Evohome sync issues

[ThePants999]

Hi folks,

We just had Evohome installed yesterday, and so far it's really not working properly.

If I change the setpoint on an HR92, it works fine. I can hear the valve open/close immediately, and the override temperature shows up on the controller in a few seconds. In the other direction, however, any setpoint change made by the controller takes ages to show up on the HR92s - anything from 15 minutes to an hour seems to be common so far, and even multiple hours at one point. This applies whether it's setting a new override, cancelling a previous override, or even a scheduled change.

I'm also seeing a weird problem whereby the currently-scheduled temperature shows up as an override, with a seemingly random end time. This is frustrating because it often continues past the next scheduled change. This definitely isn't something anyone's done - I've disabled manual control of the HR92s, nobody but me yet has access to the controller, and I haven't set up any IFTTT etc integration yet.

Finally, in case it's relevant, that disabling of manual control I mentioned took forever to take effect - I disabled them at 1pm yesterday, and it took until about 9pm to take effect on the first HR92, and only three of seven were done by midnight, though they were all done by the time I got up this morning.

I've run an RF check on all the TRVs and they all show as excellent / strength 5 - no surprise, it's a small house and the controller is centrally located. In any case, the problems still occur with the HR92 that's a metre away from the controller.

No issues with the BDR91s - as far as I can tell, they're calling for heat at exactly when I'd expect them to be (and separately, no double binding issue there). Well, I mean the heating one is obviously coming on late, but in sync with when the HR92s get updated.

My installer said that I need to give it time to bed in, but that doesn't ring true to me - I totally understand it's got a learning period to go through, but I'd expect that to be related to what the controller actually decides, rather than the controller actually becoming capable of controlling - right?

[paulockenden]

That's not a bedding in issue. It's either comms (despite the tests looking OK) or a faulty controller.

Do you have any continuously transmitting wireless equipment that might be operating in the 868MHz band? (Baby monitors, video senders, wireless speakers)? if so, switch them off and try again. Oh, or dodgy mobile signal boosters!

if that doesn't work, I reckon your controller is possibly borked.

P.

[DBMandrake]

Hi folks,

We just had Evohome installed yesterday, and so far it's really not working properly.

You can say that again!

If I change the setpoint on an HR92, it works fine. I can hear the valve open/close immediately, and the override temperature shows up on the controller in a few seconds. In the other direction, however, any setpoint change made by the controller takes ages to show up on the HR92s - anything from 15 minutes to an hour seems to be common so far, and even multiple hours at one point. This applies whether it's setting a new override, cancelling a previous override, or even a scheduled change.

Any set point change made at the controller or phone apps will take "up to" 4 minutes to be sent to an HR92 as there is a regular scheduled communications window from controller to battery powered devices approximately every 3-4 minutes. So it is normal for this not to go through immediately, however anything beyond 5 minutes is not normal.

Just to check though - are you sure your HR92's are configured to show the set point and not the measured temperature ? From the factory the display shows the set point, however it can be configured in it's menu to show measured room temperature instead - I have mine all set this way and I wonder if your installer did this ? In that case the delay might simply be that it is showing the room warming up. In this mode you have to press the button to see the set point for a few seconds.

I'm also seeing a weird problem whereby the currently-scheduled temperature shows up as an override, with a seemingly random end time. This is frustrating because it often continues past the next scheduled change. This definitely isn't something anyone's done - I've disabled manual control of the HR92s, nobody but me yet has access to the controller, and I haven't set up any IFTTT etc integration yet.

That is extremely weird - I don't think anyone on here has reported a problem like that before. I would be inclined to remove the batteries from the controller to give it a reboot and see if ti still happens!

Finally, in case it's relevant, that disabling of manual control I mentioned took forever to take effect - I disabled them at 1pm yesterday, and it took until about 9pm to take effect on the first HR92, and only three of seven were done by midnight, though they were all done by the time I got up this morning.

I've run an RF check on all the TRVs and they all show as excellent / strength 5 - no surprise, it's a small house and the controller is centrally located. In any case, the problems still occur with the HR92 that's a metre away from the controller.

Are you sure you don't have some other device communicating on 868Mhz that could be severely interfering with the wireless comms ? What other wireless devices do you have in the house ?

My installer said that I need to give it time to bed in, but that doesn't ring true to me - I totally understand it's got a learning period to go through, but I'd expect that to be related to what the controller actually decides, rather than the controller actually becoming capable of controlling - right?

Saying these problems will go away with bedding in is nonsense - there is definitely something wrong here.

I'd start by rebooting the controller and then start looking for possible sources of RF interference.

[ThePants999]

That's not a bedding in issue. It's either comms (despite the tests looking OK) or a faulty controller.

Do you have any continuously transmitting wireless equipment that might be operating in the 868MHz band? (Baby monitors, video senders, wireless speakers)? if so, switch them off and try again. Oh, or dodgy mobile signal boosters!

if that doesn't work, I reckon your controller is possibly borked.

P.

Thanks! We've got baby monitors, but they're DECT so presumably ~1.9GHz - but I'll try switching them off anyway. Can't think of anything else, everything else similar is Bluetooth or wifi. Though I figure that if it were interference, it ought to be breaking things in both directions? Borked controller sadly sounds very plausible :-(

[ThePants999]

Just to check though - are you sure your HR92's are configured to show the set point and not the measured temperature ? From the factory the display shows the set point, however it can be configured in it's menu to show measured room temperature instead - I have mine all set this way and I wonder if your installer did this ? In that case the delay might simply be that it is showing the room warming up. In this mode you have to press the button to see the set point for a few seconds.

No, definitely set point. They've never shown a temperature other than a set point, and I've been testing with significant jumps and extreme set points.

Are you sure you don't have some other device communicating on 868Mhz that could be severely interfering with the wireless comms ? What other wireless devices do you have in the house ?

We have so many wireless devices - it'd be useful to hear any more suggestions of examples of devices that use this range in case I've overlooked anything - but I don't think anything else uses this range. Plus, as mentioned, communication from HR92s back to the controller apparently works flawlessly, which I figure shouldn't be the case if it were interference?

I would be inclined to remove the batteries from the controller to give it a reboot and see if ti still happens!

Will do, cheers!

[DBMandrake]

We have so many wireless devices - it'd be useful to hear any more suggestions of examples of devices that use this range in case I've overlooked anything - but I don't think anything else uses this range. Plus, as mentioned, communication from HR92s back to the controller apparently works flawlessly, which I figure shouldn't be the case if it were interference?

At home the only thing I have sharing the 868Mhz band is our loop energy monitor. This article gives some ideas of what kind of devices use this band:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/38095/final_report.pdf

Which include smart meters, wireless microphones, rfid tags, (probably only passive though) wireless fire alarm and intruder alarm systems, various "remote controllers". (non-bluetooth non line of sight remote controls)

Personally I think its more likely to be a problem with the main controller unit than an interference problem though, I can't see how your random overrides with random end times would be caused by interference.

[paulockenden]

if it is data interference it's going to be things that transmit continuously, which is why I suggested streaming devices like baby monitors and speakers. Oh, wireless headphones too - I have a pair of Senheisers (sp?) that stamp all over the 868mhz band when powered on. Things like alarms will only be transmitting occasionally.

Also, strangely enough, some LED light bulbs are VERY RF unfriendly (usually CCS - Cheap Chinese Sh.. bulbs). So if your controller is close to LED lighting that's one more thing to try.

If you live anywhere near Sussex I'll gladly lend you an RF Explorer for a few days (portable spectrum analyser) so you can try to hunt down whether this really is an RF issue, and if so where it's coming from.

P.

[ThePants999]

Thanks both! Since the controller and HR92s are all battery-powered, I might just flip the circuit breaker for the whole house for a few minutes to make really sure

[paulockenden]

Extreme foil hattery!

P.

[chrisgare]

Take a couple of HR92s and the controller out to the garden shed and try them out there as you will most likely be well away from any RF interference. I'm a radio amateur and have had to sort out interference issues for 30 years+ in other peoples houses - I even have a web site dedicated to the subject. At least the equipment we are talking about here is portable.

Go out in your car with them if necessary. If things don't work there then you definitely have a controller issue by the sounds of it. You will have your answer with 15 minutes.

[ThePants999]

Oohh. I live next to a recreation ground. Great plan, thanks.

[DBMandrake]

Can't wait to see the looks from passing joggers as you sit at a park bench in the middle of a park with a heating controller and a bunch of TRV's...

[ThePants999]

I'll be working late tonight, so it may be the early hours before I get a chance to do it.

Wait... that's not helping the looks I'll get, is it?

[ThePants999]

Hokay, so... rebooted the controller, set an override and got excited when the TRV updated in "only" 11 minutes. Cancelled the override... nope, half an hour to take effect.

Took two of the TRVs and the controller out to the middle of nowhere, set overrides. One of them updated 10 minutes later, so I cancelled the override. 10 minutes after that, the override mysteriously reappeared! And 10 more minutes later (30 total), the second TRV finally updated with the override.

Borked controller it is, I guess!

[DBMandrake]

Borked controller it is, I guess!

Yeah I'd go with that theory. The chances of all your HR92's being faulty is astronomically small, and you've ruled out interference.

One last thing you might want to try before getting a warranty replacement would be to do a full factory reset in the installer menu and set it up again - just set up a couple of zones and bind a couple of HR92's if that's all you need for testing. There's a very slim possibility that the factory reset might help but if it doesn't get it swapped.