Thermostat remote sensor - AC-FMTS1-W

[mitchelludwig]

I have 3 thermostats in the house, all c4 tsats. I'm having an issue in one zone of the house because the builder put the thermostat in the wrong place. Basically, I have a zone that controls my kids rooms and an open loft. The kids rooms are freezing in the summer because by the time the loft (where the tstat is) gets to the right temp, the kids rooms are 2-3 degrees colder. I know I could probably goof around with the stats temp settings till I got them where they needed to be, I'd just rather do it right and stick a remote sensor in the kids rooms.

So here are my questions

- What does the remote sensor look like? Haven't been able to find a pic online.

- What does it wire into? Is it wired into the tstat directly, or is it a c4 device on it's own, where programming is used to control the temp?

- Has anyone used one, and what have been the results?

Tx

[RyanE]

Control4 remote sensors are industry standard sensors, many people use the Aprilaire models, like these:

http://www.iautomate.com/8053.html

http://www.iautomate.com/8051.html

Either of these should work, people usually use the flush mount one.

It should wired physically back to the Control4 thermostat.

RyanE

[mitchelludwig]

Thanks Ryan. Two questions then, they're kinda related...

- When I wire the remote sensor in, does the thermostat use that instead of or in addition to the temperature on the unit itself?

- If it's in addition to, how does it set/manage the temperature?

[RyanE]

I believe it will use the external instead of the internal.

I don't know if it's a configuration change, or a hardware jumper, or what, but I'm pretty sure it won't average two sensors.

RyanE

[D-gen]

I am going to be facing a similar situation with my basement being tied in to the main floor thermistat. I was thinking a simpler solution involving the Card Access wireless contact sensor might work.

http://www.cardaccess-inc.com/automation/products/index.php?a=details&i=WCS10A

Could one use the Card Access wireless contact, which has a built in thermometer, to set a temperature activated event? (ie if temp in kids room goes below x then turn off loft ac) This would seem to be an easy fix considering it is wireless and built for use with c4. Is the programing possible?

[ILoveC4]

That programming is certainly possible, but you may have conflicts. The temp that is away from the thermostat could very greatly from the temp at the stat.

[D-gen]

That programming is certainly possible, but you may have conflicts. The temp that is away from the thermostat could very greatly from the temp at the stat.

First of all thank you for the insight. Sorry to be so naive but I am still putting it all together and it wont be turned on for months while the house is being built.

ANywho....that would be the point. Mitchelludwig wants to keep his children and there rooms from freezing while the (hot) loft thermostat tries to cool a seperate area.

In my case I would want it to be even more complicated. If we leave we will probably have the dogs in our basement/rec room. The programming would be more like "If alarm is set to away, and basement temperature goes above/below x then turn on/off ac/heat)

In both cases the temperature at the sensor would become the important temp.

-Would the controller then override the set temp of the thermostat?

-Would it cause some crazy computer conflict resulting in c4 meltdown or could I get my programmer (which I obviously havent found yet) to make it work?

-Would I instead be forced to run a seperate external wired sensor as suggested by Mitchellludwig even though when I am home the main floor would in fact be the important zone?

Thank you again for the feed back!

[ILoveC4]

The confilt I could forsee would be if you had the thermostat set to cool at 75 degrees, and it is 77 degrees (at the thermostat) in your house so the A/C is on. In your basement, you have it set to shutoff the A/C if the basement temperature gets below 72 degrees. It is 71 degrees in the basement. The variable is met to turn on the A/C, and the variable is met to turn it off. Which one wins?

There is probably a work around for this, but the A/C is one thing I don't have integrated (yet). I have a Evolution Zone system that works fantastic for scenarios like yours. I can keep every room in the house at it's own temperature, and it works great! The problem with this is the zone system doesn't work with C4 (yet). Last I heard they were developing a driver for the zone system and were prepping it for beta.

In my opinion, if you are building the house now and you want the ability to set different zones to distinctly different temperatues, get a zone system.

[D-gen]

In my opinion, if you are building the house now and you want the ability to set different zones to distinctly different temperatues, get a zone system.

Would that money was no obstacle many things would happen. I wouldn't even bother with these forums...I would just get my personal assistant toget his assistant to find the right people to make sure it all happened!! Though this is a fair decent house I still must pick and chose where the money goes. A CA sensor is far cheaper than the super sweet system you mention. Champagne taste on a beer budget! Maybe my next house.....

[RyanE]

Something like an AC system shouldn't be left up to ad-hoc programming such as you're recommending.

One mistake in not turning on the heat in the winter, your pipes are going to freeze, and that'll be much more expensive than just properly wiring a remote sensor, etc.

It's certainly *possible* to have Control4 programming replace the thermostat's programming, but it's not typically feasible or a smart thing to do.

RyanE

[ILoveC4]

In my opinion' date=' if you are building the house now and you want the ability to set different zones to distinctly different temperatues, get a zone system.[/quote']

Would that money was no obstacle many things would happen. I wouldn't even bother with these forums...I would just get my personal assistant toget his assistant to find the right people to make sure it all happened!! Though this is a fair decent house I still must pick and chose where the money goes. A CA sensor is far cheaper than the super sweet system you mention. Champagne taste on a beer budget! Maybe my next house.....

You might check into pricing. This can be done for less than you might think.

Check out the Bryant Evolution Zone system. You don't need 19 zones, just one or two zones and the ability to add more in the future.

That being said, I can appreciate your position.

[D-gen]

Something like an AC system shouldn't be left up to ad-hoc programming such as you're recommending.

One mistake in not turning on the heat in the winter, your pipes are going to freeze, and that'll be much more expensive than just properly wiring a remote sensor, etc.

It's certainly *possible* to have Control4 programming replace the thermostat's programming, but it's not typically feasible or a smart thing to do.

RyanE

Lol.....not trying to replace it necessarily, just redirect where the priority for temperature programing will be. I certainly wouldn't want to risk my plumbing simply for my dogs comfort but that's what discussion forums are for. I know little to nothing about programing the c4 etc so this is all just exploratory. Knowing little to nothing about this amazing though complex system I would never "recommend" anything to anyone, at least not until I have personally implemented it.... that's a loooonnnnggg way off!

The builder selected the HVAC and it is a good one. At the time I half heartedly checked the pricing on the multi-zone systems having enjoyed individual room thermostats in my more well to do friends pads. Initial pricing at the time seemed cost prohibitive and my custom kitchen, finished man cave basement/ dog hang out, screened in boozing-after-the-are-kids-asleep screened in porch, and pimp shower were all higher priorities. I had also never heard of c4 at that time so now I am trying to see what I can fully do with it since I have started investing.

So anyway, you can change thermostat settings via c4. Maybe looking at it as changing the settings under a certain set of circumstances instead of replacing the programing? It would be something I would be interested in looking into for the (soon to arrive) baby's room as well as my exploratory work with k-9 comfort in order to avoid the situation as described in this thread originally.

I appreciate all insight and ask that you experts bear with me as I am as novice as novice can be! (and a bit of a computer dummy) You will see me popping in a lot of random threads over the next 2 and a half months! I have also realized that I can save mucho dinero by having all of my programing needs figured out ahead of time vs. calling the installer every other week with a new thought.

Thank you all again!

[mthomtech]

I believe it will use the external instead of the internal.

I don't know if it's a configuration change, or a hardware jumper, or what, but I'm pretty sure it won't average two sensors.

RyanE

Just in case anyone needs to know ... I saw this the other day while using CHE. There is a radio button on the properties page for the C4 thermostats that allows you to select local or remote temperature sensor.

[D-gen]

... I saw this the other day while using CHE. There is a radio button on the properties page for the C4 thermostats that allows you to select local or remote temperature sensor.

Before reading on I must remind you that I have no idea how to program anything yet, I just want to know if it is possible... and if so when the time comes I will pay someone to do it or learn myself. You will know if I try to do it myself for I will revive this thread!!

Picture this.....Is there a simple way to have the t-stat switch where the priority is?

For instance "if alarm set to away is true then tstat main floor select basement remote sensor." Or when the alarm goes active disable T-stat sensor and enable remote sensor.

Thank you

[mthomtech]

D-Gen,

Others will probably be able to answer you better ... I'm also just an amatuer, but have played around with Composer Home Edition, which let's us end users do some programming on our own.

In looking at the C4 tstats ... I don't see that the choice of local or remote sensor is something that can be triggered within the programming. It's just a configuration choice on the tstat ... something you set manually.

Now, I don't have the latest C4 software, but it seems like it could be something that C4 could enable in future versions. There may not be much demand for that feature outside of specific cases like yours, but worth a request to them.

[bigdaddyo811]

Has anyone installed one of these?

I need one to monitor a room and I can get the wires back to the HVAC unit without a problem, but not to the thermostat unit itself.

Can I just hook it into 2 of the wires or it MUST go into the thermostat itself?

Thanks

bdo

[henniae]

Has anyone installed one of these?

I need one to monitor a room and I can get the wires back to the HVAC unit without a problem, but not to the thermostat unit itself.

Can I just hook it into 2 of the wires or it MUST go into the thermostat itself?

Thanks

bdo

The external temp sensor must be hooked to the t-stat on the TS and TS/C connectors. When the external sensor is hooked the internal sensor is disabled.

[turls]

Just in case anyone needs to know ... I saw this the other day while using CHE. There is a radio button on the properties page for the C4 thermostats that allows you to select local or remote temperature sensor.

So which is it? Does it automatically use the remote if you wire it in on TS and TS/C, or do you have to set the radio button in Composer too? I don't think mine is working right, which with the way this project has gone could be either a physically defective sensor, wired wrong, or Composer not set up right. I really don't want my theater equipment to fry so I would like to get this right.

[thegreatheed]

You have to set it in Composer.

[turls]

Thanks, that is correct, I have it working now. I finally posted in a more appropriate thread and got the answer since this didn't really seem like the right place after all. Thanks.