Newbie Question! Comms Frequency with Rads and HWT?

[De1b0y]

Evohome installed for me last week. Installer returned this week to replace faulty wired base and one faulty WiFi box and to clear long list of fault records by resettting base station by removing batteries. Why did it take 3 hours to reconnect to all radiator valves and show room temperatures? Surely rad communications is more frequent than this!
Thanks

[paulockenden]

Doesn't sound right. Did he/she do a full comms test? Have you get the controller in a reasonably central location, and away from big chunks of metal / fish tanks / etc. ?

[De1b0y]

Doesn't sound right. Did he/she do a full comms test? Have you get the controller in a reasonably central location, and away from big chunks of metal / fish tanks / etc. ?

Thanks Paul. Not sure what he did after he reset the controller. I think he just stood there waiting for the rads to link and change their display temps. He gave up waiting after an hour and told me they would all 'eventually' link; which they did, but only after 3 hours had passed. The controller is on the wall in the kitchen, well away from taps, ovens, fridge, hob/extractor. The toaster and kettle are the nearest; on the worktop alongside. The controller is fairly central in the house.
Cheers

[paulockenden]

I'd suggest doing a signal test on all of your HR92s. It's really quick to do.

See page 9 of the manual: http://getconnected.honeywell.com/do...ser_manual.pdf

P.

[paulockenden]

if the signal strength turns out to be OK then maybe you've got other devices in your house swamping the 868MHz band. I had some cordless headphones plugged into my TV a couple of weeks ago which did that. When the telly was on Evohome stopped updating. But with the telly off the headphone transmitter went into standby mode and everything started working again.

It's stuff like headphones, speakers, etc. that transmit continuously which are the problem. 'data' devices tend to just transmit quickly and occasionally, so are less of an issue.

P.

[De1b0y]

Hi Paul
Thanks for your help. I tried two HR92s for signal strength but despite displaying CHECKING for over 10 minutes on each, no signal strength was displayed. One HR92 was some 3 metres away from the controller (through one brick wall), but the other was only 2 metres away and in the same room. Am I doing something wrong?
Cheers
D.

[paulockenden]

That would explain your problems!

I suppose it could be either the RF side of the controller being weak, or (more likely) something is killing the signal.

Do you have any wireless headphones or speakers in the house? If so, can you try again with them switched off.

Your installer REALLY should have done a comms check before handing over your system. If they were an official installer I think you need to feed back to Honeywell who they were.

P.

[De1b0y]

We have both wired and WI-FI broadband. Two wireless tablets in use most of the time. No wireless keyboard or mouse on computer. No wireless speakers or headphones. Smart TV is roof aerial + wired broadband. One thought I had though; the controller is fixed on a wall that has the electricity circuit-breaker consumer board almost immediately behind it. Could there be interference from the electricity board?
I haven't paid the plumbing company yet, and won't until I am satisfied. I was a very competent DIYer ( plumbing, central heating, house rewiring, block-paving driveway, garden hard landscaping), but ill health means I now depend on the 'experts'. Very frustrating!
Cheers
D.

[paulockenden]

The controller will lift off the wall (just push it upwards), and run off batteries for a while.

Try moving it a few feet away and do another comms check.

P.

[De1b0y]

Good idea Paul. Something for tomorrow. :-)

[De1b0y]

Hi Paul. Just completed RF check on all 12 Rads. Realised that before, I hadn't pressed button again and just sat watching CHECKING. Doh!
Results are 10 Rads =5, 1 rad =4, but one rad =2. This last rad is bed4 which is in downstairs extension through 2xbrick cavity wall and a block wall. Maybe I need a wall thermostat nearer door?
If you remember my original question was why did it take 3 hours for all the temperatures to appear on the controller after a reset? Would this one weak signal have slowed it all down?
Thanks
D.

[top brake]

Evohome installed for me last week. Installer returned this week to replace faulty wired base and one faulty WiFi box and to clear long list of fault records by resettting base station by removing batteries. Why did it take 3 hours to reconnect to all radiator valves and show room temperatures? Surely rad communications is more frequent than this!
Thanks

Please contact Honeywell consumer support if you still have problems

[HenGus]

Evohome installed for me last week. Installer returned this week to replace faulty wired base and one faulty WiFi box and to clear long list of fault records by resettting base station by removing batteries. Why did it take 3 hours to reconnect to all radiator valves and show room temperatures? Surely rad communications is more frequent than this!
Thanks

My experience is that it can take 3 hours for a full reconnection to take place. The time can be reduced by briefly pressing the button on the trvs that are slow to reconnect.

[De1b0y]

Thanks for responses.Will contact Evohome about weak rad signal. "HenGus" Still surprised it can take 3 hours; doesn't seem logical. If RadTRVs communicate room temperatures to central controller every, say, 15 minutes, it should only take 15 minutes in total!
Cheers
D.

[SensibleHeatUK]

Communications between battery powered devices and the controller take place at roughly 5 minute intervals, but are closely synchronised as the battery powered devices only wake up their radio transceivers for a very short time at each send/receive interval. If the battery powered devices lose sync and miss enough messages from the main controller they go into a progressive shut down where and only attempt to reconnect at longer intervals (with Hometronic this could be anything upto 24 hours). This is part of the energy saving process that allows the batteries to last so long, and has been part of the Honeywell protocol for many years, and as these devices can be used across several generations of Honeywells controls they still maintain this communication method.