Monitoring for TS0601

[a8ree]

I went all in on the TS0601 and bought 24 of these for my home. I have since discovered some issues with the TRV

• battery reporting is unreliable - they will report up to a month before they stop functioning
• Can't use rechargeable batteries (die after about 24 hours)
• Lose connectivity periodically (need to pull the battery top off for a few seconds then hit the home button until it does the valve test)
• Sometimes get stuck in either open/closed whilst reporting differently

As I'm heavily invested, I'm looking to put in some monitoring so I know when things go wrong so I can take action either manually or attempt some remediation through service calls.

Here is what I am considering doing in Node-Red

When the boiler is on

If Better Thermostat is on for that room, compare the TRV current temperature vs the temperature 15 mins previously. If the temperature is unchanged ( - + 0.5 degrees) with the previous - flag for alert

When BT is off (or not heating), If TRV current temperature is greater than the previous 15 mins - flag for alert

I'm thinking that once I have the alerts nailed then I can try creating some remediating actions. Sometimes an overheating / non-heating TRV is solved just by toggling it on/off again.

Am I correct in thinking that I need to use HA templates to get the temperature 15 mins previous?

Is there any better way of doing this?

[auanasgheps]

Your ideas look great, well done!

Simply put, TS0601 are just piece of junk (or e-waste if you prefer). Luckily I have only 4 of these.

I would say I had more issues with the TS0601 itself than BT.

[Nuuki9]

It seems like there's no shortage of bad, cheap TRVs and good, expensive ones. Is there a concensus on a decent model thatr's also good value? I have 1 TSO601 and its been inconsistent - certainly wouldn't want to have ato deal with a whole bunch of them.

That said some NodeRed flows for monitoring would be nice - happy to contribute to that...

[auanasgheps]

I have asked, but got no answer. I'm also looking for an alternative that has a good value.

[Nuuki9]

Maybe worth us starting a new discussion on that specific topic.

[richsimpson]

HI, I have a few of these too and not overwhelmed by them.

Battery
I have added small external battery packs to aid the battery life. 4 x AA batteries but providing the same 3v. Just to avoid the regular battery change exercise. With 24 I imagine that every week one will suddenly decide its low. Very irritating. I have been up to a few months through winter which is better.

I have a battery flow in NR that checks my items for battery state and reports to me daily if the alert is on. One always is low (even with new batteries) so I just ignore that one from the flow. As we know they work fine for a few weeks from first alert, you could set that alert to review the time since battery went low. That way you can build in ignoring it for a set time before getting a critical battery alert?

Though just testing in NodeRed and picking up the last changed state of my Cinema Room TRV battery low state, it tells me it was updated at 11 today, so not sure if that was a last restart of Node Red. I did an update to it earlier. So perhaps no good...

Connectivity
Not seeing that issue.

Stuck state
Not seeing this exactly but I do find that some that are supposed to be off let some heat past. I always put it down to not being strong enough to push the pin on the Rad. They can be quite firm. I woudlnt push it with my thumb for example.

Ideas for monitoring/flows
I like the idea to check for state change after 15 mins if boiler is on. Do you monitor actual room temp from the TRV or from external sensor? I use external and not sure if the BT algorithm alters the TRV measured temp, I think it depends on how you set it up. Which mode.

I did find some of these valves have a setting to change if the valve properly closes or not, and to reduce the range of valve position from 0-100 in 100 steps to 0-100 in 4 steps 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Might be worth checking if not done already.

For me I have some flows set as my boiler is turned on and off based on thread being on. To achieve that my current logic is each TRV valve position is tested to see if it is above a threshold. Set per device. If rooms are on then a group sensor is changed to on and boiler fires.

I also monitor the valve 'mode' as they should be in auto and manual for BT to work, but maybe other settings to, like boost, off.

More recently though (past few days) I have decided that Better Thermostat and these valves don't really play well and there is so much I don't understand so have moved to another way of operating the valves. Seems to be working fine for now, and I can see what is happening as I monitor. I had some valves doing weird stuff which has all stopped now.

This involves a helper on/off sensor for each room. Then a check state for the actual Rad valve. if Rad is on and the spoof switch is off, the valve is set to off. If it is off and the spoof switch is set to on then it is set to heat.
I use a normal thermostat dial and a different integration that essentially turns the valve to heat or off based on a current temp and target temp. Front end is just the same to look at. No use of the valves part open or close, just binary radiator is on or off.
Again happy to share.

Happy to share all/any of my work/flows. Its all bespoke but might be helpful for starting off with?