ADC t3000 and vent setup on terminal Z2

Has anyone successfully set up a Venting option like ERV or HRV on T3000. I have not had any success with it. I actually think that there is firmware issue with thermostat since is acting extremely erratically. I have talked to my Building 36 tech support and my sales rep and he claims that is working. I have tested this with multiple thermostats and every time has not worked right. It has not followed setup settings and if it does turn on id dose it all over the place.

When going through the setup process in Alarm.com with Z2 connected, are you given the option to choose the function for V: Ventilation (HRV, VRV, air baffle)?

By default, the tstat should operate the ventilation for 15 minutes every hour unless you make adjustments in the Advanced Settings tab.

Which panel is the TSTAT connected to? Has this been the same with multiple TSTATS and different panel types too?

Hey Tyler, This been check and verified on two different iq2+ and check between all three of my thermostat. My setting originally were 24hr for vent with 35% duty cycle and 0hr for lock out option. when it was set like that it will come on whenever it want it to for few min and turn its self off. Then B36 tech support told me to activate lock out for remaining of the time that system is not active and that made that terminal never turning on / activating. Then They told me to set it to not more then 3hr that did not do anything. It looks like there is something wrong with thermostat firmware that is causing weird behavior. I’m on 1.3 for my thermostat firmware. I was hoping that you guys actually have a setup that can be tested. I’m hitting dead end with this. It suck because I want one thermostat controlling all my HVAC accessories, now I will have to go back to installing Vent control. can I contact you guys over the phone ? I can explain entire situation in greater detail

Our support is provided entirely on the web and email. But we’ll definitely do our best to work through it with you. We have T3000 thermostats for testing but we don’t have HVAC test setups to connect them to. We rely on Alarm.com to help us with advanced HVAC issues.

Ok great, I will try to describe this as best as i can. I have 3 of ADC-T3000 and I have check all three. All three thermostat act exactly the same. (Safe to assume that is not hardware issue)

All three thermostat versions are as follow:
MFW:1.30
RFW:1.30
ZFW:1.30
HW:08

Thermostat Z2 terminal is set for vent. Thermostat is connected to RenewAire ERV that has dry contact terminal to activate equipment, same configuration as humidifier or dehumidifier that I also have and thermostat have no problem controlling,

In thermostat menu “advanced” tab there are 4 settings for vent:

Ventilation Option: I have it set to “always”
Ventilation Period: I have it set to 24hr - I have also try 1hr and others.
Ventilation Duty cycle: I have it set to 35% - I have try other settings
Ventilation override lock out: I have it set to default 12hr - I have try others and have successfully activate vent but it has not executed other settings correctly.

Meaning when I try setting it to 1hr @ 20% and 1 HR lock out. Vent should activate for 12 min out of that hour. but vent will activate for about 2 min and turn it self off.

Now let’s go to the setting that I want ERV to really work as manufacture of ERV recommend. They want you to vent 4000 sq ft home at 200 CFM for 8HR preferably at night when humidity is lower and no direct sunlight is present.

So I would set that to 24HR vent time and 35% of duty cycle. that gives us roughly 8hr. if I set lock out to 0HR. ERV will activate shortly after i send new configuration and it will run for about 4 to 5 min and turns it self off. (should run for 8hr) If i set lock out to 12 or 24 hr nothing happen ERV never activates. There has to be firmware issue and some kind of problem with how thermostat activate that terminal. Like I said I have three thermostats and have not got any of them working correct. Other brand thermostats have no problem with this settings as they are actually basic timer that thermostat runs. Extremely simple configuration as we don’t have advanced options on this one as others. Meaning activation lock out by temperature or humidity.

Please let me know what else you would like me to provide. I would love to have one thermostat control all my accessories. That was the reason I change all 3 ot my T2000 to T3000.

Screenshot of thermostat firmware and Advanced configuration tab in ADC attached

I don’t have that exact setup to test, so I have pushed this to ADC to get their take on it.

If you let it run for a while, when using the 24 hour vent time and 35% duty cycle, does it restart after about 9-10 minutes for another 4-5? Or does it just kick on once and never again?

So it will start up after setting are received by thermostat and it will run for few min not hours and turn off. I did see it at time coming on again for few min. it only dose it when lock out is set to 0. if default setting (12HR) is use it will never turn on. Easy way to test was with 1hr setup and it still did not do what it was set for.

Do you have a relay you can wire to thermostat you guys have at the office. That would be the easy way to test for you guys with out any HVAC equipment.

I’m able to test a T3000, however without a thermostat with your exact firmware at hand it won’t be a very definitive test. Alarm.com is able to test and look into this issue (and frankly will need to) in order to resolve.

I am curious exactly how your device acts if you get rid of the lock out.

I am wondering if it is following a 35% duty cycle on the wrong Ventilation Period.

Are you ever seeing any Isolation Relay error messages on your T3000 screen?

No relay errors. When lock out is turn off it turns on and off here and there no specific time or schedule. just little here and little there.

I have made few changes for testing purposes today when i got home and observe pretty interesting behavior.

New settings in advanced tab of thermostat:
ventilation period: 1HR
ventilation duty cycle:20%
Ventilation override lock out: 0HR.

So simple match is 12min on and 48min off

Well this is what we got when I stood in front of my erv for about 8 to 10 min and this is the behavior exactly:

off 23sec
on 1 min 10sec
off 41 sec
on 28sec
off 1min 09 sec
on 1min 10sec
off 1min 09sec
on 1min 09 sec
off 1min 10 sec
and on it goes

Then I went ahead and change ventilation lock out to default setting of 12hr

And repeat stood in front of the ERV for over 13min and vent has not been activated at all. I’m going to disable vent function completely in advanced setting as is not usable at all right now.

If you guys can get alarm.com involve and see that they can do, there is definitely a problem with it as is now.

Today is getting late but tomorrow I will try setting lock out to 1HR and with same setting and see if that changes anything.

Alright, that is good data for ADC to test against.

Also I am going to go out on a limb and guess that unless there is a major software error, there may be a power issue at play here.

It is interesting that it ended up basically running 50% of the time after a few minutes.

Alarm.com is still looking into this issue. We will follow up as soon as we have any details! I’ll try testing the Z-terminal on another T3000.

Jason I tough about power issue as well, but I also have dehumidifier and humidifier wire same way and i never notice a problem with those. I think there is a timer and precondition issues in software or firmware for algorithm that ventilation. I will also test more tonight with setting lock out to 1.0hr and other configuration staying exactly the same. will post results.

Alright, so it sounds like what is being attempted is not actually supported behavior from the T3000. From ADC:

Our best recommendation to address this behavior is to:
A) Set the ventilation period to a value lower than that of the override lockout
B) Set the ventilation period to be less than three hours.

Anything outside of those recommended guidelines is not something our thermostat can accommodate at this time. We are happy to submit an enhancement request, however, we cannot quote a time frame as to when we would implement such an enhancement.

Jason,

ok let me get that straight then. if i set my vent time to 1 hr that is set now. what my override lock out be set to 2hr? I can try this tonight.

So setting are there and ADC never tested. how come they allowed setting it up to 24 hr if thermostat is not supporting that. It was advertise to support ventilation. Or they know about the problem and trying to save face now with this weird setting.

I will try this settings tonight. Jason what do you want me exactly to set it to so i can test and report back. I dont think it will work but i will try and report back

I’m not 100% on this myself. This response from support suggests things I don’t see in documentation, but it wouldn’t be the first time that a new device had an interaction that wasn’t explicitly laid out.

I would definitely try testing based on what they suggested to see if it works as expected then.

Yes, per what they are suggesting, try setting the Period to 1 hour, the lock out to 2 hours, and the duty cycle to 25% and anticipate a 15 minute interval I would expect.

Jason, I will test today or tomorrow. I love how they state that thermostat dose not support that and it would be an enhancement. How about owning up to your mistake and just fix it. Got to love ADC. Setting are there and manual states that you can set it to any designated ventilation setting with in 24hr.

I let you know after testing. I wonder what they going to say if settings they recommend will fail.

@jwcsurety So i arrive at home and setup thermostat per ADC recommendations:
vent period 1:00 hr
vent duty cycle: 25%
ventilation override lockout:2:00 hr

send commands to thermostat and start camping out in front my ERV. after about 2 min ERV turn on ran for about 1min and it turns itself off. I have been sitting in front of it for about 10min now and it never turn back on.

As one of the advertising options on T3000, a vent option that ADC supports dose not work at all to any standards. It’s garbage and completely broken. Jason please report to ADC and tell them that we did everything they told us to do and non of their recommendation work. It is simply not working. Maybe is new 1.30 firmware I’m not sure. I can’t wait to hear their response now.

Edit: after about an hour ERV turn on for only 3min and turn it self off.

I appreciate you testing further and verifying the issue persists. It will definitely help in pushing the issue to the product dev team.

Based on the numbers you are reporting, I am not seeing a pattern at all, which is frustrating, and it really strikes me as a power or physical issue. I would expect a pattern of some kind if it was a software bug, but that is of course not a guarantee.

So I can provide it, what is the model number of the RenewAire ERV?

@jwcsurety model number of erv is EV300 not sure if this would matter but thermostat actually is controlling a relay that activates ERV. same relay that both of my humidifier and dehumidifier use. wire exactly the same. no problems with humidifier or dehumidifier.

I did spend some more time in my basement and notice that erv did turn on again for 3min after another hour. So i think its coming on for 3min every hour> i will try looking over the weekend to see if it dose. that would give us a pattern. Still not doing what it should.

Can you provide the model of relay and a photo of it ?