I have a full vera system in a rental condo and have the wdtc-20. Everything has been working great since 11/09. Now in the last week I have lost control to the HVAC split system(gibson). We had a customer in the unit and this “seemed” to have happened after a storm. I could see the WDTC but could not control the AC unit. We checked all the circuit breakers and fuses in the AC unit to see if it was the unit, but everything seemed okay. The WDTC did not respond manually with the customer trying to set the AC. This is in FL and the condo was getting very hot now. I didn’t get a battery indicator either but we had the batteries changed. This all happened last week. The customer fiddled with the AC and thermostat(changed batts) and it seemed to come back on and they left but we never had the full story as to what the fix was.
I monitored the WDTC a few days ago with no one in the unit and it was dead again. Meaning, I can see it but cannot control the AC or set anything. At another time I could not even poll or get to it.
We had an HVAC guy come out to check the HVAC and he said it was the WDTC. I thought, well this is a new unit, could it have been blown out from a storm surge or something else? Or just a fluke intermittent flawed unit?
Then reading some other posts on amazon regarding WDTC someone had the same issue but said their was a firmware patch to it that could be sent from verde? Or did a recent update to verde on 6/9/10 correct this problem for when I looked at it today it is working fine.
I have some customers coming in in a few day but don’t have the confidence as to whether to just replace the thermostat with a 'dumb" one or see if the “update” resolved the problem?
Does anyone know anything about a recent(yesterday) update from verde that fixes an issue with the WDTC? Or if there is a patch to the WDTC that can be sent to the unit to resolve this issue?
The unit worked great for over 7 months and now this. For $79.00 I thought it was a decent deal. Maybe I should move up to the Trane model for peace of mind.
Any information or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I just got my WDT installed after months of sitting on the shelf…
One thought is that maybe the contacts are not making a solid connection. I had to get my HVAC guy to install a new common line from my AC’s blower in order to get a common line. If the common has somehow been disconnected (bad wire, blown transformer in the blower, bad connection on the WDT’s terminals), the unit won’t be getting power, will run on batteries only and will go out after a few hours/days, just like you are describing.
If after checking the t-stat lines, and installing fresh batteries, it goes out after a bit, then it is very possible that the unit got fried in a t-storm. In that case, it likely would have happened regardless of whether you had the WD t-stat or a more expensive Trane model.
If somebody took the front plate off to change battery, then its possible the front cover wasn’t put on properly again.
I had all kinds of similar problems with mine when I first got it trying to get the contacts to sit correctly. Sometimes I would command it on from Vera and then nothing would happen despite seeing the LCD light up (meaning Vera could talk to it); however, I could then put some pressure on the the front plate and would then turn the furnace on etc. Other times the battery would go flat overnight because the 24 V line was connecting I guess.
The design is a bit flawed I think and getting it clipped together is a real Skill
I now finally have it clipped together properly and Its been working fine for over 6 months now.
Thanks guys yea I am aware about putting the panel back on all the amazon reviewers stated that issue when I was researching it before purchase. I hope the AC did not fry the unit for then it would not matter what I used and this would happen again. I am having the hvac guy visit the today for I really don’t know what the root cause or problem is. Is it the hvac, the hvac blowing the thermostat, the thermostat batts?, the thermostat wiring or connection, the thermostat firmware update? or something completely different.
Ever since this all started two weeks ago sometimes I can get to the thermostat but it does nothing and some times I have the red notepad that a cannot send a command. I am hoping it is hvac related for I need the vera portion to be rock solid and cannot afford false positives or negatives.
