Wi-Fi Direct Thermostat?

[DC73]

Anyone know of a thermostat that can be controlled using Wi-Fi Direct? I'm not talking about a regular Wi-Fi thermostat. Wi-Fi Direct is a wireless standard that allows two Wi-Fi devices to communicate directly with each other without passing the signal through a router to the internet first.


I currently have two Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats (one for the house and one for the workshop). But, their servers and app have become unreliable. They frequently have problems on the weekends. After I filed a service ticket, they admitted they had been having problems.


Ideally I'd like a thermostat that could be controlled via both regular Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct. That way I could be assured of reliable service when trying to control the thermostat while at home but could also control it remotely when away from the house. Current system is a natural gas furnace with air conditioning.


DC

 

[biggziff]

I never found any, but I do have a few of the Honeywell wifi t-stats and they're generally problem free for me.

 

[Climatecreator]

What about something like this https://amzn.to/2K7lozS

Plus being able to add home automation is a plus.

Maybe a Bluetooth option would be good?

CC

 

[Warrenator]

My thermostat at home just died, and I bought an ecobee3 lite. Near as I can tell the ecobee has remote sensors that can help with different zones, but users report that the remote sensors are nothing but trouble. So I just got the basic lite unit with no sensors, it is supposed to be trouble free. Haven't been home to install it, but I will put up a report when I do.

Oh, and my genius wife fixed the broken thermostat. Pulled out the old batteries, put in new ones, that didn't fix it, pulled them out again, noted a spot of corrosion, cleaned it up with the dog's toenail grinder. Works great now she says! What a woman! I still want to put in the new ecobee because control with wifi and Alexa sounds good.

 

[bowhuntr311]

I've never seen a wifi-direct system. Doesnt mean they arent out there though. *knock on wood* I havent had any problems with my wifi honeywell thermostat. Had a buddy install a nest thermostat and was really happy with it.

 

[Jazzman442]

I am watching this thread. I went through this a few years ago and then there was no direct ones around. I finially went with 2 sensi ones.

 

[DC73]

What about something like this https://amzn.to/2K7lozS

Plus being able to add home automation is a plus.

Maybe a Bluetooth option would be good?

CC

I checked out the product in your link but couldn't find any option for controlling it absent a Wi-Fi connection to someone's servers. Maybe Amazon and Hive servers would be more reliable than Honeywell at this point.



Bluetooth doesn't have the range I would need to control the workshop thermostat.


DC

 

[DC73]

I did quite a bit of searching since I made the original post and have come up empty. I hope this is a feature that gets added to thermostats in the near future. I even contacted Honeywell and asked them to add Wi-Fi Direct to their thermostats.


I use the app to control one or both of my thermostats at least once per day. I need better reliability than I'm getting with Honeywell at the moment.



Love the thermostats otherwise.


DC

 

[PassnThru]

Seriously? I just learned something tonight.
I always assumed that the the WiFi thermostats out there in mass market communicated directly through your home router. I haven't had a need for one so I haven't really looked into them.
If this is true then it is absolutely ridiculous. If the device can connect to your wireless router then it is on your network with a local IP address and it's easy at that point to communicate to it directly. If they make you go to the cloud to communicate with a device on your own local network then they should be flogged and then drawn and quartered.
I'm 30+ years in IT - I'm not a network expert but I know enough about networking to know that this stinks because they designed the app to make this happen.

 

[PassnThru]

I should mention that I understand that this is necessary if you want to control it when you are away from the house. But it sounds like you have to go through the cloud even if you are at the house connected to the network.

 

[DC73]

But it sounds like you have to go through the cloud even if you are at the house connected to the network.

Bingo. I first have to login with their app which connects me to their servers. If their servers are down, I have to rely on sneaker-net to change my thermostats.

Most cell phones are now capable of Wi-Fi Direct so it seems a no-brainer that devices on the "internet of things" should also be capable.

DC

 

[DC73]

If the device can connect to your wireless router then it is on your network with a local IP address and it's easy at that point to communicate to it directly.

This part of your statement just got through to my brain. Wi-Fi Direct isn't necessarily required. Honeywell could just allow the app to communicate peer to peer over my home network when their servers are down. Wi-Fi Direct would still be beneficial in the event of a network outage.


DC

 

[Jaguar Fan]

Instead of a WiFi thermostat, would you consider a Z-Wave wireless thermostat? This gives you remote control without going out to a server. Perhaps something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CQ4V3Q/?tag=atomicindus08-20

If you are not familiar with z-wave, it is a mesh network standard for wireless communication and is sometimes used in home automation devices. You can control the device from a smart phone or dedicated fob. It does not use 802.11 based protocols.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Wave

 

[Warrenator]

Just an update on the ecobee I installed. Went well, literally took 20 minutes, and the thing seems rock solid. No problem at all controlling it from the app or the main panel. I'm getting another one for my mother in law, so I can turn her heat off in winter.

 

[CoogarXR]

I use two really old Proliphix IP thermostats. These were made before the smartphone era, so they have a built-in web server. They are hard-wired, not wifi. But, at least there are no 3rd party servers involved, and no apps that will stop working one day. You just open a web browser on any pc or on your phone, go to its address, and it works.

Of course, if you want to access it away from home, you have to do a port-forward on your router, but it's no big deal.

Here is the thread where I installed the second one in my shop:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=372238

 

[biggziff]

I should mention that I understand that this is necessary if you want to control it when you are away from the house. But it sounds like you have to go through the cloud even if you are at the house connected to the network.

This is done so that (as you stated) the stat can be controlled from anywhere without trying to configure port forwarding, etc. which would only confuse the average homeowner. It's also done so that power suppliers like NYSEG can offer to "help" you by managing your stat when it suits their needs. NYSEG has been hounding me for months to allow them access to my stats and they keep offering me money to do so. There is no way I'll ever allow them access, but that's the end game for them.