Trane TZEMT400AB32MAA Thermostat Zwave questions/issues

midwesttechie · July 19, 2013, 1:24am

Hi all - am looking for some folks who have implemented the Trane TZEMT400AB32MAA thermostats with Vera. I currently have two of these successfully being controlled by Vera, but there are two commands which I cannot get working:

FAN → CYCLE command - I have turned on the CYCLE command in the Installer Menu and CYCLE now works from the local keypad button. Unfortunately, neither stat responds to the CYCLE command sent from Vera. Any suggestions?
SCHEDULE → HOLD command - this one is a little different from the one above, in that I cannot locate the HOLD command in the MIOS Luup UPNP command reference. It’s as though the Vera developers forgot to implement this command altogether. Thoughts?

Both are important and I use both locally and would like to gain access to them thru the software interface. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TheAce · July 19, 2013, 10:45pm

Hi there. . .I have the same thermostat, my $0.02. . .no real solutions but interested to hear what other responses you get.

1) FAN -> CYCLE command

This might have changed in the latest firmware of Vera? I'm running Vera Lite w/ 1.5.622 and I indeed get "cycle" ability toggle from the web UI (off the top of my head I cannot confirm that I did or didn't in previous firmware, though I did see it mentioned in 2/2012 firmware update.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Release_Notes Firmware update release notes
http://www.rcstechnology.com/oldsite/docs/thermostats/zwave/TZ43%20INSTALLATION%20MANUAL%20141-01652-04.pdf P. 36 (this is similar guts to the Trane thermostat) you can see the z-wave commands it will work with.

Attached is a screenshot snippet of my Vera web UI showing “cycle” mode on.

2) SCHEDULE -> HOLD

That’s a good question, I wonder that also!

midwesttechie · August 3, 2013, 1:41pm

[quote=“TheAce, post:2, topic:176171”]Hi there. . .I have the same thermostat, my $0.02. . .no real solutions but interested to hear what other responses you get.

1) FAN -> CYCLE command

This might have changed in the latest firmware of Vera? I'm running Vera Lite w/ 1.5.622 and I indeed get "cycle" ability toggle from the web UI (off the top of my head I cannot confirm that I did or didn't in previous firmware, though I did see it mentioned in 2/2012 firmware update.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Release_Notes Firmware update release notes
http://www.rcstechnology.com/oldsite/docs/thermostats/zwave/TZ43%20INSTALLATION%20MANUAL%20141-01652-04.pdf P. 36 (this is similar guts to the Trane thermostat) you can see the z-wave commands it will work with.

Attached is a screenshot snippet of my Vera web UI showing “cycle” mode on.[/quote]

I actually now think it’s a Trane TStat firmware issue. I have latest Vera OS release and I can see the commands being sent. My Trane simply does not react to that particular command. Others have mentioned on other forums that newer firmware releases do support Cycle mode correctly.

Ahh, the joys of being first on the block.

sparkejj · August 3, 2013, 6:17pm

There are various older topics on this, but if IIRC, the issue is (in fact) with older Trane firmware, in regard to the fan cycler. MCV / Vera could (probably) work around that, but I guess they don’t want to. (But in other cases they do opt to work around device non-compliances.)

However, there should be a low level work around to set (but not get, so one-way) the fan mode, as well as the run mode, using Luup.

If this is something of interest to you, I can revisit this.

niharmehta · August 4, 2013, 5:19am

Is anyone else having issues with their Trane thermostats becoming unresponsive to Vera ? I have two installed and both of them generally drop off the Zwave network after a day or two. I pull the Trane panel to disconnect power and plug it back in and Vera is able to again connect.
I have excluded/re-included the thermostats and it has not fixed the problem. I do not have any other 900Mhz devices in the home that could be causing interference and all my other Aeon/Evolve/GE/Everspring/Schlage devices are working fine (about 18 other devices).

kbmcguire · August 14, 2013, 12:49pm

[quote=“midwesttechie, post:3, topic:176171”][quote=“TheAce, post:2, topic:176171”]Hi there. . .I have the same thermostat, my $0.02. . .no real solutions but interested to hear what other responses you get.

1) FAN -> CYCLE command

This might have changed in the latest firmware of Vera? I'm running Vera Lite w/ 1.5.622 and I indeed get "cycle" ability toggle from the web UI (off the top of my head I cannot confirm that I did or didn't in previous firmware, though I did see it mentioned in 2/2012 firmware update.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Release_Notes Firmware update release notes
http://www.rcstechnology.com/oldsite/docs/thermostats/zwave/TZ43%20INSTALLATION%20MANUAL%20141-01652-04.pdf P. 36 (this is similar guts to the Trane thermostat) you can see the z-wave commands it will work with.

Attached is a screenshot snippet of my Vera web UI showing “cycle” mode on.[/quote]

I actually now think it’s a Trane TStat firmware issue. I have latest Vera OS release and I can see the commands being sent. My Trane simply does not react to that particular command. Others have mentioned on other forums that newer firmware releases do support Cycle mode correctly.

Ahh, the joys of being first on the block. :([/quote]

@midwesttechie, I have the same problem with my Trane TZEMT400AB32 but I did find a workaround by sending the command from a scene using luup. Here is the command and explanation.

luup.call_action(‘urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1’,‘SendData’,{Node=‘’,Data=‘68 1 ’},1)

Where is the Z-Wave NodeID (Settings->ID / Advanced->altid), so not the Device#, of the t-stat, and is:
0: auto
1: on
2: cycle

I have opened several tickets on this issue and was told the fix would be in the next major release of Vera firmware back in Oct of 2011. I am at 1.5.622 now and it still isn’t fixed.

[quote=“niharmehta, post:5, topic:176171”]Is anyone else having issues with their Trane thermostats becoming unresponsive to Vera ? I have two installed and both of them generally drop off the Zwave network after a day or two. I pull the Trane panel to disconnect power and plug it back in and Vera is able to again connect.
I have excluded/re-included the thermostats and it has not fixed the problem. I do not have any other 900Mhz devices in the home that could be causing interference and all my other Aeon/Evolve/GE/Everspring/Schlage devices are working fine (about 18 other devices).[/quote]

@niharmehta, I have the same issue with one of my Trane thermostats. It will stop responding after some time and cycling the power will restore the communications. I think it has something to do with routing since the one that is in close proximity to the Vera has never had a problem but the one that is on the opposite end of the house and has to use other z-wave devices for routing is the one that is having this issue. Both are TZEMT400AB32. I have tried swapping them around (excluding/re-including them in the process) but the problem does not follow the thermostat, it is always the one that is on the other end of the house that gives me problems. There are also plenty of Z-wave devices between my Vera and the thermostat as well as beyond the thermostat and none of them are giving me any problems, just the thermostat. :-[

garrettwp · August 14, 2013, 2:31pm

[quote=“kbmcguire”][quote=“midwesttechie, post:3, topic:176171”][quote=“TheAce, post:2, topic:176171”]Hi there. . .I have the same thermostat, my $0.02. . .no real solutions but interested to hear what other responses you get.

1) FAN -> CYCLE command

This might have changed in the latest firmware of Vera? I'm running Vera Lite w/ 1.5.622 and I indeed get "cycle" ability toggle from the web UI (off the top of my head I cannot confirm that I did or didn't in previous firmware, though I did see it mentioned in 2/2012 firmware update.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Release_Notes Firmware update release notes
http://www.rcstechnology.com/oldsite/docs/thermostats/zwave/TZ43%20INSTALLATION%20MANUAL%20141-01652-04.pdf P. 36 (this is similar guts to the Trane thermostat) you can see the z-wave commands it will work with.

Attached is a screenshot snippet of my Vera web UI showing “cycle” mode on.[/quote]

I actually now think it’s a Trane TStat firmware issue. I have latest Vera OS release and I can see the commands being sent. My Trane simply does not react to that particular command. Others have mentioned on other forums that newer firmware releases do support Cycle mode correctly.

Ahh, the joys of being first on the block. :([/quote]

@midwesttechie, I have the same problem with my Trane TZEMT400AB32 but I did find a workaround by sending the command from a scene using luup. Here is the command and explanation.

luup.call_action(‘urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1’,‘SendData’,{Node=‘’,Data=‘68 1 ’},1)

Where is the Z-Wave NodeID (Settings->ID / Advanced->altid), so not the Device#, of the t-stat, and is:
0: auto
1: on
2: cycle

I have opened several tickets on this issue and was told the fix would be in the next major release of Vera firmware back in Oct of 2011. I am at 1.5.622 now and it still isn’t fixed.

[quote=“niharmehta, post:5, topic:176171”]Is anyone else having issues with their Trane thermostats becoming unresponsive to Vera ? I have two installed and both of them generally drop off the Zwave network after a day or two. I pull the Trane panel to disconnect power and plug it back in and Vera is able to again connect.
I have excluded/re-included the thermostats and it has not fixed the problem. I do not have any other 900Mhz devices in the home that could be causing interference and all my other Aeon/Evolve/GE/Everspring/Schlage devices are working fine (about 18 other devices).[/quote]

@niharmehta, I have the same issue with one of my Trane thermostats. It will stop responding after some time and cycling the power will restore the communications. I think it has something to do with routing since the one that is in close proximity to the Vera has never had a problem but the one that is on the opposite end of the house and has to use other z-wave devices for routing is the one that is having this issue. Both are TZEMT400AB32. I have tried swapping them around (excluding/re-including them in the process) but the problem does not follow the thermostat, it is always the one that is on the other end of the house that gives me problems. There are also plenty of Z-wave devices between my Vera and the thermostat as well as beyond the thermostat and none of them are giving me any problems, just the thermostat. :-[[/quote]

I’m going to give the direct zwave command a try and see if I can get my trane into cycle mode. Thanks for the info.

Garrett

niharmehta · August 15, 2013, 3:13am

I actually just tested Cycle on my thermostats just now and got it working form the button on the vera UI.

At first it did not work. However, I checked the hidden installer menu on the them and noticed that the Cycle On time was set to 0 on both. After changing it on the thermostat, the Cycle command started working from Vera and was also available from the Fan settings on the main Thermostat screen.

As for the thermostat lockups I am having , I disabled “Vera Routing” and unfortunately the problem remains… I assume the problem is with the Trane firmware at this point. I want to do 2 more tests to see if I can eliminate the problem.

Override default Zwave routing and only do direct from the vera…
If it is possible, I would like to disable the routing capability on the thermostats. I basically want the zwave network to ignore it as a routing device. Does anyone know if this is possible?

garrettwp · August 15, 2013, 3:45am

I can confirm that the raw zwave command works on my older trane t-stat.

Garrett

sparkejj · August 16, 2013, 1:19pm

Correct; that was explained in the original post.

More recent thermostats should work, so I’m not sure MCV still plan on changing anything. The newer thermostats (presumably) use the correct value of [tt]6[/tt] to enable the fan cycler, which is what is sent by Vera. On the older thermostats, a value of [tt]2[/tt] is used (see also the posted command), which is considered non-compliant.

Not sure what model / firmware has the newer implementation, but I know that the following two still have the old behavior, and the posted workaround is needed:

TZEMT400AB32, FW v01.00.13
TZEMT400BB32, FW v01.01.40

sparkejj · August 16, 2013, 2:03pm

[quote=“oTi@, post:4, topic:176171”]However, there should be a low level work around to set (but not get, so one-way) the fan mode, as well as the run mode, using Luup.

If this is something of interest to you, I can revisit this.[/quote]
OK, so:

Fan Mode (Auto/On/Cycle)

luup.call_action('urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1','SendData',{Node='<nodeID>',Data='68 1 <fanMode>'},1)

Where is the Z-Wave NodeID (Settings->ID / Advanced->altid), so not the Device#, of the t-stat, and is:
[tt] 0: auto
1: on
2: cycle sup[/sup]
6: cycle sup[/sup][/tt]

[size=8pt][sup]1[/sup] On older models (including TZEMT400AB32 + FW v01.00.13 and TZEMT400BB32 + FW v01.01.40)
[sup]2[/sup] On newer models (untested)[/size]

Schedule Mode (Hold/Run)

luup.call_action('urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1','SendData',{Node='<nodeID>',Data='112 4 132 1 <scheduleMode>'},1)

Where is the Z-Wave NodeID (Settings->ID / Advanced->altid), so not the Device#, of the t-stat, and is:
[tt]0: hold
1: run[/tt]

Run Mode (Off/Heating/Cooling/Auto/E-Heat) (0: off, 1: heating, 2: cooling, 3: auto, 4: e-heat)

luup.call_action('urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1','SendData',{Node='<nodeID>', Data='64 1 <runMode>'},1)

Where is the Z-Wave NodeID (Settings->ID / Advanced->altid), so not the Device#, of the t-stat, and is:
[tt]0: off
1: heating
2: cooling
3: auto
4: e-heat[/tt]

Display Lock (Unlocked/Locked)

luup.call_action('urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1','SendData',{Node='<nodeID>',Data='118 1 <displayLock>'},1)

Where is the Z-Wave NodeID (Settings->ID / Advanced->altid), so not the Device#, of the t-stat, and is:
[tt]0: unlocked
1: locked[/tt]

niharmehta · August 20, 2013, 3:17am

Well, after several weeks and many, many hours of trying to troubleshoot this thermostat, I am about to throw in the towel and get a couple of Nest Thermostats. In summary, based on my personal experience, stay very far away from the Trane TZEMT400AB32MAA Thermostats or other models.

I have tried re-associating, changing the routing type (mios vs. zwave) , forcing manual routes direct and indirect through two different brands of zwave dimmers. Distance is not an issue. I had also opened a ticket with MCV, and they were not able to solve the problem. The thermostat loses its ability to communicate with the Zwave network and also has a couple of times totally locked up after it drops when I manually change the temp settings.

Trane was less than completely useless in their support. Their support is completely non-existent and they route you to their dealers that insist on charging you for a visit to fix the thermostat even if it is under warranty or potentially a firmware issue. After their lack of support, never will I touch a Trane product again. My house uses two thermostats and BOTH have the same issue.

Hope everyone else that has already paid for it has more success, if you have not tried to use it… save your money … Get any of the other brands people have used here that have better support.

Aaron · August 20, 2013, 3:27am

I’ve had mine running perfectly for over a year, not a single problem. Just like many others. I suspect you should have simply had it replaced under warranty.

Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

niharmehta · August 20, 2013, 4:10am

I agree that many others have had theirs working fine. I may have bought a pair from a bad batch which does happen time to time. The problem HAS been the warranty. Trane keeps referring me to their dealer network who then wants to charge for a service visit.
I should have paid attention to the Amazon reviews regarding the customer service… tons of complaints.

sparkejj · August 20, 2013, 10:26am

That sounds pretty bad about the warranty.

So the dropouts and lockups happen even with the thermostat next to Vera?

Could you state the firmware version in your t-stat? I have 01.00.13, and no complaints. (It has the fan cycle issue, but I don’t use it.)

The AB32 is the older model, I thought. There now is the BB32 with newer firmware.

niharmehta · August 21, 2013, 6:40am

My thermostat is the BB32 version 02.02.15 .
Zver : 2.13 .

It is possible that the 2.X code and new hardware introduced new issues not seen in the AB32 1.X code. However, I have not found a way to talk to anyone with a clue at Trane.

I spoke with the Nexia support team ( very friendly) . I was hoping that if I bought a Nexia bridge that may be a new firmware could be available to the Trane thermostats. However, they could not confirm this. So I am not willing to invest any more money to solve this.

The thermostats are 20 and 35 feet away from the vera. I have 4 GE and Evolve devices in between. I have tried manual control to route between specific devices and direct. It works absolutely fantastic for a day or two in both cases then basically loses its brains.
What is interesting is that when the thermostat is in that state, I was able to completely lock up the thermostat when manually changing the thermostat.

Another strange behavior is that when I went to the thermostats menu to disassociate from the vera, that section of the menu was became more sluggish. Not empirical evidence, but another symptom.

shenders1 · September 1, 2013, 11:39pm

Have you done any more with this?.

niharmehta · September 3, 2013, 4:51am

Since my last post, I set up my second Veralite that I had on the shelf and associated ONLY the two thermostats to this system. I then slaved this second Vera to my primary controller.

I kept this one at 1.5.408 to see if possibly it is related to 1.5.622 upgrade which is what I was running when things started to go bad with the Trane’s before. I figured that the thermostats seemed to run better before I upgraded, but I was running a smaller network at the time.

I have run it this way for over a week. The first day I had both thermostats lock up when I fired a few commands at them at the beginning. Since then they had seemed to work OK with the only issue I came across was today as I started testing again directly from the secondary Vera . One of my thermostats “Downstairs” which is closer to the second Vera unit would not configure at first, nor could I get a successful Stress Test.

However after running it again a few minutes later, it worked fine. I would think this is a distance issue, however right before the failed “Downstairs” thermostat test , the “Upstairs” thermostat tested fine with non-direct pings even though it is farther away (different floors, and separated by another wall) and its only “neighbor” was the downstairs one.

Here is the kicker, while I am writing this, I ran a stress test and poll commands on both… They have died from a Zwave perspective. No response to Stress Test, Poll, or Heal . Basically… somehow they both SEEMED locked up… I pulled the panel off of the “Downstairs” thermostat and re-ran the tests and no change. I then rebooted the Vera, and magically they both came up!!. Not sure if I am chasing multiple issues here. I know that a reboot of the Vera never fixed my original symptoms when they were part of the same network… So this one really throws me off. My next step is to upgrade my secondary to 1.5.622 to see if I can recreate the issue over the next week or so.

shenders1 · September 9, 2013, 10:59pm

Thanks. Followng this post closely.

niharmehta · September 10, 2013, 2:01am

Just an update. I upgraded my secondary Vera to 1.5.622 right after my last post. So far it seems to be working fine with 3 day uptime. (I rebooted it to move it). Will keep running it this way for a few days and see if the problem comes back. If not, I will move the thermostats back to my primary Vera and keep testing.