Fibaro HeatController Topic is solved

[samuelAN]

Well you know samualAN, I am willing to accept that sometimes things go wrong. No problem, as long as the problem will be fixed properly. And this is where I--and many others--have a problem with Fibaro. The not-so-local reseller of Fibaro charges me per device. That's even more money spent on Fibaro products. I am willing to pay for design and functionality, hence I buy this stuff, but I shouldn't have to pay MORE to have a product that works as advertised. Of course, the customer friendly way to solve this issue is that Fibaro enables Domoticz users to update devices that are being sold and advertised by Fibaro as stand alone products compatible with other Zwave systems. [[deep sigh]] I know it's a long heard complaint, and I won't bother users of this forum with it once more. I just put my grief and sorrow on the Fibaro forum, where it belongs. At one point, they will have to give in Perhaps may example could be followed...

Totally agree with you... I had the chance to find a reseller that allow me to upgrade my devices for free.. but you are right : having issues that cannot be resolved if you don't have a Fibaro controller is not admissible given the price of that device.

[marmo]

Your're expecting too much I think. I abandoned Fibaro HC2 with the fiasco of the upgrade to version 4030 in 2015. If you were there at that time you might remember that the first version failed, and we were promised of another update to get it fixed. Sounds familiar with the heat controller issue? I'm happy I decided to migrate away from a propietary system into open source looking for some flexibility that will give my system reliability. Domoticz is amazing, I'm grateful for the work of GizmoCur and all the developers involved in the project.
Still I buy Fibaro devices, most of the times they work, and if they dont, having a variety of devices and a little scripting with the help of this forum allowed me to have a pretty decent reliable system. I didnt even care about updating the firmware of some of my old Fibaro devices as they were working fine for me with a little code patch here and there.

Got one of this valves and despite some issues I'm happy with it. Overpriced I agree. Once tested I doubt I'll buy another as the functionality I need I can get from the primitive Danfoss valves which are 30€ cheaper and have replaceable batteries. Amazing this winter I didnt have to replace any of them, still on the same ones from winter last year and I left them in all the time.

Did I buy the Fibaro temperature sensor? of course not, dont even care about it. Great Secure SRT321 thermostat serves me well since several years and while they look like from the 70's they do the work for me, read accurately the temperature and allows to configure the room SetPoint. And are at a location in the room that permits proper temperature reading and accesibility if you want to change the target temperature. All I expect from the radiator valve is to open and close. And Fibaro's does it.
Lets see what the Heat Controller update will bring, I'm not optimistic it will fix it completely given my experience with Fibaro, we will be promised another upgrade later... By now the valve does what I expected it to do. Fingers crossed.

[RikkieB]

This heat controller is starting to frustrate me: For one, the necessity of polling quickly drains the battery. This is especially a problem for the external sensor.

But even worse: the valve does not work properly, at least not currently in Domoticz. I've set a default temp of 16 degrees in the room with the valve and the sensor. I also use a temperature reading from a smoke sensor to have a second source. Every morning when the heating system warms my house, the temperature in the room with the heat controller rockets to 19,5 degrees or more. The valve says 16 degrees but no way. I don't even need sensors to assess that it's about 20 degrees in that room. I think the only reason it doesn't get hotter is that my central heating system has reached its max temperature set in the living room. I don't see how this behavior of the valve could be a smart script or otherwise intentional behavior on the side of Fibaro's programmers. It's just a waste of energy. Yes I read that the valve already needs a firmware update according to Fibaro, but then we get into the usual frustration of not being able to update without an outdated and overpriced Fibaro controller...

Hi Tigo,

I have the same issue, setpoint 15 degrees, ends up around 20 degrees. I read on the fibaro forum about the issue and the future firmware update. It seems also that Fibaro is working to update firmware without the HC, fingers crossed.
In it's essence a good device, but it should be just working

[RikkieB]

Still the issue of not seeing the read-only tags in '3. Additional functions status (READ-ONLY)'
It does not appear in the config settings at all, even not in read-only mode (as it should)

Available settings:
1 (bit 0) - optional temperature sensor connected and operational
2 (bit 1) - open window detected
Default setting:
0
Parameter size:
4 [bytes]

What could be the cause for this?

Hi Rikkie,

Good question...

There are some switches that are available in the device list when one valve is added. Maybe the state report of these switches are the state of these variables?

Hi,

I do see the state in the configuration panel of domoticz, that's the strange thing, it appears to be there, but you can't see it on the config page of the heat controller.

[tigo72]

It seems also that Fibaro is working to update firmware without the HC, fingers crossed.

Hi RikkieB, where exactly did you get this info from? That would be the long awaited step forward... Have to read it myself to believe it might happen one day.

[tigo72]

I'm grateful for the work of GizmoCuz and all the developers involved in the project.

All I expect from the radiator valve is to open and close. And Fibaro's does it.

We're mostly on the same page. Overall I like Fibaro products very much, but I own devices of other brands as well and I really love Domoticz to combine it all and make me happy. So big thumbs up to the Domoticz team.

In this case, I don't think I expect too much from Fibaro to just give me what they advertized: a working valve. In my case, it is not working, not even close. Yes it opens sometimes, and when I turn the knob to white it is closed. But when and how it opens is becoming a greater mystery the more I study it. There is currently no logical relation to either setpoint or room temperature. It seems that the little guy or girl inside this device is very very drunk. It has been established that the current firmware is faulty. I expect Fibaro to fix it soon. Until then I didn't get what I paid for. So I won't nonchalantly accept it as an open/close device, because it is supposed to be much more than that. And frankly, even as a simple open/closed valve it is currently doing a very poor, because unpredictable, job.

[RikkieB]

It seems also that Fibaro is working to update firmware without the HC, fingers crossed.

Hi RikkieB, where exactly did you get this info from? That would be the long awaited step forward... Have to read it myself to believe it might happen one day.

See my post on Page 2. Answer from Fibaro support

[tigo72]

See my post on Page 2. Answer from Fibaro support

Oh I see, well done. Looks somewhat promising indeed, fingers crossed!

Happy New Year to everybody out there

[fr3sh]

Any change? Update form Fibaro?

[samuelAN]

No update for the moment.

There is a new config file for the fgt001 on GitHub. (14 date ago) someone has tested it yet? Any change?

[barbaar]

I got it. But since I didn't had the previous version, I don't know what changed.. However, I do not see the current temperature in the room from the external sensor...

Besides the above, the thermostat is pretty useless at the moment. It doesn't seem to do anything, and the room is never heated to 20 degrees, as configured directly on the thermostat. I am slightly worried about this situation. Fibaro is supposed to be working on a new firmware.No details of ETA is communicated. But, firmware upgrades are only possible using a HC (which, of course, I do not have). And they are working on a new way of upgrading their devices without a HC, but there's no planning available on this (yet)..

To summarize, this all might take a very long time.. An I am starting to agree with Tigo72; current situation is just not acceptable and we currently have a useless device.. which is nothing more than just a waste of money..

[fr3sh]

Form the Fibaro forum:

"In the first half of March there will be a firmware update for the Heat Controller. The product will not be discontinued."
source: "https://forum.fibaro.com/index.php?/top ... od-at-all/&"

Finger crossed

[RikkieB]

And now also hoping for a non HC2 update possibility

[Solifuge]

I have bought FGT-001 and its external sensor.

I have successfully integrate them in Domoticz but the valve randomly crashes.

Domoticz marks them as "Dead" at hardware level and you have to restart Domoticz to make it works again...

[barbaar]

The update has been released:

https://forum.fibaro.com/topic/29438-fg ... ble-40-43/

You do need an HC2 to update.

For me, it's not really clear if all issues have been solved though...

[fr3sh]

For now after the update nothing changed Still I cant set the device to proper temperature and the bluetooth device show only one temperature. Maybe we need to update the open zwave (https://github.com/OpenZWave/open-zwave ... fgt001.xml)

From ozwpc logs I have:

Log output

2018-03-14 22:07:27.193 Error, Node006, Cannot find endpoint map to instance for Command Class COMMAND_CLASS_APPLICATION_STATUS endpoint 0
2018-03-14 22:07:27.193 Always,
2018-03-14 22:07:27.193 Always, Dumping queued log messages
2018-03-14 22:07:27.194 Always,
2018-03-14 22:07:27.194 Always,
2018-03-14 22:07:27.194 Always, End of queued log message dump

[fr3sh]

After Enable Polling it's looks like the temperature is logging but thermostat not responding for setting the temperature for heating

[barbaar]

Any luck, fr3sh?

It I read the Fibaro forums, the update does improve functionality of the heat controller. However, all is not perfect yet. Someone reported another crash of the controller and some users are noticing overshoots...

Fibaro is supposed to work on another update, so it may be a good idea to wait for some time before you send the unit back to the shop for the firmware update...

[fr3sh]

My friend have HC of fibaro so I dont must to send it back.
From my observation it's look like this:
1. If you set the Heating manualy from domoticz it not setting the actual value on domoticz heating utility.
The valve not respond right away but after 2-3 min will turn on the valve. The parameter on domoticz not change
It's look like it must to think LoL
2. The additional temperature device not mesure the temperature all the time.

[barbaar]

Winter is coming and this heatcontroller is still in my network

There is a new firmware! Version 4.4. You still need a HC to perform the update. Any experience yet? Does this firmware finally solve the issues?

https://forum.fibaro.com/topic/31968-ho ... b_fgt-001/