SmartThings home automation system, recently purchased by Samsung, is starting to add more thermostats to their list of compatible devices. The latest is ecobee, a Canadian outfit. The SmartThings system uses the ZWave and ZigBee protocols, which means it has the potential to interface with a wide range of devices.
Conrad FHZ1000
The Conrad FHZ1000 (AKA ELV and eQ-3) uses the FS20 automation system and can control a large number or TRVs. I believe this is the same interface used by OpenTRV. A CUL dongle running culfw will also control a number of TRVs. There’s also a webinos project that also uses this protocol.
Automated Home
After I set up this blog I discovered Automated Home with a lot more detailed information and an HVAC category for the kind of products I’m interested in. There’s also a writeup of the author’s home automation project on his own house.
Open Source Projects
I’ve come across a number of open source projects aimed at home automation and smart heating control. The first I found is OpenRemote and then OpenHAB came along that offers even more flexibility. The new generation of smart controllers I mentioned in the welcome post have proprietary TRVs, but the OpenTRV project aims to bring control to individual radiators or zones. There’s also a project to control Heatmiser WiFi thermostats and a German one for Worcester’s Heatronic 3 system.