Best WiFi Automatic Heating & Lighting System

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Hi all,

We’re renovating our home and looking to choose a WiFi automatic system for lighting and heating control. Can anyone recommend which to go for please? We’re looking for a system compatible with Apple HomeKit.

We’ve been looking at Light Wave and our electrician recommended WondrWall but that’s not HomeKit compliant.

Thanks in advance.

Chris
 
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You say best, and the first question is radiator type, fan assisted changes fan speed to adjust heat, non fan assisted adjusts flow to adjust heat, using a fan means air is moved giving an even temperature throughout the room, without the fan you can have cool and hot spots, but question is if that is good or bad? If windows and walls transmit the heat outside, should you allow the wall to be cooler so less heat goes outside, or keep room temperature even so all areas are comfortable?

So I will go with non fan assisted radiators for the moment, although it is not clear which is best as furniture position has a large bearing, so the TRV head is replaced with a wifi enabled head so you can adjust the temperature of the room using either timed, manual, or geofencing methods, however unless you have some thing else, as the rooms get warm enough, then the boiler will still continue to cycle, so some how you need a connection to the boiler.

There are two completely different ways other than return water temperature to control the boiler, on/off or modulating, you state "best" so clearly modulating is best, now I will assume your not intending to renew boiler? So the big question, is the boiler OpenTherm? if not, then you may be forced to use the boilers manufactures own thermostat so options are very much restricted, if it is OpenTherm then there are many thermostats or hubs which connect the wifi TRV head to the boiler.

With connection to the boiler bus the idea is as demand drops so does the water temperature, so when it reaches the point where boiler can't turn down (modulate) any more and it starts to cycle, the water is cool so less heat is lost out the flue each time it turns off, so using a modulating control not only stops hysteresis in the temperature control but also saves money.

So sequence of events, in basic terms, the TRV head controls room temperature and tells the central hub if satisfied or calling for heat, the hub then tells the boiler if output needs to raise or lower. This is what EvoHome does. However there are also some more basic systems, Nest for example links to the TRV head, but it uses a follow command, either the TRV head follows Nest or Nest follows the TRV clearly all valves following Nest are adjusting room temperatures to same as Nest, where with EvoHome each room is completely independent, so you say best, so EvoHome is better than Nest.

I tried to read the info on other systems, and the published info does say their TRV heads connect to the thermostat, however it is hard to work out if using Nest follow, or EvoHome independent system. Tried to read about Tado, but could not quite work out what it does.

Now some boilers don't have option to work with OpenTherm, so have no way to access the bus, and some you can only use their own thermostat, so the question is if a single room thermostat not connected to the TRV heads needs to be modulating or not, in fact although you can only have a single modulating thermostat (I think) with an on/off thermostat you could have more than one.

So idea is that something turns off the boiler when not required to stop it cycling, so although the standard idea is to put a on/off thermostat in the coolest room with no outside door or alternative form of heating and in that room have no TRV, where such a room does not exist, then you could put thermostats in the main rooms all wired in parallel so if any of the main rooms needs heat, boiler runs, you can't as far as I am aware connect modulating thermostats in parallel. Again whole idea is to reduce cycling, so with an on/off thermostat you don't want any anti-hysteresis software, as that software causes the boiler to cycle. I have not found any wifi thermostat which has fail safe built in, i.e. if batteries fail it switches off, which does not also have anti-hysteresis software, so for on/off thermostats no real option but to hard wire if looking at best option.

Since I can't be sure how Tado works, or some of the other systems, I would if looking for best and the boiler is OpenTherm enabled go for EvoHome, without OpenTherm then may have to use something like Wave, simply as it is the only modulating thermostats that will work with Bosch, but then you have to ask will the home lend its self to being controlled by a single thermostat?

So then you start to look at cost as well, and does it really need wifi, or is an electronic head good enough without a wifi link. So are there doors on the rooms, and what type of boiler is fitted is first question. I don't think the Energenie wifi light control I have is the best, but it ties in with my TRV heads which in turn were selected as they work with Nest, however as I learnt more it seems Nest is not the best, Evohome is better, as to if there are EvoHome light switches I don't know.
 
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Proper automation - or pointless remote control of devices?
There is a massive difference.
You make a good point, even after part automating my central heating, I still manually turn it off in the Summer. And the anti-hysteresis software is too good, so I by-pass it, asking for 22°C at 7 am then dropping to 20°C at 8 am as otherwise it is 10 am before settled at the new temperature.

This is where geofencing fails, if due to anti-hysteresis software it takes 3 hours to settle at a new temperature, then you need to be 3 hours away from home when the geofencing cuts in, even when from tip of North Wales where I live, I went on holiday to Forest of Dean so looking at the whole length of Wales, it did not take 3 hours to get home even towing a caravan, so wear could you use geofencing?

As to manually altering well yes I can see that is an option using a mobile phone, however in the main having to manually alter the temperature defeats the whole idea of automation, so we set timers which 99 times in a hundred do the job amply. So having telemetry controls may sound good, but in real terms only used once in a blue moon. Yes while I holiday I did look to see temperature at home, however there was no real need to know.

I have a double socket and a light switch that I can remotely control, light switch was simply so I didn't need to fit a two way switch and I can turn light on/off from bed, yes I can turn light on/off from Forest of Dean, but why would I want to? The sockets were fitted for a very special reason, we had a extruder alarm outside bedroom door to alert us if mother opened the outside doors, however if down stairs when a visitor arrived, that would mean running upstairs then down again before opening door, so stage one tried a simple remote controlled plug in unit, however we could no see if on or off and on a few times it was not switched on again, next was try a timer so off when carers arrived but on at other times, but carers would arrived early or late, so the smart socket had both remote control and fixed times in the same unit, so with three remote controls, one front door, one back door, one by my bed, and timers set by the PC we had an extruder alarm which we could control. Still using the equipment the social services recommended and supplied, it was there for a special situation which most people would not require.

Today that socket turns no my bedside lights, and only because I already have it, I could not think of any other use for it. The bedroom light switch is never now remotely operated, I don't sleep in that room, the TRV heads were about £80 a pair plus price of hub, the terrier i-temp head cost £18 each so far far cheaper and do same as the MiHome but without the wifi link.

For the central heating what I want is a unit that says if any TRV head reports target over current temperature then switch on boiler, otherwise switch it off. With 4 or more wifi TRV heads in the winter one would always be calling for heat, so boiler would run, in summer they would never call for heat so boiler would stop. Seems simple enough, and some day some one may write an IFTTT app to do exactly that, however at the moment all we have is a follow commend with a Nest thermostat, I should not really need a wall thermostat, just a relay, the thermostats built into the TRV heads are ample. But at the moment I still have to use a thermostat to turn off the boiler when not required.

As said EvoHome may call the unit a thermostat, but really it is a hub, that displays the temperatures in each room, and allows you to adjust them without the need to boot up a PC, it does exactly what I need, however I already have MiHome heads fitted, don't really want to dump them and start again, there is one problem with EvoHome for me, although EvoHome has OpenTherm, my boiler does not, so all it can do is switch boiler on/off, it can't modulate the boiler. A Wave thermostat can modulate the boiler, however it does not take commands from the TRV heads. So because boiler is Bosch which does not support OpenTherm, I still need simple thermostats.

I have looked at other makes of control, Tado for example, however it seems reading the instructions it is like Nest and MiHome, there is a link between TRV heads and the thermostat, but it wants all rooms at same temperature which kind of defeats the whole idea. As yet only EvoHome seems to allow each room to be independently controlled.

However next comes trust, we see all the adverts for Hive, however it is not a modulating thermostat, it does not connect with the TRV heads, some versions will only switch 230 volt, we must give the Guy would is in charge of marketing full marks, as he seems to have cracked selling inappropriate controls to UK public, I will not say rubbish, as Hive controlling a hot air central heating system would work well, but since in the UK all new boilers must modulate to be condensating, and most will work with OpenTherm, except Bosch, then to market any thermostatic control in UK without the ability to modulate the boiler must take some doing, I have to give that marketing Guy full marks.
 
I know this a bit old but I thought I'd chime in as I've just joined and I've got quite a bit of stuff automated in the house.

My advice would be to try and keep your system as open as possible. When I started, I went down the Hive route and have since regretted it. I started with the Thermostat and added about 20 bulbs, a few plugins and some sensors. That all works reasonably well. The big drawback with Hive is the lack of proper geo-fencing. i.e. knowing when the house is empty and adjusts the heating accordingly without you having to do anything. Hive doesn't do that and relies on giving you a push notification to open the app and adjust it yourself. Fine if you're the only person in the house. Not fine when you have kids that don't want the bother of another app and would probably ignore the notification anyway.

I've got round that with a RaspberryPi that sniffs for Bluetooth to see if our mobile phones are in the house. This doesn't need anything installed on the phones but Bluetooth needs to be on for it to work. If I'm in, it sets the heating to 21 degrees as I like it a bit warmer. If I'm not in but anyone else is then it sets the heating to 18 degrees. If the house is empty then it sets it to 10 degrees. This works amazingly well. It cost me about 40 quid to build the Pi and many hours of crying into my coffee to get the Python scripting all working but it's definitely been worth the effort.

You have 3(4) basic choices:
  • 433mhz - LightwaveRF, for example
  • WiFi
  • Zigbee/Z-wave
I find 433mhz and WiFi problematic due to range issues. I've just installed BT Whole Home boxes which may alleviate that but I'm probably too far down the road to change. Any mesh type system like Zigbee is going to give you good results if you have a few devices as each device acts as a repeater so range is not an issue.

I've got some LightwaveRF sockets and plugins, the Hive stuff and Ikea Tradfri. I find that the Ikea stuff is brilliant but it doesn't play with things like IFTTT and there's no API. One of the biggest advantages I've found - especially over the Hive bulbs - is that it remembers the state of a bulb. I've got a GU10 in the loo set to 30% brightness. If someone forgets and switches it off on the main switch then it comes back on at 30% when I switch it on again. With the Hive bulbs, they come back on at 100% and you have to reset them on the app (A PITA if you have a power outage and have to manually reset 20 bulbs!). The Ikea stuff is also much cheaper. I've got lots of Ikea bulbs where you can adjust the colour temperature and the brightness. These were a lot cheaper than the Hive ones.

Anyway, that's my 10p worth. In short, keep your options open. This stuff isn't cheap and you don't want to paint yourself into a corner.
 
We’ve gone Heatmiser underfloor heating, heating and hot water and Lightwave for sockets and switches. All are Home Kit compatible so will keep you updated.
 
I was disappointed with Energenie MiHome sockets, before my mother died we had 4 visits a day from carers to look after her, we were there to do anything needed at night, clearly if up over night we did not want to get up first thing in morning so wanted to turn off the extruder alarm when carers due, using a remote controlled socket worked well, the carers knew were the remote was to turn off the alarm should they not be on time, and we could also switch it off before answering door, but should my mother decide to go roaming we knew about it, and the sockets auto switched on again so could not forget to set.

However sockets only had 3 on/off timers and we really needed 4, did try using IFTTT to get extra one, and it did work of sorts, but setting was by the hour, so could not adjust to come on at 3:45 for example had to be 3 or 4. The TRV heads don't seem to have a limit as to how many times they alter temperature during the day, so did not expect sockets to be limited to 3 slots a day, nothing in advert says 3 slots a day.

Now the socket has been moved into the bedroom and works the bed side lights, however a cheap plug in unit from Lidi would do the same.

The default being off is also a problem, would not want to run a fridge or freezer from a socket which after a power cut does not switch on again.
 

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