I don’t have experience of the Devolo kit, but have used powerline to get a WiFi access point where I need it and it isn’t a bad method IMHO as long as you design and configure it properly.
If the PowerLine connection between PowerLine devices works at all it is very reliable in my experience. I would trust it over a wireless backhaul (so called mesh) which is subject to environmental interference (microwaves, cordless phones, baby monitors) as well as other access points (yours and your neighbours’). PowerLine isn’t subject to that sort of competition.
To get the WiFi part as reliable as possible you need to make sure the v2.4 GHz WiFi channel is 1, 6 or 11, and not overlapping with a neighbouring WiFi device. Since the hub is also a ZigBee transmitter which also uses the 2.4GHz spectrum, ensure the ZigBee channel doesn’t interfere with the wifi channel and vice versa. Here is a useful resource for understanding that.
You would also need to tune your channel use if using a purely WiFi system, so I would recommend to give it a try with what you have before buying new equipment.
I haven’t made a decision on what to do about my immersion heater yet. I’m procrastinating in the hope that Schneider will release the aforementioned Immersion Switch soon. However, if it doesn’t make an appearance in the next few months, after speaking to my electrician (and also because I have an unused one already), I am favouring installing the Frient Smart Cable, connected inline after the dumb 13A double-pole fused switched spur my immersion heater is connected to already.
Thanks everyone for their replies regarding what they do in the Summer. I’ve ended up opting for a Summer schedule and moving everything that isn’t in Passive Mode already into that. I will probably automate this with a Summer Mode helper and an automation to move things in and out when it’s toggled.
@msp1974 Passive Mode is probably a good option too. However, I am trying to keep the main rooms that are actively heated separate from the ones that are normally in Passive Mode. I might do something a bit more fancy with that for the Summer in the future. The Summer schedule seems to be working well for me though, so it might not be necessary to overcomplicate it.
Turning off heating in the Summer does seem like the simplest option, but I have automations that turn the heating off and on in each room when the windows/external doors are opened and closed (using contact sensors to as the trigger), so every time a window or door was closed it was switching the heating back to it’s normal Winter schedule and activating the heating when not wanted.
I cant be bothered with setting up a summer schedule and moving devices into it when i can just use away mode and make sure i have hot water enabled. its just a few clicks and its done.
The trouble with that is, for me at least, as with switching the heating off as per my last post, my window and door open/closed automations automatically switch it back to Auto when the window/door is closed, which switches Away Mode off in that room and subsequently the heating can come on unintentionally.
Maybe I need to look at turning the setpoint down in each room rather than switching it off when doors/windows are opened and then back up when closed, instead of restoring it’s normal schedule.
Anyway, having a separate very simple Summer schedule (set to 17.5 degrees 24/7), is working well for me for now. I’ve even created a Summer Mode helper and automation to automatically move the rooms between schedules when it’s toggled. It didn’t take long and is now just a flick of a switch/toggle to move between Winter and Summer (and vice-versa), just the same as toggling Away Mode on/off, forever more.
The automation code is below in case it’s helpful to anyone.
# Wiser Summer mode control
- id: 549415A9-9DCA-4AB1-A983-B7EC59900071
alias: "Wiser: Summer mode control"
mode: queued
trigger:
# Summer Mode On
- platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.wiser_summer_mode
from: 'off'
to: 'on'
id: summer_mode_on
# Summer Mode Off
- platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.wiser_summer_mode
from: 'on'
to: 'off'
id: summer_mode_off
action:
- if:
# Check Wiser Hub is not offline
- condition: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.wiser_hub_status
state: 'on'
then:
# Wait for Wiser Hub to come back online
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.wiser_hub_status
to: 'off'
- choose:
# Summer Mode On
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: summer_mode_on
sequence:
- service: wiser.assign_schedule
data:
schedule_name: Summer
to_entity_id:
- climate.hallway_climate
- climate.living_room_climate
- climate.kitchen_climate
- climate.utility_room_climate
- climate.bedroom_climate
- climate.office_climate
# Summer Mode Off
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: summer_mode_off
sequence:
- service: wiser.assign_schedule
data:
schedule_name: Main Rooms
to_entity_id:
- climate.hallway_climate
- climate.kitchen_climate
- service: wiser.assign_schedule
data:
schedule_name: Living Room
to_entity_id: climate.living_room_climate
- service: wiser.assign_schedule
data:
schedule_name: Utility Room
to_entity_id: climate.utility_room_climate
- service: wiser.assign_schedule
data:
schedule_name: Bedrooms
to_entity_id: climate.bedroom_climate
- service: wiser.assign_schedule
data:
schedule_name: Office
to_entity_id: climate.office_climate
too bad, because managing energy is possible with the gen 2 hub, which has also introduced a concept of summer monitoring acting on the shutters when the outside and inside temperatures exceed a threshold… But in UK you don’t have hub v2 or shutter controls.
Sorry
Maybe they will release both the Gen2 Hub and the Immersion Switch in the UK soon. Here’s hoping, but I won’t hold my breath. Out of interest, does the Gen2 Hub have an ethernet port?
I was able to join Wiser smart plugs to my non-Wiser ZigBee network, and access all the sensors and controls. It may be that other products from the Wiser range can also be managed by Home Assistant.
And since we have this integration, we have a lot more options for what we can automate (anything ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT is compatible with) than with Wiser alone. I don’t need to replace my Gen1 hub till it dies.
That’s two days in a row now that my office iTRV has done this at 11 AM. According to Wiser support, the valve protection function should only run once a fortnight, so I’ll have to raise another ticket with them to get them to investigate. It’s going to go through batteries if it keeps doing this. @msp1974 - Any idea what’s going on with the integration and the toggle which shows that this feature is turned off? Is it getting an incorrect status from the Hub? With the official Wiser app no longer having this toggle, I assume it is a permanently ‘ON’ feature that can no longer be toggled.
The “Wiser Valve Protection” toggle in Home Assistant does change the status of “ValveProtectionEnabled” in the Wiser hub correctly between true and false. I always have mine switched on so I don’t know if switching it off achieves anything other than changing the status in the hub.
Hi - please excuse a potentially dumb newbie question … I’m planning a Drayton Wiser installation on my existing central heating/hot water system, and intend to use this HA integration as my main controller. I have a running HA setup, just doing a few very simple things at the moment, but its main use will be for this integration. There will be 12 radiator iTRVs and probably a couple of plugs for range extension (its a three storey house with thick walls and WiFi has been a real problem).
I’m now trying to work out how many room thermostats to get. We’ll have the HA app on our phones so should be able to make adjustments from there on a routine basis, but I am mostly thinking about guests. We have a couple of guest bedrooms and I don’t think its reasonable to ask guests to load an app! But these things aren’t cheap. So how easy is it, really, to repurpose a room thermostat from one room to another? I guess I’m particularly concerned about having to fiddle with both the native Drayton configuration AND HA settings very time I move a thermostat.
Or should I just bite the bullet and get a room thermostat for every room that might potentially be occupied by guests, including main living rooms?
I wouldnt go mad on the roomstats, they are expensive as you say. If the rooms are proper guest rooms then maybe yes go for a few room stats. I havent had much time recently but I think someone up in the thread here mentioned its possible to get some EU thermostats for 1/2 the price…
I agree with Angelo - no need to get many roomstats. Guests can boost the heat up and down using the iTRV twist control. The roomstats are good if they want to know the actual temp in the room, but for just adjusting for comfort the iTRVs are good enough.
You might want to use the integration to increase the boost time beyond the default - 30 minutes is too short when guests are likely to assume the iTRVs work like old style TRVs and just turn the temp up till they are turned down.
The Wiser system isn’t a “learning” one like Nest. When boosting the temp, it just goes back to the regular setpoint after the boost ends.
Has anyone figured out a method to observe boosts allowing insight that a particular room should have a higher setpoint? Would an automation that notices if a room is frequently boosted and increments the setpoint be a way to build the learning feature that Wiser lacks? Anyone tried this?
Something like:
If there is more than 1 boost in a room per day in the same direction, then increment the scheduled setpoints in that room by 1° in the same direction.
I can see how this could be useful. However, and I’m pretty sure it would be anyway, but if this does become a feature of the integration, please keep it optional. This was one of the numerous reasons I got rid of the Nest that was here when we moved in. I don’t want an AI fiddling with my settings.
I found the Nest “learning” feature rather underwhelming. Deciding on setpoints isn’t something that needs doing very often, especially with a single thermostat and schedule such as with Nest. I don’t think it is worth a ton of effort.
I would be happy with a system that suggested adjusting the setpoints for a room based on data gathered from boosts. I was hoping that the Insights feature of Wiser might do this sort of thing, but it just tells me the total number of boosts per month across the whole system, which isn’t really an actionable insight. It’s collecting a whole bunch of data but not really doing much with it (at least not for me).
Better would be - “It looks like the master bedroom feels cold in the evening - it’s been boosted 5 nights out of 7 between 10 and 11. Would you like to increase the setpoint between 9 and midnight by 2°C? Or maybe it’s time to swap in the winter duvet.”
How hard would it be to build that functionality into the integration, or with a collection of HA automations, or for Wiser to do it in the cloud and expose it to the Wiser app?
