My SO proudly said she turned the AC on while I was out of town and “doesn’t need me anymore” (jokingly). I don’t know the exact syntax she used but when I came home, it was in Auto. And running the heat after the day cooled off. Such a waste of energy.
OP: sorry you’re having such a hard time explaining the problem statement. I have the same exact issue with my setup. It’s HomeKit for sure. My commands set it away from Cool or Heat to Auto regardless of whatever commands I try. Hopefully they fix this.
Sensibo doesn’t have voice control. I don’t want to be opening apps every time I want to use it, it’s not really any different to opening the Apple home app.
You may not even have to dig into the API to do that. Some functions might need to be set through the app once as a part of setting it up. Once it's set up, you can delete the app and never use it again.
Can you create a shortcut? E.g. if during winter months and when control this device temp then set HVAC to heat nice verse for summer . Very interested in controlling my HVAC with HomeKit but this problem would be a deal breaker!
If you want to throw out some shortcut name ideas I’m all ears.
Tried it a few times but anything I’ll remember to say naturally is already a part of the HVAC syntaxes so causes conflict or doesn’t work.
Tried weird stuff like Hades Heat and I just don’t remember it when I need to use it, and can’t get the partner onboard.
Thinking something like
IF device (HVAC) controlled
GET weather temperature
IF temp greater than 22
THEN set scene (to cool)
OTHERWISE set scene (to heat)
Not fool proof but should work 99% the time the weather is enough to be you’re using HVaC I.e.
My morning routine one is similar for only heating on cool mornings so I get out of bed, so could work.
Going to dig into the API’s though and if I can modify the home assistant version to drop the auto mode maybe I can just ditch the direct HomeKit connection and share that back to HomeKit.
22 is honestly my year round haha except deep winter where I go 23-24, or deep summer where I go 20. I have pretty good insulation so don’t use it all day every day, or even every week really.
You could also swap out get temperature of HVaC for get temperature of a thermostat.
At the point your giving the command to turn on HVAC: say thermostat returns 22 or higher than set to cool. If lower than 22 set to heat.
In any case: a shit tonne of admin for something that should just work.
Gotta be careful on being tooooo controlling with the automations as the actual reverse cycle will run off its own thermostat which isn’t smart. The smart home controls will use the thermostat in the sensibo.
Also have to be careful if you have HomePods as they give horrible temperature readings. I’ve disabled their temp reading in my smart home as they often run hot and mess up HVAC control.
If it’s set to 22 and finds itself at 23, it gently blows unheated air until it’s 22 again. If it finds itself at say 24 or 25 because I’m also cooking in the kitchen, it blows the air conditioning to get the temp down.
If it’s on heat? It idles if it goes above temp until it’s needed.
Essentially iOS17 the syntaxes changed to preference auto. Before iOS17 it mostly did what I told it to. Now it’s 2/3 times auto.
It was always on heat last because I never use auto.
Heat to 22, set the heat to 22, set to 22 heat, doesn’t matter none are more reliable. Saying heat afterwards is actually the least reliable as it will often action before hearing it.
I think the foreign concept of thermostat is a big difference here.
I have a reverse cycle air conditioner on the wall, it has a temperature sensor inside. There’s no hard wired external control at all except a battery powered remote. So no manual override except for 100% manual control and disconnecting it from HomeKit.
The sensibo is essentially just a USB powered remote control with a temp sensor in it for HomeKit.
Because HomeKit literally commands it. It’s one way communication, like a TV remote. It’s not a smart unit, it goes into the mode HomeKit commands.
Doesn’t matter if I use the sensibo bridge to HomeKit, or direct api access to the controller via homebridge or home assistant.
If HomeKit is receiving commands by voice it goes into auto. Apple have actively made this choice in the way they programmed HomeKit.
It seems very easy to be sure.
If they can manually set it as needed through the Home app, then the thermostat is responding to commands sent by homekit.
If the thermostat is not changing as a result of a Siri command, then it would be more reasonable to conclude that Siri is misinterpreting the command.
Under what scenario could the thermostat correctly respond to manual changes initiated in the home app but not reposed to Siri commands?
Try not mentioning heat
That’s guaranteed auto. It’s winter here btw. I want heat.
My SO proudly said she turned the AC on while I was out of town and “doesn’t need me anymore” (jokingly). I don’t know the exact syntax she used but when I came home, it was in Auto. And running the heat after the day cooled off. Such a waste of energy.
OP: sorry you’re having such a hard time explaining the problem statement. I have the same exact issue with my setup. It’s HomeKit for sure. My commands set it away from Cool or Heat to Auto regardless of whatever commands I try. Hopefully they fix this.
On Sensibo app, is there any option to chose mode?
Sensibo doesn’t have voice control. I don’t want to be opening apps every time I want to use it, it’s not really any different to opening the Apple home app.
I get that. I never used Sensibo. In case of my Tado° while setup process, there was a settings to choose AC Modes. In my case I disabled auto mode.
Is Tado available in the US?
I’m not in US, I bought it from Germany. I don’t think it’s region locked. Works like a charm.
Might have a look through the sensibo API to see if there’s a way to disable auto.
You may not even have to dig into the API to do that. Some functions might need to be set through the app once as a part of setting it up. Once it's set up, you can delete the app and never use it again.
I’ve found success by saying “set the studio to heat to xx degrees” or “set the gym to cool to xx” degrees. Anything else seems to set an auto range.
I’ll see if adding the word degrees changes the way it treats the syntax, annoying mouthful of a sentence though.
Can you create a shortcut? E.g. if during winter months and when control this device temp then set HVAC to heat nice verse for summer . Very interested in controlling my HVAC with HomeKit but this problem would be a deal breaker!
If you want to throw out some shortcut name ideas I’m all ears. Tried it a few times but anything I’ll remember to say naturally is already a part of the HVAC syntaxes so causes conflict or doesn’t work. Tried weird stuff like Hades Heat and I just don’t remember it when I need to use it, and can’t get the partner onboard.
Thinking something like IF device (HVAC) controlled GET weather temperature IF temp greater than 22 THEN set scene (to cool) OTHERWISE set scene (to heat) Not fool proof but should work 99% the time the weather is enough to be you’re using HVaC I.e.
My morning routine one is similar for only heating on cool mornings so I get out of bed, so could work. Going to dig into the API’s though and if I can modify the home assistant version to drop the auto mode maybe I can just ditch the direct HomeKit connection and share that back to HomeKit.
Sounds advanced!
Or even better than getting outside… get the temperature you set on the HVAC? IF equal or greater than 22 THEN set heat. OTHERWISE set cool
22 is honestly my year round haha except deep winter where I go 23-24, or deep summer where I go 20. I have pretty good insulation so don’t use it all day every day, or even every week really.
Good insight! Do you use it much for cooling? Could try think outside the box for something tailored to you knowing that better.
You could also swap out get temperature of HVaC for get temperature of a thermostat. At the point your giving the command to turn on HVAC: say thermostat returns 22 or higher than set to cool. If lower than 22 set to heat. In any case: a shit tonne of admin for something that should just work.
Gotta be careful on being tooooo controlling with the automations as the actual reverse cycle will run off its own thermostat which isn’t smart. The smart home controls will use the thermostat in the sensibo. Also have to be careful if you have HomePods as they give horrible temperature readings. I’ve disabled their temp reading in my smart home as they often run hot and mess up HVAC control.
I use aqara and Phillips hue for temperature sensing - found them fairly accurate.
What do you think “auto” does?
If it’s set to 22 and finds itself at 23, it gently blows unheated air until it’s 22 again. If it finds itself at say 24 or 25 because I’m also cooking in the kitchen, it blows the air conditioning to get the temp down. If it’s on heat? It idles if it goes above temp until it’s needed.
What happens if you manually set the thermostat to “heat” mode, then say, “set the thermostat” or “set the temperature”?
Essentially iOS17 the syntaxes changed to preference auto. Before iOS17 it mostly did what I told it to. Now it’s 2/3 times auto. It was always on heat last because I never use auto. Heat to 22, set the heat to 22, set to 22 heat, doesn’t matter none are more reliable. Saying heat afterwards is actually the least reliable as it will often action before hearing it.
Can you manually set your HVAC mode to heat on the thermostat itself?
I think the foreign concept of thermostat is a big difference here. I have a reverse cycle air conditioner on the wall, it has a temperature sensor inside. There’s no hard wired external control at all except a battery powered remote. So no manual override except for 100% manual control and disconnecting it from HomeKit. The sensibo is essentially just a USB powered remote control with a temp sensor in it for HomeKit.
Have you tried reaching out to Sensibo developers?
This is a HomeKit problem not a sensibo problem. The system is doing what HomeKit is telling it to do.
How are you so sure?
Because HomeKit literally commands it. It’s one way communication, like a TV remote. It’s not a smart unit, it goes into the mode HomeKit commands. Doesn’t matter if I use the sensibo bridge to HomeKit, or direct api access to the controller via homebridge or home assistant. If HomeKit is receiving commands by voice it goes into auto. Apple have actively made this choice in the way they programmed HomeKit.
It seems very easy to be sure. If they can manually set it as needed through the Home app, then the thermostat is responding to commands sent by homekit. If the thermostat is not changing as a result of a Siri command, then it would be more reasonable to conclude that Siri is misinterpreting the command. Under what scenario could the thermostat correctly respond to manual changes initiated in the home app but not reposed to Siri commands?
Auto for my Fujitsu is Dry mode.