CM-Zone HU80 -odd behaviour

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Bracken26bwr
    Automated Home Lurker
    • May 2008
    • 5

    CM-Zone HU80 -odd behaviour

    After the hike in oil prices (34p to 53p/ltr in 9months) I have just added a CM_Zone starter pack to my CH system to chop off unused rads.

    I checked everything out before fitting and had no problems binding the rads (HR80) to master controller (CM67z) or to the boiler controller(HC60NG) etc. During the install I check the field strengths etc and that each rad commanded the boiler on/off as required. Fitting the boiler controller was simply a case of paralleling my existing Drayton room stat that looks after the rest of the 'dumb' rads.

    But I have a problem. For some reason I find an odd rad ON when not requested. The set temp is 20deg which is not one I have programmed on the master controller (I deliberately set 16 & 21deg on all cycles/days just to check this). This has happened three times now on three different rads. The only common factor so far seems to be that it happens when the HR80 is close to the CM67z (10' or so).

    Has anyone else experienced this behavior?
  • MichaelD
    Automated Home Guru
    • Mar 2006
    • 167

    #2
    There isn't a dog walking past and catching the control on the HR80 is there? or a curious child?

    Comment

    • Bracken26bwr
      Automated Home Lurker
      • May 2008
      • 5

      #3
      Unfortunately no dog or child to blame.

      The original posting was soon after installation (about a week) which was some time time ago now. The odd behaviour seems to have stopped with no input from me. The system has been working very well and with the price of oil since going even higher I estimate that we have recovered the initial investment costs already. I have since added a second controller to provide for 4 zone working. So far despite adding to and re-organising the system I have not had a repeat of the reported problem -or any other for that matter.

      Comment

      • JohnnyP
        Automated Home Jr Member
        • Nov 2008
        • 38

        #4
        Only just joined forum, so bit late, but...

        ...I reckon your HR80UK lost radio contact with the controller. Without a signal, the HR80UK sets to 20C. If the system's working now, it could've been something as random as a person walking by with an 868MHz wireless phone. If it happens again, you could check to see if the antenna symbol is present or not to confirm diagnosis.

        Comment

        • Bracken26bwr
          Automated Home Lurker
          • May 2008
          • 5

          #5
          An interesting thought. I live in a pretty remote place and there's very little chance of anyone walking by using a 868Mhz phone. That said the problem (which has occurred on a couple more occasions since original post) 'may' have been induced by delivery vans uploading data 'signed for' data ie: UPS etc.

          Another possibility is that the two rad's affected (and only those two) are line-of-sight wise in between an oil tank (outside) and the zone controller. The oil tank has a Signalman oil level monitor fitted and it squawks as & when required on 433.92Mhz (very close to 868/2) -a harmonic.

          The two affected rads are in the same zone and both showed 20 deg when the problem occurs. The transmitter signal showed good when I checked -that's not to says it hadn't dropped at some time previous. Given that the controllers updated a 3/6/9cph (programmable) I would have expected the next cycle to have corrected any transient error -unless that is the HR80 had suffered a sw crash or interference inspired 'lock-up'. In either case a reset clears the fault condition.

          Note also that 868MHz is in upper half of GSM-850 freq range which should only be found in USA handsets. Which makes me wonder if UPS have been importing kit?

          Comment

          • JohnnyP
            Automated Home Jr Member
            • Nov 2008
            • 38

            #6
            Agree that if the antenna symbol is present, then can't be lost comms. Disappointing in a way, because lost comms would explain the 20C setpoint.

            Sorry for the bum steer on 868MHz phones - I lived in NYC for 4yrs and have some strange freqs floating around in my head, 868MHz is very common for domestic cordless telephony over there.

            Comment

            • JohnnyP
              Automated Home Jr Member
              • Nov 2008
              • 38

              #7
              I've dug out this old thread to add my comments after living with Hometronic for just over a year. About five or six times now I have heard my boiler switch on when it should be off (for example, in the middle of summer). The HCM200D confirms that there are no setpoints above 5C (my "OFF" setting). I've then run around the house checking individual radiators (there are forty!) until I find the rogue HR80. It's always the same - an HR80 is no longer displaying the antenna symbol and has defaulted to 20C. The irritating and seemingly illogical thing is that the HR80 appears to have lost contact with the HCM200D, thereby not receiving a setpoint and defaulting to 20C, but the HCM200D must be receiving the open valve position and demand from the HR80 so comms cannot be completely lost. My solution is simply to remove a battery and then replace. The HR80 regains sync, the antenna symbol appears, the setpoint is received and the boiler goes off. The only time this behaviour bothers me is when I go on holiday. Does anyone know if an HR80 in this "lost comms condition" will eventually regain contact with the HCM200D on its own? Is there a way to stop it happening? For completeness, I have seen this behaviour in 4 of my HR80s.

              Comment

              • SensibleHeatUK
                Moderator
                • Feb 2009
                • 228

                #8
                Do you suffer from power cuts or have the "power failure" or "cold start" warnings on your Manager when this happens? If the HR80s cannot communicate with the Manager for a length of time then they go into a fail safe mode where they shut down their comms for longer and longer periods while both the Manager and HR80 do their own thing. In this mode the HR80 defaults to 20 degrees setpoint and the Manager simulates a heat demand from the missing zone to ensure there is no risk of frost damage. By power cycling the HR80 you force an manual sync to take place and the units begin working again. Without this it can be 24 hours or so until the units re-sync automatically.
                Sensible Heat
                SensibleHeat.co.uk

                Comment

                • JohnnyP
                  Automated Home Jr Member
                  • Nov 2008
                  • 38

                  #9
                  Hi Neil - thanks for reply. There are no warnings or unusual status messages at the HCM200D, and no, the incidents are not associated with power cuts. I'm a little encouraged that you believe a re-sync will happen after 24hrs or so.

                  Comment

                  • JohnnyP
                    Automated Home Jr Member
                    • Nov 2008
                    • 38

                    #10
                    The mode you describe matches my situation - and explains why the manager is triggering the boiler even though it's not receiving a signal from the HR80, a failsafe frost-protect. I'm sure it is comms related because all 4 HR80s which have exhibited this behaviour are in rooms distant from the manager. Strange how they can work for months though. And also strange how power cycling always results in an immediate and successful re-sync.

                    Comment

                    • SensibleHeatUK
                      Moderator
                      • Feb 2009
                      • 228

                      #11
                      I guess that you are probably right on the distance limits with your 4 problamatic HR80s then as the condition is triggerred only once several successive attempts to communicate fail. I checked with the helpline and it seems that there must be a continous loss of communication for 30 minutes before the 1st stage of the process is trigerred - up to this point the HR80 attempts to communicate every 3 - 6 minutes. After this 30 minute period the HR80 tries to sync for a 6 minute period. If this fails it then tries the sync once an hour. If after 6 hours there is no comms then the unit goes into failsafe - the aerial symbol is switched off and the HR80 resets to 20 degrees with the Manager switching on a dummy demand to cycle the boiler. At this stage the HR80 tries to sync for 6 minutes every 24 hours. So for you to see the HR80 in this failsafe state there has been no comms between the HR80 and Manager for at least 6 hours and it will then be a minimum of 24 hours until the next auto sync takes place.

                      You could try swapping the HR80s around provided you don't mind de-installing & re-installing the HR80s - you may find that some are more sensitive than others and that could just solve your problem. Or it could be a fault with those specific HR80s so swapping their physical location might just help narrow down the possible causes.
                      Sensible Heat
                      SensibleHeat.co.uk

                      Comment

                      • JohnnyP
                        Automated Home Jr Member
                        • Nov 2008
                        • 38

                        #12
                        That's great information - thanks. I'm pleased to hear that an HR80 in this state will attempt to sync every 24hrs. I've been concerned that if I were away and this condition occurred then a radiator could blast away unchecked for weeks. Given that I've only had a few comms outages, I probably won't try swapping HR80s - it could take 6 months to get a result. Think I'll just buy some lithium ion batteries to make sure the HR80s have a good power supply. Thanks again.

                        Comment

                        • winger
                          Automated Home Lurker
                          • Nov 2006
                          • 7

                          #13
                          Maybe this is down to a deterioration in battery power in the HR80, and a corresponding drop in signal strength. I've noticed this, too, on a couple of HR80s that are furthest from the HCM200D. Monitoring signal strength shows that as battery power reduces, so does signal strength.

                          Comment

                          • JohnnyP
                            Automated Home Jr Member
                            • Nov 2008
                            • 38

                            #14
                            What are users' experiences of HR80s failing? I've had 2 fail now, after about 4yrs of a system using 40. The first failure was quite interesting, with the HR80 interfering with adjacent HR80s, causing seemingly random losses of communications in a cluster around the failing unit, until it finally failed entirely itself and refused to synchronise at all. The second failure seems to have been a gradual deterioration in the unit's reception circuits causing it to lose communications with increasing frequency until at about one failure every couple of days I replaced the unit (obviously tried replacing batteries first!).

                            Comment

                            • JohnnyP
                              Automated Home Jr Member
                              • Nov 2008
                              • 38

                              #15
                              After problems with an HR80 repeatedly losing comms, probably due to a combination of distance and age, I had to remove it whilst I went on holiday to prevent the boiling firing constantly. When re-installing the HR80 on my return I set it to transmit a TEST signal to the Hometronic controller - nothing. And yet in a position only a couple of metres from the TRV location the test signal was received strongly. Clearly I had local shielding problems around the TRV. Guess what fixed the problem? A strip of tin foil, about 8x4 inches stuck to the skirting board behind the HR80. Immediately the tin foil was in place the received signal strength at the Hometronic controller leapt from zero to 3, and the test messages started to stream in every 5 seconds or so. Hope this helps someone else.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X