Evohome WiFi firmware update - is it ever going to happen?

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  • bruce_miranda
    Automated Home Legend
    • Jul 2014
    • 2307

    Evohome WiFi firmware update - is it ever going to happen?

    So let me be direct and ask Honeywell. Are we ever going to see any firmware updates on the Evohome WiFi controller. It's been over a year and we've seen no updates.
    Or is that now considered a legacy product and we'd be expected to upgrade the hardware platform to get new features.
    I can't help but feel bitter for throwing out my perfectly useful Evohome V2 controller on the hope that the V3 would stay current. I haven't gained anything yet, but lost a couple of features I absolutely loved! Zone optimisation and outside temp display.
  • FullBore
    Automated Home Guru
    • Jan 2016
    • 140

    #2
    Bump......

    I too would like to be better informed.

    Comment

    • rcopus
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Nov 2014
      • 49

      #3
      Never gonna happen.

      The confusing part is that Honeywell don't appear to have a replacement/equivilent product either.

      Comment

      • rotor
        Automated Home Guru
        • Aug 2015
        • 124

        #4
        Honeywell just seems to have no strategy. They have all these overlapping products, each with slightly different feature sets, each with slightly different compatibility, e.g. why doesn't EvoHome (flagship product) have geofencing? A company that was actively engaged with the community and with the enormous resources that Honeywell has could develop the most amazing set of products. It's a real shame.

        My suggestions:

        - Simplify and standardise the product line
        - Sort out pairing (current system is absolutely ludicrous)
        - Make communication bi-directional so that everything requires confirmation (i.e. controller to valve: set yourself to 21C; valve: confirmed)
        - Hire a UX team to design a best of breed family: devices, controllers, apps, websites.
        - Engage with the community to iron out all the trivial bugs that continue to annoy us
        - Work with the boiler manufacturers to come up with an OpenTherm that actually works; and while that happens, Honeywell could easily code a bunch of exceptions for known brands/models of boilers so that things worked with existing boilers

        I would happily replace my almost £1,000 system with something that had clearly been re-designed from the ground up. I am very happy with EvoHome, and it has been one of my best purchases ever because it has made a huge difference in the comfort of my home. But it does feel very fragile (maybe just from following this forum?). It's just a little frustrating and tantalising knowing what could be possible.

        Comment

        • g6ejd
          Automated Home Guru
          • Oct 2016
          • 153

          #5
          I used to think my Evohome system was fragile (it's about 7-months old) but now I have it all programmed and have solved the problem of it trying to run the boiler every 10-mins when there is no demand by having staggered zone off times, I have to say it is reliable and does everything I need it to do. I initially had an installation issue with the BDR91' being too close to each other and got many communication errors but when I moved them further apart those problems have been solved. Installation is not straightforward, almost at near expert level and of the two heating engineers who have visited to service our boiler in the last 6-months (I changed service provider) both noticed the system straightaway and had to ask me how to turn on the boiler to test it via the controller, they clearly did not understand how the system worked, so not an everyday product and probably never will be.

          All that said the increased comfort level is great, even today when outside temperatures were relatively high it was heating our cloakroom which is notoriously cold even in summer and that was the only zone on, which I don't mind it's working correctly. Yes it could do with a programmable/user set economy mode so that if I choose to lower all zones by 10°C it does rather than its almost arbitrary 3°C reduction I'd be really happy and would welcome a firmware update for that.

          As our neighbours house is near identical to ours (same heating system but not Evohome) I have been surreptitiously monitoring their gas consumption versus ours and whilst not strictly scientific, it tells me we are using about 20% less gas across a wide range of temperatures and over the last 5-months of monitoring, so I'm also pleased that it's showing more efficiency, I think!

          Inevitably in design terms, Evohome must be reaching the end of its design life by now and I assume a updated product is in the design phase; but maybe it isn't, we shall probably never know until one is launched as the system becomes quietly obsolete.

          BTW I just checked the Wi-Fi Firmware version an mine has been updated to:

          Application Software Version: 01.00.03.00

          WiFi Software Version: 01.00.07.00

          The latter has increased in revision state from 01.00.03 when I purchased it.
          Last edited by g6ejd; 11 April 2017, 10:54 PM.

          Comment

          • DBMandrake
            Automated Home Legend
            • Sep 2014
            • 2361

            #6
            Originally posted by g6ejd View Post
            All that said the increased comfort level is great, even today when outside temperatures were relatively high it was heating our cloakroom which is notoriously cold even in summer and that was the only zone on, which I don't mind it's working correctly.
            Now that we're seeing warmer weather I notice the boiler going off completely for most of the middle of the day without me touching a thing with the schedule, so pleased with that. Our original programmer + very crude wall stat would not have done that without manual fiddling with the adjustment. (As it had such a large hysteresis)
            As our neighbours house is near identical to ours (same heating system but not Evohome) I have been surreptitiously monitoring their gas consumption versus ours
            With a pair of binoculars ?
            Inevitably in design terms, Evohome must be reaching the end of its design life by now and I assume a updated product is in the design phase; but maybe it isn't, we shall probably never know until one is launched as the system becomes quietly obsolete.
            The problem I see is that they can't really add any more functionality to the satellite devices like HR92's or increase the communications reliability (and security! since there is no authentication between devices) without a complete redesign of the over the air protocol - which means breaking compatibility with nearly 15 years worth of devices.

            Rameses II has had its time and is now an outdated protocol that isn't flexible, reliable enough or secure enough for tomorrows applications. The fact that the devices like HR92 can't be firmware updated means that existing hardware can't be updated to a new protocol either.

            At some point Honeywell will need to rip the plaster off and start with a new more modern protocol that breaks with backward compatibility but includes a proper message acknowledgement and retry mechanism as well as encryption and cryptographic authentication.
            BTW I just checked the Wi-Fi Firmware version an mine has been updated to:

            Application Software Version: 01.00.03.00

            WiFi Software Version: 01.00.07.00

            The latter has increased in revision state from 01.00.03 when I purchased it.
            Interesting. I'll check mine tonight!
            Last edited by DBMandrake; 12 April 2017, 04:17 PM.

            Comment

            • rotor
              Automated Home Guru
              • Aug 2015
              • 124

              #7
              There is no doubt that a new protocol is needed. We are well and truly in the age of hacking, and a protocol with no encryption and authentication is no longer fit for purpose.

              Comment

              • davec
                Automated Home Lurker
                • Dec 2012
                • 5

                #8
                FYI, firmware updated this morning, approx 1:30am to:
                App 01.00.07.01 (was 01.00.03.00)
                WiFi 01.00.06.10 (was 01.00.02.00)

                Comment

                • rotor
                  Automated Home Guru
                  • Aug 2015
                  • 124

                  #9
                  Haha Honeywell spiting us for opening this thread.

                  Comment

                  • bruce_miranda
                    Automated Home Legend
                    • Jul 2014
                    • 2307

                    #10
                    I was reliably informed that a firmware update was to be expected shortly. Glad to see it happening. Would love to know what has been fixed. Apparently no new features in this update. Only bug fixes.

                    Comment

                    • DBMandrake
                      Automated Home Legend
                      • Sep 2014
                      • 2361

                      #11
                      No update here yet, still on Application Software Version 01.00.02.01 and WiFi Software Version 01.00.02.00.

                      Originally posted by bruce_miranda View Post
                      I was reliably informed that a firmware update was to be expected shortly. Glad to see it happening. Would love to know what has been fixed. Apparently no new features in this update. Only bug fixes.
                      Yay, bug fixes. No doubt with no release notes to say what was fixed either. Disappointing if true when there are certain features that are desperately needed and wouldn't be that difficult to implement.

                      Comment

                      • paulockenden
                        Automated Home Legend
                        • Apr 2015
                        • 1719

                        #12
                        Originally posted by DBMandrake View Post
                        certain features that are desperately needed and wouldn't be that difficult to implement.
                        Everyone screams "Zones calling for heat. And optimisation control at zone level, like it used to be."

                        That's pretty much it, isn't it? ;-)

                        Comment

                        • g6ejd
                          Automated Home Guru
                          • Oct 2016
                          • 153

                          #13
                          I can monitor the neighbours gas consumption by reading their external meter which faces mine. The meters are a few metres apart so easily done. One thing I've learnt is they use ~20% electricity than us especially the quiescent power consumption which is 100watts but ours is 191watts and that makes a big difference over a year and that's with every device being AAA+ rated. The sky boxes are the offenders as they take 26watts in standby and we have 3 so that accounts for the majority of the difference. That reminds me every time the boiler is serviced it is adjusted to maximum power output to get minimum emissions but that tends to make the boiler cycle so I'll turn the power down tonight. Eventually I hope Evohome will have more boiler control than a simple on/off. British Gas have twice given us a quote for a new boiler but the efficiency difference was not enough for them to enable fitting through their systems. 82% is the current boiler efficiency but now I'm wondering if Evohome would make a system efficiency improvement that may sway the balance, but that's wishful thinking as their systems aren't smart enough yet to incorporate systems like Evohome in their assessments.

                          Comment

                          • g6ejd
                            Automated Home Guru
                            • Oct 2016
                            • 153

                            #14
                            Originally posted by paulockenden View Post
                            Everyone screams "Zones calling for heat. And optimisation control at zone level, like it used to be."

                            That's pretty much it, isn't it? ;-)
                            Those would do for me and surely they must be really easy to implement especially which zone is calling for heat - and that's where I get confused because why not implement the quick easy wins and get improved customer satisfaction, but maybe their product diversity and cross dependencies are so great it's not that easy to do after all.

                            Comment

                            • HenGus
                              Automated Home Legend
                              • May 2014
                              • 1001

                              #15
                              Not reached this part of the country yet.

                              Comment

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