Python Plugin: Smart Virtual Thermostat

[napo7]

Hi,

Strange behavior this night , I woke up with a cold house .... Perhaps I'm missing something !!

Here is the log :

Code: Select all

...
2017-11-16 07:10:31.644  (Thermostat Salon) Calling message handler 'onHeartbeat'.
2017-11-16 07:10:31.645  (Thermostat Salon) Thermostat temperature update called
2017-11-16 07:10:31.687  (Thermostat Salon) device: 26-Temperature Combles = 6.31
2017-11-16 07:10:31.688  (Thermostat Salon) device: 38-Temp Salon = 16.7
2017-11-16 07:10:31.689  (Thermostat Salon - Thermostat temp) Updating device from 0:'18.1' to have values 0:'16.7'.
2017-11-16 07:10:31.693  (Thermostat Salon) Inside Temperature = 16.7
2017-11-16 07:10:31.693  (Thermostat Salon) Outside Temperature = 6.3
2017-11-16 07:10:31.693  (Thermostat Salon - Setpoint Normal) Updating device from 0:'20' to have values 0:'20'.
2017-11-16 07:10:31.703  (Thermostat Salon - Setpoint Economy) Updating device from 0:'18.0' to have values 0:'18.0'.
2017-11-16 07:10:41.624  (Thermostat Salon) Calling message handler 'onHeartbeat'.
...

I don't understant why it did not triggered heating, since it was 16.7, the Normal and Eco was beyond the value, and no "minimal heating" did get applied !

The logs of the heating device doesn't show any activity ??

Any idea ?

[Logread]

Being able to set a different setpoint for each virtual thermostat would be ideal to regulate bath, bed and study rooms in the house without the need of physical thermostats. The only invesment would be in a temperature sensor (if not included in the heating device/remote controlled radiator thermostat) and the remote controlled radiator thermostat itself.

You can have multiple instances of the plugin take care of different zones/rooms as long - as you correctly noted - you have a temperature sensor and can switch a heater for that zone.

[Logread]

Strange behavior this night , I woke up with a cold house

No pleasant for sure... The logs show no activity indeed beyond temperature reading and setpoint refresh... and temp readings should trigger heating.
I might state the obvious:
-Is the virtual thermostat in "auto" mode ? otherwise you may want to check the plugin parameters or the plugin's uservariable for incorrect/strange values ?
-Also, does setting the thermostat in "forced" mode triggers heating ?
-And last, are you sure the "pause" switch is not on ?

[napo7]

You spotted it !
It was OFF !!!!
The most weird thing is that I never turned it off...
Searching the logs , I see it turned off on 14/11 17h15, but I don't see anything, except that domoticz seems to have crashed at 17h14.
The thermostat logs jumps from 17h14 to 17h16, and nothing seems to eplain why it did jumped to OFF...

[Skippiemanz]

You spotted it !
It was OFF !!!!
The most weird thing is that I never turned it off...
Searching the logs , I see it turned off on 14/11 17h15, but I don't see anything, except that domoticz seems to have crashed at 17h14.
The thermostat logs jumps from 17h14 to 17h16, and nothing seems to eplain why it did jumped to OFF...

I had it once. When the inside temp wasn't updated it turned off.

[napo7]

The sensor has always been updated on 14/11 ... Need to find another clue

[Logread]

I had it once. When the inside temp wasn't updated it turned off.

This is intended behavior... when the thermostat cannot read inside temp (temp device deleted or timed out for instance), it switches off as a precaution to avoid overheating. Not sure I want to change that... may be you could check the sensor time-out setting on your domoticz settings and see if it could be too short against your sensor behaviour ?

[Swifty]

I have a question regarding this plugin (not had time to test it yet, so apologies if this is a stupid question!).

I've got the ELV MAX! Smart Radiator valves, which control the radiator valve position based on the desired vs detected room temperature.
However, these valves have built in temperature sensors which only report a reading when the valve position changes, so not very accurate.
In each room, I also have proper 'live' temperature sensors (not MAX!) which are fed to domoticz.

I wondered if I can use this plugin as my room setpoints, to then control the MAX! valves (already in Domoticz) desired setpoint vs the 'live' temperature sensors?

This way I could accurately pick a MAX! setpoint based on the real temperature of the room..

[Logread]

@Swifty,

I do not know the Max! valves but if you can control the valve (open/close or on/off) from a domoticz switch, then you can drive the switch using the plugin. However, it means you need to bypass or disable the valve built-in thermostat (or set its setpoint to a very high temperature to keep it from shutting down the valve).
That being said, the plugin will send on/off commands only, that may not be desirable in such a system where I assume the valve operates more like a light dimmer with levels from 0% to 100% ? In such a case I am not sure this plugin is a good solution for your need.

[Swifty]

Thanks Logread.

I've found that I can set a temperature compensation value in the Max! Software.
So I will tweak the domoticz max scripts to supply my real room temperature readings and tweak until the actual room temp is accurate.

[havnegata]

I'm on RPI3 and the latest beta and Domoticz goes offline after clicking ADD in the Hardware section after configuring the SVT plugin with the IDX'es. Any one else have this experience?

[napo7]

It seems there is problems with latest betas and python plugins.
The devs are searching around this.
Not only this plugin is failing, almost all python plugins are !

[havnegata]

It seems there is problems with latest betas and python plugins.
The devs are searching around this.
Not only this plugin is failing, almost all python plugins are !

Thanks!

[alanlsmith]

This is intended behavior... when the thermostat cannot read inside temp (temp device deleted or timed out for instance), it switches off as a precaution to avoid overheating.

I agree entirely that this is sensible behaviour, however I found that this morning the temperature sensor that I was using with your plugin failed in the early hours whilst the heating was on, so the thermostat switched off but left the heating switch on. Surely the heating should be switched off at the same time as the thermostat otherwise it will just keep on until it is noticed and manually switched off.

I have been using your plugin for a few days now and I think it is working very well. I have whole house heating with timed heat programs and door sensors to pause the heating, there are z-wave TRVs in each room which are individually controlled by a script to provide a form of multi-zone heating (bedrooms cooler during the day, etc.).

Your plugin has allowed me to get rid of a complicated and therefore, prone to errors, script which I was using to control the heating, temperatures and timing. For which I am very pleased. Thank you.

[Logread]

@alanlsmith,

Thanks for the positive feedback. Glad the plugin works well for you.

I will investigate the issue of the heating not switching off when the thermostat « auto-switches » off due to a faultly sensor. Bear with me on this.

[pikapt]

Plus one using this plugin here! I'm "beta testing" it on my suns room, setpoint temp at 21,5º

1.JPG (50.25 KiB) Viewed 4510 times

Never got there but I confess that i've changed it during the night.. So I've started with 20, then 21, and then 21,5 (changed after checking the temperature on the room itself and founding that it wasn't warm enough).

Anyway I had the cycle set to 60 min (gas boiler) and i've reduced it to 30 and see how it goes. Outside temp was 12º.

With all this changes still:

2017-11-22 05:55:51 Off
2017-11-22 05:49:51 On

2017-11-22 04:55:50 Off
2017-11-22 04:49:51 On

2017-11-22 03:56:50 Off
2017-11-22 03:49:50 On

2017-11-22 03:33:10 Off
2017-11-22 03:26:00 On

2017-11-22 02:31:59 Off
2017-11-22 02:25:59 On

2017-11-22 01:31:59 Off
2017-11-22 01:25:59 On

2017-11-22 00:31:58 Off
2017-11-22 00:25:54 On

6 cycles of 6 minutes! That's awesome!!!

[Logread]

Never got there but I confess that i've changed it during the night.. So I've started with 20, then 21, and then 21,5 (changed after checking the temperature on the room itself and founding that it wasn't warm enough).
Anyway I had the cycle set to 60 min (gas boiler) and i've reduced it to 30 and see how it goes. Outside temp was 12º.

Let it learn over a few days... it takes a while to settle with the auto-learning while I know we all are impatient. Pls keep sharing your experience as it’s a bit of trial an error to get these parameters right for each specific setup.

[pikapt]

I've changed the cycles to be 30 min but for some reason constC was set to 0,4 so my boiler wasn't working.
I guess it got to 0,4 because i've tried to mess around temperature and turn it on and off a lot of times between yesterday and today. So now that i've read the code and understood the calculations I've reset constC to 60 and I will let it work through the night to see what happens!

[strelniece]

Hello and thanks for a great plug-in, made me (partly) use Domoticz again

You are welcome
Creating multiple thermostats is the way to go to control individual rooms or zones, as long as you have a decentralized heating (e.g. electric convectors, radiators with individual valve control such as the new Fibaro zwave heat controller) specific to that zone.

Mixed heating sources will certainly impact the regulation, but it is hard to predict how... for instance if your wood stove heats "more" than the source controlled by the smart virtual thermostat, the learning algorithm of the latter will skip learning...

On your comment on MQTT, definitely it is out of the box with Domoticz so no need for the plugin to address this.

On the possibility to add more setpoints, I am not sure I see the point. I actually was initially not keen to have two setpoints for the plugin - i.e. one for normal mode and one for eco mode - but settled for it as I found it more user friendly to have a "normal/eco" switch than changing a setpoint value via a script or timer.

I guess only the cold winter will tell how it will behave

Re MQTT, unfortunatley none of the devices created with the SVT will send out any messages with MQTT. For example it would be nice to be informed that the thermostat has turned itself off when, for whatever reason, the temperature sensors doesn't behave, before I wake up freezing Also I use this in conjunction with Node-red so would greatly appreciate information about status via MQTT without having to send a request.


Re the possibility to add more setpoints, I have different setpoints for day/night but also for away. But I can set it via NR/MQTT as well

[marcin]

Hello.

I'm impressed with your thermostat.
In my house is the floor heating, or will the thermostat work with it?
Floor heating has high thermal inertia.

Marcin.