Nest thermostat

[circatee]

Over the past few weeks, the missus and I have been working on a few home projects. Phillips Hue lighting has been completed, next up was Nest thermostats. Yesterday we installed Nest thermostats downstairs and upstairs.

Do you have them installed and if so, any tips?
Thanks

 

[circatee]

...anyone added technology to their home?

 

[aristobrat]

Ecobee here. I've seen folks with Ecobees and folks with Nests posting in other threads here on MacRumors (usually comparing the two products). Hopefully the Nest folks will see this one and join in!

 

[chuyn]

What kind of tips are you looking for though? I don't mean that in any rude way, but just curious what type of info you're wanting to hear?

 

[noisycats]

Hue, nest, and Alexa here. Nest works great with Alexa, the Hue bridge? Works about 70% of the time. But I have a first generation bridge, likes to disconnect a lot.

 

[chabig]

I had a Nest. It broke two weeks ago...was running the air conditioning 24/day and it and the furnace were fighting each other. I took advantage of this to install an Ecobee. Wow! I think it's far nicer than the Nest because of the separate sensors that can control temperature based on where people are in the home. And I wasn't happy that Google bought Nest anyway. That is no longer a concern of mine.

 

[circatee]

I think the learning side of it.
I've installed it, and THINK I have it set right, and thus believe it is working as expected. Thus was curious of tips and things to be aware of.

Thus far I think I've figure out:
- black/grey screen means the heat pump is off
- blue screen means Nest is on, and trying to reach X temperature for air conditioning
- red screen means Nest is on, and trying to reach X temperature for heat.

Also, I'm so used to the old school mentality of a schedule, thus knowing when my unit was on.
With Nest, it creates a schedule for you, no?
Agreed, or?

What kind of tips are you looking for though? I don't mean that in any rude way, but just curious what type of info you're wanting to hear?

 

[chabig]

Yes that's right.

 

[chuyn]

I think the learning side of it.
I've installed it, and THINK I have it set right, and thus believe it is working as expected. Thus was curious of tips and things to be aware of.

Thus far I think I've figure out:
- black/grey screen means the heat pump is off
- blue screen means Nest is on, and trying to reach X temperature for air conditioning
- red screen means Nest is on, and trying to reach X temperature for heat.

Also, I'm so used to the old school mentality of a schedule, thus knowing when my unit was on.
With Nest, it creates a schedule for you, no?
Agreed, or?

Yes, you just adjust the temp day to day and it'll learn your habits and begin to build a schedule for you. You can still make your own schedule though, or remove adjustments it may have added but you don't like.
Under the nest sense menu you can toggle some extra settings like "cool to dry" or "airwave" as well.

You also mentioned you have Hues.. you can link them to the Nest as well. When they're linked, if you have Nest Protects, your lights will flash amber or red depending on the alerts. They can also be controlled by the thermostat being in away mode too. When it switches to auto-away, the lights will turn off, but they will also turn on and off randomly while you're gone to make it look like you're home.

 

[circatee]

Brilliant info, thanks.

I've not started to use the 'Away' option yet.

Why?

It seems this is connected to the GPS on one's mobile (I'm using an iPhone 7 Plus). The issue is, the Nest app is on my iPhone, as well as my wife's iPhone. So, if I left the house first, the system might set itself to away, while my missus is still home.

It would be interesting to hear how others are using the 'Away' option(s).

Yes, you just adjust the temp day to day and it'll learn your habits and begin to build a schedule for you. You can still make your own schedule though, or remove adjustments it may have added but you don't like.
Under the nest sense menu you can toggle some extra settings like "cool to dry" or "airwave" as well.

You also mentioned you have Hues.. you can link them to the Nest as well. When they're linked, if you have Nest Protects, your lights will flash amber or red depending on the alerts. They can also be controlled by the thermostat being in away mode too. When it switches to auto-away, the lights will turn off, but they will also turn on and off randomly while you're gone to make it look like you're home.

 

[chuyn]

Brilliant info, thanks.

I've not started to use the 'Away' option yet.

Why?

It seems this is connected to the GPS on one's mobile (I'm using an iPhone 7 Plus). The issue is, the Nest app is on my iPhone, as well as my wife's iPhone. So, if I left the house first, the system might set itself to away, while my missus is still home.

It would be interesting to hear how others are using the 'Away' option(s).

Have your wife set up her own Nest account. This is a newer feature for them.. you can invite her to your "family" after she has her own account and Nest will then track both of your phones. So if you're out and she's home, it doesn't go into "away". If you're both out, it'll go into "away" and switch back to "home" whenever one of you gets home. This is how my wife and I are using it.

 

[circatee]

Separate Nest accounts have been setup, thus we'll test the 'Home or Away' features, tomorrow and this weekend.

Another question, one still has to change between Air conditioning and Heat, no? That part isn't automated, correct?
Thanks in advance

 

[chuyn]

No, there should be a "heat & cool" mode in addition to the heat only and cool only.

 

[anzio]

Separate Nest accounts have been setup, thus we'll test the 'Home or Away' features, tomorrow and this weekend.

Another question, one still has to change between Air conditioning and Heat, no? That part isn't automated, correct?
Thanks in advance

As chuyn mentioned, you should be able to set up a range for Heat & Cool. We manually control ours (probably best blamed on force of habit)

 

[circatee]

THANKS! Clearly I just need to 'play' with the unit(s)...

 

[chuyn]

It's all good. We switch ours around, mainly for ease of adjustment or habit. Spring/fall it goes into heat/cool mode. Summer is cool only, and winter is heat only. Ease of use being that you just turn the dial in heat or cool. But in heat and cool mode, you have to first select the heat or cook point, then press in, then adjust the temp. Very minor, but still an extra step.

 

[circatee]

An hour and a half after leaving the house, I checked the app, and the units didn't go to 'Away' mode. Checking the settings again now. Maybe I missed something...

 

[steve knight]

Brilliant info, thanks.

I've not started to use the 'Away' option yet.

Why?

It seems this is connected to the GPS on one's mobile (I'm using an iPhone 7 Plus). The issue is, the Nest app is on my iPhone, as well as my wife's iPhone. So, if I left the house first, the system might set itself to away, while my missus is still home.

It would be interesting to hear how others are using the 'Away' option(s).

There are several apps we use skylark to turn nest on and off it keeps track of all people.

 

[steve knight]

An hour and a half after leaving the house, I checked the app, and the units didn't go to 'Away' mode. Checking the settings again now. Maybe I missed something...

It takes nest awhile to learn when you are gone and all. I use skylark it works great to turn nest on and off when you leave and arrive. Even when nest figures you out it takes a while to know when you leave.

 

[chuyn]

An hour and a half after leaving the house, I checked the app, and the units didn't go to 'Away' mode. Checking the settings again now. Maybe I missed something...

From what I've read from Nest's support twitter and documents.. people have been seeing the same issue. Nest's support claims that if you have the thermostat's sensors being used for auto-away as well as tracking the phones, it can take a while for it to figure out that you're away. But they claim that if you only use the phone's locations and not the Nest's sensors, it should go into auto-away pretty quickly. Can give that a shot if you want