate it

9

[quote=“Dtutwiler, post:8, topic:187021”]Well it turns out the Trane was wired correctly…but was NOT sending the correct voltage. After every bit of troubleshooting he and I could do…it looked like the Therm was going bad. I had to have AC so I got a Honeywell Wifi. I would much rather have a Z wave but this will work…for now.

Thanks for the assistance! I really appreciate it[/quote]

Honeywell z-wave are still around also.

The Trane’s that I have are the 500 models with external temp sensors that I got from ebay for 70.00 I have around 7 of those. Cheapest I see them now is 109.00.