Zwave heating vale and Ikea Tradfri Button

WebThings
#1

Hi all

I’m having problems getting my Zwave thermostatic valves to activate at the times I set them to activate. It can take anything up to 35mins after the programmed command to alter their state from one temperature to another.

I’ve also tried going into the “splat” manually to alter the temperature and get the same thing.

So yesterday I tried a physical switch which was a Ikea Tradfri button thinking this might resolve the issue.

That worked, but just like the other two , there is a long delay.

I’m no Zwave or WT expert so I don’t understand why I’m getting this effect so I’m hoping someone else might have had these delays who can explain?

I can’t believe the valves are at fault because these are Devolo valves which apparently are the same as the Danfoss valves. Hope someone can enlighten me. Thanks in advance. Alex

#2

I can’t help with Zwave configuration. Having said that, my best guess is that you do not have a software configuration issue, or for that matter a hardware issue.

I suspect that you have radio interference issues, which can be caused by:

  1. Zwave USB adapter and/or ZigBee USB adapter plugged directly into the WebThings ‘server’ - these each should be on an USB extension cable to get them at least half a meter away from the ‘server’ and half a meter away from each other.
  2. Thick walls (or several thin walls) between the Zwave adapter on the Webthings ‘server’ and the Zwave devices
  3. Walls containing rebar
  4. Too many 2.4GHz WiFi networks near by (extremely likely if you live in an apartment block)
  5. Very old CRT devices (TV, ancient monitors), a failing microwave, fridge or freezer

One way to prove this items 2-5 is to temporarily set up your Webthings ‘server’ within 1 meter of one of the valves and have the Ikea button near the server. If the button and the valve start reacting quickly, then you know that radio interference is an issue.

#3

Hi Charles

Thanks again for coming back to me and trying to help.

It all sounds logical what you have said and I’ll definitely try your suggestions.

It’s frustrating I have to say, but worse case, I’ll have to live with the delay because it’s going to be worth it.

But it be great to have the Tradfri button work with the valves. I do find WT very exciting to be honest .

There is maybe another thing you might be able to help with. Are you aware of a way how I can put a timer to the Tradfri button so that once activated it can turn on the valves on the radiators for a set time /temperature before falling back to the original setting ?

I’m thinking if there is a way of a way of trying to boost the radiators for a preset time/temperature?

Thanks Alex

#4

there is a Timer add-on that helps here. Just remember that you need at least two rules to work with a timer.

  1. One rule that starts the timer. It’s usually worthwhile to reset the timer before you start it
  2. A second rule that reacts to the Timer elapsing.

I often find that I need at least one additional rule to deal with early termination, eg. the button is pressed again before the timer elapses.

#5

Hi again Charles

Brilliant!!!
Thanks for pointing out the timer…
I might do as you suggested before, testing the rules with a light first. And I’d forgotten about the early termination😲

Thanks again Charles it’s appreciated…
Alex