The sensors include a motion detector to tell the ecobee which parts of your house are active. While it has its issues and may be something you ultimately disable, its still nice that Ecobee offers motion tracking through its Follow Me functionality. You can type in your own name or you can choose from a list. Whereas the only item found with ecobee is that the installation process is more difficult and specific to the type of system it is integrated with, which is why we recommend professional installation of any smart home device or project, regardless of the feature that is being installed or integrated. Room sensors were notoriously bad around animals, especially large dogs. You can set up these little satellite sensors anywhere in your home to give the ecobee more knowledge of temperature and activity in your home. We set the Ecobee to the Sleep setting whenever we put the baby down for a nap or to sleep.

But, the rest of your house might require a blanket and slippers. The two systems are independent. Fortunately, everything is customizable and you can even turn the feature off if you dont like it. In breaking down the features of both sensors, Ecobeeworks differently than Nest. I have my Ecobee thermostat behind a canvas (artwork), otherwise I would have had to punch holes in wall and move thermostat. And it currently set to 72. If youre thinking about upgrading from an old Ecobee system, hopefully, this info will give you the peace of mind you need to take the plunge. Unfortunately, Nest falls short in a few key areas when you compare Nest and Ecobees sensor. Old house with addition. Then, reinstall the battery the proper direction and it should work.

Depending on the device, you maybe able to plug it into a connected outlet for automation and smart controls. Take the battery out of the sensor and see what happens? They can also detect objects up to 20 feet away. The advertised maximum range of the sensors is 45 feet. The only thing you have to worry about the distance to the sensor. In fact no thermostat could do that by itself. Well dive into more of the specifics of how it works later in this article. We cover these in our Nest Temperature Sensor video below. The newer batteries are about twice as expensive per battery, but their enhanced performance means your annual battery cost is going to be cheaper after the upgrade. And, if the battery gets low it will send a notification to replace it before it dies.

These functions are currently handled by the remote. But how efficient are these temperature sensors?

So what do you think about Nest vs Ecobee sensors? You will have to use another mode (night mode or else) to use a specific sensor. This lets the thermostat respond faster, and it also allows for more powerful automations when paired with HomeKit, Alexa, or Google Assistant. When a customer adds real-time energy monitoring to a smart home, ecobee plays an integral part in monitoring and controlling your heating and air conditioning energy use. I dont want a sensor in one space providing data to a thermostat that is not controlling heat/AC to that space. Similarly, if you check a sensors status of a room that has recently been occupied, it will still read motion for a period of time. I just had an ecobee installed, unfortunately the old thermostat cable only had 3 wires and there was no way to run a new 5 conductor cable, without tearing up a ceiling. The newer Ecobee smart sensors have a 140-degree horizontal viewing angle and a 100-degree vertical viewing angle. I understand the concept of having to redirect airflow if different results across are preferred, but I just want the thermostat to factor that room. However, it doesnt instantly average all sensors reporting motion. Smart Sensors Have Faster Detection Response, 3. If youre in the room and it gets above a certain temperature, you can have Haiku automatically turn on. You can use these to monitor the temperature and automate other devices around your home. But this is not even an option using Nest. Using sensor participation, you can choose which sensors to use for each comfort profile by choosing a sensor from the Sensor menu. The height and width, on the other hand, decreased for the newer sensors. You dont have to use the stand, but if you do, youll be glad you upgraded. Please read my disclosure for more info. My granddaughter came home during sleep and heater turned on had follow me on. So, it is rarely correct for my location. Let it sit for a minute or so. If your base unit is in a central location in your home, there is a 90-foot diameter circle that you can place your sensors. The smart sensor is about 1.58 inches tall by 1.6 inches wide, compared to the 1.7-inch height and width of the room sensor. Whether it is an energy saving feature will depend on the heating and cooling properties of the room in which you spend the most time. Rooms with lots of windows or high ceilings are also more affected by exterior weather and could benefit from a sensor. Thus, the average based on the thermostat and an active remote or remotes will not be what I need. Rather than cranking up your entire HVAC system for one chilly room, you can always use a portable heater to make that area warmer. It is our custom to apply top of the line products in every project we work on. Electronic devices in the 915 MHz range can also cause interference, including some phones, baby monitors, and home security devices. If you are in heating mode, your warm living room will reach the set point before the rest of your house and the furnace will shut down. First, its lack of a motion sensor within the temperature sensor is a huge negative.

Your email address will not be published. For more details on how the sensor communicates with your Nest thermostat to adjust the heating and cooling, make sure you read on to the section How Nest sensor works. Ecobee smart sensors are able to detect occupancy much faster than Ecobee room sensors.

If you have both the thermostat and the remote sensor selected for a given comfort profile, it will average the temperature. So if you install a sensor in your bedroom, you can have your Nest thermostat adjust itself during the morning and nighttime based on the sensor, keeping your room extra comfortable when you sleep. Ecobee can automatically override your heating and cooling schedule to make sure you stay comfortable during these times. I keep the ecobee thermostat sensor active for the Home and Away comfort profiles. In fact, Ecobee claims that the new batteries should last up to five years. The room sensor used a 240mAH CR2032 battery which could power the sensor for about one year. In order to have home and away modes activated, do you need to make a schedule.

You can always go back and change it later. What I meant was; when the battery dies or connection to the sensor is lost does the main thermostat take over, even though it is now set to ignore Home/Away/Sleep. From there, youre also able to schedule the sensor within pre-defined time frames (morning, afternoon, evening, and night). It will require repeated motion detection over time to be fully averaged in. The sensors allow you to prioritize which rooms should control the thermostat, whether its your hot kitchen during dinner or your freezing room at night. But their vertical viewing angle was limited to about 2530 degrees. You can manually select whether you want the thermostat or the sensor to regulate your homes temperature. For my more general review of all things the ecobee thermostat can do, click here. While Nest and Ecobee sync with each smart thermostat similarly, there are some important differences to be aware of when looking at how they actually work. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. This keeps the battery from powering on the sensor. Its just nice to pull up the info on the smart phone, plus knowing what happens outside of the conditioned space could be useful. If you do want to say thanks, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Once you have the sensor paired, you have to find a place to put it. This blog is my exploratory space, where I examine gadgets and setups that make everyday life easier and more convenient. We set the ecobee remote sensor to always participate and the ecobee built in sensor to never participate. The rest of the house will get cooled to a temperature lower than your set point and the ecobee wont care because the only sensors it will be using will be the living room sensors. Its important to understand the differences before committing to either the Nest or Ecobee brand. Luckily, new smart home sensors are looking to solve this problem by tracking the temperature separately from the thermostat. Dont place a sensor in a place where it might get direct sunlight. And how do they control your smart thermostats? Pet immunity is far from the only improvement that Ecobee has made in its sensors occupancy detection capabilities. I just had the ecobee and a smart sensor installed yesterday. Since this sensor will be in my bedroom, and I rarely spend any time in my bedroom unless Im sleeping, I will tell the bedroom sensor to only participate in the Sleep comfort profile. The extra features and bigger battery have to go somewhere. When the sensor sees motion in the room, it can open up the vent automatically to begin heating or cooling the room again. These are expensive, but very high quality ceiling fans by the maker of Big Ass Fans. How do I get the Ecobee system to cool my house to the highest active sensor? I googled and found this or some other article that indicates that the Smart Sensor uses CR2032 batteries. Even with all the newer features, the four-times-higher capacity of their new batteries has increased the life of the sensor to at least two years. As the sensors monitor areas of your home that can get too hot or cold, they can kick on your HVAC. This kind of automation can help you keep certain rooms feeling cool without cooling your whole home. Smart Sensors Have a Longer Communication Range, 2. It creates a true average temperature based on the readings, and adjusts the air based on that average. Thus I ordered a pack of 20 from Amazon (only $5.99) and when I received them I found that my Smart Sensor uses CR2477!

There are three default comfort profiles: Home, Away, and Sleep. I cant imagine ever needing anywhere near that manybut if you do, the ability is there. If you have certain areas of your home that are extra hot or cold, then these solutions could help make that room more comfortable without turning up the AC/heat for your entire home. Eric, I will try that next time I am at the cottage where the ecobee is installed (3 hrs drive) and report back. Thats a job for smart vents. You can select which sensors to use when averaging the temperature. Required fields are marked *, TheSmartCaveis a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. However, I dont think youd want to put one outside if it might get wet/dirty. They can detect motion up to 15 feet.

Ecobee never published the detection distance of the old sensors, but they seemed to only work to about 15 feet. That range should satisfy the majority of homeowners. Smart Home/Away ties into this by recognizing when your schedule changes and you are unexpectedly home. For optimal motion detection, sensors should be aimed at doorways and seating areas. This helps your thermostat take more areas of your home into consideration when determining how to cool or heat your home. Can the thermostat be deactivated which the remote or remote3. The average temperature functionality makes more sense for regulating your homes temperature overall, rather than selecting one to base your whole homes temperature on. Speaking of design changes, the room sensor looked like a first-generation prototype. Can I use two sensors to get heat evenly on all floors. However, the sensor will report the room as Unoccupied after a period of time and the room can get cold. Hi Eric. This means that when the thermostat is set to the sleep comfort profile, only the temperature reported by the bedroom sensor will determine whether to turn on the heat or AC. The sensors will not be triggered by every tiny motion event they detect. Any physical barriers such as walls, floors, or furniture will cause the effective maximum range to drop substantially. Since its based on the average, you wont be heating or cooling your entire home based on the extreme temperature of one specific room. Activate the home screen so your thermostat screen looks like this: Then, pull the plastic tab out from the sensor. Note that these sensors willnothelp you save energy and lower your bills. The sensors should be oriented so that the little bee is facing up and to the right (just like the picture below). The reasons we use ecobee rather than nest are simple. I also want to put a remote sensor outside so I can read the correct temperature. This option gives it the edge when comparing both sensors. Since a sensor cannot detect how far away an object is, a close object will appear much larger to the sensor than a distant object. To do what you want, I believe you would have to do some custom automation with your own hub. Thanks. (dont get confusedIm talking about angle degrees here, not temperature degrees!). My thermostat is located in main level hallway. Ecobee calls its motion tracking features Follow Me and Smart Home/Away. The remote sensor is now in the main floor living area near the old thermostat. When in away mode ecobee is not following a specific remote sensor but the thermostat Itself. A sensor cant redirect the airflow of your system. If youre thinking about upgrading an existing system, though, its probably not important unless the extra range or the improved occupancy detection and pet immunity are critical factors in your home.