I just had a 3 ton trane XL20i, TAM8 airhandler, and 7" color Comfortlink II controller installed. So far, after two weeks, I like the system's operation. What I am having a problem with is Trane's poor documention and lack of information on their website.
My questions almost all relate to the 7" controller, and since this is the first one my installers have done, they are learning about it also. They did a training class on it, but have limited experience. they have done many XL20i and TAM8's but older style controllers.
My questions if anyone can help:
1 - There is a usage bar graph chart that can be pulled up. There are two different colors and two shades of each color used on the bars. There is no documentation on how to interpret the bars. I assume that the blue is for cooling and the yellow is for heat, and the two different shades are for stage one and stage two, but can anyone tell me for sure what color/shade represents what?
2 - On the contoller "Home" page, in the middle of the right hand side, there is a bar graph icon. Does anyone know if this icon indicates any real life data or is it just a steady-state icon to take me to the usage data?
3 - If I have the controller set as follows:
auto heat/cool,
running on a schedule,
dehumidfication turned off,
cooling set point at 76
heating set point at 72
room temp display showing 78
cool air coming out of vents
system status shows cooling, stage 1, air flow 50%
Under the room temperature display, the mode icon is showing "Heating" instead of "Cooling". Why is this?
If I set the mode to Cool only, the icon shows Cool. If I set to Heat only, the icon shows heat. If I turn humidification on the icon shows Dehumidify (while cooling). Any thoughts?
Thank you.
I just installed my first one, only American Standard's version. I was favorably impressed with the ease of use and the intuitive features.
You are correct, the symbol of a bar graph is a graphic for the "usage" button.
I like to run thermostats in either "heat" or "cool" because of the 3 degree minimum dead-band otherwise.
Hope I answered one of two of your concerns.
Evan
Second Opinion, yes i have all the manuals, but they do not really say anything about how to interpret what is there. The documentation is not what one would hope for with such a high tech unit.
Yes, thank you, I am aware that "...4 vertical columns blue/red/blue/red that is your system run time." Actually, mine show up as two shades of blue and two shades of yellow.
There are horizontal red and blue on the main "home page". I don't know what they mean or if they change by usage, or if they are just a quick link to the usage page.
I know these represent run time, but what do they mean? what does each color and shade mean?
Knave, this time of year in Florida, we need to run in AUTO mode as we need cooling in the day and heat at night. The 3 degree dead-band is rather rediculous in my opinon, especially when there is an elderly person that is very sensitive to hot and cold conditions. Trane should provided the option of 1 degree dead-band like my old thermostat had. With a 3 degree dead-band, there can be as much as 5 degree actual dead-band.
I do like the system so far, and you are correct that most if it is intuitive. I just wish Trane would explain what some of the things mean and/or provide "Help" pages in the controller.
Second opinion, I forgot to respond to your above comment on cooling mode: Yes, the system set for AUTO mode, and I assumed it was in cooling mode at the time as there is cool air coming out of the vents and the system status page says COOLING. But, why does the icon under the indoor temperature show the system is in the "Heat" mode?
Colors are as follows
Dark red emergency/backup second stage 100%
Light red emergency backup first stage 50%
Dark yellow heat pump second stage larger compressor
Light yellow heat pump first stage small compressor
Dark blue cooling second stage larger compressor
Light blue cooling first stage compressor
Every screen has a help button if you need to know what buttons mean so you shouldn't have much as far as a manual, everything is on the thermostat
As for the colors... There is a button that says "legend" it will tell you what they all mean as well
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Thank you SkyHeating. I finally found the "Legend" button. I had seen it before, but it did not look like a button as the contrast between it and the background is not very good, so it blended in with the background.
I had tried the "Help" button on this display, but it came up with a smaller graph with about three items pointed out (including the Legend), but did not indicate anything more than their name. Upon closer examination, I found that if i press these call outs, I do get another layer of help. Again, these items have such little contrast with the background that it is not easily seen that they are buttons.
Also, there are many other screens in which the "Help" button produces a page that says no help available.
Now, can anyone answer why the system shows "heating" when it is actually cooling in auto mode with dehumidify enabled?
This will be a really nice system once Trane gets all the user interfaces fine tuned.
Maybe you could post a picture of the thermostat while it is "malfunctioning"? Going by what you say, it is a glitch... But I bet you they could fix it with a firmware update or something?
Here is a photo of the "Home" screen.
On the left side, the display is indicating indoor temperature, and below that it is displaying the mode the system is in (in the photo the system is in "Waiting" mode - waiting for the system timer to time out before the compressor runs again).
The other day, this mode indicated "Heating" while the system was actually cooling (cool air coming out of the vents, and the system status screen showed COOLING).
Alas, I am not able to duplicate this scenario. I have all the settings the same as the other day, and the mode indicates "Cooling" or "Dehumidfying", but will not show the "Heating" indication like the other day. Must be some anomaly that I cannot reproduce.
I think I need to call the installer in as I am getting error code 126 every couple of days indicating equipment has changed from start-up value.
I am still looking for additional help with the usage display. I will post a photo in another reply with information.
Thanks.
The photo attached here is of the useage or history screen. It shows what percentage of the day the system ran, and what mode it ran in. This is the display that I was asking for help to figure out what the bar colors and shades indicated, which Skyheating so acurately pointed out to me.
The "Legend" button on the far left has little contrast, especially in the light of my living room (which is why I did not see it before), but pressing this provides a complete list of each color and shade, and what they mean.
Now, I am trying to figure out what the blank bar space that reads 0% is there for. Anyone have any ideas?
It may not apply to my system setup, but would be nice if the documentation or "Help" screen spelled all this out.
I like the way I can set the theme colors to blend in with my wall paint color. I also like all the information one can get from the system to help monitor useage and system health.
That "blank" space is for heating mode, as Knave said.
I have one but have noticed no glitches yet.
Touch the Help button from the main screen, then bottom left will show an "About" button, press that and post back what version the software is.
2.0 is the current version and mine had to be updated as it only came with a 1. version. Have them come back and update it to the current version if it isn't already.
Knave - if it is for heat it must be for heating other than the heat pump or the heat strip as I have had both of them on for at least 30 minutes to test the system, and I now know that the stage 1 and stage 2 of heat pump heating shows up as light yellow and darker yellow on the same bar graph as the cooling. I don't recall seeing the heat strip show up, so it is very possible that the blank area is indeed for "other" heat sources.
Chuckcrj - I checked the version and it is version 1.0, so I will get the installer to update it. I thought I read someplace in the manual that this is something I can do myself, so I will have to look, but I think I will get the installer to do it as this is their first install and I agreed to let them do some learning on my system along with my IT skills to support them.
I need to get the installers back anyway as i have been getting error 126 - meaning the system thinks some equipment was changed since power up.
Hopefully, version 2 will clean up a few of the minor issues I have.
I still like the system after a month of using it, and have recommended it to my friends. With the XL20i and TAM8 air handler, I cannot ever remember our house being this comfortable, even with the old Trane XL16 that was installed 18 years ago and replaced by this system.