Questions about setting up Tado
Thinking of changing my heating system to Tado and I have a couple of queries...
I have a Vaillant EcoTec Pro which I have found out uses Ebus and therefore only V3+ is compatible. Are there any downsides to using V3+ in 2024/2025 and going forward?
Another issue I potentially have is that my boiler is located in the basement. I plan to have a smart thermostat in my living room to control the temperature on the ground floor (all underfloor heating) and then smart TVRs in the bedrooms upstairs which have radiators (at least to start with, will probably expand to other rooms in the future). Will the signal from the basement reach the top floor bedrooms? The bridge connection will likely connect to my router from the basement (I have a wired network in most rooms). I have strong WiFi in all rooms but I guess Tado uses it's own wireless connection?
Comments
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My limited experience with Tado V3+ and large homes (we have a 280 sq m house with 60cm external & internal 60cm stone walls, floors separated by a concrete first floor). To reach all your desired areas, the dongle (bridge) needs to be as centrally high as possible to get the best coverage; otherwise you frequently lose stuff & the V3+ Radiator Thermostats eat batteries. Also positioning it facing upwards seemed to help (we had it connected to our Ubiquiti Unifi network using Netgear paired sockets (that way you got the required power & internet connection). The Tado V3+ has many more features than Tado X. Looked fugly though, so we have installed the Tado X Matter/Thread group. A few niggles to get it working, seems rock solid now; but then we have a good Matter Border Router/Thread net that covers our house with decent redundancy.
Before you take the plunge, my advice would be to install the Tado Pro app that will confirm whether your boiler is suitable and also indicate where you need to connect your receiver. If you have any further questions then by all means talk to the ChatBot team but take their answers with a pinch of salt.
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I have similar setup to yours. Three-storey building with UFH on ground floor and radiators on 1st and 2nd floor.
If I'm not mistaken all devices communicate through internet bridge, so as long as it's placed on middle level you should be fine. To be 100% sure, when your order arrives, just test the range before installing. Worst case scenario you'll return it.1 -
The dongle (or Tado Internet Bridge) is responsible for communicating between the various radiator valves and the V3+ receiver that you wire to your boiler. Because of the relatively small footprint, you need height to cover sq m. We ran it for some years, but found that we were always having to swap out the various V3+ Radiator Sensors batteries on the edge of our property (27m x 7m x 7m, not including dry cellars) because they were constantly having to shake hands (after loss of signal) with the Tado Internet Bridge.
If your property is smaller than ours, without numerous 60cm stone walls, you may be fine. I just didn’t want to “soft soap” you 😎 into going for the older, but more refined user experience, versus the relatively immature, but more resiliant (for larger houses), Tado X.; or, reading your issue with your boiler, another solution.
Horses 4 courses comes to mind
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V3's Achilles' heel is the system's very low RF power. It took me quite a while to find the best location for the bridge and there are still a couple of rooms from which the TRVs can't operate. In addition I had to extend the cable to the wireless receiver to bring it near the bridge rather than having it in the position previously occupied by the old programmer.
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Only a thought … have Valliant a workaround to comply with current EU regulation on emission controls. Several countries within the EU are, I believe, twisting the arms of manufacturers to help the consumer reduce their footprint. Perhaps your Valliant is too old but worth an email to them.
Explain the requirements for Tado X, see what they say; there may be a module to plug in (probably not free 😂)
kr,
Vern
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