Anyone put in a Honeywell wifi thermostat? I have a simple question.....

[J Tiers]

What I have is an TH6580WF, what they call a 7 day programmable WIFI thermostat. It has remote access etc , etc. But they never tell you if it stays programmed through a power failure.

I have it sitting right here ready to install in a property we are only at intermittently, and I'm at it now. It's cold here, and we want to remotely see how the temperature is, since it has radiators, and I have not put in any antifreeze.... besides, there is the regular water system also.

Anyway..... I want to be sure this thing does not forget all it knows if the power goes out. It does not have any apparent battery backup, so unless it has NVRAM somewhere, it will.

If anyone has put one in and knows about that, I'd sure like to know before I install and program the thing.

It seems as if it would be incredibly stupid to have a thermostat that goes back to "new puppy mode" if power hiccups, but I do not KNOW that this does or not. The whole point of the matter is to keep an eye on the place as to temperature inside while we are not there. So if it is dumped back to unprogrammed condition if power drops out, that is not so good, and I'll just return the POS unopened.

The instructions (read online) indicate that if you mess up when programming, to just unplug it from the backplate and then reconnect after 10 seconds. That seems suspiciously like the ordinary power line reset, and may indicate that it does utterly forget everything if power goes out. Or not. Nothing in the FAQ, nothing comes up in searching their help info. Live chat is "not available right now".

[Sparky_NY]

I have installed many brands and models of programmable thermostats including wifi ones such as you have. Although I cannot speak to your particular model without research, ALL of them retained programming during power outages. The method of memory retention varies, some with removable batteries, some a battery on the pc board, other NVRAM, the exact method is a need to know sort of thing.

Does your boiler thermostat have just a 2 wire thermostat cable? It worth noting that the thermostat you have requires a common wire ("C") for operation. (its in the manual) A lot of old boiler installations only use a 2 wire thermostat cable. It was not uncommon for me to have to run a new thermostat cable to provide the required common wire (blue). The onboard battery backup is only for outages and will quickly die if a common wire is not provided for normal operation.

I quickly looked over the online manual for your thermostat and do not see any reference to unplugging it from the backplate to "reset" the programming. I do see parameter #85 in the setup menu is to restore the stat to factory defaults.

This the online manual I am referencing https://www.honeywellstore.com/store...thermostat.pdf

[Mike279]

National Grid here in NY had thermostats for sale at discounted prices and I bought a Sensi by Emerson. Heat and cooling along with Wi fi and programing, it required 5 wires with the 5th providing power and it has batteries for backup operation. It even has alert capability for heat, humidity, etc. Last I saw the price was discounted to under 20 dollars I think. Maybe you should just look for one that will do everything you want.

[JoeLee]

This right here tells me that if it's disconnected from the back plate it looses what was programmed into it's memory........

The instructions (read online) indicate that if you mess up when programming, to just unplug it from the backplate and then reconnect after 10 seconds.

JL................

[wmgeorge]

My HW WiFi has batteries and I am sure yours does too. It also requires the other side of the 24 volt transformer. When the power is off, yes it retains the program. Yes I can access it remotely off my smartphone and check status and change settings and program as needed. As I recall I replaced the battery in mine as my son gifted it to me, as he wanted a color one!! The battery might have been one of the coin like ones that last forever or at least 5 years.

OK Mine is a Wi Fi Vision PRO 8000 / TH8320WF and takes a CR2032 Lithium battery and it came with 3 books and a card.

[MichaelP]

Honeywell WiFi thermostats (I own TH9320WF5003 and similar models) stay programmed after power failures or deliberate disconnecting from the plate.

[Sparky_NY]

My HW WiFi has batteries and I am sure yours does too. It also requires the other side of the 24 volt transformer. When the power is off, yes it retains the program. Yes I can access it remotely off my smartphone and check status and change settings and program as needed. As I recall I replaced the battery in mine as my son gifted it to me, as he wanted a color one!! The battery might have been one of the coin like ones that last forever or at least 5 years.

OK Mine is a Wi Fi Vision PRO 8000 / TH8320WF and takes a CR2032 Lithium battery and it came with 3 books and a card.

The Vision pro 8000 you have is one of their professional series, the one Jerry has is one of Honeywell's home lines sold through the chain stores like Lowes, Homedepot etc. The 8000 is a real nice thermostat ! I have installed many of those. The instructions are indeed a book !

[Sparky_NY]

National Grid here in NY had thermostats for sale at discounted prices and I bought a Sensi by Emerson. Heat and cooling along with Wi fi and programing, it required 5 wires with the 5th providing power and it has batteries for backup operation. It even has alert capability for heat, humidity, etc. Last I saw the price was discounted to under 20 dollars I think. Maybe you should just look for one that will do everything you want.

The 5 wires are for use with air conditioning also as well or more than one stage of heat and fan control. Jerry has a hot water boiler so there is no need for fan control , there is only one stage of heat and I don't believe he has air conditioning at that location. For his application 3 wires are required, R, W and C . All 3 are mandatory for proper operation in his case. IF he only has the old common 2 wire thermostat cable, that isn't going to cut it !

On heat pump systems with backup strips 8 wire thermostat cable is the norm. All depends on the system configuration and type.

[Sparky_NY]

This right here tells me that if it's disconnected from the back plate it looses what was programmed into it's memory........

The instructions (read online) indicate that if you mess up when programming, to just unplug it from the backplate and then reconnect after 10 seconds.

JL................

I posted a link in post#2 to the instructions online and I did not find such wording at all. It seems Jerry found a different (wrong?) set of instructions. The behavior he describes would not be common at all, never seen such behavior. Others have posted theirs retain memory as well.

[genea]

This right here tells me that if it's disconnected from the back plate it looses what was programmed into it's memory........

The instructions (read online) indicate that if you mess up when programming, to just unplug it from the backplate and then reconnect after 10 seconds.

JL................

That's a common method used in troubleshooting wifi networks. If you look at the section header that's exactly what they're doing at that point in the instructions. I don't think I've ever had to reprogram a wifi device after a power outage.

The parameters are each stored by pressing DONE or something similar after you're satisfied with the entry.

[J Tiers]

I posted a link in post#2 to the instructions online and I did not find such wording at all. It seems Jerry found a different (wrong?) set of instructions. The behavior he describes would not be common at all, never seen such behavior. Others have posted theirs retain memory as well.

The instruction manual is here http://www.honeywellmanual.com/pdf/h...f%20manual.pdf

Note that if wrong, it is on the Honeywell site and appears official..

And on P 26 it says

"If you get stuck... at any point in this procedure, restart the thermostat by
removing the thermostat from the wallplate, wait for 10 seconds, and snap it back
onto the wallplate. Go to Step 1 in this procedure, starting on page 27"

That probably refers to the programming procedure, presumably before the program is fully stored, but........

[genea]

Read the entire manual page for context or, read post #10.

[Sparky_NY]

The instruction manual is here http://www.honeywellmanual.com/pdf/h...f%20manual.pdf

Note that if wrong, it is on the Honeywell site and appears official..

And on P 26 it says

"If you get stuck... at any point in this procedure, restart the thermostat by
removing the thermostat from the wallplate, wait for 10 seconds, and snap it back
onto the wallplate. Go to Step 1 in this procedure, starting on page 27"

That probably refers to the programming procedure, presumably before the program is fully stored, but........

You didn't post the complete part number of the thermostat you have. The manual may or may not be the correct one. The link I posted in #2 is another possibility. Honeywell does this, gotta be careful of the exact model number.

MEANWHILE.... page 26 of the manual you reference is for the WIFI part of the setup. You are assuming it applies globally to all settings. Look at pg 54, parameter #90 and you will set THAT is how you reset the global settings ! Many have already posted that they retain their settings after a power outage.

[JoeLee]

I posted a link in post#2 to the instructions online and I did not find such wording at all. It seems Jerry found a different (wrong?) set of instructions. The behavior he describes would not be common at all, never seen such behavior. Others have posted theirs retain memory as well.

That was a quote from JT's post.

JL..............

[wmgeorge]

I might add, its much easier to use the smartphone app 72 Deg to program the schedule than to try to use those buttons!!