Hypothetically speaking…let’s say beestat had an IFTTT-style feature where you could configure actions based on various triggers.
For example:
Send a text message when the aux heat turns on
Send an email when the schedule is overridden
Send a push notification when the heat turns on AND the outdoor temperature is above 60
Send a webhook if the A/C runs for more than 30 minutes AND it’s raining outside
Set the schedule to sleep if no motion is detected within 1 hour and it’s after 9pm
Would you use a feature like this, and what type of triggers and actions would you use? I think this would be helpful and I could build more advanced triggers and logic than you typically see with services like IFTTT.
The caveat would be that I would probably need to charge for certain things. All of the basics would be free, but text messages would cost as would any triggers that you need to run quickly. This is simply because keeping all this information synced is fairly database-intensive. It would likely just be a $1/month minimum just like the Patreon is.
Thoughts? I’m currently trying to decide which direction to take beestat next and this is something I’ve been interested in for a while.
I love the idea, especially the text for aux heat (although I don’t have aux heat). Not sure if I’d use any of these, but I will think about options. First one I’ve played with in the past, is that with all our runtime data, you should be able to ‘predict’ our runtime based on OAT. You could consider alerting when actual runtime is in excess of that prediction.
Have you taken it completely off the table to write to our Ecobees? Seems like you could stretch to create better control algorithms. I understand that opens up a different can of worms though.
This is a planned feature, but not as a notification at the moment. Just a little blurb in beestat somewhere. It might make for an interesting notification.
Till now, yes. But there are some cool things I can do if I have write access with these actions. I probably would not offer general control to replace the ecobee app and I would be nervous about taking full control of the thermostat just because that type of thing needs to be happening locally.
What I would be OK with is offering some general control options in response to certain triggers as long as they are clearly spelled out and not prone to misfiring. I don’t want to be in a situation where some bug in my code causes your HVAC system to turn off when it’s 10°F out.
Would it be possible to set triggers/actions to alert me when just the fan kicks on to recirculate the air? Or would these trigger/actions allow me to adjust the time it kicks on during that hour? I have mine set to run for 25 minutes every hour. But I’m not sure how EcoBee decides when to run it, or if it’s adjustable.
Also, would it be able show push notifications of which sensors are be used during the current mode?
