Page 1 of 1

Heating automation hardware choice

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 11:45 am
by freshter
Hello all,

I'm taking my first steps in automation. I think a good place to start from is to automate our home heating installation.

I would like to be able to control the heating in each separate room in the house. I will need smart radiator thermostats for that. I have done some research and found the ELV or eq-3 MAX! system to be a suitable candidate because:
- it is affordable
- it can integrate with openhab (either with the MAX! cube or a CUL)

I have a few questions on this which I could not find anywhere:
- is this system stable? I read some reviews and blogs from 2011 which weren't good at all. Has it stabilized in the meantime?
- How about battery usage? I assume each radiator thermostat contains batteries. How long is the lifetime of these batteries assuming I'm using quality batteries?

You being the experienced users, do you have any arguments for using this or any other smart radiator thermostat systems? Wireless is not a requirement. You can safely assume that I can add wiring in the house. Please keep these factors in mind:
- It needs to be affordable. In the end, I want to end up saving money.
- It should integrate with openhab, or be integratable. I am not afraid of writing some code :)

Thanks for any tips!

Frederic

Heating automation hardware choice

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:34 pm
by Rene
I am using the EQ3 products (thermostats, wall thermostats and the cube) for 2 years now and it has proven to be very stable. Batteries of the thermostats last approx. 1-1,5 years, the batteries of the wall thermostats I did not have to replace yet.

Re: Heating automation hardware choice

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:40 pm
by Bwired
agree fully, i have the same setting and experience.