Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. On the other, complexity is what makes ecobee great, and it’s one of the reasons why people prefer ecobee over Nest. I’m here to tell you that there are only a couple of viable options. Since this sensor will be in my bedroom, and I rarely spend any time in my bedroom unless I’m sleeping, I will tell the bedroom sensor to only participate in the “Sleep” comfort profile. Don’t worry if you’re not sure which to choose. Then go back and decide which temperature settings should accompany each comfort setting. To be able to set your ecobee Smart Thermostat to Auto mode, you need to enable the feature first. The setting … To set your Ecobee to this mode: Go to the Ecobee’s main menu. The sensor can also control the fan setting so you can get some airflow without running your A/C unit. You can type in your own name or you can choose from a list. The motion sensors are passive infrared motion sensors. Only the bedroom sensor is active for the Sleep comfort profile. ecobee Sensor Placement Once you have the sensor paired, you have to find a place to put it. A long hot shower is sure to throw things off. It trounces Nest Thermostat gen 3. See the ecobee3 lite installation documents if any other Using sensor participation, you can choose which sensors to use for each comfort profile by choosing a sensor from the Sensor menu. It is recommended that you place your Ecobee sensors in rooms that need the most temperature regulation, such as the areas you frequent. If you have an Ecobee thermostat and you’re looking for the best smart vent, it may be hard to decide which direction to go. If you buy one extra pair of sensors, you should be set. RELATED: How to Lock Your Ecobee Thermostat with a PIN Code If you don’t want other household members changing the thermostat settings without your knowledge, it might be best to lock it down so that only you can access it, which is possible with a PIN code.. It’s very similar to the passcode lock on your smartphone. But, the rest of your house might require a blanket and slippers. The Ecobee 3 is one of those smart devices that have totally changed the game. If Follow Me is turned off, all the participating sensors’ temperatures will be averaged whether they sense activity or not. Then go to Installation Settings. The ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control is the best ecobee thermostat. Ecobee offers the ability to customize the way you want your HVAC system to behave; they’ve thought of every possible angle. The rest of the house will get cooled to a temperature lower than your set point and the ecobee won’t care because the only sensors it will be using will be the living room sensors. There are three default comfort profiles: Home, Away, and Sleep. You might know ecobee best for its remarkable smart thermostats, but the company has now entered the home security space with the ecobee SmartCamera. Let it sit for a minute or so. The remote sensors do not include a humidity sensor, but the ecobee does. Press finish and that’s all there is to it. While not having to think about where in your home you’d want the most comfort, you also can feel good about saving energy that would otherwise be wasted. Once you have the sensor paired, you have to find a place to put it. But, ecobee reports the range as 45 feet to account for the inevitable obstructions that occur your home. Some of the best rooms to place your sensor are: No matter which room you decide to place your sensor in, there are numerous advantages to be had. Whether it is an energy saving feature will depend on the heating and cooling properties of the room in which you spend the most time. I will put this sensor in my bedroom, so I will name it Bedroom. There, it will still be able to monitor for motion in the kitchen, but the temperature it reads will be a much more moderate temperature since the kitchen air will have a chance to be cooled by the other parts of the house. If accessories are installed, identify what is installed and reference the ecobee 3 installation documents to promote optimal performance. If you place your remote sensors too far from the ecobee thermostat, they will become unreliable or not work altogether. For my more general review of all things the ecobee thermostat can do, click here. Each Ecobee 4 comes with a sensor you can place anywhere which tracks motion & temperature. You can set up these little satellite sensors anywhere in your home to give the ecobee more knowledge of temperature and activity in your home. It takes an average temperature at the thermostat and remote sensor and learned what my comfort settings were. Ecobee sensors and thermostats are connected to your smartphone and have a smart Home and Away feature that detects when you have left the house. This setting prevents your equipment from short cycling. Let’s get started! Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. Press Yes to pair your sensor with the thermostat. The ecobee Smart Home Skill lets you control the temperature with your voice and ask Alexa what the temperature is in a certain room. The remote sensors have a horizontal range of about 120 degrees and a vertical range of about 25-30 degrees. temperature preference setting. Go to Settings. For months, we’ve been hearing about Ecobee’s new Eco+ (stylized as eco+) features to save energy and money with your Ecobee thermostat. That’s a job for smart vents. This feature is nifty as it eliminates the need to pull out your app and switch between different sensors. If you spend most of your time in the living room and that room tends to be warmer than the rest of your house, here is what will happen: If you are cooling, the AC will need to work overtime to get your warm living room down to your set point. How to update firmware for Z-Wave devices on SmartThings, Eufy Doorbell review: The best smart doorbell you haven’t heard of, Here’s what you need to know about smart AC controllers, Best Smart Vent: Room by room climate control…sort of. The base unit itself is a sensor, and the original package comes with one extra remote sensor. The Ecobee Smart Thermostat With Voice Control is loaded with features including Alexa support, a touch display, a remote room sensor, and interoperability with lots of … The maximum number of sensors the ecobee can connect to is 32. You don’t want to remove the plastic until you’re ready to connect the sensor. However, the new Smart Sensors use a CR2477 which should last for 5 years. That range should satisfy the majority of homeowners. The ecobee has two modes of fan operation: Auto and On The tradeoff is that if you enter a room to stay for awhile, it will take some time to adjust. In fact, when it comes to smart home compatibility, ecobee shines across the board. Eric Blank blogs about smart homes and other connected technology here at thesmartcave.com. The sensors include a motion detector to tell the ecobee which parts of your house are active. This is Ecobee3 Best Settings. It’s also a great example of just how eco-friendly the Ecobee smart thermostat is. These are the recommended settings for an all-electric air to air heat pump. In order to heat/cool one room without also affecting other rooms, you need to have some kind of control over the airflow. With compatibility for up to 32 sensors, you can have complete comfort in any room that you want. The power will connect and within a few seconds, your screen should switch to the sensor setup screen. If you are in heating mode, your warm living room will reach the set point before the rest of your house and the furnace will shut down. ecobee Plus is a newer Alexa Skill that also enables voice control features such as fan control, resuming schedules, and comfort settings. They also include a temperature sensor so it can figure out the best way to keep you comfortable. Dec 23, 2020 | Beginner, Smart Thermostats. The Ecobee sensor can kick the thermostat on as soon as the temperature rises or falls below the threshold you have set. Some ecobees include Alexa. Finding the best smart thermostat for your home can help you keep your family comfortable and save money on your monthly utility bill. The open air range of the sensors is probably 100 feet or more. This compact security camera provides a 1080p resolution and a 180-degree field … For optimal motion detection, sensors should be aimed at doorways and seating areas. As you might imagine, this could cause some undesirable reactions from the thermostat. It doesn’t offer room by room temperature control. There is no need to worry about when to replace the batteries because the ecobee will tell you when any of the sensor batteries are running low. Follow Me can be turned on and off from the ecobee thermosat, the app, and the web portal. In my experience, the sensors are reliable, easy to install, and easy to use. As long as the sensors are placed in the thermostat’s range and remain connected, you can get as creative as you want. Press Menu on the main screen. This is mainly a comfort enhancing feature. Verify that your system is wired to maximize its capabilities and work best with the new thermostat. To Enable Auto Mode. Next, you need to choose a name for the sensor. If you choose the furnace option, the Ecobee will rely solely on the furnace to take charge of the fan during heating cycles rather than direct the fan itself. Ecobee is upgrading its thermostats with eco+, which provides more ways to save money and reduce energy usage. Installing a new ecobee remote sensor is easy and shouldn’t take more than a minute or two. No matter which room or rooms you chose, you can detect and set the preferred temperature for the given area you wish to heat or cool; this is all possible with the right Ecobee sensor placement. The remote sensors run on battery power so they can be placed anywhere you like. He dreams of someday living in a castle on an island but for now will settle for smalltown, USA. Smarthomestarter.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. When you’re home, the Follow Me feature will automatically detect which rooms are being occupied and automatically switch to the appropriate room sensor. Your new sensor will have a plastic tab sticking out the back. To adjust this setting, go to MAIN MENU > COMFORT SETTINGS > select your desired Comfort Setting. Or click the Buy With Amazon button to read more reviews or purchase Wi-Fi thermostat, which intuitively understands when to turn on your heating or cooling equipment based on your home's unique energy profile, the weather outside, and thousands of other data […] They are designed with a sensitivity that is supposed to stop pets from setting off the motion detector. This site is owned and operated by Time Off Club, LLC. For example, I have only two sensors: the sensor in my ecobee and a remote sensor in my bedroom. The Ecobee thermostat sensors act as an extension of your thermostat by reporting detailed temperature readings and room occupancy measures back to the central unit. Placing sensors in the rooms you frequent the most or in areas of the house that commonly differ in temperature will help you make the most out of your Ecobee setup. Ecobee is possibly the best smart home thermostat brand on the market, similar competitors in the dust. We followed the troubleshooting in the manual and even reset the thermostat twice to original factory settings. This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. In fact no thermostat could do that by itself. Activate the home screen so your thermostat screen looks like this: Then, pull the plastic tab out from the sensor. The ecobee thermostat has, in my opinion, the best customization of any smart thermostat on the market right now. If you are having connectivity problems, there is a good chance you are on the outer edge of the range. Therefore, all sensors have to be within the range of the ecobee thermostat. ecobee recommends placing the sensors about 5 feet high for optimal temperature measurement. You’ll have to do a little bit of setup to tell the ecobee exactly how to use this information to keep you comfortable, but it’s not too difficult and should only take a few minutes. There are three default comfort settings: home, away, and sleep. The advertised maximum range of the sensors is 45 feet. This means they use the natural infrared radiation given off by all objects as a means of detecting motion, and therefore work regardless of light or dark. Here we’ll review two of the best smart vent products that can integrate with Ecobee … Repeat the process as many times as you need for each sensor. A better idea would be to place the thermostat somewhere on the outer edges of the kitchen. The sensors can only be installed from the thermostat unit. They can detect motion up to 15 feet. The temperature will immediately change to your set temperature preference when your smartphone is no longer at your residence. According to ENERGY STAR, a homeowner can save as much as 10% a year in heating and cooling costs by adjusting thermostat temperatures 7 - 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and winter for eight hours a day.Though you can manually set your thermostat daily, automated thermostats that are … For the vast majority of people, any more than four sensors seems like overkill to me. If you’re looking for a thermostat you can control with voice commands, ecobee has partnered with the best voice tech around: Amazon’s Alexa services. We especially love this feature as our kitchens get warm fast when we use multiple appliances. Don’t place a sensor next to a drafty window or right next to an outside door. Then, reinstall the battery the proper direction and it should work. Therefore, it will take a much larger object to set off the motion sensor at 10 feet than it will at 10 inches. Using these sensors, you will be able to have a more accurate temperature reading. This means that when the thermostat is set to the sleep comfort profile, only the temperature reported by the bedroom sensor will determine whether to turn on the heat or AC. They also warn that if a sensor is placed in areas with lots of motion, the battery life will be reduced. The ecobee remote sensors give the ecobee thermostat a unique advantage over its competitors. I keep the ecobee thermostat sensor active for the Home and Away comfort profiles. The sensor menu can be accessed from all three device types: mobile app, web app, and the ecobee thermostat. However, it doesn’t instantly average all sensors reporting motion. When Follow Me is turned on, the ecobee thermostat will average the temperature of all sensors that are reporting activity and use that average temperature to determine when to run your equipment. They connect to the base unit using radio frequency communication right in the same range as z-wave. The brand new Ecobee thermostat was somehow set to 81 degrees and climbing with no end in sight even though it was still set to 70 degrees. Tired of having to worry about turning the air off when you left for work? If motion is detected by a sensor, the temperature of that new sensor is phased in slowly. Don’t try to connect the sensor until you have the smart thermostat configured and working. The battery is a type for the old ecobee Room sensors is CR2032 (the little silver coin shaped batteries). Then, choose which comfort profiles the sensor will participate in. Their devices work with all of the leading platforms and voice assistants, namely: The same sort of logic applies to sensor placement throughout the home. Hit Settings. It will require repeated motion detection over time to be fully averaged in. With the capability to sense and change the temperature in any given room, there is a lot of ways you can use Ecobee’s sensors. What is the Recommended Minimum Fan Runtime for Ecobee? Since a sensor cannot detect how far away an object is, a close object will appear much larger to the sensor than a distant object. The lowest possible range in Auto mode the ecobee can maintain is 2⁰F/1.1⁰C. The sensors will not be triggered by every tiny motion event they detect. All recent models, including the ecobee3 lite and the ecobee4, work with Alexa. The answer to this is a resounding yes. And Why’s it so Important for Your Smart Thermostat? Once you are ready to connect a sensor, go to your thermostat and bring the sensor with you. Here’s how they differ under the hood. It’s made from premium materials, comes in seven colors, and the display resolution is sharper than Ecobee. Get Tech Support 1-833-202-2695 Enterprise Solutions › You can also have the thermostat turn on or off based on a single room temperature, depending on your comfort needs. In most homes, the base unit will be in a central location. Configure threshold settings for your ecobee Smart Thermostat to make the best out of your homes HVAC system. Below, we’ll list some of the best areas to place your sensors and some of the great features they offer. It’s a good idea to avoid putting a sensor directly in the kitchen because the temperature in the kitchen can fluctuate wildly if you are cooking. I could see this being a pleasant feature at times and also a bit of an annoyance at times. And, when you’re getting close to home, the A/C or heat will immediately kick back on, allowing you to walk right into a comfortable environment. Watch the video below for a review of this thermostat. Ecobee 3 vs Ecobee 4 – A Complete Comparison. If you need more sensors, you can pick them up in packages of two. The Ecobee app forces thermostat customers to enable new Eco+ features that can change thermostat operation and temperature settings. If you are looking for a sleek and convenient way to add Alexa voice capabilities to your smart home and give you remote access to your HVAC system, then you should strongly consider the Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control.This wifi thermostat performed very well on its own merits, earning one of the top scores we have seen so far by its good performances in our ease of use, … On the one hand, it’s complicated. Smarthomestarter.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Fortunately, everything is customizable and you can even turn the feature off if you don’t like it. I can’t imagine ever needing anywhere near that many but if you do, the ability is there. Ecobee thermostats feature a handy vacation mode setting that allows users to keep temperatures within a desired, safe range to conserve energy while they’re away. The SmartThermostat offers the best overall experience by providing you hands-free, voice control of your smart home. The remote sensors only add to that ability. Rick Broida/CNET Out of the box, the Ecobee doesn't work that way. Does Chamberlain MyQ Work With Alexa? The sensors should be oriented so that the little bee is facing up and to the right (just like the picture below). It has a better CPU processor that will allow it to be more compatible with future software and firmware updates. and money while managing energy resources to best serve all cooperative members. (Workarounds and ... Smart Home Tech for Apartments – A Complete Guide. ecobee recommends placing the sensors about 5 feet high for optimal temperature measurement. The sensor on the main unit has the same 120-degree angle but only a 2-6 foot range. You will be comfortable watching TV, but you won’t be saving any energy. Keep in mind that walls and other obstacles will shorten the range. The ecobee3 utilizes what they call comfort settings to allow you to easily program your schedule. Ecobee says the screen on SmartThermostat is made with “crisp glass” compared to Ecobee4’s plastic, but it feels only slightly more sturdy. You will be nice and toasty and you will be saving a little bit of energy. If your base unit is in a central location in your home, there is a 90-foot diameter circle that you can place your sensors. This keeps the battery from powering on the sensor. Best purchase ever. Most ecobee smart thermostats look identical; they use the same screens, so it can be hard to tell them apart. He enjoys technology, sports, outdoors, and dabbles in the dark realm of politics. Don’t place a sensor in a place where it might get direct sunlight. This site is owned and operated by Time Off Club, LLC. Equipped with temperature sensors with numerous features, Ecobee allows you to monitor and control the temperature of any room in your home. Tell the smart thermostat when you will be home, away, and sleeping. Why Is My Ecobee Sensor Temperature Wrong. Z Wave Vs ZigBee: Which Is Better For Your Smart Home. Lock It with a PIN Code. But you can disable Eco+. This is set to 5⁰F/2.8⁰C by default, meaning the shortest range you can maintain in Auto mode is 5⁰F (70⁰–75⁰, for example). It will run the sensor for 18-24 months. Your ecobee also has the ability to control the fan mode for specific Comfort Settings such as Home, Away, and Sleep. ecobee. Ensure your comfort and turn up your savings with an ecobee thermostat, which allows you to adjust temperatures from 45° to 92° and track humidity levels with ease. If you order an ecobee thermostat, it comes with one remote sensor (except for the ecobee3 Lite). Troubleshooting: If the screen doesn’t pop up, remove the back cover of the sensor and flip the battery around (so it’s installed backward). What is a C Wire? Best Thermostat Temperatures for Summer & Winter and Types of Thermostats. The sensors detect the temperature in the room they are placed in and report back to the thermostat to best match air output from the A/C or heater. Bonus, it has built in Alexa smarts and app is easy to use away from or in the house. The good part of this is that if you make a quick trip to a room and leave it again, it won’t make much of a difference. For optimal motion detection, sensors should be aimed at doorways and seating areas. TheSmartCave is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, How To Make The Most Of Your ecobee Remote Sensors, 3 Smart Switches That Work With No Neutral Wire, ecobee vs Nest: Don’t Overlook These 8 Crucial Differences, These smart bulbs work with Philips Hue (but cost way less), Say Goodbye To Pull-Chains: 7 Ways To Add Smart Control To Your Old Ceiling Fan, Line Voltage Smart Thermostats: Yes, They Do Exist. Summary: Nest is the best looking thermostat on the market. It’s probably best to avoid putting a sensor in the bathroom even if you do spend a lot of time in there. I immediately contacted Ecobee technical support and told them what was going on. However, unlike z-wave technology which uses a mesh network, they use a star network configuration. In your smart home, convenience is key. Depending on the size and airflow in your home, there may be spots that simply don’t receive as much heating or cooling as other rooms in the house. Appearance: Nest Learning. The Ecobee will immediately turn the fan on when the heating cycle starts and end when the heating cycle ends. The app won't help you fix the Ecobee's "hold" problem, but you can adjust the setting in Preferences. Place one sensor in the master bedroom, one in the living room, and maybe one in an office. (don’t get confused…I’m talking about angle degrees here, not temperature degrees!). All sensor options and features can be accessed from the sensor menu. … However, it’s a double-edged sword. You can always go back and change it later. No matter which room you end up placing your sensor or multiple sensors, you will be able to check and change the room temperature with ease with the Ecobee thermostat.