Smart heating that works without an external server

[MDAR (Stuart Hanlon, UK importer of Velbus hardware)]

Have you seen this thread?

Thermostat recommendations (UK, old system boiler)

Look at evohome. Works well in isolation and has a very good openhab plugin. Works fine with old boilers

[CDriver]

Have you seen this post?

Tutorial: Cheap, Tuya-based, Smart Plugs. HowTo reflash them and use them with OpenHAB

Cheap Smart Plugs (With power monitoring!) [image] The Mission: Based on this thread about cheap, wifi-based smart plugs, it was suggested I do a write-up on how to flash them and how not to brick them (like I did ) Why: Smart plugs are probably the first or second thing you’ll want to do with your new smart home. But, there are a number of issues to smooth before you can use them. Once smoothed you’ll see that it’s actuallly a doddle to get these plumbed in to your system. W…

The TPLinks are good but, as you say, they do phone home. They’re also reliant on a binding and for that binding to work. If they update the firmware there is a chance we’re stuffed

[MDAR (Stuart Hanlon, UK importer of Velbus hardware)]

@CDriver

If they update the firmware there is a chance we’re stuffed

I hear you, loud and clear.

We’ve all read the horror stories about Sonos.

That’s why I’ve blocked my HS100 from the internet.

I can see in the router log that it keeps trying, but that’s not a big deal.
If I had dozens of them, I’d definitely put them on an isolated SSID without internet access.

(I only bought this one as a experiment to see if it would help a client who didn’t have a switched outlet in a room that did have a Velbus Thermostat.
I’m happy to report that it’s working really well.)

[CDriver]

@MDAR

That’s why I’ve blocked my HS100 from the internet

From Pihole:

Next to the Philips hue, they’re second!

[MDAR (Stuart Hanlon, UK importer of Velbus hardware)]

Wow, that’s a lot of call backs

[Ali_Farmer]

It sounds like you should look at the Drayton wiser solution - it does everything you want, is reasonably priced and has great openHAB integration.

It’s zigbee based, controls the boiler, zigbee based trv’s, zigbee smart plugs which act as range extenders. It can be controlled locally or via the cloud - the app will connect locally or through the cloud depending on where you are. The app provided is good, provides good control and scheduling and has a good deal of intelligence built in. I have both water and heating controlled with trv’s on every rad. This then integrates in with other temperature, geofencing and sensors in openhab to provide intelligent room based control.

[Feathers_McGraw (Sam Hobbs)]

@Ali_Farmer thanks for the suggestion, that sounds like a decent system if the hub would work when firewalled off so it can’t access the internet. Have you tried this? There’s always a chance they have done something daft like use a local connection from the app to the hub but made the hub rely on the WAN server for authentication.

As you say, the prices are reasonable too.

I have to say I’m also tempted by a Velbus type wired solution (wired bus would be more reliable and appeals to the engineer in me), but it could be a pain to install downstairs where running cables would be difficult, and I think it would be more expensive overall.

[roli (Andrej Rolih)]

I will just borrow this topic a bit since I have pretty similar needs. With the exception that I do not mind something internet connected (although I would like if it would work without it).

Basically I currently have a Nest, but I want more control with separate TRVs and all that. Plus google and their removal of works with Nest APIs.

I was looking at the following (as mentioned above):

• Drayton Wiser
• Tado
• Honeywell Evohome

Tado seems to be the cheapest and most feature packed (the fact that it can also control the AC is appealing). And it looks like it integrates with Openhab. Anybody using it? Is it a good choice?

My second choice would be Drayton (price is appealing - again), but the Openhab binding is not complete yet it would seem.