Launch a range extender or upgrade to mesh network
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I've found and been testing a competitive product which out performs Tado with the functionality I need for gelocation, frost protection, multi zone support, tailored scheduling, weather adaptation and provides an extender.
@mikeburnell Can you let me know which product this is? I've given up on Tado too and am going to change to a different setup.
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@joead @mikeburnell, I would also like to know which product you have chosen to replace Tado with.0
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@mikeburnell Yes - is it wiser for me to consider an alternative?0
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I too have had the same issue for years and have patiently waited for a solution to be provided. I imagine most people would willingly pay for a repeater. Tado just don't listen or respond to the needs of their customers. If they aren't willing to provide a solution then they should offer a buy back scheme so we can invest into a manufacturer that offers a solution that actually works.4
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I know the general oppionion here is that Tado is awfull. But i was/am considering buying it for my house. but reading this i'm getting quite worried. How long ranges are we talking about units are loosing connection at?
My house is from 73, and internally it's primarily lighter walls, but it's 24 meters long, but i would be able to place the reciever in the middle of the house.
Any input at what ranges the problems arise? Also, some are saying that there are good alternatives, but i havent identified them?
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@fobber_256 Honestly, if I knew what I do now about Tado I would never have invested a lot of money in their system.
Shame really as they had promise once upon a time.
But now their many, many hardware shortcomings, glacial rate of software improvements, and until very recently a total ignoring of this community forum by Tado has put me right off them.
Am currently testing Drayton Wiser as an alternative and so far seems ok, and yes THEY HAVE A RANGE EXTENDER!
Tado think their kit is super well designed. Not sure about anyone else but to me good industrial design isnt making a radiator valve that can’t fit rechargeable AA batteries because the tolerances are way too small. Good networking design is not limiting yourself by very poor hardware and software implementation choices. Good app ux design….well I’m not even going to go there.2 -
Check to see if tado still offers the full refund within 12 months. If it does I say give it a try. Combined with IFTTT it was very useful (even if I think the interface is a pants).
If it works, enjoy. If not then you'll know what features you liked/didn't when you go on the prowl for the next one. If you've got money to burn, schneider used to do a system to die for but it was around 4x the price of what it cost me to kit out the house with tado (and tado was in the 4 figures).
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@fobber_256 , In my setup I have some valves failing to connect within the 10m range. It’s time consuming and frustrating to get them all connected, and eventually find them dropping connection within days.
People here aren’t complaining for the lack of random exotic features, but really for the core functionality not working stable.
The Tado-company doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, or is incompetent. Either way, the problems were never really acknowledged.3 -
As well as Drayton Wiser, Hive now also have a range extender that doubles as a smart plug. Their light bulbs also act as range extenders.
Tado really is falling behind the competition now. Little surprise really.2 -
I would never use Hive again, the TRVs are an absolute disaster. They call for heat and fire the boiler but then open very very slowly wasting a great deal of energy. Yes Hive does have a range extender and the room stat. and hub are fine, but be warned and have a look here https://community.hivehome.com/s/question/0D50J00005fBS8o/trv-update?s1oid=00D20000000njW3&s1nid=0DB0J0000004DKM&emkind=chatterCommentNotification&s1uid=0055I0000026cyz&emtm=1633705205221&fromEmail=1&s1ext=0 before taking the plunge . . .
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Figured I’d come back here now that heating season is starting again. I don’t want to jinx myself, but after restarting all my TRVs (12) and room thermostat a few weeks ago, I’ve had excellent (apparently) connectivity to all TRVs. Better than ever before really. I don’t want to jinx myself, but as someone that had constant connection issues (posted here often last year) and went round in circles with the support staff, I was ready to disconnect it all and go back to my manual system. Whatever the update pushed back a few months ago did, it has so far worked for me.
I still use Homebridge for my HomeKit setup as tado’s is probably still trash (HomeKit-issued commands can’t be cancelled at the next time block). Nothing else in my setup has changed except for some firmware updates on my Ubiquity router. No new RF-emitting devices, Bridge exactly where it’s always been.
Knowing my luck though, it’ll probably stop connecting the moment I send this comment…
Edit: Just received email and push notification of low battery in one of the TRVs. tado seems to actually be working as intended for once! Hope you others find a solution with your more difficult houses/layouts.2 -
I just bought a new house and was looking to buy Tado again. It's a pretty big brick/concrete house, which will take a bridge, 2 thermostats and 15 TRVs to control. After reading this thread, I lost faith in Tado completely. I was already unhappy after the child lock that took an eternity to develop. By the time the feature was released, I didn't need it anymore because by then my child was 2 years old and stopped messing with the TRVs. Other than that, the system always worked well in my previous house.
I have no faith that Tado will resolve connectivity issues in a timely matter. I would gladly pay extra money for an additional bridge to use as range extender if that results in a reliable system. What's 50 euros more in a system that already totals over 1000 euros? It's only too bad that Tado doesn't even give its customers the option to solve their problem by spending some more money.
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Solved - as a last resort for my one TRV with connection issues, I bought the best batteries available. Energizer Ultimate Lithium and the problem is gone, connectivity is perfect.
Tado TRVs seem sensitive to battery quality. I tested 1.2v NiMH rechargeable batteries and they work, but quickly fade.
Lithium batteries are what's specified by tado° and this seems to make a big difference.
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I now have a solution to the connectivity problem that involves having two internet bridges for covering two parts of our house. It means having to have two separate logins, but that just means having two different email addresses. It's basically fine, and just involves paying a bit more for the second bridge. I can't see all the devices at once, except by using my iPhone for one login, and my iPad for another. The most frustrating thing is the solution would be made perfect by a software change that allowed the user to have more than one internet bridge in the system. I honestly can't understand why this hasn't been proposed by Tado a long time ago.
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I guess there is also an issue in that only one login can call the boiler?0
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This won't be the case for all homes, but at least in my home, the current boiler wiring has multiple "call for heat" thermostats. So for me, being able to have multiple tado hubs within the app would meet my needs. Even a quicker "switch accounts" or "switch homes" style of button in the app would be enough to make the system workable for me.
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Whatever about the feasibility of a 868Mhz extender, a mesh topology would overegg the pudding, and definitely affect battery life. As battery voltage seems to be one of the main limiters on more distant TRVs, it is essential to use better batteries for the troublesome distant connections, but in normal households you can get away with Poundsaver/Eurogiant multipacks of alkaline AA. I've had great life from the Polaroid branded ones, a fraction of the cost of Duracell. One thing though, its not possible to expect rechargeables with only 1.2 Volts per cell to ever work better than Alkaline which maintain 1.5 Volts for most of their life, and would be well spent by 1.2. The Tado TRV will consider the rechargeable to be exhausted almost from the off.0
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I agree that mesh could well cause more battery issues.
However, I'm not yet convinced that battery choice will affect coverage. I suspect the high voltage is only really important in respect to the demanding work of turning the motor. However, I will have a try with a better lithium battery and see if it helps.
I never really understood the push for rechargeables. While it sounds desirable with Tado when so many batteries are used, they really only make financial sense when being recharged often, once every 9-12 months means that a decent rechargable battery will take 5+ years to pay back. There are much better applications for rechargables.
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Contrary to what @steve999 suggested above, I can't find any reference from Tado on their website about using Lithium batteries, it just mentioned Alkaline.
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@Pete
This is the only thing I could find re batteries https://support.tado.com/en/articles/3403608-what-type-of-batteries-should-i-use-in-my-tado-devices-how-do-i-replace-them
and I have noticed if I use anything less than the beefiest duracells they don't last as long and with some of the lesser ones they won't connect but the mention of lithium does ring a bell but I can't remember why.
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@Elisabeth
Me too. Anyway, I've ordered 4 energiser lithium ultimate to see if it helps my furthest room!1 -
Duracell Ultra have always worked perfectly for me
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@Elizabeth
Unfortunately, since changing the radiator stat batteries to Energiser lithium ultimate in one room, the room has lost connection briefly twice (this morning we had a cold bedroom as the outage coincided with heating switch on).
This is similar to before.
If only Tado could repurpose a spare internet bridge...
This is not rocket science.0 -
@Elisabeth damn :-(0
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I've also tried Energizer Ultimate Lithium. I must admit it improved connection to the smart radiator thermostat, and on first day thought it could have solved the problem, but not even 24 hours later had again a few drops in the connection. So it's not a solution.
Considering to drop Tado once for all. I still have half of my house with manual radiators valves to cover (due to range problems). I will look somewhere else.
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Had Tado for 1year, plug and play it is not. Long thin house with 500mm thick stone walls, so definitely challenging. Have managed after much trial and error to get an optimum bridge position, centre of house upstairs and pointing down, reaches all TRV’s and stats apart from intermittent drop out on one edge case TRV at end of house. But what I cannot get is the wireless receiver to work (what calls for heat to the boiler), it’s in same room as TRV’s that happily connect to the bridge, but whenever I pair the receiver (which it seems to do successfully) I just end up with no remote connection and all devices have no remote connection shown in app (but work from previous set schedules). I basically have to hardwire the heat on command to boiler and just run the TRV’s independently at the moment. Tech support seem no help, just keep asking me to re-pair and reset.
any ideas?
by the way wholeheartedly agree with all comments about need for extender or handling two bridges for one home in backend architecture. Let’s face it, stable and comprehensive connectivity is THE basic requirement for any IOT system. The length of time this thread has been running speaks volumes of Tado’s commitment to its customers. everyone on here has spent as a minimum +£500 on a smart heating system, it’s just not good enough Tado.
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@Elizabeth
I'm concerned that your batteries are only lasting 2 weeks with poor communication TRVs.
Some of mine communicate poorly but the batteries still last 6+ months.
I'm wondering if it is worth switching the TRV with another (closer to the bridge). 2 week battery life sounds like it might be faulty.0 -
@badfly
I had this problem.
Set zone controllers to 'independent' for ALL TRVs and stats. Then reset and pair the extension kit, then reassign the zone controllers.
This resolved it for me.1
