Integrating with Carrier Infinity T-Stat

Other Devices & Integrations Climate Control & Temperature Sensors
21

Looks like the wholesale price is less than half that at least that’s what I’ve read. I’ll see what my dealer will come down to.

I have the non touch screen t-stat on our system. I was hoping that the touch screen allowed HAs to control the system through but since you still need a SAM it makes more sense to get the SAM and let Vera, or whichever system ones is using, be the main control point. I’ll then move my main t-stat up to the master BR and use a iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to control the system down stairs.

This all assume that someone has written a plugin for SAM. If so I assume that Vera uses an USB to RS232 adapter in order to connect to the SAM.

22

I’ve been waiting on this for a long time too. Ever since my 20 years old heating/cooling system dies and I upgraded to Bryant Connex (which is the same as Carrier Infinity) I lost integration of my t-stat with my vera and miss it. There is a Infinitude project ([url=https://github.com/nebulous/infinitude]https://github.com/nebulous/infinitude[/url]) that can potentially be used as plugin base for Vera.

23

[ul]Well had the service tech out yesterday to check out my system. He knows everything installed and will have the owner get back to me next week.

When it comes to the new Carrier T-Stat it doesn’t seem to me to be worth changing out the current one. Basically other than a nicer display it really doesn’t add anything to the operation of the system. It’s basically nothing but fluff which you can get on any iPad especially considering that you still need a SAM for HA. So I’m going to see what my dealer wants for a SAM and if it’s too much see if I can find one at good price elseware.

I think we all agree that’s really stupid but it’s the way Carrier did it. Being an engineer/programmer and administrator I can tell you that it would be extremely easy for Carrier to add a secure telnet connection which would basically operate exactly like the RS232 connection other then it’s over the network. About the only thing which might be an issue is if the current unit doesn’t have enough memory to support the additional functions.

So where do we go from here?

[list]
[li]Will VeraLite, VeraEdge and VeraEdge Plus support an USB to RS232 adapter and if so which one(s) does it support?[/li]
[li]Is or has anyone worked on a plugin which talks to the Carrier SAM module?[/li]
[li]Is it possible to write what’s needed in LUUP code and still interface with external modules such as HomeWave?[/li]
[li]Would some of you that have written drivers for Vera and don’t have a Carrier Infinity, or the Bryant version, be willing to work with those that do?[/li]
[li]Would a better way to do this be to create a Z-Wave module that interfaces with SAM but looks like several existing thermostats? This would be a more plug and play device that should work with just about any Z-Wave system. One big question is if one can use a any of the Z-Wave USB or RS232 dangles to communicate with a controller as a slave rather than having to take out a Z-Wave license so one can order the Z-Wave chip?[/li]
[/list][/ul]

24

[quote=“Timon, post:23, topic:170575”][ul][li]Will VeraLite, VeraEdge and VeraEdge Plus support an USB to RS232 adapter and if so which one(s) does it support?[/li]
[li]Is or has anyone worked on a plugin which talks to the Carrier SAM module?[/li][/ul][/quote]

Yes, Vera can communicate via a USB-to-RS232 adapter. There are many discussion threads here on the topic, since this method has been used for communicating with a wide variety of different devices with an RS232 interface.

No one has done any work on a Vera plugin to communicate via RS232 with a Carrier SAM module. I think the cost of the SAM has discouraged anyone from putting work into it.

Let us know if you find a distributor willing to sell a SAM for significantly less than $800. I have done several extensive web searches for sellers over the past year, and no one seems to sell for less than that. Like many other large HVAC companies, Carrier has no interest in providing support for their products outside their established dealer network. As you pointed out, it would be technically “easy” for them to allow network access to their new Infinity thermostat - it’s just that they don’t want to because they don’t want to have to provide direct end-user support. The prohibitive cost of the SAM is because the device is marketed for use by installers of high-end home automation equipment like Control4 who take care of the end-user support.

25

I finally succumbed and bought a SAM on eBay, struggling with RS232 to IP adapter…

26

[quote=“scyto, post:25, topic:170575”]I finally succumbed and bought a SAM on eBay, struggling with RS232 to IP adapter…[/quote]You did find the SAM RS232 documentation, right? You should likely limit it to the subset so it will run both the old and new tstats.

I was going to update to the new WiFi touch screen tstat till I found out that you still needed SAM. That’s really stupid since it would be so much easier to just communicate with the new tstat using telnet network protocol. That way they would still use the same command language so no new protocols need be supported.

What are you using for a network to RS232 adapter so you can talk to SAM?

How much did you end up paying for SAM on eBay?

27

[quote=“Timon, post:26, topic:170575”][quote=“scyto, post:25, topic:170575”]I finally succumbed and bought a SAM on eBay, struggling with RS232 to IP adapter…[/quote]You did find the SAM RS232 documentation, right? You should likely limit it to the subset so it will run both the old and new tstats.

I was going to update to the new WiFi touch screen tstat till I found out that you still needed SAM. That’s really stupid since it would be so much easier to just communicate with the new tstat using telnet network protocol. That way they would still use the same command language so no new protocols need be supported.

What are you using for a network to RS232 adapter so you can talk to SAM?

How much did you end up paying for SAM on eBay?[/quote]

Yes i found the doc thanks. I also have infinitude setup (GitHub - nebulous/infinitude: Open control of Carrier/Bryant thermostats) with the infinity control - it has a sort of rest inteface for setting holds until a time with a specific temp, but i wanted to have as few moving parts as possible and I am no programmer.

I have 3 different RS233 adapters i am testing this is the one connected at the moment Amazon.com and i am using an app called devlink to read the responses and poke variables into my ISY (but it doesn’t appear as a thermostat). Seems to be working well. Devlink acts as 2-way app that receives the commands from the ISY, puts it on the serial bus and then parses the response.

I also have one of these i picked up for $50 and will try Amazon.com and lastly i may eliminate devlink and use the Autelis RS232 2-way unit as this can do patter matching on it.

Some of the posts of me figuring this out:
http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/18323-rs232-over-ip-network-resource-tcp-client-read-response-failed/

http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/11372-carrier-infinity/page-20 (this is the infinitude post and interesting stuff on reading the modbus directly)

I got the sam for hair over $600 another went a week later for $550 - these are the only 2 i have seen in 2+ years of occasional looking, funny they both just came up! Not sure if i will keep it or re-ebay it at this point. I still can’t believe that with the release of their new cor platform carrier didn’t finally get their heads out of the 90’s and implement a REST interface on the freaking thermostat. I tried to call them about a year ago and the REFUSED point blank to have a product manager speak with me. As far as i am concerned i will never buy carrier / bryant or recommend it to anyone.

28

I get almost as mad at TiVo when it comes to dealing with changes. They, and everyone else, has a problem switching programs on time when connected to a cable provider. The reason is the delay when the cable company transcodes the video stream which can delay the program by 20 seconds. The simple solution for now is to have the TiVo scheduler switch at a user defined seconds other than 00. This has been going on for at least 5 years with no fix.

Big companies just don’t understand >:(