Flair/Ecobee question w.r.t. remote sensors and Puck
Hello and this is my 1st post. Just got Flair and I'm re-doing my HVAC with new duct work even. Bottom-line - new 2-stage HVAC with 16 SEER AC controlled via existing Ecobee 4. Have a total of old/new 11 supply registers all now migrated to Flair and hard-wired using 18 AWG plennum rated wires. Question 1: Can I also have them with battery? This way upon loss of power they can continue to work off batteries?
Here's where my biggest confusion. The puck configured as gateway. Ecobee is my main controller having comfort settings (Home/Away/etc.) with its set points and schedules. I categorically do not want to change it. The setup I have is:
1 big room in basement with its own remote sensor (Ecobee) and has 2 Flair ducts. Let's call it "Game Room".
1st. floor has another big room with 3 Flair ducts and let's call it "Family". The puck is located here.
1st. floor has 2 more rooms called "Guest" and "Formal". "Formal" has 2 Flairs and and ecobee sensor. Guest has 1 standard supply register (not Flair) and no sensors.
Here's what my expectation is - if Ecobee calls for heat and "Game Room" is UNOCCUPIED Ecobee will avoid averaging its temp. Does that somehow cause Flair to know it too and thus close the 2 registers feeding Game Room?
In Family as you see I currently do not have a remote ecobee sensor but my puck is located there. Is there a way to get the almost same functionality i.e. temp read/occupancy detect and Ecobee uses the same?
Formal, Family and Guest are in the same floor. What I have noticed is Family able to reach Ecobee set point pretty quickly but Formal takes time. Will Flair be able to read the individual sensor readings of Ecobee and thus in this case close the Family ducts but keep Formal open till such time it reaches set point in Formal? If possible I am unable to figure out how to setup in Flair App.
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You have the option to have the flair ecosystem call for heating and cooling. If this is setup it will continue to heat and cool to get those rooms to their setpoint. Where is your ecobee located? If its in family room then you can have that be the temp sensor otherwise you need a puck acting as a sensor, or an ecobee sensor. If a puck is setup as a gateway it cannot function as a remote sensor.
As for the battery, my suggestion. Just have the power supply that is supplying your vents on a small desktop type UPS. They are less than 100 bucks. But if you lost power, the vents arent going to do much good since your furnace/AC isnt going to be able run anyway.
Under "Home Settings" there is a remote sensor occupancy option. If its disabled, your vents will be active or inactive (closed) based on your schedule setup in flair. If you enable, those vents will be active (and follow the flair schedule), or inactive (closed) based on the ecobee occupancy sensor. This is what you'd want for your situation.
I hope this helps. If you have any more questions I will do my best to help
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Hi BM Ninada,
We don’t recommend using batteries when wiring Smart Vents.
Since all your schedule swings are in ecobee, set Flair’s Set Point Controller to “Thermostat “. This tells Flair to read it’s set Point from the ecobee. (Go to Home Settings->System Settings).
If you want Flair to read occupancy from ecobee remote sensors, enable Remote Sensor Occupancy in Flair (go to Home Settings->System Settings).
Flair Pucks do not read occupancy so you will need to use add an ecobee remote sensor (or the ecobee itself) to rims that you want Flair to use occupancy.
Occupancy is great for rooms that you don’t use much - or will be not using for more than an hour at a time. We generally recommend not using occupancy for rooms that you’re in and out of a lot.
It sounds like you have one Puck in your system.
I encourage you to check out this article to make sure you have enough Gateways in your home to provide good signal to your Smart Vents:
https://support.flair.co/hc/en-us/articles/360000523332-How-many-Gateway-Pucks-do-I-need-
All the best,
Finn -
It seems like you like tech. You might consider a Tesla Powerwall or 2 instead of UPSes and other battery backup strategies. A simple Powerwall means you can just ignore power outages and your entire home keeps going - your router, modem, vents, everything - instead of having to devise ways to protect each individual item or system.
We got it installed in February and Duke Energy had their inevitable power outage just 2 weeks later. I got a notification on the Tesla app that the grid was down, and that's it - power didn't even blink in the house. Pretty awesome.
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