Programming Rules for Zen Thermostat on Almond 2015

[JuanDiegalo]

Hi, all. First post. I'm new to programming rules and such for the Almond 2015 router. I recently acquired a ZEN thermostat, installed it successfully, programmed some rules. I'm not sure I did it right, though. Does anyone have any experience? I've been scouring the internet, but either I'm not entering the right search terms or it's not out there. —Juan

[fillibar]

Might be easier if you explain the Rules you made or make a screenshot of them. You can make Rules for all sorts of things and purposes so it is tough to give an opinion on what you did without seeing it, and knowing what you intended. Also whether there is anything that is not working the way you would expect.

At the same time, sounds like you jumped in and figured some stuff out right off the bat, so that is cool. How are you liking it so far (both the Almond 2015 AND the Zen Thermostat)? In fact, you might want to write up a thread talking about the Thermostat and how it is working for you and how it is working with the Almond 2015.

[JuanDiegalo]

Thank you for the reply. I like your suggestion for the new thread. I'll work on that. Here are a few screenshots.

[fillibar]

Correct me if I am wrong but it looks like your Rule goes:
IF Almond Mode is Home AND Thermostat #1 < 68 degrees AND it is PRECISELY 6am on Saturday or Sunday THEN set the Almond Mode to Home and the Thermostat #1 to a heating point of 68.

That would keep your area at 68 degrees (if it drops below it) on Saturday or Sunday, but it would only check at 6am AND it would also be setting your mode to Home, but it already has to be because that is part of the IF statement.

What you might want is:
IF Almond Mode is Home AND Thermostat #1 < 68 degrees AND it is BETWEEN 6am on Saturday and XXX time on Sunday THEN set the Thermostat #1 to a heating point of 68.

You might also want bounding rules and away rules. I do not know anything about this thermostat and how smart it is normally, but things like:
IF Almond Mode is Away AND it is BETWEEN 6am on Saturday and XXX time on Sunday THEN set the Thermostat #1 heating point to... some minimum temperature for your house (60 or so).

Of course you could create further rules for when nobody would be home, detecting when you are home by your smartphone, etc.

One thing I would wonder about is that most thermostats do not need to be repeatedly set for the temperature. So if you said:
IF Almond Mode is Home AND it is PRECISELY 6am on Saturday or Sunday THEN set the Thermostat #1 heating point to 68 degrees...

That should set your thermostat to 68 for that timeframe. Then you could have a rule that reduces the heat when you leave, bumps it back up when you get back, etc... No need to check the temperature that entire time because that is just a basic function of the thermostat.