simple question: what does the hvac mode auto exactly do or what does it mean?
Background: I swtichted from Tado (+ Bridge + HA Integration) to Tuya thermostats, that can be used with deconz or zigbe2mqqt etc, so I can use everything offline without cloud integrations.
The Tado valves basically had 3 modes, that perfectly matched the default home assistant climate entity / card.
HVAC_MODE_OFF → turn valve to “off” → valve completely closed HVAC_MODE_HEAT → turn valve to a random temperature → temperature is set manual on the valve HVAC_MODE_AUTO → turn valve to the scheduled temperature → Tado schedule, configured in the Tado app is used
When using the preset buttons on the climate card, it will also work as expected.
I want to achieve this behavior with the tuya vavles too, but since there is no app I can create a schedule, what does the HVAC_MODE_AUTO do?
Out of experience and discussion of other users of scheduler-card, I can tell you that the behaviour differs a lot between climate devices.
I would say the most appropriate use-case for the HVAC_MODE_AUTO is to have the climate device work according to a remotely managed schedule (either stored on the device itself, its gateway or cloud).
So similar to what you experience with Tado.
I can tell you however that for example the Tuya TS0601 smart radiator valve works completely different (at least via zigbee2mqtt):
In mode HVAC_MODE_HEAT the valve is 100% constantly open, so it keeps heating indefinitely.
In mode HVAC_MODE_AUTO the valve regulates the valve position to its temperature setpoint (so valve closes when the temperature is reached, and otherwise some PID is used to control the valve position).
There are also thermostats which expose only mode HVAC_MODE_AUTO (i.e. they don’t listen to turn-off commands), and they do listen to the temperature setpoint in this mode.
Conclusion is that you really have to know about the device to know the behaviour per mode.
I would like to make scheduler compatible with all devices, but it is very hard to give users a good ‘out of the box’ experience due to the inconsistencies.
Do you know any way or place where you can get information on the behavior of specific devices? I have the feeling, that you actually have to buy the devices and test the behavior by yourself. This will require quite some time, money and returns.
The page that you linked (Tuya TS0601) already gives some useful information. But users have no chance to know what the actual modes (on / off / auto) are doing.
I am afraid there is no central place for finding such info.
Your best bet would be to search for experiences within the Home Assistant forums.
Also I would say that tailored integrations will generally result in better experiences.
For example for Tado there is code dedicated to make it work well with HA, so the chance of quirks is lowest.
With zigbee/zwave devices I guess the result depends on whether or not the manufacturer developed the product according to some standards/guidelines within the protocol.
Arguably a well-established manufacturer (e.g. Danfoss) has better development process.
This is definitely not always the case.
I own Tado devices and I find it very annoying that when you switch from HVAC_MODE_HEAT to HVAC_MODE_OFF (so just turn it off), the setpoint is lost (setpoint becomes equal to current temperature).
For me it would be preferable to be able to keep the device at setpoint 19C and just toggle it on/off by switching operation modes.
I do believe this problem is caused by limitations on the Tado side, rather than HA, but the problem remains.
