Ecobee driver device-specific command -- how to use?

[DLite]

Hi,

I am having some trouble understanding the commands in the Control4 driver for Ecobee.  In particular, when I issue a device-specific command to set the Ecobee's comfort mode, the "HoldMode" option seems to do absolutely nothing.  No matter what I set the HoldMode option to, the new comfort mode is only in effect until the next activity.  How exactly do I change the comfort mode permanently?

Thanks a lot.

[msgreenf]

5 hours ago, DLite said:

Hi,

I am having some trouble understanding the commands in the Control4 driver for Ecobee.  In particular, when I issue a device-specific command to set the Ecobee's comfort mode, the "HoldMode" option seems to do absolutely nothing.  No matter what I set the HoldMode option to, the new comfort mode is only in effect until the next activity.  How exactly do I change the comfort mode permanently?

Thanks a lot.

I believe that is because you are setting it until next. Not permanent. 

[prabeau]

Not exactly on topic but I am considering going from my old C4 T to Ecobee.

Can you program in C4 to set  "emergency heat" on Ecobee as this is part of my programming strategy for a power failure.

 

Thanks

[msgreenf]

1 hour ago, prabeau said:

Not exactly on topic but I am considering going from my old C4 T to Ecobee.

Can you program in C4 to set  "emergency heat" on Ecobee as this is part of my programming strategy for a power failure.

 

Thanks

emergency heat = aux mode in ecobee.  Yes, I think you can

[prabeau]

Thanks

 

[DLite]

4 hours ago, msgreenf said:

I believe that is because you are setting it until next. Not permanent. 

Thanks for the reply.  Yes, that would be a very logical conclusion, but surprisingly that is not what I am doing.  Indeed, I have tried implementing the command with every possible other HoldMode option -- next 2 hours, next 4 hours, and permanent -- and I always get the same result, namely that the comfort setting is implemented "until next activity" on the thermostat.  For example, here is a screenshot of a command I just ran, and which just produced the result.  

 

This is kind of driving me nuts!  Might there be some setting on the thermostat that would be causing this?  Also, I am running version 9 of the C4 Ecobee Network driver.  And, I have 7 Ecobee thermostats, all with firmware 4.2.0.393 -- I know this is not quite the most recent, but the thermostats were installed after the last firmware update was pushed.  Perhaps firmware is the issue?

Anyway, what I am doing as a temporary workaround is to use the thermostat device variable "HOLD_MODE" to trigger updates in the comfort setting (see below for an example on one of my thermostats).  It is very clunky, but it seems like the best I can do without getting the Ecobee to issue a permanent hold.

Thanks for any insight.

[msgreenf]

It's your ecobee. Go to settings - preferences - hold action. You have it set until next

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[DLite]

8 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

It's your ecobee. Go to settings - preferences - hold action. You have it set until next

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

I have tried changing the thermostat hold behavior setting to "Until you change it," and to "Decide at time of change," and I get exactly the same results.  (For kicks, I also tried "For 2 hours" and "For 4 hours," and I got the same results as well.)  I've tried every possible permutation of the thermostat "hold action" setting, and the Control4 "HoldMode" option, and every permutation produces the same result of hold until next.  

 

[msgreenf]

well you got me stumped then!

[DLite]

well you got me stumped then!

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to help!

Maybe I will contact Ecobee on the off chance they can shed some light on this.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DLite]

This horse may be dead already, but I thought I would offer three quick postscripts for others trying to program their Ecobees.

1. I contacted Ecobee about this issue of hold modes not working with comfort settings.  For what it's worth, the support person there told me that hold modes are inapplicable to comfort settings, by design.  He asserted that this is why comfort settings are always in effect until the next activity.  I am not sure whether this is accurate or not, but I thought it was worth reporting.  

2. When I change heat or cool setpoints via the C4 driver, these do seem to be held permanently by default.  I found this to be pretty handy as a means of coding up an Ecobee "vacation mode" within C4, since the driver does not (yet?) support controlling Ecobee's native vacation mode function.  

3. I never did get permanent hold actions to work with comfort settings via the Control4 driver.  However, I did find two workarounds that function quite well.  One is described above -- create a state variable in C4 that is true when you want a comfort setting to remain in effect, and then use "Hold mode off" on your thermostats as a trigger that then turns on this comfort setting.  The other workaround is to have C4 establish the comfort setting every half an hour -- at 1 minute past the hour and 31 minutes past the hour -- if the C4 state variable calls for the comfort setting to be held permanently.  I use both of these, as the "half-hour check" provides a safety net in case the "hold off" trigger fails to fire on occasion.

In spite of my struggles, I'm pretty happy with the C4-Ecobee integration overall.  I've been able to get it to do everything I need it to do, albeit with a bit more elbow grease than I thought I was going to need.

[nerddude]

I just installed ecobee4 and my dealer has added driver already.I am trying to get a pin from composer HE but all i see is waiting for user validate application.Any ideas how to get the pin?

[DLite]

Yes, I had this same problem.  In the properties page of the Ecobee network driver, set debug mode to "on."  Next, turn to the "Actions" page of the network driver, and click the "request PIN code" button.  Finally, go to the "Lua" page of the driver, and you should see the PIN code within the "Lua output" box. 

It seems that the PIN flashes in the driver properties window for a microsecond, and then shows this unhelpful "waiting for user to validate" message.

[nerddude]

17 minutes ago, DLite said:

Yes, I had this same problem.  Turn on debugging in the Ecobee network driver, and then click the button in the driver actions page to request the PIN.  Check the debug log for the driver, and you should see the PIN listed there in the log.  It seems that the PIN flashes in the driver properties window for a microsecond, and then shows this unhelpful "waiting for user to validate" message.

That helped..thnks