honeywell 8000 Redlink or Wifi

josephny

I have a 6 unit building with a gas fired steam boiler and would like to install a boiler-room located, wifi-enabled thermostat with 2 or 3 wired remote sensors.

The only options I can find are the Honeywell VisionPro 8000 or the Tekmar 552.

I would go with the 8000, but the reviews (on Honeywell's own site) for the wifi version are terrible.

The Redlink version of the 8000 gets better reviews.

Do I understand correctly that the Redlink version does not have built-in wifi? Instead, it requires a Redlink Internet Gateway which requires a hard-wired Ethernet cable?

What I need is a unit with wifi (for remote access via the Internet) and connections using regular 18ga cable to 2 or 3 remote temperature sensors.

Very much would appreciate some advice.

Thank you.

ratio

Not much experience with the WiFi version, but the several I've installed have worked without any callbacks (my standard metric of how well something performs). I've installed a great many of the RedLINK version with the RedLINK gateway, including a few sites (churches mostly) that use them instead of a true EMS/BMS system. (Think 20-30 stats.) They mostly Just Work.

A few tips: Pay attention to the limit of the number of stats per gateway (max four). Consider marking the gateway with which stats it is associated with. You can rename the stats via the website. (IIRC the custom name will show up in the configuration screen of the stat, but that's not the easiest to get to.) I've used cheap POE injector/splitter sets with good success to remotely locate the gateways for optimal position. NOTE THE LOCATIONS ON A DRAWLING OF SOME KIND!!!, including which stats it serves. The only way to delete a stat from a gateway is to reset the gateway & re-add the stats. RedLINK pairs under reduced power, so if you can get it to pair, it's guaranteed to operate. The WiFi version is NOT compatible with RedLINK, so no wireless sensors for it. The newer wireless indoor sensors, the ones with an occ sensor, are not compatible with the VisionPRO stats.

Jamie Hall

Just my humble opinion, but using wi-fi as a control medium, rather than as an information medium, in any building much more complex than a bungalow is, to my mind, very problematic. Not that it can't be done, with very high quality routers in the mix and careful siting, but wi-fi is considerably less reliable and robust than a dedicated control system such as RedLink.

josephny

Ratio: Thank you for sharing your experience and suggestions. I don't have any need/desire for wireless sensors, but wired sensors are necessary. Do you know if the wired sensors work well with the wifi verion?

Jamie: I'm not sure what you mean by a control vs. information medium. Control of the boiler is by wire. Control of the tstat is either on-premises or remotely, and remotely can be achieved by a wifi connection between tstat and Internet or a wired connection. I absolutely agree that wired is more reliable, but wifi (done right) can be quite reliable and, in some situations, has the tremendous advantage of not needing to run a cable and not needing another piece of hardware (the gateway in this case). While I would certainly not be happy, a wifi or Internet connection loss to the tstat does not prevent the tstat from controlling the boiler.

Please know: I don't claim to be in any way anything of a sort of expert at HVAC, so I am the first to admit that the above is just my very basic understanding.

BTW, I do have expertise at networking/wifi however.

ratio

Wired sensors should be fine. IIRC Honeywell even has a 20K sensor that will let you get a true average of three sensors ([2x 10K in series] in parallel with [20k])

tim smith

I like the 8000 redlink quite a bit. Its been very reliable for me.

josephny

ratio said:

Wired sensors should be fine. IIRC Honeywell even has a 20K sensor that will let you get a true average of three sensors ([2x 10K in series] in parallel with [20k])

Wow, resistance calculations! (It's been a while.)

So I'd buy two 10k and one 20k and wire the 10k's in series with each other and then the 20k in parallel with the two-10ks (to achieve an overall resistance of 10k ohms?)?

That's great!

So I should be fine with the 8000 wifi model (TH8321WF1001)?

Jamie Hall

I was referring to using wi-fi for direct control (such as turning the boiler on or off, or a pump on or off), not for transmitting a measurement parameter or remotely changing on. Unless, in my humble opinion, the control strategy is such that loss of signal will either result in a fail safe or fail operational state, wi-fi should not be used.

ratio

josephny said:

ratio said:

Wired sensors should be fine. IIRC Honeywell even has a 20K sensor that will let you get a true average of three sensors ([2x 10K in series] in parallel with [20k])

Wow, resistance calculations! (It's been a while.)

So I'd buy two 10k and one 20k and wire the 10k's in series with each other and then the 20k in parallel with the two-10ks (to achieve an overall resistance of 10k ohms?)?

That's great!

So I should be fine with the 8000 wifi model (TH8321WF1001)?

Pretty much. I'll guarantee that I recommend the 8000 series.

@Jamie Hall, the Wi-Fi is just remote access for status/setpoint updates. It can operate at 100% functionality without Wi-Fi (less the remote functions, of course). While I know enough to not say something like that could never occur, it isn't the case with these stats.

josephny

Thank you guys!

I'm ordering the tstat (TH8321WF1001), two 10k sensors (C7189U1005) and one 20k sensor (C7772A1004), a spool a tstat wire.

Now I just need to the read the manual -- ugh.

josephny

BTW, found this online electronics diagramming tool:

https://www.circuitlab.com/

In case anyone in the future is interested:

ratio

NB: the Tstat terminals are not marked + & - and in fact the sensors are not polarized, they can go in either direction.

josephny

I just used the quickest, most readily available icon to represent the tstat. I don't know for sure, but I would guess it is a DC voltage on the tstat sensor line, but the polarity would not matter with respect to connecting the sensors to the tstat.

JUGHNE

So the tstat wants to see 10K across it.
However the combination of series/parallel are, the total must be 10K.

HW wants you to use 1 sensor or 4 sensors. You have simplified that.