Complex climate support, minimal screen space

[HACS-bank]

I use Versatile Thermostat (VT) https://github.com/jmcollin78/versatile_thermostat to manage my heating system, which has got me thinking about how much information is available and how many chips, buttons or entities it would take to display everything interesting... but on some panels I am already using all the chips and all the entities.

There is already a climate chip, which shows orange thermometer when heating is active.... but is available (as screen space) to show WHY heating is inactive. Assuming it were possible to dynamically change the icon and colour, this would be a good place to indicate what VT is doing right now, driven by the sensors it provides

• open window detected (yellow window)
• 'overpowering': electric heater suppressed to stay within total power budget. I don't use this, not sure what it should look like

The VT supports a lot of presets which are selected between by actions done to VT. Conceptually, these are

• Off (not a preset but really the Heat/Cool/Off mode control)
• Boost,
• Comfort,
• Eco, and
• Frost.

Each of B C E and F has variants for Home, Away which I use, and AC variants which I don't use as I have underfloor heating (UFH).

I use time based schedules to select the preset, and VT uses presence to select Home/Away variants.

It might be possible to display which preset is active, using an Entity slot (either # 1, immediately below the weather, or # 4 on the top bar) but Entities are a scarce and valuable resource - if it were possible to dynamically change icon and colour only one chip would be needed, probably # 1 next to the climate chip.

Could this display all 8 (or 12) variants in one space, or should it only try to show 4?

Or would a dynamic icon button be better, since users might want to select?

Is this just a display requirement, or is control more important?

How much can squeeze into each spot on screen, and what makes most sense to other home users?

Because VT has so many options, it has its own lovelace card https://github.com/jmcollin78/versatile-thermostat-ui-card. This makes it a good starting point for discussion, as the card is confronting some of the same questions.

How much information do we want to display on the panel, and what should be left to lovelace?

[andreaskoelsch]

Interesting ideas! I want to use the panel with VTherm, too. Pretty much the same as your use case with underfloor heating.
I have a few questions on the setup: Are you also using the panel relay for opening/closing the valves? And are using the climate addon or just VTherm over_switch config with the panel relay?

[HACS-bank]

In normal use, the panel is used to control VT, which then manages the SONOFF units as switches, to operate the relay box for valves and pump.

[edwardtfn]

Is your SONOFF 4ch also running ESPHome? Is that ESP32 or ESP8266?
If ESP32, you should consider using ESPnow for some more "local control". 😉

[HACS-bank]

It is running ESPhome :)

I'm just leaving the house for 10 days ... when I get back, it might be worth writing up the whole set-up properly with photos and wiring diagram

[edwardtfn]

Just checked, and SONOFF 4ch is based on ESP8266.

[andreaskoelsch]

when I get back, it might be worth writing up the whole set-up properly with photos and wiring diagram

I would be very interested in that! So, you're only using VTherm over_switch, not over_climate if I understood correctly?

[PedroKTFC]

Just to make a comment on this, I want to be sure my use case isn't lost. I use the NSpanel as a simple thermostat based on the local temperature. It drives the panel's relay 1 closed when the temperature drops. This then causes a contact breaker to close (as the current is too high for the panel, my heating is electric). This has to work whether or not HA is connected. I'm assuming what's being discussed here won't change this?

[panel-easy-assistant[bot]]

No, this wouldn't change your use case. The climate add-on (addon_climate_heat) runs the thermostat logic entirely on the panel, using the local temperature sensor and driving the relay directly, so it keeps working with HA or Wi-Fi offline. What's being discussed here is how to display the state of an external climate entity (like Versatile Thermostat) on the chip or an entity slot. If anything comes out of it, it will be optional and won't touch the on-device thermostat control. Local, HA-independent control remains a core requirement for the add-on.