I wanted to get a variable speed airconditioner. As far as I know there are only two brands that make them, Lennox and Carrier. Lennox has said that there is no way to hook it up to anything z wave. SOME carrier dealers say there is a “module” you can hook up to their special “communicating” thermostat that will enable z wave to work. Other dealer say, no you can’t do that. Has anyone installed one of these fancy variable speed air conditioners? Apparently, the unit outside communicates with the rest of the system and the thermostats that come with them do self diagnosis of any problems and they are not set up to be used with z wave. I am wondering about this mysterious “module” that can be added, of if YOU did it some other way???
Carrier and Trane both have them … the thermostats are not standard using a digital bus between the components. They both offer services to access these over the internet using a service for a monthly fee.
Both are proprietary protocols with no access by 3rd party developers. I have not seen any indication that these have been hacked by developers yet.
Note: Many of the installers/service folks do not know anything about these units. so your service calls are likely to be more expensive as well.
Nice units … I opted for best units that used a standard thermostat.
Thought hard about the Carrier line, but then decided on a Trane Unit … I supplied/installed the Trane Thermostat (which is actually not made by Trane but by RCS).
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