welcome to the fourth part in our Devolo home control system.

In this instalment we are going to review the heating control components, a TRV replacement actuator and a wall mounted thermostat.

This area of application ought to be one of the simpler ones to justify in a smart home. It can increase your comfort levels with a tailored heating profile which in turn ought to save you money on fuel costs. These savings will be even much more significant if you have minimal heating controls to start with. An added bonus will be the reduction in CO2.

Il riscaldamento

A wet heating system will typically use a central energy source such as a gas, oil or biomass boiler to heat water which is pumped around a series of emitters such as radiators. There are two essential elements of control that we will look at in the next section, how to control energy generation and its distribution.

Energy Generation

Energy is generated by firing the boiler. This is typically achieved by a time switch and / or central thermostat. This will consecutively bring in a pump and / or open values that will push water around the system. Our test property is fitted with a 4 zone time clock which switches 3 valves, 2 for a living and bedroom zone each with its own thermostat and domestic hot water with a cylinder thermostat. The 4th zone controls a Rayburn range for cooking.

The Devolo Thermostat (Art No: 9507) RRP £79.99, is developed to replace a regular wall thermostat. The principle is exactly the same as a conventional one, it tells the boiler when to come on or when to relocation a control valve on a zone or to control a set of radiators. The home control app then replaces the time switch element.

The Thermostat is branded as Devolo but will be familiar to some readers as the Z-Wave Danfoss temperature Sensor. Devolo like others have taken a tried and evaluated design and incorporated it into their range.

Adding the device was easy and a well illustrated process. once on the network the device was placed in the study and it was reporting temperature. similar to other Devolo devices you have access to the past 3 days history through a graph.

In our opinion there is a missing link in the Devolo range of heating components and that is the link to the boiler. Something needs to tell the boiler to come on or go off. There are Z-Wave devices and relays available on the market that will do this essential step in the process. This is a fundamental gap, without this you will have to rely on the existing heating controls and then only apply your smart home guidelines within that operational criteria.

Energy Emission

The energy is then emitted when the radiator releases heat to the surroundings. typically this was a fixed flow through radiators or zones. The introduction of Thermostatic Radiator Valves changed this approach. A TRV is a easy device that responds to its local temperature and actuates a plunger in the valve body, this is similar to you manually screwing a normal valve open or closed.

The Devolo Radiator Thermostat (Art No: 9502) RRP £59.99, is developed to replace an existing TRV actuator. It comes with a set of adapter rings to fit the common valve types. rather than depending on the expansion of a material in the TRV it uses a small motor to depress the valve pin. This pin pushes a valve inside the body to decrease or increase the flow of hot water. If the room is up to temperature the valve closes to stop the flow of hot water. If the room is not at its target temperature the valve will open to allow hot water to flow.

Again this is not a Devolo piece of equipment, it is based on the Danfoss Living connect LC-13. This design has been around for some time and there is no shortage of information about its performance.

Joining it to the home connect hub was the easy experience we’ve now come to expect from Devolo. The two AA batteries required for power are included and fitting it to the radiator was easy, our test house valves were all fitted within the last 6 years and were the standard thread size so fitted without any adopters. The device clamps itself in position by identifying the travel distance of the pin. initially it feels loose but once clamped in position it is very solid.

The device has three buttons on top and a small LCD screen. temperature Up, Down and the setup button. Without any app it is still possible for the user to change the temperature of the radiator. The set point will show on the backlit LCD screen.

We set up a schedule to keep the heat off in the mornings and only to heat the room in the evenings between 4:30 and 21:00.

The Valve does not report temperature back to the home control hub, only the target temperature. This always struck us as unusual as the device should be able to measure temperature to adjust the valve opening position to achieve the target temperature. For actual room temperature you will have to rely on another sensor.

Una cosa che abbiamo scoperto è la durata della batteria. Nelle 6 settimane perché il montaggio delle batterie è sceso dell’82%. A quel ritmo di utilizzo dureranno solo circa 8 mesi.

Il riscaldamento è acceso

Devolo ha lanciato alcune parti di un sistema di riscaldamento intelligente. Questi si basano su componenti provati e valutati prodotti da Danfoss. Si siedono in modo affidabile sulla rete di controllo della casa, ma a nostro avviso, sono solo una parte di una soluzione.

Devolo ha una forte concorrenza in questo campo rispetto a Heat Genius che assumono componenti simili ma hanno sviluppato un’app intelligente sofisticata per fare il massimo uso dei moduli, ad esempio una compensazione meteorologica e programmi di apprendimento intelligente. Il loro sistema utilizza le stesse parti ma fornisce il controllo dell’acqua calda e del controllo della caldaia domestica.

Riteniamo che devolo dovrebbe sviluppare una serie di pacchetti completi, ad esempio il controllo totale del riscaldamento e la gestione dell’energia. Questi servizi tecnici a valore aggiunto profondo dovrebbero garantire che non sono un altro marchio degli stessi componenti sullo scaffale.

Sommario

I componenti si uniscono alla rete con facilità e lavoro in modo affidabile. L’app e il sistema software diventeranno molto impegnati se hai dispositivi in ​​ogni stanza. L’assenza di un interruttore della caldaia limita la possibilità di creare una soluzione Devolo al 100%. Le batterie del termostato del radiatore non dureranno certamente 2 anni, forse un anno con fortuna. Se vuoi conoscere la temperatura ambiente effettiva, dovrai aggiungere un altro dispositivo, la valvola del radiatore segnalerà solo il valore target. Ci sono altri servizi più intelligenti disponibili, ma se si desidera il controllo di base, questo potrebbe essere per te.

28 recensioni

DEVOLO Home Control Room Termostato (automazione domestica tramite app iOS/Android, dispositivo per la casa intelligente, controlli di riscaldamento intelligente, termostato della stanza programmabile, controllato wireless, wonda Z) – bianco
Identificare la temperatura ambiente esatta in qualsiasi momento sul display illuminato
Controllo unitario semplice e centrale della temperatura ambiente (se combinato con i termostati del radiatore di controllo della casa Devolo)
Pronto per l’uso in pochissimo tempo; può essere installato facilmente senza strumenti speciali o competenze

Acquista su Amazon

La prossima volta

Nella nostra puntata finale vedremo come funziona il sistema di controllo della casa con i dispositivi di altri produttori. Riassumeremo anche il nostro verdetto del sistema di controllo della casa Devolo.

Devolo.com: leggi la parte 1, la parte 2 e la parte 3

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Ultimo aggiornamento su 2021-10-04 / link / immagini di affiliazione da Amazon Product Advertising API