New install issues

Hi, I have recently installed a tado system in the house and have a few issues.

The smart TRVs temperature inaccuracies are ridiculous and not consistent across the temperature range.

I have 3 Govee temperature and humidity sensors all reading the same temperature as the Tado wireless thermostat. So no problem there.

I have placed all three Govee sensors and the Tado wireless thermostat into each room for at least an hour so that they have time to adjust. I appreciate the temperature will vary in the room, hence using a total of four readings (from different locations within the same room) from which I have taken an average. For example:

Govee1: 19.8
Govee2: 19.6
Govee3: 18.9
Tado wireless thermostat: 19.3

Average: 19.4

I have then set the smart TRV temperature to 19.4 using the offset. When the heating for this room is set to 19 it has no problem heating up and turning on and off as required during the heating block to maintain the heat.

The problem is the Govee and the smart TRV only read the same temperature (+/- 0.5 degrees) during this time. When the room is not being heated (set to 10 degrees) the reading from the smart TRV and the Govee are significantly different. For example:

Govee: 14
Smart TRV: 9

This is then heating the room up to 10 unnecessarily.

This is the same for all rooms. Is anyone else having these problems?

I don't mind using an offset, but I expect the temperature on both devices so remain consistent across the temperature range +/- 0.5 degrees.

I have also received a notification from the app saying that the battery in one of the smart TRVs is low. Considering the system was installed less than 2 weeks ago this is appalling and makes me wonder if any parts of the system are refurbished.

Comments

  • Yes, that’s how the offset works for us. We arrived at a -2 deg offset in the lounge by successive approximation. The trv is on a large rad behind the sofa. Whenever the lounge is 19, it’s 19 after applying the -2 offset. When the room drops to circa 12 deg C, the trv says it’s 10. It’s a quirk of the way offset behaves, with the large rad causing local temperature variation for the trv when heating and no variation when cold. I now know to add 2 degrees mentally when cold.

    For low battery notifications, they seem to give occasional false warnings. Take the batteries out, check with a multimeter, and refit if ok. We have one trv, of 24, that burns through batteries in a couple of months. I’ve swapped it out.

  • @wateroakley

    Thanks, so it's not just me then. I wonder how many others are having this issue.

    After spending such an amount I would expect the temperature sensors within the TRVs to be better than that!

    I guess the only way to do it for the time being is to set the offset to match my Govee sensor at the desired temperature e.g. 19 and for the other heating block currently set to 10 degrees I can lower the heating temperature by the difference (not the offset).

    I will speak to support and see if they have any further info.
  • I'd take it to be the way the offset works. Not an issue for me. I've worked in mechanical industry where laser calibration of helical threaded movement was controlled by bespoke software.

  • Appreciate that, and I am happy to tinker around with something for a while to get it to work how I want but the fluctuation as it moves up and down the temperature range, above and below what ever the offset is set to is not realistic in a real life scenario. I don't understand how users can be expected to compensate for the systems inaccuracies.
  • I've commented about this before - the variance is completely ridiculous. Someone suggested not getting hung up about the actual temperature readings, and that's pretty well where I am now.

    I tried off-setting, but as you said, it's not consistent,, and it got very confusing (to me, anyway) trying to remember which TRV had been offset and by what amount. I started off using 14C as the set-back temp but that was bringing a couple of rads on do I just went to the frost setting.

    I find that to get 20C in a room the TRVs generally need to be set to 22. I have one in a corner with a sofa nearby and I do have to leave that offset by 4C as otherwise even the max (which I wish didn't exist) 25C turns the rad off too early. However my wife freakes out when she looks at the App and sees the night-time temp as 10C.

  • @RoryFire Thanks.

    So instead of having any offsets you are suggesting I adjust the heating temperatures instead?

    For example (without any offsets) if the tado smart TRV shows 19 and the actual room temperature is 17, but I want it at 19, I should set the smart TRV to 21?

    If that's the case why don't tado just add another setting on the app and call it something like temperature adjustment that doesn't do anything offset wise and is just a visual change on the temperature displayed within the app, infarct is this not what the offset should do anyway? Or better still fix the issue considering that's the whole point of the product in the first place!
  • "For example (without any offsets) if the tado smart TRV shows 19 and the actual room temperature is 17, but I want it at 19, I should set the smart TRV to 21?"


    Exactly that. Unles I'm missing something, I don't see a problem with that, apart from it grating that you seem to be heating to 21C when it's really only 19C.

    Obviously it's not ideal that the readings don't more accurately represent the true situation.

  • @RoryFire Thanks.

    Ok, I will try it, but I'm not convinced, seems the only way to do this might be a combination of the two.

    Use the offset to match the Govee reading during normal heating, for example 19.

    When it switches to the other heating block set at 10, increasing/decreasing the temperature within the app (not offset). Means I will have to wait till the temperature is low enough in each room to see the difference to adjust it by.
  • Putting a temperature sensor right next to a source of heat is always going to be a massive compromise, which is why Tado eventually released the wireless temperature sensor so this can be placed in a sensible place in the room...
  • @johnbur I can see your point, I will have to test that out with my Govee on top of the Tado to see if it follows the same pattern.

    If the radiator is off, is there any reason why the reading would not be right?
  • @31K if there is no offset applied, then I didn't see any significant difference to a reference temperature probe when I tested
  • I ended up buying the wireless thermostats as I can't deal with the inaccuracies.