Drayton Wiser Thermostat Binding

[andrew-schofield]

I got a similar second reply to my original query from someone more technical. He said:

We are also hoping to add a temperature off-set facility to allow users to enhance the accuracy of the system to suit their individual needs or expectations.

I assume that just means by-room, or by-TRV offset which cancels the effect of their internal calibration. I’m considering adding something like this to the binding already, as most of my rooms are “TRV only”, thus the temps are completely out of whack. An internal offset would allow me to display “more correct” readings at least. I guess this offset would have to also apply to the setpoints in the binding as well.

There are no obvious changes to the JSON, but pulling apart the app shows that the internal have supported an underfloor heating type for a while. I assume it just changes some of the properties in System/BoilerSettings

[andrew-schofield]

Good news! The pull request is now being reviewed
So far it looks like I’ll need to make a few tweaks to parameter names etc, which might be breaking changes, but easy to re-configure (I’ve used upper case names instead of lower/camelCase).

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

Hi all - thanks so much for all the work here.

I’m stuggling to get this to show up in the Basic UI.

Would someone please be able to help by adding come examples of the .items, .things, and .sitemap files which work (and any other config I might be missing). I have taken the example from the readme file and changed for my values but nothing shows up - just empty values, e.g. a dash where the temperature is.

Thanks for reading

[Rob_Pope]

Here’s my things:

{
        controller controller
        room    livingroom              [roomName="living room"]
        room    bathroom                [roomName="bathroom"]
        room    bedroom                 [roomName="bedroom"]
        room    spareroom               [roomName="spare room"]
        itrv    livingroomTRV           [serialNumber="ABCDEF123456789"]
        itrv    bathroomTRV             [serialNumber="ABCDEF987654321"]
        itrv    spareroomTRV            [serialNumber="FEDCBA123456789"]
        itrv    bedroomTRV              [serialNumber="FEDCBA987654321"]
}

And a few of my items

//Living Room
Number  LivingRoomTemperature   "Living Room Temperature [%.1f °C]"             (gTemp) {channel="draytonwiser:room:HeatHub:livingroom:currentTemperature"}
Number  LivingRoomSetPoint              "Living Room Set Point [%.1f °C]"               {channel="draytonwiser:room:HeatHub:livingroom:currentSetPoint"}
Number  LivingRoomTRVVolt               "Living Room TRV Voltage [%.2f v]"              {channel="draytonwiser:itrv:HeatHub:livingroomTRV:currentBatteryVoltage"}

//Master Bedroom
Number  MasterBedroomTemperature        "Master Bedroom Temperature [%.1f °C]"  (gTemp) {channel="draytonwiser:room:HeatHub:bedroom:currentTemperature"}
Number  MasterBedroomSetPoint           "Master Bedroom Set Point [%.1f °C]"            {channel="draytonwiser:room:HeatHub:bedroom:currentSetPoint"}
Number  MasterBedroomTRVVolt                 "Master Bedroom TRV Voltage [%.2f v]"      {channel="draytonwiser:itrv:HeatHub:bedroomTRV:currentBatteryVoltage"}

//Boiler
Switch  AwayMode        "Away Mode"             ["Switchable"]  {channel = "draytonwiser:controller:HeatHub:controller:awayModeState"}

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

Thanks so much - that’s brilliant - got some data coming through now

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

Another quick question - should we be able to change the setpoint from this binding? I can set a new value, but it doesn’t seem to get sent to the hub. The next time it refreshes it goes back to the original value. Does a rule need to be setup or something similar that I’ve missed?

Thanks for reading

[Rob_Pope]

Yep, the setpoint should work, unless you’re really unlucky with the refresh interval and it gets the current setpoint from the thermostat as you set the temperature

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

Thanks Rob - I’ll keep digging to see what’s wrong then. I’m also working on a HabPanel widget for the rooms. I couldn’t find one already to I’ll add one if there’s not one already.

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

Okay - I’ve added a HabPanel widget. It relies on certain Item name conventions (based on PaperUI defaults) to make the widget only need one item in config - the room.

Totally open to changing this to multiple config items if the community feels this is the best approach.

Drayton Wiser HABPanel Widget

[Capture] Here’s my first attempt at a HABPanel widget. This widget links to a Drayton Wiser Room (a group with the same name as the prefix for all the other items for the Drayton Room, e.g. RoomItemID), and any items linked to it. Its setup to allow only a room item to be used, and therefore expects the items to be defined in a certain way. RoomItemID_CurrentlyRequestingHeat RoomItemID_Temperature RoomItemID_SetPoint RoomItemID_BoostDuration RoomItemID_BoostRemaining I tried to avoid havin…

[rr4444]

Hello all,

I was looking through this thread. Very cool.

I am curious about how close this Wiser binding is to being an official binding (and what’s missing or not stable yet)?

I don’t run openhab yet, but this binding might make me jump the fence one day

Cheers!

[andrew-schofield]

The pull request to merge it into mainline openhab is in progress. There are some potential changes that will need to be made before it gets accepted, and the openhab developers are very busy, so it takes quite a while to get a new plugin accepted.

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

I’m totally new to OpenHab and had this up and running within a couple of hours. The binding is super stable and totally usable. Really great work :-). If you do go ahead check out the HabPabel widget I submitted a couple of weeks back from room control.

[rr4444]

Thanks guys - much coolness!

On a nondev note, how noisy do you find the TRVs? Ok in bedrooms? Paranoid the wife and son will never sleep uninterrupted again…

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

They’re pretty quiet really and don’t activate that often, I find.

[rr4444]

Did you install your receiver unit(s) by the boiler yourself? Curious to know how painful it was… Did you see any eco benefits from Opentherm? Our boiler has the capability, but I now know it was never wired in

We’re on two floors, so we’ve got multizone valves and the hot water tank.

I looked at the wiring diagrams months ago. It looked not so hard, but a bit of a carefully annoying process when there are effectively three zones in our house. Worried it would take ages and then I’d not finish it fast enough (not too well health wise)

[DavidRWB (David W-B)]

We only had one zone and hot water. So I have the trvs on every radiator and a couple of range extenders - the range is pretty poor especially if you have solid walls. Install the trvs where you want them as they will use the nearest extender to communicate. Changing the main controller was easy - it just fitted on the existing back plate.

[andrew-schofield]

I’ll second this. If your existing controller is attached to a back plate, then the Wiser controller should just slot in. Sadly mine wasn’t so I had to wire it myself, however with a combi boiler, it’s only 4 wires.
My boiler doesn’t have opentherm, and I’m not sure how the Wiser controller uses the opentherm interface anyway, there certainly doesn’t seem to be any data exposed over the API that suggests it is doing anything special.
If you have solid walls, then you almost certainly will need range extenders. You used to be able to just contact support, and they would send them out for free, however I don’t know if this is the case anymore now they’ve brought out their smart plugs (which have that functionality built in).
Fun fact, if you have any of the “old” range extenders, you can re-connect them to the controller using the app, and they will magically appear and function as smart plugs as well.

[rr4444]

Thanks guys. Wiring it is not complex, but a seriously annoying ‘faff-around’ (as we say in the UK). Before you know it, it takes me way longer than a day or two and everyone is getting cold…

trying to get a quote from central heating guys to install, but they all turn their noses up. Either seems to be too complex for their tastes, or too simple but long (depending on the personality). I’d even shared wiring diagrams, existing wiring pictures with lovely labelling, etc. Arg

I have a test home assistant install for mochad X10 and other bits, but the wiser binding will hopefully make me move. openhab seems a little more dev’y in terms of community proactivity. i think…

[andrew-schofield]

Is your existing controller connected using an industry standard backplate, or hard-wired?
You should be able to tell fairly easily as if it is the former, there should be two small screws on the bottom of the controller that you can loosen and just pop the controller off the backplate.

[rr4444]

It’s an annoying hybrid. There is a vanilla British Gas timer for CH and HW. It is on a standard plate based on my research. HW is timed and CH always ‘on’ (but can be switched off from there) The CH is actually then controlled by wireless

urrently:
1x Drayton LP241 thermostat with standard back-plate (same as the vanilla British Gas branded timer you see everywhere)

• 1 zone timing HW valve with inc. cylinder stat
• 1 zone always on and feeding two BDR91s below

2x Honeywell BDR91 wireless receivers switching 2x CW valves

So the prob I see is that the standard back-plate vanilla timer doesn’t control the CH zone valves or know they are there

I’d be ecstatic if anyone can say I’m wrong…