I’m assuming the green lines are the ones energized??
[And from this screenshot, it shows to me that stage 2 is running on heat, which is accurate from that timestamp]
But that display seems to always be showing a state from some time ago or sometimes even completely bogus info. (even if I click the button to get current values).
Lastly, is there a report or activity log somewhere that I could see all the calls for heat and cooling, to see timestamps of when the stat called for each of the stages?
I believe the screen should display EMER next to the heating icon when additional stages are engaged if it is configured as a heat pump, but for a normal HVAC I don’t believe there is a visual indicator, I am double checking with ADC.
Regarding a report, there is only the monthly heating and cooling report at this time, which shows total and average runtime info. It is not granular like you are describing. I’ve heard a similar request before and we have requested daily reporting from ADC. I sent them another message about that today to see if we can boost the volume of that feature request.
Looking at your settings there are a couple ways to potentially reduce the frequency of second stage heat calls, using a longer Staging Delay setting, and potentially adding an overshoot.
Do you use any remote temperature sensors to average the current temperature reading? Are any of them in a particularly cold or drafty spot? Try removing those from the equation and see if the thermostat alone behaves the same.
I tweaked my settings this morning (just as I posted this originally) to make the temp differential 4 degrees, and staging delays 15 mins. Already it seems much better. I left overshoot at 0 and swing at 1 for now.
Yes, we have a few, and depending on the mode certain are in the avg temp calculation at a given point in time. We do have one room that is often colder than the rest which I realized is pulling the avg temp way down when the mode changes and starts to include that sensor in the average. I will monitor this and may need to adjust the temp differential a little more and/or make another change later.
I’ll keep an eye on it, but for now I did confirm it is working as expected (I monitored a few runs today and when they hit the 15 min mark, stage 2 kicked in as expected, along with many runs that were shorter and stage 1 only. So I think I’m on the right track.
I think I found the trick to seeing this… I have to click “Get Current Values”, wait a minute or so, then go back to Home, then back into the TStat and click the reload icon.
After the flashing stops I have a more current and accurate wiring status (so I can see the active stages).
Thanks for your help, and thanks for asking ADC about the reporting. It is a nice report to see (stage usage over time) - which I remember the Ecobee used to have and I think my Honeywell did too IIRC.
It might not have that indicator unless it is using a backup heat source.
Heat pump systems will typically have a 2nd heat source for when temperatures get too cold or the unit begins falling behind. The backup heat source is sometimes referred to as the emergency heat or auxiliary heat and is usually either electric heating elements or a gas furance.
If you have a heat pump system where the outdoor unit has 2 or more stages, then it likely won’t show up on the thermostat as emergency or auxiliary heat until the system is using the 2nd heat source.
Thanks… it is not a heat pump. It is 2 stage gas forced hot air furnace. Stage 1 is lower gas pressure and lower blower speed, stage 2 is gas valve at full capacity and higher blower speed.
So, in my case there is no “aux” or “emergency” heat source. I found I can see the W2 line activating in Advanced Settings but it is hard to get to and refresh the status. It just would be nice to get reports on the stage usage.
On a related note: I saw a commercial on YouTube for Alarm.com (it was 2 years old), and they say how they were an analytics company at the start and prided themselves on data analysis. Based on that I’m therefore surprised this data isn’t available, and also how poor the reports are in the system. There is a mountain of data about my home and habits in alarm.com - it would be nice to be able to get some of that data out to analyze… but that is a different discussion for a different time.
There is a mountain of data about my home and habits in alarm.com - it would be nice to be able to get some of that data out to analyze… but that is a different discussion for a different time.
Agreed, if you find there is data you are looking for, let us know the use case and we can forward requests to Alarm.com. I can’t guarantee what would get priority there, but we can try to get eyes on requests for use cases like daily tstat reports.
