Evohome - temporary comms fault from all devices

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  • mbf82
    Automated Home Jr Member
    • Jan 2016
    • 10

    Evohome - temporary comms fault from all devices

    Hello,

    I've been using my evohome for about 3 years now.
    I have an evohome controller, a boiler relay, several HR92 valves and a few sensors (room thermostart DTS92).

    This has been working great until a few days ago when I started to get comms faults from the boiler relay and the sensors (never from the actuators). The faults don't happen all at the same time, but with gaps among them.
    Checking the fault logbook on the controller I could see that the only faults in the last year were due to low batteries, until all these comms faults started happening.
    The connections seem to get restored after a bit (minutes or hours), but sometimes the fact that they are restored doesn't appear in the fault logbook (despite the connection clearly working).

    I tried turning the controller off and on again (erm... by letting the battery run out, is there any way to actually reboot it?), did comms checks (all fine) and recharged all the batteries for the controllers.

    My search on this forum and elsewhere didn't bring up anything similar, but I saw a few people with comms problem with the boiler relay. In that case the suggestion was to reset the controller and rebind the relay.
    I'm a bit scared of resetting everything. If I lose all the settings I will have to spend hours to reset everything up :'( and maybe the problem won't be solved.
  • DBMandrake
    Automated Home Legend
    • Sep 2014
    • 2361

    #2
    I reboot the controller just by parting the batteries while it's off the stand. There isn't any other way and there is no reboot function in the menus.

    As for comms faults where the comms tests pass OK, I would start looking for changes in your house that could affect wireless signals.

    In particular, you haven't added any wireless devices that could be using 868Mhz could you ? Quite a few devices these days use the same frequency range as Evohome - for example my loop energy monitor works on the same frequency range and the gas monitor is even installed in the same boiler closet that my BDR91's are in.... (fortunately it doesn't seem to cause me an issue)

    Also look for any changes to the layout of large objects or metallic objects near any Evohome devices. For example my BDR91's are in the boiler closet off the kitchen, one day I started getting continuous comms errors to the BDR91's - turns out the cause was that I had positioned a portable dehumidifier in the kitchen about half a metre from the wall where the BDR91's were, roughly in line with the signal path to the controller located in the central hallway - it wasn't even plugged in! Just its physical presence (presumably a large slab of metal inside, with a condensor/evaporator and pump) was enough to upset the comms.

    Should the comms be more robust than this ? Yes, I think so, but it isn't. Comms on Evohome is notoriously sensitive to both active interference (other devices on nearby frequencies) and standing waves/reflections caused by proximity of metal objects in particular.

    Is your controller wall mounted in one fixed location or is it stand mounted ? If stand mounted, has it moved from where it used to be ? Or have things around it moved ?

    Comment

    • mbf82
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Jan 2016
      • 10

      #3
      The controller is on a stand in the usual place where it has always been. I haven't changed anything or moved anything around.
      Unless a neighbour just got something, but I got comms fault for nearby sensors with no wall between the controller and the sensor. It would be weird if the neighbour got something so powerful to disturb two devices in my own home which are next to each other!

      Comment

      • paulockenden
        Automated Home Legend
        • Apr 2015
        • 1719

        #4
        To completely interfere with Evohome would need something with a constant signal. Typically something streaming audio or video. So baby monitor, wireless headphones, etc.

        Devices that just do data (Evohome, energy monitors, outdoor thermometers, etc.) don’t tend to transmit continuously.

        P.

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