Plugin: AutoVirtualThermostat (AVT)

@rigpapa, what could be causing AVT to not recognize my existing thermostats as the heating/cooling devices?

AVT doesn’t control thermostats. It controls switches. It’s not meant to be an overriding controller for other thermostat devices, it’s meant to create a virtual heating/cooling system from itself, at least one termperature sensor, and a switch-controlled heating and/or cooling device.

well, that explains it… ok then, back to tinkering with reactor to control my thermostats. As always, a big thank you!

I have from time to time problems with AVT not switching off devices. After the room has reached the setpoint temperature, AVT goes idle, but doesn’t turn off the switches. It is nice to have a warm bathroom, but it can get to hot…

This only happens from time to time. And mostly in the bathroom. I have an AVT setup in the hallway as well, and this is mostly OK.

Any idea to what causes this?

Usually mesh/device communication failure.

Hmm, strange. I don’t get any notification that the device is not longer connected. If I manually turn the plug off/on, it works as normal again and AVT then turns the plug off as it is supposed to (if the temperature is to high).

Dear rigapapa!

I’ve been using the ATV for a couple of days, but I really like it!

I noticed this morning that one of my AVT thermostats had switched arbitrarily from “auto” mode to off mode.

  • What could be the reason for this?

  • The other problem is that I can’t integrate into imperihome because if I type the url you specified in the local api base url ("http: // your-vera-ip / port_3480 / data_request? Id = lr_AutoVirtualThermostat & action = ISS ") then I imperihome answer:
    Unbable to connect Please check your parameters …

Unfortunately, I got stuck here. Can you help?

Thanks to:

Krisztian

Check your settings under the “My Modes” section of the Vera UI (dashboard). It is possible that the Vera set the thermostat state automatically based on the current or transitioning house mode.

Hopefully you typed it without all of the spaces you show in your post; there should be no spaces at all. The “I” in “id” (after the ?) should also not be capitalized, it should be lowercase. Make sure what comes after id= is lowercase-L, lowercase-R, underscore, and then the plugin name. Or copy-paste this and edit in place:

http://vera-ip/port_3480/data_request?id=lr_AutoVirtualThermostat&action=ISS

Second problem partially solved (bad url … sorry …)

:slight_smile:

The imperihome already recognizes the devices, I just can’t expose them to the “dashboard” for some reason.

I select the appropriate AVT device, (both can be selected from the device list in the no room) and then asks which widget I select, exits and the image is blank …

Have you ever experienced this?

No, I haven’t used ImperiHome in years, and I recall a recent discussion that it may no longer be an active project by its developer.

Can you possibly suggest an alternative to the imperihome?

Feature request! Could you please add a variable that’s populated with the eventual errormessage when it occurs?
Just to not have to check Lua log if something happens… And it could be used to send a telegram to my phone too.

I’ve seen some instances of AVT complaining about sensor timeout, when i see that the last update was only two minutes old… SensorDelay is set to 3600… wonder why?

I still use Imperihome, and it still works well. I’ve connected it to OpenLuup, and get the AVT’s without the ISS link, and it works flawlessly. I used the ISS link from vera for years without problems, do you have the latest (and last) imperihome version?

Thank you for your response.

The situation has changed a bit.
I switched to openluup and now I’m stuck here.
I can’t connect to openluup with imperihome.
Can you help me with this?

Or maybe you can recommend something better instead of imperial?
If I heard correctly, there is no support behind the imperial …
… and I think it’s a very good control app.

Haven’t found a good one yet, let me know if you do. Imperihome works just fine, so as long as you don’t need support… :wink:

have a look here, and the linked github.

Well, found this plugin by checking out toggledbits website :wink: I was going to code some logic myself with Reactor, but this may save me some time. Looks like support for auto changeover between cooling/heating is supported. How about, dual heating systems? I have liquid propane heat and minisplits. Of course, the minisplits for heat generation are maybe more economical down to 40F or so? So would think that perhaps there would be the ability to implement a heating source changeover at a set temperature (ambient) whether this is referenced via a physical sensor or an external temperature plugin. So yeah, any thoughts on being able to use AVT natively or perhaps with a combination of Reactor, for controlling a mix of heating sources / cooling sources?

I think there have been talks about this with AVT before, or the similar “stage 1 and stage 2 heating” function. I think it ends up being so easy to implement with reactor that it’s not a priority to implement in AVT?
I use a virtual switch as “heating device”, and a reactor that decides what heater to use when that switch is engaged. I base the selection on inside/outside temperature and time of year, which seems to be what you want too?

Yeah, thinking that is the route I may end up going. Fixed a few pending system issues with the Vera, so now I can go back to working on some Reactor logic.

Hey RigPapa and all :slight_smile:
Firstly AVT is great and another donation will be coming. I’ve spent a ‘little’ time creating a secondary heating logic control with Reactor and 10+ AVTs and one Reactor (migrating from PLEG). As for the environment, currently i’m running in monitor mode as in the only action not performed is actual boiler control yet (i have so far set up links between my TRVs modes and temp to get the current temp and reflect setpoint into into the AVTs (This was needed so that manual TRV control updates the AVTs), and also to indicate certain status into a ‘multiswitch’ dashboard. The dashboard has things like what radiator is demanding heat, which is based on AVT status and also modestatus being HeatOn on each TRV. It also shows if CH and/or HW are on and i’ve created a master switch that all conditions rely on too, for times like radiator servicing/change etc. The TRVs are flir and only report when needed, so had to widen the safety checks to prevent AVTs becoming ineligible.
So far, the virtual actions and indicators closely match what I have setup in PLEG, with the added benefit of the deadbands in AVT to prevent short cycling and also a condition to keep demand for heat (boiler on) for 5 minutes after all AVTs go off (again to prevent short cycling if one AVT goes into HeatOn just after another goes into deadband).

So, here is the question. In PLEG I have some simpler conditions like (P_Zone2_Temp > (P_TRV2_Setpoint -1.2)) OR P_TRV2_Mode eq “Off”
This in the background stops call for heat (boiler on demand) from a TRV when the temperature is actually slightly lower than setpoint. This is because the TRVs (Eurotronic/Aeotec Spirit) close gradually more and more when near setpoint. Great in theory but can actually result in a large room on cold day that the valve isn’t open enough to get completely to setpoint in a timely manner. Firing the boiler for a long time and never turning off. The 1.2 degree offset in PLEG avoids that happening. I can hide that difference by adjusting offset in the TRV parameters if I wanted (but just actually know its a thing so realise 21 displayed is really 20 true).

Is there a way to set an offset like this in AVT? i.e. so simply it operates HeatOn/Deadband etc at a slightly different temperature to the displayed setpoint?
Or does it already have magic so that exact or over setpoint and temp match aren’t necessary for attained temperature to make AVT go into deadband/idle?

If I leave as is and the TRV (where avt gets its currenttemp from) must get to exactly setpoint, I could have valves nearly closed making that an issue as above.

I know this is a long post but wanted to be clear of the question and why :slight_smile:
Edit to add screenshot of layout.