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Trane HVAC system


dbuono

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In the new home we are building we have installed three Trane Hvac systems (heat pump with propane gas for last 10% of heat) and it also has dehumidification.   

What is the easisest way to intergratebthis into Control4. Is there a driver that talks directly to the Trane thermostats (which are WiFi enabled as well). 

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks 

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The Trane driver is currently not working accurately.  It worked great for a long time but is now buggy and Houselogic will not commit to saying they will fix it.  Can anyone write a driver for this, I would be willing to buy it again.  There have been several people ask for this driver.

 

Daniel

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/17/2018 at 3:31 PM, WhyPhy said:

The Ecobee 4 seems to be the preferred option. It supports dehumidification. 

I am also building a house with 4 Trane XL 20i Variable Speed heat pumps, and my HVAC company said that the only thermostats they weren't compatible with other thermostats like Ecobee so we have installed 4 Comfortlink II XL1050s.  He owns the company and is a family friend so I trusted his judgement.  Was he mistaken?

thanks, Lee

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50 minutes ago, LAPVI said:

I am also building a house with 4 Trane XL 20i Variable Speed heat pumps, and my HVAC company said that the only thermostats they weren't compatible with other thermostats like Ecobee so we have installed 4 Comfortlink II XL1050s.  He owns the company and is a family friend so I trusted his judgement.  Was he mistaken?

thanks, Lee

1

I can say with complete certainty that the Ecobee 4 can control Heat Pumps with up to 4 stages each.  https://support.ecobee.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006077367-What-types-of-HVAC-systems-are-ecobee-thermostats-compatible-with-

You have 4 zones, and most likely, it's the Trane Comfortlink II proprietary zone controller is being used. That zone controller is not compatible with standard/conventional thermostat 5-wire (R, G, Y, W, C) configurations and instead requires the XL1050 thermostat. So it's most likely a Zone Controller compatibility issue, not a Trane Heat Pump compatibility issue.

A Trane dealer knows Trane equipment, and that's what they are going to sell you. That is the highest-end multi-zone system Trane makes. I think it's overly complicated and expensive for what still feels like a dated user interface, but it will definitely get the job done.

I'm pretty sure they could use Ecobee thermostats and an Aprilaire 6404 zone controller or an EcoJay 4-zone SmartZone controller instead. But they won't be familiar with those controllers and won't want to warranty it. Go with what your HVAC installer knows. (FYI, my local Trane HVAC company switched from Trane to Aprilaire thermostats and zone controllers for these and other reasons.)

Edited by WhyPhy
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I've been down this road with my HVAC installer for years and from what I'm told (and read and have slowly come to believe) - my system, like yours, is a "communicating" system and requires the trane "communicating" tstats.  I've looked into all kinds of 3rd party tstats and even research a serial connection directly to the unit (there is a serial port for diagnostics) but with no luck.

I'm also the victim of the houselogix driver mentioned above - they told me 2 years ago they knew about the issues and even offered a refund - should have taken it! They also said they were going to stop selling it but I see it is still available.  They do have a bunch of great drivers but they acquired this driver and have no plans to update/fix it.  I asked to buy it, license it, anything to try and get it working but had no luck. Not integrating HVAC into a home automation solution seemed crazy...

Having never written a C4 driver and being fairly confident I didn't want to, I wrote a node.js app that I called the  NGS (Nexia Gateway Server) to proxy requests from C4 to Nexia (via the TCP Command driver) that then talks to the tstats.  It worked well for what it was and I've been happily using it for over year... until...

Curiosity got the best of me and I recently ported it over to Control4/lua world.  And now, I'm honestly not sure what to do with it.  I've developed for many years but this is my first "real" Control4 driver, this is not my business or my trade but if someone wants to help me make sure it works in the real world, I would share it.  It should work with any Nexia connected tstats.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/12/2019 at 5:29 PM, bnet said:

requires the trane "communicating" tstats. 

Frankly, it COULD be done, because it's actually just a board to be removed. Problem is, finding someone to do it. C4 dealer wouldn't (and shouldn't) unless they are also a Trane installer. Any Trane installer that is NOT a C4 dealer, wouldn't (though maybe they should) because....why would they.

Quite apart from any warranty voiding.

 

This type of system (Carrier is another) is just a pain to deal with...

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Above is correct. I have the Trane XL20i (2 units). The Trane thermostats are the only ones that will work with the system. First, it is in fact a serial connection. Second, they are communicating. Third, the Trane XL20i specifically is not a “stage” type heat pump (in other words it isn’t 2 or 3 or 4 stages), rather it is truly an infinitly variable speed device. 

I thought as well that I would eventually use the Houselogix driver, alas. 

Would be very appreciative to get in on the test Bnet. 

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Short answer is both. 

bNexia is a driver designed to consolidate query and command interactions with the Nexia API and distribute individual HVAC zone update information to connected bTstats.

bTstat is a driver designed to interact with an HVAC cloud proxy driver (such as bNexia) to send commands to and receive commands from an HVAC cloud service. It implements the Control4 ThermostatV2 proxy to present the user with a standard thermostat interface.

Drivers and documentation located here:

https://bnet4solutions.com/portfolio/btstat

https://bnet4solutions.com/portfolio/bnexia/

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