Digit wrote:Hi Jelle,
The docs I read are a bit "blurry" to me, in a way that I will only know if "without Portal" will work is when I see it for myself
It's all commercial talk... commercial = blurry
And what do you mean with "isn't as widely adjustable as the FHT stuff"?
I think you mean that FHT has features MAX! doesn't have; which?
Yeah, I'm missing the KEY feature you need to make it a good product: a device that switches on/off your central heating system.
Overview of MAX! devices on sale:
elv.de/MAX!-Funk-Heizungsregler-System/ ... tail2_1872
It's got a room on/off switch, a lan gateway, a radiator valve and a window sensor.
So the radiator valve is a smart system keeping track of the temperature and is coupled with a windows sensor and a room switch. So you can:
1. manually switch off the valve when you leave the room. (or turn it on on entering)
2. it'll get triggered by a window sensor, preventing the valve to be opened when a window is open.
3. only opens up when the temperature setting indicated additional heating is required.
But there's no link to turn your central heating system on / off.
the extra part of FHT
This is the part where the FHT system excels in. It's also linked to a device that controls your central heating. This device works both on district/city heating and or regular central heaters. And this is where you save your money. Controlling the device that burns all the energy and money.
So MAX! might be a viable system, but I'm sceptical about it's advantages in a situation where it's dependent on central heating devices. I see it being a viable alternative for central building heating (flats/appartments) or district heating where there is no on/off switch to cut off the flow of heating into your house and you only have control of the heating through the radiator valves.
about my case
In my personal case, I have district heating as well. But I have a honeywell flow-valve mounted on the primary lead into the house. That way I have control at the source of the energy cost. I have a FHT80b (thermostat) in every room. The radiators have FHT8v (radiator valves) on them and the windows are mounted with FHT80TF (open/close sensors). The honeywell flow valve is connected to a FHT8w, which has the basic function a regular thermostat has, except for the temperature measurements. It only connects the blue/red wires when required. This requirement is send by the individual FHT80b devices. So each room has the power to individually turn on / off the honeywell valve allowing heating to flow into the house.
District heating works in a star-network rather then a RING circulation network the normal central heating works. To show an example, here's a picture:
(Forget about the circulation pump part, that's a long term idea). As you can see, each radiator has it's individual pipe for the upstream of hot water and off stream for cold water. So when a radiator is shut-off, no heating is lost because there is no flow from the source to that specific radiator.
FHT and Interpret
The FHT system can be couple with a lan/internet gateway as well. Either through the ELV supplied FHZpc hardware and software solution. Or by a open source initiative which the majority of FS20/FHT users on this forums seem to embrace. It's a device called CUL or CUNO made by Busware. Software for it is made by various initiatives amongst them FHEM. And there are rumors flying by a dutch developer of a dutch domotics program got a development cuno as well.. but those haven't been officially verified.