V3+ users can now request Offline Schedule

samd

@ChrisJ I have already had a single TRV going off line and it continued with its own schedule with the rest of the setup operating as normal. I agree though with your 'call for heat' where it goes offline pre-schedule but that would only be a problem if that was the only TRV calling.

hugbilly

One of my TRV's loses contact with the bridge from time to time. When that happens its tile in the app. states that the TRV is running an offline schedule but of course this can only mean that it opens and closes on time and so cannot call for heat. I've yet to experience what happens if the bridge loses contact with the cloud.

I do think that some detailed release notes for this much requested feature would be very helpful. I previously asked whether @Emcee could arrange this but have heard nothing more about it . . .

DTWD

@ChrisJ You make a good point.

If the TRV calls for heat and can't contact the bridge (as the TRV is offline), the TRV can open the radiator valve but it won't get any hot water unless the bridge has independently called for heat, or another (connected) TRV has. This suggests that having a schedule on the bridge would be a good idea. BUT, if the TRV is offline, then I would say it's a bad idea for the bridge to call for heat because it doesn't know if the radiator valve is open or not (the TRV may be closed and broken), so heat will be being wasted and it could possible cause damage to the boiler/heating system as there is nowhere for the heat to escape to other than from the pipes (this is why I don't have my towel rails on Tado so there is always somewhere for the heat to go).

Running it from the bridge would make most sense programatically as everything is going through it anyway. If the bridge can't get to the internet it just looks up it's local schedule and sends the signal out to the devices as if it's come from the server. I would like it to have a little if statement in there to check it can communicate with a TRV and to check the valve is open before calling for heat if that's the only TRV that's supposed to be on.

That said, if the TRV can store it's own schedule, it can open and close as normal even if it loses connection and as long as another TRV is calling for heat, that radiator will be able to get warm as per its schedule.

This brings us back to my problem of offline TRVs that you quite rightly point out probably won't be fixed by this. It certainly sounds like the new system (X) would probably remedy this, but that's not happening any time soon for us for previously explained reasons.

So, would a fix be for each TRV to have an option for "If connection lost assume" and then a toggle for "off", "on", "last setting" (with appropriate warnings - but default to off). That way if a TRV's connection is lost, the server (or bridge in offline mode) could switch the heating on or off depending on what was set on the TRV and what the others were doing. If no other TRV is calling for heat and there is an offline one that previously had called for heat, it checks what it's lost connection setting is, and takes the appropriate action. That action being to switch the heating off, switch it on or leave it at it's last setting requested by that TRV.

I know for me, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have lost my internet connection, but I would need a notepad to record down the amount of times a TRV has gone offline.

adrianis

Is the SU12 Wireless Temperature Sensor compatible?
Form submited earlier, but not active

DTWD

If you pull the back off it, what does it say? Are you going off that or the serial number?

Emcee

@hugbilly
Release notes are a no-go at the moment.

@malkie0831
I can see in the backend that it's not been enabled for you yet.

FYI to the thread, my colleagues have asked for some patience ont he activation front. This is quite a busy time for them and many of your have made the activation request. For this reason, expected time for activation has been extended from 1-3 weeks to 1-6 weeks. My apologies to those still waiting. We are doing our best.

hawkman

This is wonderful, I’ll be submitting my request. Thank you for listening to / acting on feedback.

Just to clarify, as the language in post and support document isn’t quite clear to me: if the device goes offline while in Away mode, it will continue to operate in Away mode… right? It won’t switch to the Home schedule? It will simply continue operating according to the last active set of instructions - whether Home or Away - at the time it went offline? (I think this is what the documents are saying, it’s just Away mode isn’t something that I would usually think of as being a schedule, as it’s constant until turned off.)

Emcee

@ChrisJ
It is the heating devices that store the schedule, not the bridge. When there is a disconnection from the bridge, the Smart Radiator Thermostat (for instance), can still open/close the valve. On the other hand, when the connection to the bridge is still there, SRT can also call for heat from the boiler (assuming it is the zone controller)

@hawkman
As soon as your devices go offline, they will follow their Smart Schedule even if you are 'Away'. This means, for instance, if you left on a long summer holiday and your Smart Schedule was still set to heat at 25 degrees, then your home would overheat should your devices go offline. Users need to take precautions with their Smart Schedule before leaving for long periods of time. Being 'Away' is not enough to prevent heating.

@mperedim
I wanted to double check not to give you erronious information, but yes your devices are correct based on the API.

hawkman

@Emcee thanks for the info, but I’m now more confused!

Does this mean that if a device - or even all devices - are set to Away mode with an Away Temperature set, if they drop offline they will suddenly start operating on the Home schedule instead?

That would be very surprising! Wouldn’t that mean I have to trash the Home schedule and painstakingly recreate it for every room when I get back?

DTWD

@Emcee

Does that mean if you switch the heating off (via the big button at the top of the app) and lose your internet connection, it will switch everything back on again and use the default home schedule?