UK Nest Thermostat working in NZ

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › UK Nest Thermostat working in NZ

gabesmith

46 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Trusted

#144119 7-May-2014 23:08

I have just got a UK Nest learning thermostat installed and working in my house.

I used a UK Nest purchased from Amazon UK who were happy to ship this to NZ for ~$330 NZD all up. The UK Nest is a good match for our Italian gas boiler and hydronic underfloor heating system.

The install of the hardware was pretty straightforward with only basic electrical and control wiring involved.

I have implemented this hack http://motote.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/nest-thermostat-in-europe-hacks-ii.html (except using a separate Wireless Router, DNS Proxy and PHP running on Media PC IIS server) to get the weather feed and time zone working right for NZ.

All up and running fine so far with the thermostat still in learning mode. Bring on the cold weather....

1 | 2

I fix stuff!
1935 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 640

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1038726 8-May-2014 07:09

My parents have the same unit in their home. Its fantastic!

AKT

335 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 15

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1050802 22-May-2014 01:57

That's great to know. I want to set one up in our home but as our current thermostat also doubles as a boiler control, I'm not sure I can :(

If you're thinking of getting a Nest, there is a big difference in the US and UK versions so make sure you get the right sort for your setup.

A

gabesmith

46 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Trusted

#1066278 15-Jun-2014 22:48

Just an update on this. The Nest has been working great so far.

I have simplified my Nest Weather and TimeZone hack to now work on my main home network vs. a sub network. I have also moved the hack PHP script from running on a PC to my NAS to free up some resources.

OLD:
Nest > Wireless Router (DHCP to point to PC DNS) > PC (DNS, IIS + PHP) > Fritz!Box 7390 (Router) > Internet

NEW:
Nest > Fritz!Box 7390 (Router now running Freetz with DNSMasq) + ReadyNas (PHP) > Internet

Below is the PHP script which simply returns Wellington weather and timezone http://184.73.183.168/weather/v1?query=-41.292%2C174.896 when the nest requests this http://weather.nest.com/weather/v1?query=28806,US

<?php

$param = $_GET["query"];
if ($param == "28806,US") {
$jsonData = json_decode(file_get_contents('http://184.73.183.168/weather/v1?query=-41.292%2C174.896'), true);
$data = $jsonData["-41.292,174.896"];
$data["location"]["city"] = "Wellington";
$data["location"]["state"] = "";
$data["location"]["zip"] = "28806";
$data["location"]["country"] = "US";
$data["location"]["timezone"] = "EDT";
$data["current"]["timezone"] = "EDT";
$jsonData = array("28806,US"=>$data);
} else {
$jsonData = json_decode(file_get_contents('http://184.73.183.168/weather/v1?query=' . $param));
}
header('Content-Type: application/json');
print stripslashes(json_encode($jsonData));

?>

gabesmith

46 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Trusted

#1432348 21-Nov-2015 17:42

Nest have just released 5.1.3 firmware for my 2nd generation thermostat. The timezone and weather hack I have been using to date has stopped working. After doing some wireshark network sniffing, I can see they have started using https for the weather feed api now. I have attempted changing my proxy to use https but the nest is now checking the https cert to determine trust. So I am bit buggered for now. I thought Nest were being good guys allowing Nest to be hacker friendly but it appears this is changing....

gabesmith

46 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Trusted

#1433332 23-Nov-2015 14:38

Success! I have found a simpler way around this.

I discovered, Nest actually support other post codes and countries e.g. mine http://weather.nest.com/weather/v1?query=5013,NZ

The nest applications (web, mobile and Nest itself) limits the list of countries. I was able to use chrome dev tools plus a chrome extension called DHC to create my own http post to the API call to update the location of my nest.

The nice thing about this hack is that no network DNS or proxy hacks are required now.

AKT

335 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 15

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1434699 25-Nov-2015 18:25

That's great news.

Any chance you could post some instructions as to how to set it up please? (or even 'export' the DHC file so I can 'import' it, if that works)

I assume that once the Nest has your location, you don't need to run a server any longer.

Thanks
Andy

Geekzone

Want to support Geekzone and browse the site without the ads? Subscribe to Geekzone now (monthly, annual and lifetime options).

gabesmith

46 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Trusted

#1434895 25-Nov-2015 23:37

Hi the technique is pretty simple. I am just replaying a modified version of the https post that the nest web application is making to the API to set the Nest location.

This technique no longer needs DNS and proxy server hacks to modify your nest location to work in different locations outside the Nest official (supported list of) locations.

Here is a bit more detail to help with this procedure.

Use Chrome Browser
Log onto to home.nest.com with your account details
Turn on Chrome dev tools (F12)
Goto the network tab to record the http traffic
Navigate to Home Info, Address and update your address eg UK, W6 9RH
Look at the http traffic in dev tools for a request that looks like Image1 below
Load up DHC
Set the protocol to be HTTPS
Set the URL to be the request URL from step 6
Set the action to be POST
Set the headers to be the same as step 6 (note you can do this by coping the headers in dev tools to the headers raw view in DHC)
Copy the request body from step 6 e.g. {"user_id":"1234","country_code":"NZ","postal_code":"5013"} into the DHC body - Note modify your country and post code
Press Send and look for a HTTP 200 (ok) response in DHC

I hope this helps?

AKT

335 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 15

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1436699 28-Nov-2015 10:40

Hi,

Thanks for the description. I'm still struggling a little, I have got most of the way there but I keep getting an error when I POST. Error 401 unauthorised. DHC says the headers are 'unknown format' when I do a direct copy and paste - do I need to edit them at all? Any idea where I'm going wrong? I have used the parsed 'request headers' which looking at your screenshot is what you had used.

Thanks

Andy

gabesmith

46 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Trusted

#1436752 28-Nov-2015 11:29

You need to copy the request headers from Chrome Dev tools in the "view parsed" mode and paste these into DHC request headers in the RAW view mode. Switch the DHC request headers to form mode and remove the headers that have an exclamation mark beside them Connection, Content-Length as DHC manages these headers itself.

I hope this helps.

AKT

335 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 15

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1437113 29-Nov-2015 08:53

Thanks for your help - got it to work.

I needed to put a ":" after POST when I copied & pasted as the data kept getting deleted when I switched from raw to form and some "'s around user_id etc. Using chrome for Mac so I suspect that may be why.

A

kngkong

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1543278 28-Apr-2016 11:06

Hi Gabe and AKT,

I have periodically checked this thread over the years and just came across the last set of posts which describe setting the NZ post code. Nice work! Got that to work yesterday and happy to finally have the correct time and weather data.

Have you used this yet with Home/Away Assist?

I started to activate the function and it brought up the address field requester panel with the correct post code entered but needed street address etc. Didn't know if it would work typing it in to the requester or would need to use DHC again. Anyway, just wanted to ask if anyone has done it yet before I tried.

Cheers,

John

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

AKT

335 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 15

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1543575 28-Apr-2016 18:56

Hi,

I have set up Home/Away assist. I didn't do anything special (but I have a feeling on one phone there was an error when I first set it up). I think it works (it uses more than just GPS) but haven't really looked into whether it actually does or not.

Andy

kngkong

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1543599 28-Apr-2016 20:08

Hey Andy,

When you used DHC to enter post code/NZ did you also enter street information? Does your full address show in Home Info/ Address? I had added post code and NZ with DHC. When I try to add street now it says enter a valid post code.

AKT

335 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 15

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1543634 28-Apr-2016 21:06

Only my postcode shows there

A

dazza139

15 posts

Geek

#1622895 5-Sep-2016 09:45

Is the above hack likely to work with the 3rd generation NEST. I have gas boiler which heats water for my radiators throughout the house. Thinking of using a NEST since I can incorporate it with other home automation solutions

Cheers

Dazza

1 | 2