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Thermostat recommendations? (lemmy.today)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

What are people on Lemmy using for their home thermostats?

I'm in the US with a packaged HVAC system (cool+heat) and was looking to buy a new thermostat, but I wanted to make sure it's highly compatible with Home Assistant.

Ideally, I'm looking for something that speaks Matter over WiFi or Thread. I would like to mainly control it via HA. Everyone in my household are Android users (not totally sure if that's important?). Also, it would be nice if I didn't have to connect it to the cloud.

I was considering the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat, which seems to check all of the boxes. I was wondering if anyone here uses this thermostat.

Another one that seemed interesting was the Siterwell Smart Thermostat GS368M, although this was just announced very recently and who knows when/if it'll go on sale.

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[+] 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 child)
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    • [–] 9 points 10 months ago

    I have an ecobee I mainly control locally through the HomeKit integration on HA. Just about all of the basic features are covered: setpoints, heat/cool/auto/off and fan on/off/auto. Some of the more advanced features like Home/Away/Sleep profiles are not available through the integration, but they tend to be set & forget.

    It doesn't need Internet access or the companion app to operate your system, though it will use external access to track local weather and energy rates. (And probably collect usage data.) The companion app gives access to a few more features remotely, but the unit is completely programmable from its front panel.

    It's worked out fine for me so far. My local power utility sells them at a steep discount through their online storefront. Check around for rebates.

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    [–] 5 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    I use esphome & a 4 channel relay to engage the HVAC stages. I built a virtual thermostat in home assistant and tied it to a Shelly e-paper temperature sensor. I can move it to other sensors in the home if/when needed or carry the sensor around the house. It's not a huge place though.

    I have the old school thermostat still on the original mount point in case of catastrophic failure and for aesthetic.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    This is the way. The ‘smart’ is already in home assistant. You need a temp sensor (or a few) and the actuators to trigger the HVAC equipment. There are numerous ‘smart thermostat’ integrations already and modules that handles the PID math for those who want to roll their own.

    Any third party product with code you can’t inspect or replace is less secure. In this case, there is no compelling case for a commercial product.

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    • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Just installed the Honeywell T9 yesterday. It integrates with Home assistant offline, and handles my heat pump stages. Pretty happy with it so far.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    We're about to be on the market for a new thermostat so this post is just in time. My husband got us a nest and apparently after 10 years they just nope out. Not because it breaks per say but because after 10 years it just shuts down no matter what "expires". Might consider the honeywell

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    Nest requires the internet and Google cloud connection in order to work. They can just shut it off at any time.

    You might be thinking of Google recently announcing that they’re no longer supporting older Nest thermostats. Not because they’re broken or anything, they just decided it was too much work for them so those people who bought a working and still perfectly good thermostat should just go ahead and give them more money.

    Because they decided.

    Never buy a Google product.

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    • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    I think Ecobee and Honeywell are the two more popular Zigbee ones. I think all of the major WiFi ones now support matter as well.

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    [–] 1 point 10 months ago* (1 child)

    I started looking with similar requirements and maybe things have changed over the years but ended up with ecobee as my best choice. I didn’t like that it was a cloud thermostat but it does a lot and just really works well for me. So far no issues related to being a cloud thing.

    While I do have it configured in home assistant I have to admit I like their app enough that I usually prefer that

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    I have an ecobee too (and have for about 8 years), but I thought I heard that new ecobee users couldn't get the access that HA uses.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    The HA Ecobee integration requires a developer API key which ecobee no longer distributes, if you already have a key it still works, but they stopped giving out new keys a few years ago.

    On the other hand, the HomeKit integration allows new users to control most of the thermostat's features locally over WiFi. I got my thermostat after the Developer program ended, and this is how I control it today. Once you install the HomeKit integration, it will discover the thermostat if its on the same LAN, and then prompt you to add it.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Thanks. I knew there was something. The HomeKit setup actually sounds better, maybe I should switch.

    I like our ecobee overall, especially for being able to specify which thermometers to focus on for a given setting.

    But there are some things that I wish were easier. For example, my work days vary, so it'd be nice if it was easier to specify a work day versus a home day in advance, without having to change the schedule.

    Eyeing up those Z-wave thermostats though...

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    • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    No, but I have a Honeywell T10. It connects via wifi and HA via HomeKit. I also added it to a firewall list blocking it from accessing the internet.

    Works great!

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    [–] 0 points 10 months ago

    I grabbed this little guy and its been great. Granted, looks like they discontinued.

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