Hello-
I’m new to Vera, and also have a new EcoBee3 installed. The Ecobee app in Vera lists ver 1.0, and I can’t figure out how to update to 1.1. I have the update box checked, but it has been sitting at 1.0 for a week.
Thanks.
[quote=“djbisme”]Hello-
I’m new to Vera, and also have a new EcoBee3 installed. The Ecobee app in Vera lists ver 1.0, and I can’t figure out how to update to 1.1. I have the update box checked, but it has been sitting at 1.0 for a week.
Thanks.[/quote]
Sorry I’m on my phone with limited bandwidth, but there is a URL you can enter that will force an update. It’s like what’s described here: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=18818.msg142272#msg142272 but would apply to the Ecobee plugin’s ID. Sorry I’m out of position to give better advice atm.
watou
I’m continuing to have a problem changing setpoints via the Ecobee plugin. I really only control the thermostat through Vera for a couple of scenes I setup for when I travel, which is often. I have a scene that shuts down various electronic components, turns off my standard evening lighting schedule, etc. and also changes the cooling & heating setpoints to a wider range, similar to what you’d set when leaving on vacation. I have a converse scene that resets everything to normal that I typically fire off before I get home. My problem is with the “Away” scene. It always seems to only change ONE of the setpoints (typically the heat) even though I’ve selected a different setpoint for both heating & cooling. I’ve tried using a delay, thinking the other activities in the scene were somehow kluging up the thermostat action, but that hasn’t helped either.
Strangely, if I instead have my “Away” scene simply change to “Away” mode using the plugin, the setpoints change, but they change to lower/higher values than the Away mode I have set on the thermostat. In other words, my standard Away settings on the thermostat are 62/82 for cooling/heating. When I click the “Away” button in Vera (or have my scene do that), the setpoints change to 58/86. It seems to be getting those values from somewhere other than the thermostat configuration. Ultimately, that’s OK, this achieves my desired result. But I am curious about it, because I initially didn’t use this setting thinking it would only use my standard Away setpoints, which aren’t wide enough for when I travel for extended periods.
I can think of two possibilities. One possibility is that you are using UI7, which I last knew to have strangely “re-wired” setting setpoints to ignore which setpoint you are asking to change, but instead changes only the setpoint of the current HVAC mode. I and others view this as a fatal bug.
The other possibility is a timing issue in the plugin, regardless of UI5 or UI7. When setting a hold via the Ecobee API, it needs to know both the desired heat and cool setpoint on the API call, but since the thermostat device sets each individually, it queries the Vera device for the current state of the other setpoint’s value when calling the Ecobee API. If you don’t wait long enough for the local value of the last setpoint change to get updated in the Vera device (maybe more than 5 seconds), the next hold change will send the old setpoint value with the new hold request, effectively losing the first change request. So it might work better if your automation can wait long enough for the first setpoint change request to be reflected back in Vera, before making the second setpoint change request.
The “Away” setpoint values are controlled via the “QuickSave” setback and setforward relative values in the Ecobee web UI. So “Away” mode lowers the heat setpoint and increases the cool setpoint values by the deltas you control in the native web UI, and sets an indefinite hold for both setpoints, each offset by their QuickSave deltas. “Home” simply cancels the hold. If you can increase these relative values in the Ecobee web UI to a wider range to meet your “away” scene needs, then it’s probably the more reliable approach than working around the issues I described for setting individual setpoints.
Hope this helps,
watou
Good suggestion; thanks for that idea.
watou[/quote]
+1
I have a Ecobee Smart SI from my hydro provider. Can this plugin allow me to control the thermostat from my VeraEdge?
If you can see the thermostat from your own personal login at ecobee.com, you can use the Vera plugin for Ecobee to control it. There are unpleasant issues with UI7, but it will work, and look better from one of the mobile apps, like AutHomation HD for instance.
watou
Thanks, yes I can see my thermostat from ecobee.com. Does it matter which mobile app I use? I was thinking of using autovera.
Thanks.
You can try different mobile apps until you find the one you like – I only know what the plugin’s devices look from HomeWave against UI5 and AutHomation HD against UI5 and UI7. It might look fine from AutoVera!
watou
I successfully added the ecobee plugin to my UI7 dashboard. However, the Thermostat does not show the programmed temperature. It’s blank. Is this normal?
Attached is a screenshot.
Thanks.
I believe that this is one of the “unpleasant” aspects of UI7 as it currently stands. I was given explanations that plugins cannot make thermostat devices that look like the built-in devices, as they used to be able to in UI5. I would quote what I was told, but it would be too difficult to capture the context of my email dialogues. And as to why this is the case in UI7, I definitely do not understand.
Mobile apps are more likely to properly depict the important values than the native UI7 web interface. I know things look pretty good in AutHomation HD on Android, for instance, and probably on other mobile apps, too.
Regards,
watou
Thanks for the quick responses. I’ll have to try out AutHomatioHD. Currently I’ve only installed AutoVera.
Never mind…I figured it out once I finally found the “My Apps” section of the Ecobee portal…I was trying to use it as if I was registering another thermostat.
I just installed an Ecobee 3 and downloaded this plug-in, but the ecobee.com site will not accept any of the 4-digit PINs…I’ve tried many of them. Am I missing something?
I get an error message of “the registration code you have entered is incorrect” each time.
Thanks in advance,
Olivier
Ecobee has different kinds of PINs, and you are possibly trying to enter the PIN into the wrong place. In the ecobee.com web interface, you have to slide in the menu on the right edge of the screen and choose the MY APPS section. There you can enter the PIN that the plugin generates to authorize the plugin to access your account.
watou
Thanks watou…I just noticed that when I went back to the Ecobee portal…I’ll try the plugin now…
[quote=“watou, post:114, topic:174457”]Ecobee has different kinds of PINs, and you are possibly trying to enter the PIN into the wrong place. In the ecobee.com web interface, you have to slide in the menu on the right edge of the screen and choose the MY APPS section. There you can enter the PIN that the plugin generates to authorize the plugin to access your account.
watou[/quote]
Hey Watou…
this has happened twice in the last couple of weeks… no idea why. On the Ecobee site, it still shows the app listed … but the icon on Vera is greyed out. Getting a new PIN always works, but i have to keep checking the icon color to ensure it’s running properly.
two questions. One, any idea why this is happening? And two, if there isn’t an easy fix, is there a way to send an alert that would say when the connection is lost?
thanks!
[quote=“tomgru, post:116, topic:174457”]this has happened twice in the last couple of weeks… no idea why. On the Ecobee site, it still shows the app listed … but the icon on Vera is greyed out. Getting a new PIN always works, but i have to keep checking the icon color to ensure it’s running properly.
two questions. One, any idea why this is happening? And two, if there isn’t an easy fix, is there a way to send an alert that would say when the connection is lost?[/quote]
I’ve been noticing this new issue lately myself but haven’t been checking the logs to see why it’s been happening. The main Ecobee device has a “status” variable that is either 0 or 1; you could automate off of that – it’s what makes the icon go grey or green. I will check my logs once I’m in a position to and let you know if I can spot anything.
watou
[quote=“watou, post:117, topic:174457”][quote=“tomgru, post:116, topic:174457”]this has happened twice in the last couple of weeks… no idea why. On the Ecobee site, it still shows the app listed … but the icon on Vera is greyed out. Getting a new PIN always works, but i have to keep checking the icon color to ensure it’s running properly.
two questions. One, any idea why this is happening? And two, if there isn’t an easy fix, is there a way to send an alert that would say when the connection is lost?[/quote]
I’ve been noticing this new issue lately myself but haven’t been checking the logs to see why it’s been happening. The main Ecobee device has a “status” variable that is either 0 or 1; you could automate off of that – it’s what makes the icon go grey or green. I will check my logs once I’m in a position to and let you know if I can spot anything.
watou[/quote]
ok… thanks.
No idea how to capture and automate off that variable. 
You could create a schedule that runs every x minutes, and runs this luup code as a test:
local status = luup.variable_get("urn:ecobee-com:serviceId:Ecobee1", "status", 43);
return 0 == tonumber(status);
(replace 43 which your main ecobee device ID), and then choose an automation trigger action. Also consider PLEG as an alternative to automate with this device variable.
I’m consistently losing the connection between Vera and my Ecobee, and have to request a new PIN and re-register the app in the Ecobee Web UI every time. It appears this is happening to others as well. Any thoughts on what might be causing this?