(Part 2) Best products from r/ecobee

No doubt your remark was meant in jest, but to set the story straight, the ecobee3 got its name because it was the third hardware model of thermostat released by ecobee (the ecobee Smart Si and EMS Si were more or less identical, with one targeting home owners and the other targeting commercial establishments). Here's a complete list of their thermostats:

• ecobee Smart Thermostat
  
• ecobee Smart Si & ecobee EMS Si
  
• ecobee3
  
• ecobee3 2nd generation with HomeKit support
  
• ecobee3 lite
  
• ecobee4
  

I think it sort of depends on what you want to do.

If you want an alarm of some kind you'll need to do some third party integration to read the sensor temp and send a message or something. Would probably work fine, but you may want to manually check on the sensor during really cold periods.

There are also dedicated freeze alarms that can just blast a siren, make a phone call, etc when it gets too cold. I don't think using an ecobee sensor is a bad idea. Everything has pros and cons, just depends what works best for you. For the record, I have a sensor in my garage and it seems to work fine below freezing.

You know, I had another idea. Kind of insane, but it would work (I think).

So that humidifier runs on 24 volts DC power, which comes from your furnace's C terminal. It's also what powers the Ecobee. You could purchase for fairly cheap a plug-in inverter that turns household 110 volt AC power into 24 volt DC power, so you could power the humidifier from a wall outlet instead of the furnace.

Why would you care about doing this? Because of IFTTT. You can create a "trigger" in IFTTT for when your Ecobee detects the humidity is below X%, and another trigger when it goes above X%.

So that's the "trigger" that tells IFTTT to do something. The "something" it will do is turn one of those wifi outlets (like this) on and off. See where I'm going? When the humidity falls below X% as detected by the Ecobee, it triggers IFTTT to turn that wifi outlet on (into which the 110vac to 24vdc inverter connected to the humidifier is plugged), which would turn on the humidifier! When the humidity goes above X%, you have another trigger which then turns off the wifi outlet.

The only problem with this setup is that you don't know if the heat is running or not, so the humidifier could be running/getting wet without the furnace running and blowing air through the filter.

Just an idea. Gotta earn that $3.50! ;)

OK, this looks like it will work. Make sure Fan control is set to thermostat, not HVAC. Trick here is that in superdehumidification mode, you cannot simply bridge O and Y because then you lose the ability to heat (Y closed, O open). The following can be connected on either the thermostat side or the air handler side.

Purchase a 24vac DPST-NO or DPDT relay, like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Emerson-90-340-Switching-Relay-24V/dp/B00BTLN9ES/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1524075911&sr=8-15&keywords=DPDT+24vac+relay If you get the DPDT (more common), utilize only the NO (normally open) connections on the switches. On the relay, connect 1 side of coil to ecobee ACC+, other side to common. Connect one side of switch 1 to R and other side to O. Connect one side of switch 2 to R and other side to Y. In ecobee setup, configure for 1-wire accessory, dehumidifier.

im using this to power the ecobee

the way this works is there are two posts each sending 12v. One leg (yellow) is connected to the rC and the other leg (blue) is connected to the C for a total of 24v.

I want to know if i can just splice the two 12v legs into one and get 24v for the C.

the rC getting 12v seems to be tricking the furnace into thinking it needs to pump heat.

I have a 2 zone, 2 taco system that ecobee tells me to use a fast-stat along with the transformer to "add a common" but I dont need to add a common...i have a free wire already, so im trying to utilize it (if possible)

I ended up installing a Air King fan into my attic crawlspace entrance. It's a powerful fan and you need good attic ventilation. I rarely turn it on more than low.

The PEK doesn't work with just a two-wire system. You'll need a C-wire that can provide the ecobee with 24v power. Sometimes you can pull it off the existing furnace somewhere...

I have a similar set-up (two wire) oil burning furnace and I just bought one of these and plugged it in near my furnace and ran the wires up to the thermostat. Works perfectly.

In theory, you can do this with the ecobee skill in Alexa, see:

https://www.amazon.com/ecobee-Inc/dp/B01EIQ3P08

The two relevant commands listed are:

• “Alexa, set my thermostat to 70 degrees until 5pm.”
  
• “Alexa, set my thermostat to 70 degrees for 45 minutes.”
  
  (Substitute the temperature and time of day or duration of your choice.)
  
  This used to work perfectly.
  HOWEVER,
  when DST started on November 4, the command began delaying for one hour before executing.
  
  See my previous post:
  https://www.reddit.com/r/ecobee/comments/9u9c4t/amazon_alexa_error_when_setting_override_time/
  
  I have a ticket open with Ecobee for this - Ticket #1016922.
  
  We're ten days in on this ticket, and their last response was to tell me the command doesn't exist, even though I was using it. I requested escalation - we'll see if I ever hear from them again.
  
  
  
  

I'd recommend not using Ethernet cable to wire up the thermostat. You should run a new bundle that is rated, and proper gauge for the thermostat. You'd be looking at something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-64170422-Copper-Power-Limited-Thermostat/dp/B0069F4HEU/ref=sr_1_3?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1510755398&sr=1-3&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A6426167011&dpID=21YbykkCq9L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Do you have a multimeter?

Set it AC and check the R wire w/ the hot (red) lead and the C should be your negative/common (black) and the multimeter should show about 24V.

this is like an outlet where you have a positive and a neutral wire, these 2 wire are what the ecobee needs at minimum to turn on.

I had a really hot room and I got a vent booster. It helps a ton.

AC Infinity AIRTAP T4, Quiet Register Booster Fan with Thermostat Control. Heating Cooling AC Vent. Fits 4" x 10" Register Holes. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0792R5KJF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_g42kDbBMSEZ8D

Thank you so much! I am about to embark on this project. If I already have a "MasterStat" thermostat installed and hooked up to my evaporative cooler, will I need the White Rodgers relay to hook up to an ecobee 3?

If so, where did you mount the rodgers box?

Same predicament! It is on amazon.ca. https://www.amazon.ca/ecobee3-Thermostat-Sensor-Wi-Fi-Generation/dp/B00ZIRV39M/

It's 185$ new on amazon... is this the right one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZIRV39M