Is anyone running a Zwave Thermostat system that supports remote temperature control (maybe programmable with a seperate sensor through Vera2?) and more importantly humidity control? I looked at the specifications on the Trane XL900 Zwave thermostat, but could find nothting about control of a remote humidifier for winter, but also dehumidifying control with the AC for summer (ie turning on the AC based on the humidity setpoint instead of just temperature. My current Honeywell IAQ Thermostat has this feature. I have found this to be essential for comfort control. For instance on a humid day in the summer where the outside temperature and inside temperature are close together, the inside humidity will go way up because the AC is not running very often. You will feel hot inside and then lower the temperature setpoint to compensate. I also have an open foyer house, so in the summer I have to close all the first floor vents to force most of the cold air upstairs and let it dump down to the first floor so that the upper floor is not too hot. It would be much smarter to have a thermostat upstairs and switch to control of the AC system to that thermostat from lets say 8:00pm to the morning. Can anyone doing these things with Vera2 please comment. I am in the final stage of deciding if I should buy Vera and am leaning heavily toward jumping in with both feet. I have also seen that Trane will be releasing the new XL950 touch screen controller that looks fantastic.
I have an RCS TZ43 thermostat which supports 2 additional remote sensors, but the external sensors do not show up in Vera. When all three sensors are used at the same time it only works via an average. I had asked on one of the other forums if the thermostat relays (heat, cool, fan, aux) could be monitored via Luup but no responses.
We have an economizer setup using an air to air heat exchanger, bypass damper and duct fan that Vera monitors via additional temp/humidity sensors (HMEHM’s) and a barometric bypass damper that ducts exhaust air into my attic but that’s purely mechanical and not monitored, but thinking about it, it could be by using an HRDS1 to tell if it’s open or not, and if it is open to not run the A/C…Hmmmm (note to self)
It works very well. Vera also monitors the Weather plugin via code to shut it down or prevent it from running if any “Rain” conditions exist and I also have an HM FS-001 set up as a rain sensor that will also shut it down or prevent it from running.
I would really like Vera to support that extra sensor to where I could monitor the discharge temperature and shut the system down when both indoor t-stat and exhaust temps are at enthalpy.
There is also code floating around here that could be used to prevent you’re A/C from running if a door or window is left open.
JOD.
Thanks JOD. Nobody else is doing basic humidity control with a zwave thermostat setup? Seems like a big step backwards to me if I can’t keep that functionality. I am trying to get to the specs for the new Trane XL950 unit coming out soon. That will be a total disaster if they don’t put simple humidity control in that puppy especially as it is supposed to be their flagship controller. Maybe I should be talking to the Honeywell reps to see if they ever plan to integrate their systems for remote access.