That’s why I implemented my own weather compensation for my Intergas boiler using customised firmware running on an OpenTherm Gateway. There is an article about this, back in January, on the Automated Home website.
Hi all,
I’m one of the firmware engineers at Resideo (or software elves as AtM would call us) working on the latest updates for the Evotouch platform.
Sorry for the long delay getting back to all that have been involved in the current beta tests! AtM has been “hellishly busy” and has stopped receiving mail notifications from the forum for some reason. He has asked me to step forward and provide support for the remainder of the beta test.
We have continued with the development of new features, adding heatpump control and the cooling functionality. There is now a new relay box firmware, it is still a BDR91 and it is backwards compatible, but it can now handle heatpump control and a heat/cool change over function as a new device type within Evo (there are now six possible BDR91 functions in Evo). We have also been listening closely to all the feedback you have given us so far and have implemented some functions to address your comments.
We would like you views on those improvements if you are willing and would like to push a bug fixed version with the new functionality to all that have previously signed up to the beta test. If you don’t want to be included, please let me know by the beginning of next week.
From your feedback, the key (non heatpump) things we have changed are:
• Bug fix. Optimisation setpoint issue resolved.
• Summer shutdown is now fully integrated into UI, the icon now shows in the zone and the setpoint bar indicates an off state. There are no changes in the control algorithm, this seems to be working well even if people didn’t appreciate or understand it. There will be a small video to explain the operation put on the support pages, but it will probably remain a Marmite function.
• New feature. The Winter boost now has an offset adjustment, instead of a fixed -10°C offset from current setpoint, the user can now adjust the offset between -30°C to -5°C of setpoint.
• New feature. The ECO function is now adjustable and is call Eco/boost. The range is +3 > -3C default is as the old Eco function at -3C
• Bug fix. The DHW priority bug where a manual override killed the DHW demand is we believe fixed.
• New feature. The DHW priority function is now optional. Upgrading systems already configured with DHW will have DHW priority disabled. This will retain the behaviour existing users will be used to. DHW priority can be setup in the UI as part of Sundial setup or retrospectively in the system parameters. We have evidence that DHW priority is a significant benefit to slow DHW systems.
• Spec change. The advanced load scaling slow response to a ‘manual override in low demand condition in fully optimised systems’ has been addressed. It is now initially off allowing for a ‘normal’ injection of heat and comes back progressively as we near setpoint. This will overshoot as in a standard heating system, but I fully accept it was too aggressive in certain manual override conditions. I also have some nice evidence to support the benefit of load scaling and the effect of the partial disabling of it. Another Marmite feature I expect.
• Spec change. Load scaling disabled in frost protection
• Bug fix. Removed the password protection override via the smart features button
As before, feel free to DM me directly or provide feedback in this post.
So no fix to read the outside temperature from an OpenTherm boiler?
Sounds good, looking forward to testing it. :)
Good to see that the feedback is being listened to and looking forward to testing the new Beta update :)
Welcome ally153 and thanks for a comprehensive update :) The changes to the beta release and new additions (adjustable Eco yippee !! ) sound great. Looking forward to the new version.
Having bitched about the HW priority, it is only fair to thank you for the excellent news that this will now be optional. I am also pleased to hear that Eco mode has now be enhanced to allow +/- offsets. Thanks for listening.
I purchased EvoHome solely for it’s ability to provide fully independent control of. each room, and find most of the more techie features to be a disadvantage, so I am not in a position to comment on the other “enhancements”. I know that many of the members of this forum love to pile on more features, but I am not sure that the general public wants more complications. The plumbers that have serviced my boiler have any all said that they don’t know much about EvoHome and how to operate it.
Adding heat pumps into he mix will probably help to keep the EvoHome relevant into the future. I have a couple of aircon units but could not anticipate ever wanting to automate the control of these.
Too late for me to benefit, as I have all the hardware I need for now, but I would suggest that for future product you change the battery contacts to something more reliable. I would however like to see better battery management for the rechargeables in the controller. I am happy to let them run down occasionally, but any other undocumented procedures are a very poor show.
Indeed - a global +/- offset to the schedule of all rooms is something I've wanted for a long time, as I sometimes end up implementing this manually. (zone by zone) Sometimes conditions (or occupant preferences!) are such that you just want to bump the entire house up or down slightly while still following the schedule.
I'm just hoping it adjusts in increments of 0.5C and not 1C...
Great to see this thread come alive again and welcome to ally153. I run a twelve zone CH plus DHW system and am generally very happy with it. I would normally have participated in the beta test but had only recently had my boiler and cylinder replaced. The boiler is Intergas and the cylinder is a ultra high recovery configured in the so called plan X format with opentherm alone controlling the boiler and one BDR91 for the valve transition between CH and DHW. It all seemed to work well after installation... I have though always monitored the system using an HG180 and Influx/Grafana and as I also brought this back on line I began to notice overshoots in the DHW temperature control. It became obvious that the response of the system to the DHW was too slow. I checked all the usual things and my conclusion is that the Evohome system is not updating the BDR91 quickly enough to work well with the 5 - 8 minutes my cylinder takes to reheat. I solved the problem by taking the BDR91 out of the loop and using the temperature captured by the CS92 / HG180 to operate my own relay on an MQTT system to switch the valve changeover. The opentherm signal operates the boiler as before with the DHW demand. So, in short, I will be interested to see if the new DHW priority can cope with high recovery cylinders. The system as I have with my ‘bodge’ runs flawlessly. I wonder if anyone else has issues with The controller speed of response to switch the BDR91? Just as a side I have confirmed by monitoring the output of Evohome that it is just that the controller that is not responding quickly enough and not RF issues between controller and BDR.