Latest firmware 02.00.19.33 - Suggestions for migrating from non-optimised control

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • killa47
    Automated Home Guru
    • Jan 2016
    • 123

    Latest firmware 02.00.19.33 - Suggestions for migrating from non-optimised control

    Have run Evohome over 5 years on a non-optimised basis i.e. time and temps scheduled according to expected weather patterns and have updated my system to the latest firmware but reluctant to make wholesale changes without first knowing what to expect.

    I read all threads daily and glean information re the new firmware from the thread started by Rameses and from the latest Resideo user guides.

    Have other users who updated to the new firmware from non-optimised settings have any recommendations how to go about using the new options i.e. load scaling/cold weather boost.
    Or has everyone implemented the update on a trial and error basis? And is optimisation now worth trying?

    Any input would be greatly appreciated and may be of use to new 02.00.19.33 users.
    Last edited by killa47; 19 March 2021, 12:15 PM.
  • robbietobbie
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Oct 2020
    • 8

    #2
    I have only had evohome for 6 months so I'm far more willing to try different things. (I have a feeling I'll be the same as you after 5 years.) It only takes a couple of days to see the changes so I'm still in that excited stage. The trick is to only change one thing at a time, not several.
    To answer you more exactly first on the 19.33 - I don't have load scaling as I'm OT. I have used the cold weather boost and found it moderately useful. It is certainly worth experimenting with that as you can switch on the change for as many rooms as you like, although the temp differential remains the same (as does the boost). Still trying to get my head around the concept of the cold weather boost as I would have thought room temperature should always be the same. Reality is though I prefer to work in 19 degrees air con in the summer and 22 degrees wet heat in the winter so the concept does have legs. Please try this function, although you have sort of missed the window for this year.
    Optimisation is the interesting one I'm working on right now. I have found since using it that I am paying MORE money so I have taken it down from 3 hours to 1 hour (but had to move the time to compensate a bit for that). Jury is still out for me on that one.
    Personally after 6 months of fiddling I now believe I'm in the law of diminishing returns and every change I make creates less difference than when I properly thought about it through the winter.

    Comment

    • killa47
      Automated Home Guru
      • Jan 2016
      • 123

      #3
      Great pieces of information, Robbietobbie, on some of your experience with the new firmware. The cold weather boost is the one I'm likely to use as, during winter months, I normally up the temps from around 19 deg to 22 deg - same as you. Your comment re Optimisation is interesting as cost was the main reason I chose not to implement it. Our house is nearly 100 yr old, poorly insulated - so I presumed that optimised heating would start somewhat earlier than my manually set time and temp schedules. Plus I have about three heating schedule patterns I use during the year - summer, spring/autumn, winter with a special xmas schedule when all family expect super-heat. So I'm still hovering over whether I start a trial with Optimised turned on.

      Comment

      • G4RHL
        Automated Home Legend
        • Jan 2015
        • 1580

        #4
        My experience with optimisation some time back was that it came on too early than was necessary and it then dawned on me that if you want it, and know how long it takes your boiler to heat a room up, just alter the set time to suit. That way you effect the same but also for each zone individually, whereas I understand at present optimisation, if chosen in the Control Panel, is all or none. I don’t now bother with it nor have I altered my start times to allow for advance warm up.

        As for cold boost perhaps I am missing something. If you find say 21C is a comfortable temperature for you and the zone is so set then why would one want to boost it if it is cold outside for you still want the 21C and the system is set to provide that. You might as well override a zone for the short period required. Just as easy to adjust a zone in the app.

        Comment

        • killa47
          Automated Home Guru
          • Jan 2016
          • 123

          #5
          Originally posted by G4RHL View Post
          My experience with optimisation some time back was that it came on too early than was necessary and it then dawned on me that if you want it, and know how long it takes your boiler to heat a room up, just alter the set time to suit. That way you effect the same but also for each zone individually, whereas I understand at present optimisation, if chosen in the Control Panel, is all or none. I don’t now bother with it nor have I altered my start times to allow for advance warm up.
          Yep, that's what I understood and so reacted same as you - DIY the setting as needed.

          Originally posted by G4RHL View Post
          As for cold boost perhaps I am missing something. If you find say 21C is a comfortable temperature for you and the zone is so set then why would one want to boost it if it is cold outside for you still want the 21C and the system is set to provide that. You might as well override a zone for the short period required. Just as easy to adjust a zone in the app.
          This is the part I am unsure about. Last weekend when the weather picked up, there was strong sunlight in the lounge and I felt warmer albeit the schedule temperature hadn't changed. I turned the system to economy and the heating was running at 18/19 deg and I felt comfortable. Around, 6pm, the sun had disappeared and 18/19 didn't feel so good.

          Comment

          • G4RHL
            Automated Home Legend
            • Jan 2015
            • 1580

            #6
            Originally posted by killa47 View Post
            Yep, that's what I understood and so reacted same as you - DIY the setting as needed.



            This is the part I am unsure about. Last weekend when the weather picked up, there was strong sunlight in the lounge and I felt warmer albeit the schedule temperature hadn't changed. I turned the system to economy and the heating was running at 18/19 deg and I felt comfortable. Around, 6pm, the sun had disappeared and 18/19 didn't feel so good.
            That would be radiant heat from the sun affecting feelings of comfort. Like going out for a walk on a Spring day. The sun is behind you and your back feels warmer yet the air temperature has not changed. I cannot see that the cold boost function can account for this. Your heating would of course alter if the thermostat was in the sun's rays!

            Comment

            • robbietobbie
              Automated Home Lurker
              • Oct 2020
              • 8

              #7
              I've had some more experience in the last couple of days.
              1 Optimisation - Do not do this for longer than 1 hour. I have a smart meter and I have noticed I am paying significantly less having taken it down from 2 hours to 1 hour. For me optimisation can certainly cost more. The main issue appears to be in the afternoon not the morning. I find that (just like you say about the sun) the afternoon heat up should be different from the morning heat up (ie less power is needed to heat up in the afternoon) but from my observations evohome isn't quite sophisticated enough to know that.
              2 Cold Boost - I had set this up for extreme temperatures like that stuff in the beginning of February when it was never above zero. I realise now I got that wrong. That is the wrong way to use cold boost. Frankly it gives no further advantage as the temperature it is boosted to is almost impossible to reach (even more so given the very cold weather). I will now experiment with having a lower late spring/early autumn temperature and have cold boost on when the temperature falls below 8 rather than 2 so it will be more like a winter boost rather than an extreme cold boost. (A bit like you were saying with having an Xmas schedule.)

              Comment

              • G4RHL
                Automated Home Legend
                • Jan 2015
                • 1580

                #8
                Originally posted by robbietobbie View Post
                I've had some more experience in the last couple of days.
                1 Optimisation - Do not do this for longer than 1 hour. I have a smart meter and I have noticed I am paying significantly less having taken it down from 2 hours to 1 hour. For me optimisation can certainly cost more. The main issue appears to be in the afternoon not the morning. I find that (just like you say about the sun) the afternoon heat up should be different from the morning heat up (ie less power is needed to heat up in the afternoon) but from my observations evohome isn't quite sophisticated enough to know that.
                2 Cold Boost - I had set this up for extreme temperatures like that stuff in the beginning of February when it was never above zero. I realise now I got that wrong. That is the wrong way to use cold boost. Frankly it gives no further advantage as the temperature it is boosted to is almost impossible to reach (even more so given the very cold weather). I will now experiment with having a lower late spring/early autumn temperature and have cold boost on when the temperature falls below 8 rather than 2 so it will be more like a winter boost rather than an extreme cold boost. (A bit like you were saying with having an Xmas schedule.)
                As you clearly have surmised the problem with point 1 and the afternoon is that Optimisation has no idea if the sun is out or not plus it calculates the need over time. What may be better for every user of Evohome is a custom menu item - Summer/Winter. One sets the preferred temperatures for every room for each of Summer and Winter. Then when desired you change them over. I remember my school days when regardless of the weather the heating in the classroom came on on the 1st October each year and finished on the 1st May. That is when the school attended had central heating. In one school we got logs and solid fuel in for the classroom stove upon which we placed our frozen bottles of milk. Perhaps the Custom menu item could even be date governed?!

                Comment

                • killa47
                  Automated Home Guru
                  • Jan 2016
                  • 123

                  #9
                  Good idea, G4RHL re custom schedule being date governed. I get close to doing this by keeping the three (or four with Xmas) seasonal schedules in an excel spreadsheet (will provide for anyone wanting to crib for own use) which matches the 12 zones + DHW time and temp settings. Effectively, I keep an excel archive of my default four season settings - BUT I still then manually tweak values if the external weather deviates excessively.
                  It is my DIY equivalent to Optimisation, seasonally adjusted.

                  Comment

                  • kevinsmart
                    Automated Home Ninja
                    • Sep 2018
                    • 257

                    #10
                    8FDAF842-A80A-452D-8735-474848E58B28.jpg

                    Some interesting observations.

                    As reported previously, the outside temperature is 3C less than actual.

                    I have both Cold Weather Boost and Warm Weather Saver activating at the same time.

                    We had milder weather the last couple of days (15C) and Warm Weather Saver activated for the rooms with stable temperatures, that don’t also have Cold Weather Boost enabled.

                    Comment

                    • G4RHL
                      Automated Home Legend
                      • Jan 2015
                      • 1580

                      #11
                      Originally posted by kevinsmart View Post
                      [ATTACH=CONFIG]1798[/ATTACH]

                      Some interesting observations.

                      As reported previously, the outside temperature is 3C less than actual.

                      I have both Cold Weather Boost and Warm Weather Saver activating at the same time.

                      We had milder weather the last couple of days (15C) and Warm Weather Saver activated for the rooms with stable temperatures, that don’t also have Cold Weather Boost enabled.
                      It still seems to me that these settings are certainly not ones that reduce costs. If anything they may save you altering a setting but if you like your room at 20C then Evohome will surely maintain that without these extras. It is what it is meant to do.

                      Comment

                      • kevinsmart
                        Automated Home Ninja
                        • Sep 2018
                        • 257

                        #12
                        Originally posted by G4RHL View Post
                        It still seems to me that these settings are certainly not ones that reduce costs. If anything they may save you altering a setting but if you like your room at 20C then Evohome will surely maintain that without these extras. It is what it is meant to do.
                        I think the motivation is less user intervention. Warm Weather Saver will save energy if a user doesn’t normally turn off the heating or switch to eco mode in spring/autumn. It probably avoids overheating a room. If the room will maintain 19.5C, don’t bother heating to 20C.

                        And if you are typically having to boost some rooms when it’s cold outside, well you can automate somewhat via cold weather boost.

                        I’d rather just let Evohome do its thing without intervention, turning it off, up or down. Of course if you are comfortable with how it’s maintaining comfort with a 20C setting and no optimisation that’s great too.

                        Comment

                        • G4RHL
                          Automated Home Legend
                          • Jan 2015
                          • 1580

                          #13
                          Originally posted by kevinsmart View Post

                          I’d rather just let Evohome do its thing without intervention, turning it off, up or down. Of course if you are comfortable with how it’s maintaining comfort with a 20C setting and no optimisation that’s great too.
                          I agree. It just seems odd to me having a system like Evohome that gives you proper control without external interference. If a user wants their room to be 19c, 20c or 21c or whatever and Evohome is so set then it does not need an outside sensor (or in the case of the Evohome Panel an inside sensor sensing outside temperature!). If the temperature outside drops or goes up the temperature of the structure of the house will go down or up but Evohome will maintain your room temperature anyway. It does not need to be told these things. It might if the system had foresight and knew that the temperature was going to go up or down in 57 minutes time! A bit like the Dark Sky app from which you get the odd message “it will rain in ???? In 12 minutes time.”! Often it doesn’t.

                          Comment

                          • Ste101
                            Automated Home Lurker
                            • Nov 2020
                            • 1

                            #14
                            Originally posted by kevinsmart View Post
                            [ATTACH=CONFIG]1798[/ATTACH]

                            Some interesting observations.

                            As reported previously, the outside temperature is 3C less than actual.

                            I have both Cold Weather Boost and Warm Weather Saver activating at the same time.

                            We had milder weather the last couple of days (15C) and Warm Weather Saver activated for the rooms with stable temperatures, that don’t also have Cold Weather Boost enabled.
                            I've had the same issue: after all rooms correctly went into Warm Weather Saver mode yesterday, 2 rooms failed to come out of Warm Weather Saver mode today even though outside temp is showing 5C with a target of 18C. The rest of the rooms are set at 20.5C and are working as expected. I think there's an issue here.
                            I'm not using Cold weather boost at all, so I think that maybe unrelated.

                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X