General information
With the Heating Control application from digitalSTROM you can easily set your home heating according to your wishes. With just a few clicks you can configure the behavior in the individual rooms, set the desired temperatures for the different temperature modes and plan your time profiles for the room-based night setback function and room usage. digitalSTROM then automatically adjusts each room to the temperatures that you want.
The first step is to install the blue digitalSTROM terminal blocks and the temperature sensor (e.g. digitalSTROM sensor dS-iSens200). A selction of radio-based EnOcean devices are also supported.
Using the Climate Control app for smartphones, you can read out current temperatures, change the setpoint temperatures and define, adjust and control many other useful features very easily and conveniently.
Preconditions
- The digitalSTROM server must be updated to the software version 1.11.
- The temperature sensors have been installed and assigned to the appropriate rooms.
- The heating actuators (control valves) have been installed and assigned to the appropriate rooms. In addition, the type of installed heating system (e.g. radiators, wall or underfloor heating) has been defined in the Device Properties dialog.
- It is recommended to connect the my.digitalSTROM server App with your my.digitalSTROM account for remote access to the full heating functionality. You establish this connection in the my.digitalSTROM server app.
- The heating system has to be hydraulic balanced, so that the system is set to the optimal flow of hot water. This is usually done by the heating installer during commissioning.
Functionality
The digitalSTROM Heating Controller app provides an infrastructure that intelligently controls individual rooms using connected room temperature sensors and actuators (heating control valves). The temperatures are set for different operating modes as desired and then selected depending on requirements.
During normal operation you can comfortably choose between the Comfort and Eco modes.
To save energy, you can:
- Set the whole appartment to lower temperatures during night mode
- Set the rooms to Cool mode while you are absent .
- Use your smart phone to set the time when your heater will be back to normal mode (Plan heating start)
- Set unused rooms to the Cool mode (with the Room setback function either manually or automatically by using the timer function)
- Get your heating in vacation. You can comfortably plan your vacations in the server app presence simulation.
You can set the respective temperature you desire for the five operating modes Comfort, Eco, Cool, Night and Holiday by using this Heating Control app in the digitalSTROM configurator or the Climate Control app on your smartphone.
To maximize energy savings, digitalSTROM heating always chooses the lowest possible temperature. For example: if the room setback (mode Cool) at 19° was manually set in a room, the Cool mode will still actively remain during night setback which is set at 20°.
The control supports heating systems with changeover mode (e.g. heat pumps). For cooling in summer, cold water flows through the heating system, and for heating in winter, hot water flows through the heating system. The heating control switches automatically to the 'Cooling' operating mode via a signal of the heating system and thus opens the heating valves. The cooling can be switched off in a room manually if desired as well as automatically via a minimum room temperature.
‚Overview’ Tab
You can see the current status of your heating at a glance in the Overview.
The status of the heating control (heating, cooling, turned off) is displayed under Apartment, and you select the valid mode for the normal operation (Comfort or Eco). This is active in heating mode, unless the night or room setback mode is active or you are on holiday.
The Current temperature, Target temperature and Current mode for your rooms are displayed under Rooms. The Room setback column or Room cooling shows whether this option is switched on.
Please note that references to faults and configuration errors are displayed under Messages and events.
‚General Settings’ Tab
You can configure the following parameters under General Settings:
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Heating control switched on or off: if the control is switched on, the rooms are regulated to the temperature desired for the active mode. If the control is switched off, all heating actuators are deactivated and the heating valves are closed. In this way you save energy. The room temperature is recorded even if the heating is switched off, and can be read out on your Smartphone via the Climate Control app. Please also observe the Notes below.
- Under Building type, choose whether it is a single family house or an apartment in an apartment block.
- The Heating system capabilities defines the features of the heating system. If your heating system supports changeover mode from hot to cold water, this parameter is set to Heating and Cooling. Heating is selected for all other systems. As soon as Heating and Cooling is selected, the Cooling tab also appears.
In the Room settings, the operation mode of the heating for your rooms is set and the associated room sensors as well as the terminal blocks and actuators are displayed.
You can choose between the following operation modes (double-click the selected room):
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Off – no controller active: The room is not regulated, and all heating valves are closed. If there is a sensor in the room, the actual temperature will still be shown in the smartphone app Climate Control. Please also observe the Notes below!
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Radiator: The room has a temperature sensor, as well as at least one radiator with a heating actuator.
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Floor or panel heating: The room has a temperature sensor as well as floor or panel heating with at least one heating actuator.
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The setting value follows a reference room: The room has at least one heating actuator but does not have any temperature sensor. In this operating mode, the heating valve control value follows the value of a neighboring room (reference room) and is thus regulated to the same extent. For this purpose, a reference room must be chosen. An offset value can optionally be defined.
Example: If the room should only be supplied with half the amount of hot water, just define an offset value of -50%. The offset ranges from -100% (heating in the room is switched off) to +300%, which corresponds to four times more hot water than the reference room.
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Use predefined setting values: If no temperature sensor or reference room is available, you can define a fixed heating valve value for each operating mode. For instance, you can decide to have the heating valves fully opened when you are in the apartment and fully closed during the night or when you are absent.
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Automatic mode: With this option, the connected device is identified automatically and set to the operating mode accordingly. Please note that you need to define the connected device in the Hardware tab under Device properties. This mode is the standard configuration for your heating control.
For the operating modes 2 to 4 and 6, you can also define a Setting value in emergency operation.
Example: If the temperature sensor stops responding in a room and the regulation stops, the heating will continue operating in emergency mode and the value you have selected will be set on the heating valve. This means that the room will continue to be heated, but it will not be regulated by the temperature anymore.
'Heating' tab
In addition to specific settings for heating, you can define standard temperatures in Celsius degrees for all rooms and the five operating modes Comfort, Eco, Cool, Night and Holiday. If the selected room is in the operating mode Use predefined setting values, then select the desired control value (0% to 100 %) for the valve opening.
You can switch the room setback (Cool mode) on or off manually for individual rooms if required.
You can also apply these settings in the Climate Control app on your Smartphone under Standard temperatures.
The Heating settings include the following parameters:
- Under Behavior in case of absence, you can choose whether the rooms should automatically be switched to the Cool mode to actively save energy when the leaving home activity is called. This option is energy efficient if the rooms are heated with radiators or if the building is poorly insulated. If your home is equipped with floor heating or is very well insulated, this option is not particularly recommended. You can easily and conveniently set the time when the heating starts using the Climate Control app on your Smartphone.
- The temperature of your apartment is lowered during your holiday. If, after your holiday, you would still like to come back to a nice warm home, using the Preheating time before end of vacation, you can decide when the heating should switch to normal operation before you return. You can plan your holiday in the Presence Simulation app in the digitalSTROM Configurator.
'Cooling' Tab
If the Heating and Cooling setting was selected for Heating system capabilities, this tab is displayed automatically. The settings for the cooling mode in summer are displayed and configured here.
You can switch between heating and cooling mode either from a building management system via the digitalSTROM-Gateway or from a sensor terminal block using the sensor function Changeover heating/cooling. The Heating/cooling changeover by parameter shows whether the last changeover was performed by a building management system or a sensor terminal block. If a sensor terminal block was used, the corresponding sensor is listed under Changeover heating/cooling sensor. Additionally, the entire heating system can also be switched off via a sensor. The used terminal block configured with the sensor function Heating operation on/off is shown in the parameter Heating on/off sensor.
Please note that these settings will be available only after the cooling mode was set for the first time.
In the Room settings you can set the minimum temperature for each room. If the room temperature drops below this temperature, the cooling system in this room is switched off automatically. In the Room cooling column, the cooling can be switched off manually as well.
‚Time profiles’ Tab
Here, you can define Time profiles for night and room setback, which lower the temperature automatically in order to actively save energy.
Configure the night setback: This option allows you to reduce the temperature of your entire home (Night mode).
- Under Selection you can define the night setback for each night or for nights during the week and at the weekend separately.
- You can also configure the night setback individually for every single day.
- If you want to change previously defined time profiles for the night setbacks, you can simply Reset night setback for apartment and reconfigure the new times.
Define unused period: This option allows you to reduce the temperature of individual rooms. If, for example, you need a room on weekends only, the temperature of this room can be lowered on week days (Cool mode).
- You can define the room setback under Selection for every day or for weekdays / weekends.
- You can also configure the room setback individually for every single day.
- If you want to change your time profiles for the previously defined room setbacks, you can simply Reset the room setback for a room and reconfigure the times.
If you have set time profiles for the night setback and for the room setback, the room is always reduced to the lower of both temperatures.
Your time profiles are displayed with wide bars in the graphical interface.
You can also adjust these time profiles in the Climate Control app on your Smartphone.
Notes:
- When you turn off the heating control, the outputs of the blue digitalSTROM terminal blocks are also turned off. If the connected heating valves are of the type "Open when not connected", the water will circulate in the heating system continuously. Make sure that the heater and circulation pumps are switched off. If you have any questions, please contact your heating specialist.
- If the heating control system is deactivated, the valve protection function is activated automatically in the digitalSTROM terminal blocks. To prevent the valves from becoming calcified, they are opened once a week.
- You can also configure the settings for Room setback or Room cooling in other server apps (e.g. Event Responder or User Defined Actions). For example, when the deep-off function is activated, the room setback mode is switched on, and is switched off again by turning on the lights.
- The actuators (BL-KM200) must also be assigned to the heating group Temperature control and the output must be set to Pulse width modulation (PWM) to ensure correct operation of the heating system. This is set in the Hardware tab under Edit device properties.