Honeywell Thermostat

[ckr74]

I would never go back to the old analog thermostats. There are plenty of other options. Even the pro series 8320 will cycle the s#$t out of your equip. most likely. In doing this it will also keep temp. very accurate. If this is problem you might want to change brand. White-rodgers has more adjusability as far as cycling. It uses temp. differential instead of cycles per hour. Look at the 80 and 90 series. More accurate means more cycling. Less accurate means less cycling.

[nyrfan]

I may just buy the VisionPro for the extra features; it's only $100.00 from eBay. Honestly I’ve spent $100.00 on much worse.

My question based on my current wiring, will I just be able to pull the Vision off and put the VisionPro in or will I have to do some rewiring? Also somebody mentioned the Pro does not use batteries, how is it powered?

Red wire on R
Orange on O
Yellow on Y
Green on G
Blue on C
White (Was w2) TO AUX & E jumped

Felix

[tpa-fl]

I have a White-Rodgers 90 series stat at my other residence... nice, but cycles just as often as my Honeywell stats ever did. Either way, both stats have their version of anticipator settings, with WR having a "minimum runtime" and Honeywell doing theirs as "cycles per hour". Same exact thing, just a different way of inputting it into the stat, with one being an inverse of the other.

NYR: the VisionPRO stats can be battery powered or hardwired w/battery backup, *BUT* if you don't understand what the wires you have actually do (and this is painfully obvious from your last post), don't attempt this on your own. At the very least, poke around on the 'net, in manuals, etc., and learn about what you're trying to do before damaging anything. I'd be leery of buying something off E-Bay, esp. something like this that can easily be damaged then pawned off on some unsuspecting person. You may pay more for it at a local contractor, but at least you have someone to call up about it, and you also will have a 5 yr warranty on it...something E-bay stuff won't have.

[tgohdes]

Which model Trane do you have? If it is multi-stage, it has to be either a XL 19i or an XL 16i. I think you need more low voltage control wires on the t-stat if you have either one of the above.

[nyrfan]

I'm at work now but I believe it's an XL1000

[jerrod6]

I had a Vision PRO installed in August of last year and even though August was hotter than July my electric bill was way less so for this summer I will see what the costs are for the entire season, realizing that it may be hotter or cooler this year than last. I don't think the number of cycles for cooling was changed from the default the HVAC pro did reduce the number of cycles for heat which gives a slightly longer run time.

There have been a number of messages about number of wires and this and that. I have to say that for me I got my HVAC person to do the install and just let him worry about it. I have all of the manuals and can see all of the many options the stat has. Someone pointed out that a non pro could really screw things up and with the vision pro it could happen. So why bother? Let the PRO mess with it and get your system running the best it can.

[Milk man]

Dazed and confused. Which system does he have? 2H and 2C, or 3H and 2C. In other word, 2 speed/dual capacity HP, or Single stage HP with aux heat?

Anyway, do all these super duper set back stats bring on Aux heat to recover? If so, kiss your savings good by.

Serious question, is Aux heat locked out during recovery with the new gerneration of set back stats?

And shame on you for giving wiring advice to a HO over the internet. This is our bread and butter you are giving away.

[bdx]

I took a hammer to the last digital t-stat I had and went back to honeywell analog and have not had a problem since

[tpa-fl]

Dazed and confused. Which system does he have? 2H and 2C, or 3H and 2C. In other word, 2 speed/dual capacity HP, or Single stage HP with aux heat?

I don't think he knows for sure... which would mean future business for a pro after he smokes his new e-bay stat & AH control board.

Serious question, is Aux heat locked out during recovery with the new gerneration of set back stats?
And shame on you for giving wiring advice to a HO over the internet. This is our bread and butter you are giving away.

Not meant as a personal insult, just a general comment, but I would hope that anyone who works in the field would already know the answer to this, especially after complaining that others are "giving away" business when they don't understand it themselves.

To answer you question, all of the Honeywell commercial stats I've seen will only let the temperature drop low enough (in the heating season) to a point where it know it can recover using the HP rather than aux heat, as it had measured over past cycles. When it reaches that point, it slowly starts to run the HP occasionally, enough to keep temp from dropping more. As the next time period gets closer, it decreases the off time between cycles so that it will meet the setpoint by the programmed time.

The WR stats aren't quite as smart about this and uses a simple timer. The WR stats that have a recovery mode will start the occupied/wake setpoint early, pushing up the recovery time by 15 minutes for every 1F the room is from the occupied setpoint.

As far as the cheap homeowner DIY stats go, I'd assume they probably don't do any of this. I've not used them, but always figured there's a reason that the commercial & contractor-grade stuff is more expensive, even at our cost. You get what you pay for.

[Milk man]

I have worked in the industry long enough to know not to give away ours or anyone else's business away. (I was scooled that very fact right here on this site) Even if I don't know the answer to a question that you can readily answer.

Here in Kansas heat pumps are not that popular. As far as to recovery question.... I really don't/ didn't know. Futhermore, I think it was a very good question not only to keep me up to date, but to educate others of the recovery problems of the past. The company I worked for eight years stopped selling them when we saw the problem with recovery. I don't know what the policy makers at my new company think about them.

[tpa-fl]

I usually give out plenty of free service and advice to my clients via e-mail & phone, esp. when it comes to simple things. Granted, engineering's a bit different than the service/repair biz, and I don't get those cheap bastards who will try to get every last bit of free work out of me (and I know there are plenty of homeowners out there who would fit that description). For me, it comes down to two things. 1) I'm too busy as it is 2) I'd much rather have a client call me and ask about making adjustments to things than doing it and calling me in to clean up the mess. Then again, I do things a bit differently, charging straight cost for parts, but charging my full cost in time/labor.

Regarding the question, I'm glad you asked. Many of the old-timers in the field would prefer to keep doing what they've always done rather than humble themselves to ask a question and learn about what's out there. I'd be the first to admit that I've never seen a bona-fide furnace in my life. All that we use in FL are fan-coil chilled water units or an DX AH/condenser with a few heat strips slapped in there. I'd be equally clueless in designing a building for a location where it snows & gets cold. (I've only seen snow twice in my life).

I wish more people would ask questions. I had a run-in with my Dr last month over how best to address some of my medical probs. If I took the medication he was pushing, I would have ended up in the hospital if not worse. The advice he gave was wrong given my circumstances, but 10 years ago was considered "standard protocol." Many things change in 10 years, but he failed to keep up...and it could have been fatal had I not seen an article in the New England Journal of Medicine on the condition a week prior. While HVAC usually isn't a life-and-death situation unless fire or CO is involved, there's still plenty of new equipment and information coming out every day.

[nyrfan]

FYI - I went back to the analog Tstat.

Enough digital Tstat for me.

Thanks to all that helped.

Felix

[nyrfan]

So here is what I have noticed going back to the analog Tstat.

Tested for 2 days analog vs digital (basically same temps for 2 days). Tsat Temp was set to 75, outside temp was mid 80’s very sunny & humid.

Analog tstat, stats:
Runs for around 40 minutes at a time then shuts down for 12 minutes or so then repeats.

Digital tstat, stats:
Runs for around 15 minutes at a time then shuts down for 7 minutes or so then repeats.

Based on this over the course of a 12-hour day my digital would run for 495 minutes (off for 231) my analog would run for 560 minutes (off for 168). Digital wins!

I guess over all I’m better off with the digital tstat, runs less minutes, cycles about 3 times an hours and keeps the house much closer to the set temp.

Glad I tried this I learned a lot.

Felix

[Milk man]

That's interesting.

[contactme_11]

Does anyone use this tstat from a remote location (say a boiler room) using just an indoor sensor?

[SNOOKER]

Did you block any holes that me be behind the stat. If you have any kind of draft or way that the heat can transfer down the wall to the stat it will read the wall temp befor it reads the room temp.

[tpa-fl]

I have two of them working with remote sensors, no probs so far. The sensors are in the public hallways of a building, where we thought the VisionPro stats might get vandalized. The stats themselves are in equipment closets, well out of public view. I can't say I've had a problem with this setup, and I got to ditch the hideous lock-boxes & non-programmable stats.