tado° Cooling - Wifi heat pump control

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jnimmo

1097 posts

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#146983 4-Jun-2014 23:26

Has anyone seen or backing the tado° Cooling Kickstarter project?
I've been wanting something like this for a while, very tempted to back it but got a few concerns

Current remote control barely works, you have to be in the exact right spot to get it to work. I haven't yet diagnosed if it is the IR receiver or emitter that is at fault
It would be really annoying if the heat pump beeped every time the tado made a change to the settings. I'd have to rip the little piezo off the heatpump board unless there is a set of IR codes which don't cause it to beep

I like that it has iBeacon built in, and pulls weather data, exactly the sort of thing iBeacon was designed for
EDIT: Sorry - should call it Bluetooth LE to be platform agnostic..

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#1061685 9-Jun-2014 11:07

I've ordered two. Thanks for pointing them out.

Hopefully they will get to the $200k and do all the stretch goals.

jnimmo

1097 posts

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#1061696 9-Jun-2014 11:28

Maybe I should just order one as well...

EDIT: Yeah decided to back it. Hadn't seen the stretch goals which are pretty cool. I'm sure someone else on Geekzone might buy it off me if our heatpump infrared receiver is actually faulty and I can't get it to work :)

jnimmo

1097 posts

Uber Geek

#1063280 11-Jun-2014 11:39

Just 11 hours to go if anyone else is interested in getting one - $7000 more in that time and the stretch goal will be reached (adding lots of support including Apple's iOS 8 HomeKit)

Noviota

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#1072102 22-Jun-2014 17:17

I've also seen another project called Sensibo on Indiegogo (Note: referral scheme link) that promises similar features.

I've ordered two of these as well.

I'll review both these products as they arrive and post my findings here.

jnimmo

1097 posts

Uber Geek

#1323050 11-Jun-2015 21:52

Which one ended up arriving first Noviota?
Just got my Tado up and running at home, pretty impressive despite the delays and not huge amount of functionality yet
EDIT: Haha - just realised this is exactly a year after my last post

kiwitrc

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#1323123 12-Jun-2015 06:11

Any idea how this compares to the Pebble Air?

timmmay

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#1323138 12-Jun-2015 07:34

There are at least a few places doing this. I like the idea, I figure I'll wait until they're actually released, realise there's competition, and sell them for $50 - $100. It's not worth $150 to me.

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jnimmo

1097 posts

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#1323141 12-Jun-2015 07:46

Here are a few photos

Really nice packaging, a nice visual user guide. I was surprised how small it is.

I think at this stage the key difference looks to be the presence detection/geo-fencing (will test this one today!)
Tado roadmap includes Homekit, IFTTT integration etc, so is giving more than a wifi enabled remote control (not to say the others wont).

Noviota

85 posts

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#1323167 12-Jun-2015 08:42

So my Tado arrived yesterday and I set it up last night. Here is some photos of the unboxing.

The outside sleve of the box seems professionally done.

The sleve slides off to reveal a plain blue box with the logo and cooling icon.

The box flips open and the tado unit is on display.

Removal of the tado unit from the box.

Removal of the tray that holds the tado unit reveals the instructions.

Removal of the instructions reveals the rest of the equipment.

An USB adapter, without NZ plug.

Some sticky mounting pads for sticking the device to the wall were also hidden with the rest of the equipment.

The USB cable is nice and long. I estimated about 1.5m.

The three plugs that are included

How the plugs would connect to the adapter.

It is a good thing I have spare USB adapters, however it would have been really nice for them to include a NZ/AU plug!

The empty box with the last tray removed.

My next post will contain screenshots of the setup.

Noviota

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#1323202 12-Jun-2015 09:05

The first run of the Tado app on Android. I'd already created an account on the web with a link they had sent me in an email. So I just signed in.

No, there are no screenshots of me signing in. I'll keep my details secret. But really how special is a sign in screen?

Product selection screen.

Overview of impending setup.

Connect to the device.

Configure wifi. By default it seems your wifi network the phone uses is selected. Obviously I've edited it out.

Tado connecting to the wifi network and their servers.

Connected.

First an error message about my wifi network appeared. I dismissed it and then I got the following error message.

The display on the Tado does show the images the screenshots show. Here is a picture of it while doing the update.

Firmware update finished. Yes you can tell how long it took from the screenshots. It was a lot longer than 5 minutes.

Configuration based on the type of remote.

Configuration by brand.

Instructions on how to hold the unit for the next step.

Answer 32 questions about 'does the AC react?'

I found it was easiest to ignore looking at my heat pump and listen for the beeps from it instead. If there was a beep, then I selected the tick. I learnt this after a few mistakes.

Takes a while to get through them, I did end up using the 'back to previous' after I'd figured out the beep thing.

After the last question this screen is displayed. Has a checkbox for signal 32, don't know why.

Updating the Tado's configuration for my heat pump.

Setup complete.

Choosing where you are placing the Tado unit.

Originally I chose on a surface and placed it on my fridge. This was a bad idea as the heat pump then confused the Tado unit with the hot air it was outputting. I've since moved it to the wall. Just don't know what this config option does, and can't find a way to change it. I've contacted support.

Place the unit and start sending commands.

The heat pump beeps a lot until I scrolled down and press done. Obviously my phone resolution isn't good enough to display their entire app. At least scrolling works.

Invite people you live with to have control. I haven't done this, as my wife is away. It'll be interesting to see what the wife acceptance factor is like.

Congratulations screen.

Name the controlling device.

Tado app loading/connecting.

Home screen of the app. Showing I am home (I've edited out my device name below the person icon) and that my heatpump is off.

I'll post some thoughts on Tado in a few days.

jnimmo

1097 posts

Uber Geek

#1323226 12-Jun-2015 09:29

You know how to post an unboxing :)
I got on the bus today after leaving the house with the AC running; opened up the app and could see it had turned off as it knew there was no-one at home.
Will be interesting to see if any extra battery drain from this..

mrphil

424 posts

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#1325053 15-Jun-2015 15:04

love the idea but not the price, is there a cheaper option?

Sounddude

I fix stuff!
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#1325061 15-Jun-2015 15:07

I am really interested in this, been watching it a while.

Is it smart enough to change AC modes from Cooling to heating?

lxsw20

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#1325066 15-Jun-2015 15:14

If it's not, the pebble can.

Noviota

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#1326748 17-Jun-2015 18:42

Sounddude: Is it smart enough to change AC modes from Cooling to heating?

While it can change modes, it doesn't seem to do it automatically. It isn't very smart at all. It'll just follow the schedule you set. The schedule can have items that activate only when presence is detected. However you can't seem to set alternatives. (I.E. if present heat to 21 degrees, if not heat to 15 degrees)

I can also set it to use the auto mode on my heatpump.

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