Control heating on demand with TRVZB

To make it clear - all your TRVBZ’s are from Sonoff, right?

Thanks for your input, but this is related to the issues with the NS Panel Pro and not the Ewelink App…

Hi Thanks for your input, Yes all the TRVBZs are Sonoff. They are all sub devices of the ZGBridge Pro.

Hello, we just tried to reproduce it and the problem you mentioned did not occur. It is normal. Please upgrade NSPanel Pro to the latest v2.3.0 version to see if this situation still occurs.

Hi, Upgraded to v2.3.0 ok. Problem is still present. It seems that with the NSPanel Pro doesn’t “maintain” or see the thermostat valve manual temperature when the screen is left using the X in the top right corner or toggle the screen between manual - auto - manual.

Like Twinkle, I tried to reproduce the situation according to the steps you described. The temperature settings are retained. I have a tap to run scene to boost heating for 30 minutes and then return to schedule in auto mode. It works well and the temperature values are as set as planned every time.

Hi thanks for your reply, can you confirm how your devices are paired, are they directly paired to the NSPanel Pro (sub-devices) or are they paired to a Hub such as the Zigbee Bridge Pro? Thanks in advance

They’re directly paired and connected with my NSPanel.

I’m sorry, it’s not quite clear if the Sonoff TRVZB will have the option to choose an external temperature sensor source, similar to the NSpanel gen.1?

Also as an owner of a NSpanel gen1, I would like to know if there is a way to use the NSpanel gen.1s thermostat function to control the Sonoff TRVZB?

And thank you for the great product!

I don’t have the TRVZB connected to a Zigbee bridge pro but I would have thought this was already possible. Just create 2 scenes

  1. ON: when temperature in NS Panel is below set TRV manual target temperature really high
  2. OFF: when temperature in NS Panel is high set the TRV manual temperature unrealistically low.
    You probably don’t want the two rules using the same frequency or it could get annoying with it turning on and off all the time.
    The scenes require the Ethernet to run unless they use an iHost but I don’t know if the NS Panel communicates with other sensors purely over local or require the cloud to. As it offers to use Zigbee devices I did not used to be able to use locally I suspect it is all cloud based anyway.

Your idea can be implemented. Of course, the operation of the scenes will have to be fine-tuned. The scene with the thermometer from the NSPanel can be created, but you will have to switch the TRVZB to manual mode. Later, you will have to return to auto mode or set up further conditions and additional scenes. It can be done provided you are not lazy and like to tinker :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:

I can’t set the TRVZB triggers in scenes with the new ewelink version 5.2. Anybody have information about that? They mentioned in November, that in the next ewelink version, we can set TRVZB statuses as trigger events… I would like to use my TRVZBs, but I cant do it, its really annoying.

It works, I have it set up using scenes in eWelink. It’s just that the scenes didn’t start properly, so I helped them with another Basic device that regularly starts every 15 minutes and now the scenes work (but only with a “crutch” in the form of another useless device).
IF all:
TRV = Heating
Test loop = ON
THEN
Gas boiler = ON

Happy New Year 2024

Hey there,
I have bought 6 TRVs and trying to get them to control the boiler, can you please give more detail on your solution? Maybe screenshots or something, at the moment I feel like I have 6 paper weights only. I have made scenes where the TRV turns on the boiler when heat is required through the basic switch, but if 1 TRV reaches temp and turns off the boiler, but the other TRVs still need heat, the basic switch remains off. :slight_smile:
Cheers

I have 10 TRV heads, but I only use 3 (the rooms we need) to switch the gas boiler. The switch-on scene could be just one (using IF any conditions TRV 1,2,3 = Heating …).

Howewer, I use 3 separate scenes for each TRV head with a check if the fireplace insert does not burn (then it does not allow the gas boiler to be switched on) and with notification which room caused the switch on, and in fact I also know if any of the other necessary rooms were “added” while the heating was already switched on.

For switching OFF, I use one scene for all TRVs but with the condition IF all conditions TRV1,2,3 = Off. This will only turn off the gas boiler when all 3 necessary rooms are heated to the required temperature. As a fuse with the device against an internet failure (so that the boiler does not burn constantly), I use Inching mode, which can be set up to (only) 59m 59.5s. I have Inching set to 40 min.

I am currently figuring out the best way to “fool” the heads, which have a fixed hysteresis set at 1°C. I have set the temperature to 21.5°C, the head reports for example 21.2°C, but it only starts heating when it drops below 20.5°C. However, I found that if I set it manually to, for example, 22.5°C, the head opens (Heating) and then I immediately switch it back to Automatic, so the heating will heat only a difference of 0.3°C = better thermal comfort … I hope that ITEAD by modifying the firmware for TRVZB and eWeLink, you can set a smaller hysteresis as needed.

Hi, by when it can be used as trigger conditions in iHost scene?

Thanks
Pasquale

1 Like

Indeed it will be great to know when TRVZB can be used a trigger in iHost?

Hi all,
I have apartment with gas-boiler and water underfloor heating. Currently there is only one thermostat from Salus which centrally controls temperature and switch heating on and off. I have an idea to use multiples (3-4max) SNZB-02P or SNZB-02D together with TRVZB( 7 circuits) and one ZBMINI for boiler.

My question is, is it possible with this configuration to create a scene with following logic.
If temperature on SNZB is less then 22 deg Celsius then open TRVZB valves 5 and 6 and switch on ZBMINI on boiler?

Also,

If temperature on SNZB is more then then 23 deg Celsius then close TRVZB valves 5 and 6 and switch off ZBMINI on boiler?

If yes, what kind or which gateway should I go for?

Also if not possible, maybe you have some other idea for combination of gas boiler and water underfloor heating? I would like to go smart, not some industry solutions
because they require professionals which are hard to get and are expensive.

I have worked around the ‘Boost’ function that you mention by:

  1. TRVZB Child lock switched to ‘OFF’
  2. Manual Scene to switch TRVZB(s) to ‘Auto’
  3. Smart Scene(s) to run the Manual Scene at a pre-determined time (my system runs the scene at 59 minutes past each hour- needs 24 scenes)
  4. The TRVZB is switched to manual by pressing the top button and rotating the knob to the required ‘boost’ target temperature.
  5. At the next 59 minutes past the hour the TRVZB will be automatically switched back to Auto to ensure that the function is not abused.
    Not the most elegant solution but it works fine for my application.

Currently TRVZB only supports ‘Auto’ (smart schedule). ‘Manual’ or ‘OFF’ (that includes frost protection). It would be wasteful to use the TRVZB just to open and close a radiator valve as a slave to another device. Instead you could use a Thermo- Electric Actuator being switched by basic switch (wi-fi or zigbee) that is controlled by a sensing device. I’ve done this kind of thing using Sonoff TH10/ TH16 to sense the temperature and switch the Thermo- Electic Actuator linked to a basic Sonoff Switch with a scenes to call for heat from the boiler. Thing to watch with the actuators is that they take about 3 minutes to fully open so a delay is required in the call for heat scenes. Your underfloor heating system should have a manifold that can accept this type of actuator.