ENV-VST-C Problems
atiofamerica
Posts: 10
I have an install with 4 stats, we are now about to replace the fourth one. Has every one else had problems with these? What problems? I can't be this unlucky there must be a problem here.
Thanks,
Ben
Thanks,
Ben
0
Comments
I wrote a scheduling UI module as well as a Netlinx iWeather interface for it. Let me know if you want to give either a try.
Ben
Feedback from anyone who looks at it is welcomed (as long as it's positive!)
Hopefully I can find some time to write a proper module for these before they are installed in another job.
Check out the two that I posted. One is a Netlinx iWeather-to-ENV-VST-C weather module. The second is a thermostst control manager.
Both work well.
for all settings (off, cool, heat, auto, fan on, etc), I'm writing straight to the thermostat device
for level events I'm looking straight at the thermostat device
for system state feedback (idle, heating, cooling), I have to look at a virtual device channel events, no feedback updates from stat device
for changes in modes (off, cool, heat, auto), I have to look at stat device channel events, no feedback from virtual device...however, at startup I receive nothing on these, so I have to force them to a default state via setting the channel (which may alter the state the user has). I've tried polling them in a device online event, as well as looking at them continuously in the main line, with no consistent success.
I also had issues getting "OFF" events when states changed...i.e. going from heat to cool would trigger an ON event for HVAC_STATE_COOL_FDBK, but not an OFF for HVAC_STATE_HEAT_FDBK.
Frankly, I would have much rather seen these devices developed with a full protocol vs. channels and levels.
I have also not found a way to get current barometric pressure into the thermostat for display. I have asked about this numerous times, but mum is the word from tech support.
My modules talk directly to the stats. I avoid Duet at all costs.
In my opinion, the env-vst-c is a work in progress. Hopefully the work continues.
I'm pretty sure this is working ok for me, I do a send_level to level 6, data type is a float.
For those of us in colder climates: If the Viewstat is connected to a heat pump and the thermostat receives information (through sensor or iWeather) that the outdoor temperature is below 20 degrees the emergency heat will engage and the heat pump will disengage. This is a good thing when you are dealing with a normal heat pump because there isn't enough heat in the air to function properly. This is a problem if you are connected to a ground-source heat pump where the underground water temperature remains constant regardless of the outdoor temperature. There is no way, at this point, to have the system differentiate between the two types of systems.
There are many other issues that tech support tell me have been escalated to engineering but nobody can tell me when new firmware will be available. I love the concept and form of this thermostat but the implementation has been frustrating and slow.
Temperature was reading 65 F then jumped to 72 F then down to 61 F then up again to 68 F etc... (values here are just samples).
We had it replaced, same thing - we checked our wires, connections, latest firmware, everything.
We ended by fixing this moving the thermostat in the room itself and using the local temperature sensor...
Yeah, this one is a real problem that I too had to escalate. Froze my tootsies off this January in my office, while our server room overheated. You can workaround this, the Viewstat looks first at the external sensor and then at the iWeather module for outdoor temperature. If you disable the weather forecast, set the external sensor to indoor (another room) or disabled, then reboot the stat, the weather will report 32 degrees. Then set the balance point at 20 degrees. Therefore the stat will assume its always OK to run the compressor and you're good to go.
Boy, thank goodness I got these at demo pricing. They are no better than the Cr****** pieces of junk. I look forward to a firmware update, and friggin soon.
my first check I did a device status on the thermostat itself and all the mode feedback channels were on (Auto, Heat, Cool & Off). I restarted the thermostat and then none were on. The virtual device, however, did have the correct feedback channel on (heat).
I then change from Heat to Auto on the touch panel and check device status again. The thermostat itself now has the Auto feedback channel on, but the virtual device has no feedback channels on.
Kind of tough to write an elegant, functional user interface with this inconsistency.
I think it's a matter of "when they eork, they work well. But whenn they don't..."
I have been meaning to follow up with this thread, but it just kept getting pushed back on my list of things to do.
I swapped out AMX's duet module for your module at a job where we are controlling 7 color viewstats and it worked perfectly. CPU usage went from 93% on the master down to 28% (in fairness I did a little bit more refactoring to the rest of the code, but this module was the only major change).
The viewstats are only controlling in-floor heating and they are hidden away in a mechanical room, so I didn't look into the iWeather portion of the stats for the forecast or anything, but control was fast and has been reliable.
Thank you for the code, it helped out quite a bit.
strange since nUIStatSelected, nUI, nUIDaySelected, nBut all seem to have correct values.
is there a stat setting that could override these commands?
Since the company doesn't really care about a scheduler, and some customers do, it's really up to me to write my own scheduler. Don't have much use yet for one though. I do intend to write one that'll work with really any thermostat you throw at it so long as you can run it in hold mode and get / set setpoints - such as the old Apriliare-based stats and the color viewstats. Maybe one of these weekends...
(Also, does anyone need any iWeather licenses? I wrote my own weather interface that also interfaces with the viewstats, so we don't use any of these and we have dozens extra...)
That reminds me... we also have a pile of unused iWeather licenses that we have no plans of using since I wrote my own weather code as well.
Does your module receive notification of hvac mode and fan mode on startup? I'm not getting either of those, nor the current state (heating, cooling, etc) until they change states. Levels come in with no problem. I wrote my own driver as well.
Thanks
Our designers really wanted that, and when they found out that it doesn't work they asked me to look into it.
I run the Aprilaire 8870s on 15 volts DC. They are extremely stable that way and never lock up.