Fibaro heat controller charging

[Dirk Beijaard 0]

Can you keep the Fibaro heat controller always connected to the mains or if this is not possible can you put a time switch in between so that the heat controller is automatically charged from time to time.

[jakub.jezek 350]

@Dirk Beijaard, I think Heat controller has some contact in it to check if something is connected. It works only if everything is disconnected.

[petergebruers 1,261]

Excellent question.

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm let met think....

 

The manual says: "Disconnect the charger when the LED ring pulses green (device fully charged)"

 

But my observation after running a few of these is like this

• When the battery is low you connect the charger. But actually, you can do that at any time
• If the battery is not near 100% then the LED ring will pulse red, the device will stop regulating and charging begins
• At 100% charge the LED ring pulses green and imho the device starts regulating again
• If the state of charge is almost 0, the valve will open the valve and enter sleep mode

So I am in a habit to charge the FGT with a powerbank, for example, in the morning, and disconnect it in the evening. I am 99,9 % sure that the charging process does not restart during the day, but maybe my test period is not long enough. I would have noticed charging events in the history panel. When the ring blinks green, the regulation starts again.

 

What I am saying is this, when it blinks "green" the FGT might not enter a new charging cycle unless you disconnect the power for a small (say 10 second) period of time.

 

But I cannot be sure, because no one has actually fully described the charging algorithm.

 

What is worth considering is this... Connect an USB charger to a Wall Plug, so that you can start the charging process when the battery drops below what you consider "dangerously low", eg 30%, then turn of the plug after charging or after 6 hours. Sorry if I sound confusing, I am think out loud...

 

 

@Dirk Beijaard What is your use case or your "real" problem, what issue are you trying to fix? I suspect, you want to avoid depleting the battery, which opens the valve and may overheat the room?

 

@m.roszak it is a question that has kept me awake as well 

 

 

[m.roszak 478]

After fully charge it will start to regulate, does not matter if it is connected or not.
If I remember correctly it should start to charge my itself when depleted - not fully confident here.

I am charging my FGT once per year and in general it is enough.

Pulsing green for all the time will make me nervous  

[petergebruers 1,261]

8 minutes ago, m.roszak said:

After fully charge it will start to regulate, does not matter if it is connected or not.

Thanks for confirming that. So a USB charger connected to a Wall Plug would work, even if you forgot to turn it off.

 

9 minutes ago, m.roszak said:

If I remember correctly it should start to charge my itself when depleted - not fully confident here.

Would be good to know but your next point gives us a reason not to keep the USB power always on

 

10 minutes ago, m.roszak said:

Pulsing green for all the time will make me nervous  

Ah, yes, did not think of that. It won't stop pulsing unless you turn off the USB power.

 

This makes me think... There is another possible issue. The USB power can interfere with the operation of the touch control, at least that was the case when I was running Firmware 4.4 so long time ago. May have to do with grouding, Live and Neutral and EMC and that sort of stuff.

 

15 minutes ago, m.roszak said:

I am charging my FGT once per year and in general it is enough.

Yeah well I can think of this use case: a remote house or retreat or whatever you'd like to call it, one that you only visit eg once every 14 days. In that case... I think firmware 4.9 fixes this but sometimes, some FGTs on older firmware may drain very quickly, leaving you with no control of the temperature in that room. Or maybe there is that constant, uncertain feeling that you're going to be too late to charge it.

[m.roszak 478]

14 hours ago, petergebruers said:

14 hours ago, m.roszak said:

If I remember correctly it should start to charge my itself when depleted - not fully confident here.

Would be good to know but your next point gives us a reason not to keep the USB power always on

It won't start automatically, confirmed.
So wallplug is an option.

EDIT
But, It will still work even with depleted battery if USB is connected
Of course it wasn't designed to work like that but... still. 

[petergebruers 1,261]

Aaaahaaa, it won't automatically charge when depleted, but it will still regulate, so USB power actually works.

 

Not sure if it is a good idea but afaik there are no mains powered Z-Wave TRV heads, this might actually the only viable option.

 

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