Comfort Automation/ Security System Forums

Yes please.  Any information you could post would be great.  Thanks.

[user=876]juwi_uk[/user] wrote:

Quote:Actually these look interesting as they are Zwave enabled.

http://www.horstmann.co.uk/central-heating.php

J

Can these be connected to the Comfort system?

W

In principle, yes as Z-wave is a standard which Z-wave enabled products must comply with. However different products may have their own idiosyncracies

It so happens that another user may be sending us one of these to test, so if that happens we will share the results

I think one thing missing from the overall comfort suite, is a decent affordable heating controller. By this I mean a device where it is possible to enter temps, times and schedules etc relatively easily be the end user which update relevent counters etc within comfort.

The devices should simply be an input device, it would not have to control and specific heating interface etc, comfort is well capable of doing that, but it lacks a bit in regard to user input device for heating control.

I\'m velbus enabled, so was looking at something like the velbus vmb1tc, but wondering could i get this to work through comfort! Actually, that question is prob for a different forum, so Ill post a new thread in the velbus section on that.

Point regarding an input device overall for comfort hating control still stands though, woudl beinterested in any opinions!

OK

Part of the reason that heating is \'complicated\'is because it directly involves two disciplines - plumbing and electrics.

In order to control something properly it is best that you understand how it works and thus its strengths and limitations.

Your plumbing may consist of something to heat the water (usually the boiler) a means of storing the water and a means of getting it around the house - usually a hot water circuit and a heating circuit. Laid on top of this is the controller which in its most basic form will be a means of measuring the room temperature and a way of operating the system when heat is required.

Usually systems that store water for use in radiators will incorporate a timer that limits the use of the boiler to peak demand times and that can \'readily\' be adjusted by the end user. With a heating system that incorporated under floor heating the time lag is such that in many cases there is no timer..... which leads me onto one of most important features of a modern heating controller - the ability to set the heating control to different \'modes\'.


It appears to be relatively standard to have heating modes that closely reflect the operational modes of Comfort, Away, night, day and vacation. The mode is based around the temperature variation of the set point. So for example day mode may be equal to the set point, where as night mode may be (say) 5 deg below the set point and vacation mode would be set to frost protect etc.

Hey presto the actual interaction between comfort and a heating control can be so simple to implement in a basic form where by if someone leaves the house (sets Comfort to away mode) the heating goes to 5 deg below the set point.

This might actually encourage some people to set their alarm to vacation mode once in a while.


If you want more just let me know.........

I agree, it is relatively simple to implement a basic heating control solution in comfort. But it pretty much needs and engineer to set it up. How do you make it easy for the end user to, for example, change the set back temperature, or adjust the temperature for a zone. These should be things that are relatively easy to do for the end user and require an easy to use interface.

What are the options for this? Should or could cytech look at a simple heating controller that is along the lines of an Scs but with a simple lcd screen that would allow users to input temp settings which would feed into a comfort counter and timer settings?

Again, there are loads of options and ways of turning heating on/off, and reading temp settings using lots of comfort interfaces, what\'s missing is the user friendly input device!

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback, I would love to see a wiring diagram. I have seen the info in the comfort manuals. However, I would just like to see something that has actually been implemented and the hardware used.

I think because we live in a smart phone / apps world the answer for use interfaces starts here I think. There are lots of products and comfort seem to interface with most of them, but personally I don\'t want to have 2 or 3 other boxes I just want to use comfort.

Cheers

Lee

Yep, the smart phone has definitely changed how we interface with comfort, the app has literally improved the product 100 fold,, I can\'t praise it enough.

Again, I havmt figure out how to input or vary temp levels via the appeither, not sure if it can be done, or how to go about it.

I do think that while the app is a ggreat interface, some forms of in wall thermostat or input device is still required.

I do have a wiring diagram of my setup, I will dig it out and send it on. I use velbus not z wave but the principle would be the same irrespective of what technology you are using for control.

nice one thanks

There is a wiring diagram near the end of this https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1zlDoq...nY3WGtYamM

I am using Scs switches for activities voting heating as well as the iphone app. I have a 3 zone oil fired heating system, and also a stove with back boiler. Comfort knows when the back boiler is on and works the heating accordingly. The programming is pretty straight forward as the implementation is not complex and to be honest does not use the hardware to its fullest extent.

The Scs switches have temp sensors on them so I can tell what the temp is in each room. I havmt implemented any temperature based heat control however, purely for the reasons stated above, I can\'t figure out an easy way for user input to change temp settings