Wiser TRV not fully closing

[dabbler]

Over the past couple of days one of my TRV's is not fully closing - therefore heating the room when other assets call for heat.

The TRV in question has 100% battery so that is not the issue and its only a couple of months old. Is has also the latest firmware 0000ea60 which has NOT been the greatest update as opening / closing is far more noisy than previous version.

I have provided an image from Grafana for that room showing heating when no demand is made (radiator is warm to touch) - yellow ling current temp, red line set point, green lines call for heat from bedroom 2 and blue line outside temp. This started occurring on 30/11/22 @ 07:36 if you want to check when the firmware was updated (HubR mac address 04-B6-18).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J62XlOhkJEnt0grwqPCLMqpN7I11zlR4/view?usp=share_link  

Any thoughts?

[PhilHornby · Accepted solution]

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There doesn't seem to be anyone from Schneider here at the moment - just other users; but I'll have a stab!

I've had this happen to one of my valves and I cured it by simply re-calibrating the valve. If you remove the iTRV and do the recalibration off the radiator, you can watch to make sure it does its full range of motions. (Obviously, the calibration needs to be done for real, when re-attached to the radiator!).

While the iTRV is off, I'd prove that the actual valve is free to move. With the iTrv removed, you can press the pin down on my Pegler valves with your thumb - but it hurts!.

One other possibility is that the batteries aren't as good as you think ... double-check that if you select the "+" or "-" actions, that the centre red led doesn't illuminate. The iTRV uses this led as a low battery warning - and when it's operating the motor, the battery voltage can dip too low, even though the zigbee stuff is still working. 

Incidentally, when the Wiser Home app starts reporting low battery, there's still about 500mA.hr left in a Procell AA, because of this issue. I'm currently trying some Procell Intense cells and also some Energizer Lithiums , to see if they are a better bet.

BTW: Nice graph 😀

[dabbler]

Not tried replacing the batteries (just bought the valve 2 months ago) but have tried recalibration and it was still passing heat.

Pressed down on pin as well when recalibrating but that didn't make any difference.

Have now replaced radiator with normal TRV (room got to 30 degrees) and moved wiser to another radiator to see if problem still exists (might point to TRV body then).

System was working so well for the first 2 months then this - whole point of system is to control heat in individual rooms.

[dabbler]

Moving the TRV to another radiator (which has a brand new TRV body) is working correctly so I may need to swap over the other TRV body and retest.

[dilalio]

Hi Dabbler,

I would have said suspect the TRV body first, which you did and ruled that in by moving to another rad.

First rule of troubleshooting... Try the easiest fixes first.

Can you advise me how to implement the Grafana system for wiser. 

Looks really useful to me as I am an installer and would love to be able to interrogate installations for my customers.

Cheers. 

[dabbler]

Implementing grafana is quite complicated and you need to be comfortable with computer systems.

In order to do it you need Home Assistant software running on a server in the home - I picked a Raspberry Pi as its small and has low power demands but they are really hard to find due to supply issues (restock dates show as August 2023). Once you have a server install Home Assistant software and Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) - install instructions are online and then install Wiser Home Assistant Integration module https://github.com/asantaga/wiserHomeAssistantPlatform - this is really useful software as it allows you to automate elements of the Wiser system e.g. Away mode if everyone leaves the home via IFTTT, notify you if any radiator is boosted, reset heating to scheduled temperatures if it unexpectedly changes, etc.

Once the Wiser integration is installed you can graph in Home Assistant but that only shows short term readings (think Home Assistant keeps a month by default) - you need to install InfluxDB to store reading for longer (mine is set to a year) and with that you can add Grafana to then graph InfluxDB measurements.

If you need anything specific on the installs give me a shout.

[dilalio]

Thank you.

I will go through your guidance as soon as I can. I have some IT skills and knowledge and there are my son's who can help out where I might be out of depth. We have a couple of pi's in the household and get involved in pcb electronics and component implementation so should be able to tackle this with some confidence.

I'll come back to you if we get stymied!

Cheers

D