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HomeKit Reliable Homekit Thermostat Suggestions

W

Wingzfan61

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 1, 2012
125
110
I currently have a Honeywell Lyric T5 and after the past year and 2 homes later Ive about had enough. I get "no response" errors more than I care to discuss. Ive read quite a few complaints about the Honeywell systems and these errors so I don't think Im alone here.

Anyways, Im thinking about switching to the ecobee 4 (undecided on specific model). Do these have the same "no response" issues as Honeywells? Anyone had one for a decent amount of time with no "no response" errors?

Ive got 20 Hue lights that have never once had a "no response" error and have worked flawlessly so I don't think its anything with my network. The thermostat is 8 feet from an Asus GT5300 router so there should be zero issues maintaining a connection.

I just need a reliable HomeKit thermostat.
 
Been using the Ecobee 4 for over a year now and I can tell ya that even when my other accessories are updating or showing “no response “ the Ecobee is always available. Can’t ever recall a time my Ecobee 4 was unavailable unless my network was down. Great device.
 
Wingzfan61 said:
I currently have a Honeywell Lyric T5 and after the past year and 2 homes later Ive about had enough. I get "no response" errors more than I care to discuss. Ive read quite a few complaints about the Honeywell systems and these errors so I don't think Im alone here.

Anyways, Im thinking about switching to the ecobee 4 (undecided on specific model). Do these have the same "no response" issues as Honeywells? Anyone had one for a decent amount of time with no "no response" errors?

Ive got 20 Hue lights that have never once had a "no response" error and have worked flawlessly so I don't think its anything with my network. The thermostat is 8 feet from an Asus GT5300 router so there should be zero issues maintaining a connection.

I just need a reliable HomeKit thermostat.
Click to expand...

I have the same thermostat. It has worked reliably for the 2 years I’ve had it. I don’t think it’s the problem.
 
ipedro said:
I have the same thermostat. It has worked reliably for the 2 years I’ve had it. I don’t think it’s the problem.
Click to expand...

Sorry to say, you would be the rarity. Theres a bunch of threads on reddit with people having the same issue with the same thermostat.

Today I set a static ip up on it and it worked for 20 minutes. Now its back to “no response”. It works perfect in the honeywell app so its not losing connection.
 
ecobee works fine and even if the website or app are down, you can still make changes when you are away using HomeKit.
 
Wingzfan61 said:
I currently have a Honeywell Lyric T5 and after the past year and 2 homes later Ive about had enough. I get "no response" errors more than I care to discuss. Ive read quite a few complaints about the Honeywell systems and these errors so I don't think Im alone here.

Anyways, Im thinking about switching to the ecobee 4 (undecided on specific model). Do these have the same "no response" issues as Honeywells? Anyone had one for a decent amount of time with no "no response" errors?

Ive got 20 Hue lights that have never once had a "no response" error and have worked flawlessly so I don't think its anything with my network. The thermostat is 8 feet from an Asus GT5300 router so there should be zero issues maintaining a connection.

I just need a reliable HomeKit thermostat.
Click to expand...

I just had two new AC units installed and they came with the Honeywell Lyric T6 thermostats... I've been using them for the past 4-5 weeks and have no issues.
 
Last edited:
dwfaust said:
I just had two new AC units installed and they came with the Honeywell Lyric T5 thermostats... I've been using them for the past 4-5 weeks and have no issues.
Click to expand...

What are you using as your homekit hub?
 
Wingzfan61 said:
I just need a reliable HomeKit thermostat.
Click to expand...
Another vote for the Ecobee. I've had two Ecobee 4 thermostats for the past two years, and have been very happy with them. Ecobee's own servers can be a little unreliable, so it's a joy to always have HomeKit connectivity.
 
dwfaust said:
AppleTV 4th gen
Click to expand...

Well thats the same thing Im using so no sense in switching it out.

I talked to Honeywell support yesterday and they “acknowledge the issue and engineers are working on a resolution”. Thats the same thing they said last year. They had me assign a static ip and reset everything which fixed it for a couple hours. This morning its back to “no response” in homekit but it works fine in the Honeywell app.

I think Im just going to grab the ecobee.
 
Wingzfan61 said:
Well thats the same thing Im using so no sense in switching it out.

I talked to Honeywell support yesterday and they “acknowledge the issue and engineers are working on a resolution”. Thats the same thing they said last year. They had me assign a static ip and reset everything which fixed it for a couple hours. This morning its back to “no response” in homekit but it works fine in the Honeywell app.

I think Im just going to grab the ecobee.
Click to expand...
You might want to check your energy supplier's website. Here they offer a $100 rebate if you buy an ecobee or other smart thermostat.
 
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MacBird said:
You might want to check your energy supplier's website. Here they offer a $100 rebate if you buy an ecobee or other smart thermostat.
Click to expand...

I just saw that and I do qualify for the $100 rebate. Makes buying another one much more enticing.
 
Here is another vote for the ecobee 4 - I installed almost a year ago and have had no problems. I've previously used the original Nest in our last home but decided to install ecobee in current home because of HomeKit compatibility. Great product.
 
Loving my ecobee. Got 2 additional sensors and can use the motion sensors in those to trigger lights. I’m new to HomeKit so still figuring everything out but haven’t had any problems with my ecobee.
 
Just wanting to jump in on this thread.
To use the Ecobee with Homekit do I need the Ecobee app?

I'm a little wary of ending up with a bunch of apps for different Homekit devices.
I'd prefer just to use Homekit and only Homekit and not have to deal with a bunch of apps and accounts.
 
827538 said:
Just wanting to jump in on this thread.
To use the Ecobee with Homekit do I need the Ecobee app?

I'm a little wary of ending up with a bunch of apps for different Homekit devices.
I'd prefer just to use Homekit and only Homekit and not have to deal with a bunch of apps and accounts.
Click to expand...
Not sure, but why not just create a folder and hide all of the apps in that? Or are you more concerned with sharing info with all the companies?
 
sclawis300 said:
Not sure, but why not just create a folder and hide all of the apps in that? Or are you more concerned with sharing info with all the companies?
Click to expand...

Sharing info with companies was more my concern, I hate the idea of having an account for every sort of device.
 
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827538 said:
Just wanting to jump in on this thread.
To use the Ecobee with Homekit do I need the Ecobee app?

I'm a little wary of ending up with a bunch of apps for different Homekit devices.
I'd prefer just to use Homekit and only Homekit and not have to deal with a bunch of apps and accounts.
Click to expand...

My own preference so far has been to use the Ecobee app - I like the interface for the Ecobee better than the HomeKit interface. I also use the Hue app for my Hue lights rather than using the HomeKit app.

I put them all in one folder - 'Home Automation' - on my iPhone home screen, as one of the other responders suggested.

The point regarding sharing info with multiple companies is a good one, though.
 
I'm using an EcoBee 3 Lite and its been pretty good. I have seen "No Response" and it work fine from its native app. Its fairly rare but it has happened. I've seen it do that on just one of my Apple devices (tell me no response) but show fine in the Home app on my other devices.

Resetting my iPhone or iPad seems to fix that issue.

Have you tried removing the T5 from HomeKit, going to settings and turning Home Data off and back on, and then resync'ing it with the Home app? Worth a shot if not.

My concern is replacing the stat could fix it because its a new device not because it works better. Worst case would be you get an EcoBee and it does the same thing.

Good luck
 
Wingzfan61 said:
I currently have a Honeywell Lyric T5 and after the past year and 2 homes later Ive about had enough. I get "no response" errors more than I care to discuss. Ive read quite a few complaints about the Honeywell systems and these errors so I don't think Im alone here.

Anyways, Im thinking about switching to the ecobee 4 (undecided on specific model). Do these have the same "no response" issues as Honeywells? Anyone had one for a decent amount of time with no "no response" errors?

Ive got 20 Hue lights that have never once had a "no response" error and have worked flawlessly so I don't think its anything with my network. The thermostat is 8 feet from an Asus GT5300 router so there should be zero issues maintaining a connection.

I just need a reliable HomeKit thermostat.
Click to expand...
I have ecobee lite, it works great with homekit. I can raise or lower my thermostat using my devices from anywhere. Their support is fantastic as well.
 
Figure Id give an update in case anyone else is having the same issues I was having. This will be a bit long so skip to the last paragraph for the resolution.

I picked up an Ecobee 5th gen and ended up with the same issues (no response in homekit). I moved my Apple TV that was being used as a hub closer to the thermostat, completely reset the Home app and all its accessories, changed the 2.4ghz channel on the router, connected the Ecobee to the 5ghz channel, changed channel width, and even bought a HomePod to use as a Homekit hub.

The HomePod was much better as a hub in regards to stability but I still kept getting the no response errors. I decided to add a garage door controller and see how that device worked since it also does not have a hub like the Hue lights do. It also got “no response” constantly and became a huge headache.

A little over a week ago I picked up some of the Ikea Sonos speakers to use with Airplay 2 throughout the house. Side note: they are absolutely amazing. The lamp speaker set up fine but I couldnt get a few of the bookshelf speakers to connect. I got on with Sonos support and we did some troubleshooting for an hour until us and a supervisor were stumped. A coworker either heard the conversation or got tagged in but the first thing he said was “do you have an Asus router?” Funny enough I do so I said “yes, why?” And he said “perfect, go into your wireless settings and turn off “airtime fairness”. I had already done this a long time ago due to iphone stability issues so I told him “it is but let me check again”. Sure enough it was back on, most likely due to a firmware update. As soon as I disabled it again all of the Sonos speakers connected immediately. I got curious if this possibly was my cause of Homekit issue so I began monitoring it heavily.

Fast forward to today. Its been about 10 days since switching off airtime fairness and the original T5 thermostat hasnt lost connection or had a “no response” since. The garage door controller has maintained connection as well. Everything has been rock solid stable. I just returned from Best Buy after returning the Ecobee. Its a great thermostat but I saw no reason to keep it now that the Honeywell is working great. I did however keep the HomePod because its excellent in my kitchen.

Resolution: If you have an Asus router, or any other router that uses “Airtime Fairness” or “WiFi Multi-Media” (WMM) turn it off. Linksys and Netgear have these settings on newer routers. Lifx has a great write up of the issues it causes located here https://support.lifx.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025083411-Airtime-Fairness.
 
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The T5 is trash. I’ve had nothing but problems with it. I’m really hoping something with thread support comes out soon; it’ll be an instant buy from me
 
I have a Nest gen 3 and I expose it to HomeKit on a Raspberry Pi 1.2 B+ with Homebridge and the Nest plugin. I also run the myQ Chamberlin/Liftmaster plugin to connect my garage door to HomeKit. It does require some effort to get going, so I would not recommend it unless you want to consider a part time hobby or you really love dealing with Raspbian, NPM, and node.js specifically.
 
I have a Lyric T6 and have been suffering with the same 'Not Responding' issue in Home.app.

To cut a long story short, it seems to be to do with with HomePods. When my ATV Gen4 is the Hub it works fine. When the HomePods are the Hub, the T6 (and only the T6 out of all my HomeKit devices) drops back to not responding.

When that happens, I turn all the HomePods off so that the ATV becomes the Hub and the Lyric thermostat springs back to life. Then I turn the HomePods back on and it continues to work just fine until the ATV is no longer the primary HomeHub.

ATV is wired to my Network. All the Homepods (4 of them) are obviously Wireless. Whilst it shouldn't, I wonder if that has something to do with it.
 
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