Z-wave with easy manual controller

[Snelvuur]

So...

I got these nice danfoss thermostats. Problem is the WAF factor is very low. So low i have to look for something else.

Here is the problem, my wife comes in the room and wants to quickly change the thermostat (on the radiator) to either lower or warmer. Thing is that most have a little lcd display and/or small buttons which makes it hard to read out the display if your radiator is placed in a odd way. (perhaps a couch in front of it or whatever, but you get the idea) reading from the screen is by far ideal then. Danfoss is reading from the front, where as the german thermostats that i had where readin from the top.

So i am looking for: a z-wave enabled thermostat for radiators that still have that simple "turn to change the temperature" effect.

Added bonus would be that when temperature drops quickly, it should not start heating (some of these have it, also the new netatmo one that is coming has that) but no News on how to change manually.

Any suggestions?

[martinisoft]

Do you have powersockets nearby the radiator knobs?
If so you could use a zwave based "tussenstekker" and power a thermal or meganic motor with it.
The right model would fit on your existing valve and could replace your existing danfoss thermostats.
The temerature could be controlled by placing a Secure (or Horstmann) SRT321 in every room and add an association on group 2 to it for the "tussenstekkers" in that room.
Pro's:
- Temp contol by zwave manual.
- Manual contol very easy with a big wheel on the SRT321.
- Thermostat is not influenced by the direct radiation heat comming from the radiator.

My zone heating system is build like this, the only difference is that I don't have radiators but only underfloor heating, so am not using "tussenstekkers" but Build a Duwi zwave switch for every zone in a single electric box and placed it next to the underfloor heating distributer.
I am using 230v thermal motors from Watts Industries to open/close the valves. They have models available with a potential free feedback contact that you could use to switch the contact on your CV Kettle. I added one of those per zone to be able to switch on/off the underfloor heating pump.

When my controller (Homeseer) wants to change the temp it controls the themostat who in turn controls the Duwi module by association. Therefor manual control will still function even when my controller is down. This all works really well...

Kind regards,

Martijn.

[Snelvuur]

Power sockets near the radiator knobs is just not done. I can't sell that to the misses. In theory the living and kitchen i could just use only floor heating. It is only the second floor where all the bedrooms are that needs more heating with radiators. Need to look a bit further i presume, at some point in time they must come

Something like this: https://www.tado.com/nl/producten/slimme-radiatorknop but then with z-wave.. easy to see, easy to turn.

[Bwired]

those look very nice indeed!

[martinisoft]

Not sure how reliable this is since I don't have experience with it, but would the ELV Max! stuff be an option for you?

Or an other option...
What is the minimum wakeup interval you can configure in your Danfoss knobs without draining the battery to fast?
When this time is relatively short you could use the Secure SRT 321 and only connect it to your controller (no associations to the Danfoss).
When the setpoint is changed on de SRT 321 this is instantly changed in your controller. You could then use an event or script to change the setpoint of the Danfoss to the value of the Secure SRT 321 everytime it wakes up.
This way you would have the Pro's of having an easy way of reading and controlling the temp, without having to replace your Danfoss Knobs.

Actually you could use anything that is able to tell the desired setpoint to the controller so it can pass it on to the Danfoss, I think a Everspring ST814 would also do.
Telling your family to use their smartphone to change the setpoint is not an option I presume? You could go this route without any extra costs.

[Snelvuur]

I actually had those ELV Max things, i sold them because they where very very unreliable. My house is filled with "gewapend beton" like super duper concrete. Z-wave works because it can do multiple hops, ELV also had issues with that. Also, its just not that finished or connected as the other things that are out there. For the people that have them and they work, great.. but for me they did not.