Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

Ecobee pro rebooting

Hello all, just ran new wires and installed a kit to the boiler controler. After setting everything up I noticed ecobee rebooting a few times. At first I thought it was ecobee doing update, but now I just received a constant 24v is required.

I follow the instructions and I read it twice. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ecobee wiring.

I used a blue wire to C, red wire to RC, and white wire to W1.

On the Beckett 51950U kit

The ecobee is wired to it,

Blue wire is on C, Red wire is on R, White wire is on W.

Betckeet51950u is wired

The transformer is black to C terminal, and white to W. The black wire from the transformer is to black and white to white for power.

The board has a red wire and white wire

The red is TR and the white on TW.

Any suggestions?

«1

Comments

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269
    edited October 13

    Something is not right.

    This is what you should have

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    This is how I wired it (red to the ecobee is connected to RC) should it go to the RH instead?

    Also the yellow and green wires are not connected. Should it be connected (boiler is only heat / steam no Ac).

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Does not plug-in the green and yellow wire cause any problems?

    STEAM DOCTOR
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696

    Get out your trusty multimeter. You should read 24 VAC from RC and RH to C. You may need a jumper from RC to RH.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    The Ecobee has an RH and an RC.

    Try to swap the Red wire on the Ecobee from RC to RH

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Sorry if I'm a little slow.

    On the ecobee I only have RC connect. Should I swap it and connect it to RH?

    A jumpee from RC to RH... Should I connect the yellow wire to the c constant terminal an plug in the yellow wire to the RH?

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    no need for Yellow or Green

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    HeatingN00b
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696

    One way or another, you need a red wire connection to Rh. A jumper from Rc is easiest.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Greening
    Greening Member Posts: 36
    edited October 13

    Does your Ecobee have an equipment configuation that allows you to choose "RC only"?

    Maybe this will help

    https://support.ecobee.com/s/articles/3-wire-heat-only-thermostat-R-G-W

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Even do I only have heat (steam) system no ac?

    When you say jumper does that mean having two wires RH and RC connected to the same red line?

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    When it first boot I ask if RC is the only connection. I click yes.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696

    Which, of course, is true. It is the only connection. Our point is that it shouldn't be.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Ok. Thank you. Once I get out of work I will take a look.

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Just tried removing RC and plugging in RH. It would not boot.

    Just plugged in the green wire to RC and the red wire to RH and connected both red and green to the red transformer wire / terminal. So far it booted, let's see if I get the error message.

    I can't find my multi reader (wife moved it while cleaning and don't remember the placement). Anything that I should be paying attention to at the moment?

    Thank you

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    What is the model number of the Ecobee? There is a reason for the problem, it could be in the initial setup of the thermostat, It could be that RC and RH need to be jumped together, I would need to read the manual. I can find the manual online if I had the exact model number ot your thermostat.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    HeatingN00b
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    Have you tried this?

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Yes, I just did something like this.

    Just plugged in the green wire to RC and the red wire to RH, and connected both red and green to the red transformer wire / terminal. So far it booted, let's see if I get the error message.

    Thank you

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696

    Hope it works now! Someday I'm going to take one of those things apart and find out what goes on inside. I know on the Honeywells that both Rc and Rh must be powered for the system to operate, but not necessarily with the same power source, but that they share a return connection ( C ). I think — but I'm not sure — that the internal battery is powered by whatever power source is connected between Rh and C, and the other heating side outputs are switched between the output and Rh. The cooling side outputs are switched between the output and Rc,

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    HeatingN00b
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    In most smart thermostats, R or Rc is the terminal that goes to power up the onboard computer. C is the return path from that onboard computer to the power source. So you need to connect RC and C to the same transformer to get the thermostat to boot up properly.

    Now depending on how the manufacturer sets up the internal components, you may or may not need RH in order to connect the W on the thermostat to the burner control(s) I'm not sure how you thermostat is designed, so the model number of that thermostat will help me locate the technical documents online.

    OR

    see if the RC to RH jumper wire does the trick.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    HeatingN00b
  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78
    edited October 14

    Just noticed, it rebooted again (was calibrating.... and I). I have both RC and RH connected to the red terminal of the transformer and c connected to the black terminal of the transformer (White connected to W).

    I reformated the ecobee and this time it detected both RH and RC along with the rest of the wires. Shortly after it rebooted.

    Thermometer is an ecobee premium.

    Any suggestions?

    Thank you

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Came back to a reboot and after reformatting and detecting all the wires (RC and RH) it rebooted on me right on my face 😔.

    Any other suggestions that can help?

    Thank you

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696

    Take the thermostat off the mount. Now. With the transformer connected and on, what voltage do you measure between Rc and C? Between Rh and C? Between Rh and W? Pay no attention at this point to the wire colours. Just voltages.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    HeatingN00b
  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78
    edited October 15

    Just checking at the boiler controler between C and R I get 28v. At the Ecobee base ... between C and RH 28v and between C and RC same 28v.

    I uploaded a short video just in case.

    Any suggestions what can I try next.... Man never thought it would be this hard 😔. The boiler has an automatic water feeder, and a low water safety system, could any of those make the voltage drop on the transformer?

    Or could it be that the Ecobee is defective?

    Short video/ pictures

    https://imgur.com/a/ecobee-QsbgzaQ

    Thank you for your help so far.

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    How often can a transformer go bad?

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696

    If it was ever shorted… poof. However, if you are getting that 28 VAC at the terminals for the Ecobee, the transformer — and wiring is at least intact. However — and this is hard to check — if there is a bad connection in any of the wires, or if one of the wires has been chewed to the point where it is hanging by a thread, that can introduce enough resistance to drop the voltage low enough to cause problems. Check all the connections for being clean and tight.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    HeatingN00b
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269
    edited October 16

    OK. If you have not been able to get this to work, I have an idea. There is a wiring diagram in the Ecobee information for a 2 transformer system. Not unlike what you have with the Beckett 51950U AC ready kit with R, Y, G, W, & C and the Beckett GeniSys primary control with T T terminals

    If all the attempts that have been made to get it to work have failed, you can try this

    Use the Beckett 5195U and transformer as if it were operating an air handler.

    1. Connect W and Rh on the thermostat to the Beckett GeniSys T T terminals
    2. Connect Rc from the thermostat to R on the Beckett 51950U terminal board.
    3. Connect R from the Beckett 51950U transformer to the R on the 51950U terminal board.
    4. Connect C from the thermostat to C on the Beckett 51950U terminal board.
    5. Connect C from the Beckett 51950U transformer to the C on the 51950U terminal board.
    6. Now here is the kicker. To fool the thermostat into believing that an air conditioner is connected, Connect Y from the thermostat to W on the 51950U terminal board. This has a small relay that will offer the resistance needed to tell the Ecobee that there is cooling relay connected. You will never use this relay, it's just there to fool the thermostat. and you already own it.

    When you program the thermostat for the connected devices, you want to indicate to the Ecobee that you have air conditioning (Cooling). The thermostat will understand that there is a relay (the one in the Beckett 51950U) that is connected to Y (which is the cooling terminal) and understand within the Ecobee's logic computer that you have AC. Also indicate in the set up that you have 2 transformers (because you do).

    This should work for you with the equipment you already own.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    HeatingN00b
  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Its a new line, the old one was on its last leg..... I'll tighten the screws and make sure there is no staples on the line 😕

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Wow. Thank you.

    Had to draw it out to see the picture (lol a bit slow after work).

    Once I get a chance I will try this setup. I just returned and exchange the Ecobee to see if this was the problem, had one reboot hope it was an update or a simple calibration.

    I will keep you posted on the set-up.

    Thank you once again.

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    Look again. there is a diagram attached.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    HeatingN00b
  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78
    edited October 18

    Just finished setting it up. During the setup it ask for a G wire but I was able to bypass it. I bumped the heat to make sure it was working and the screen went black / booted up and it started to heat up.

    It stills reboot 😔

    Thank you

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78
    edited October 18

    @EdTheHeaterMan

    Can I just use an external power supply/ outlet like this to keep it from rebooting?

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    @EdTheHeaterMan

    Can I just use an external power supply/ outlet like this to keep it from rebooting?

    That may work however, that will not have a relay onboard like the Beckett 5915U that you already own. And that Beckett 5915U already has the same transformer the Ecobee power extender kit has. You can male your existing 59150U work exactly like the Ecobee kit this way:

    You can just plug it into a wall outlet this way. or you can hard wire it under the control. What ever you are more comfortable with.

    And according the the Ecobee Kit diagram you may not need the Y1 on the Ecobee thermostat connected to a relay. I just know that some other brands need a relay connected to sense the resistance of the coil. Apparently your Ecobee does not.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Yeah, it's hard wired into the box. It's connected to the line coming into the box (the transformer is connected).

    I just don't know why it keeps on rebooting. My original thought was that something on the line is causing the voltage to drop below 24v tripping a reboot (don't know if it's the automatic water feeder or the other thing). I check to see if anything else is on the line but it's a separate breaker for the boiler.

    I check on the Ecobee website and they mentioned cleaning the filter but I don't have a filter on the boiler.

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    where are you getting the 120 VAC for the transformer from? is it the Limit or L1 to the primary control? If you do not have a hot LI all the time, then every time the pressuretrol or the LWCO cuts off the burner, it also cuts off the 120 VAC to the transformer which caused the 24 VAC to cut-out. That may be your problem. This is the wiring diagram for your boiler.

    You have the Beckett GeniSys so we are using the bottom burner diagram. there should be a plug to connect the burner to the boiler, but it appears that someone replaced that wire with MC armored cable wire. If you do not have 3 conductors + Ground (4 wires total) then you may not be able to do this yourself. You need to have a red white black and green wire from the burner to the boiler. The 24 VAC transformer primary side (120V) must be connected to the black wire that goes to L1 on the Primary and the white wire that goes to L2 on the primary. If you don't have the red wire to go to Limit on the primary, then your burner will not operate properly. You MUST have the RED limit wire. If you do not, then that is your problem.

    If you look at the boiler wire diagram on the left side you can clearly see that there is a HOT always wire labeled PK that goes to the plug that connects to the Black wire in the burner side of the plug. If you do not have that always hot wire to the burner then you need to get one there and connect it to the L1 on the primary control and use it for the transformer. (you may need to disconnect a jumper or wire nut that connects both L1 and Limit together in the oil burner control box.)

    This can be confusing so take your time to look closely at the diagram to make sure you have all the wires you need. Look at each wire one at a time to see that they are connected properly.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    One of the reasons this is confusing is because Electric is colorblind. the colors are supposed to make it easier for us humans. In this case just throw the colors out the window.

    Here are the two diagrams connected together and as you can see the plugs have different colors on the other side of the plug.

    1. The top wire in the plug is Black on one side and Red on the other side
    2. The next wire down is the Hot all the time wire that is Pink on the boiler side and Black on the burner side
    3. The next wire down is the ground and is Green on both sides of the plug
    4. The bottom wire is the neutral (or L2) and is White on both sides of the plug

    So you are looking for what the wire is connected to, not the color it is on the diagram.

    Good luck I hope this is a little clearer now… maybe as clear as MUD!

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • HeatingN00b
    HeatingN00b Member Posts: 78

    Sorry for the late response. Been stuck at work and haven't had a chance to stop by my grandmathers house to check the wiring.

    So base on the diagram and the explanation.... The MC armored cable wire has black, white, green and a red wire (but the red wire is not plugged in, it's cut off see pictures).

    The transformer is wired to the black and white wire from the MC armored cable wire.

    On the controller

    The black is on the limit L1 (with a jumper).

    The white is on the L2

    The red is just cut off

    Should I remove the jumper and add red to the mix?

    Any suggestions.

    Thank you for everything by the way.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696

    NO! the red is the other side of the 120/240 volt wiring — if it is connected to anything! Your control takes 120 volts — black is hot, white is neutral, and green is ground. Assuming that whoever wired that MX at the other end did it correctly.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,269

    This is your problem:

    Sorry for the late response. Been stuck at work and haven't had a chance to stop by my grandmathers house to check the wiring.

    So base on the diagram and the explanation.... The MC armored cable wire has black, white, green and a red wire (but the red wire is not plugged in, it's cut off see pictures).

    The transformer is wired to the black and white wire from the MC armored cable wire.

    The black wire is connected to the limit circuit on the boiler. So whenever the LWCO or the Pressure control opens the circuit (the way it is supposed to) the 24 VAC is also interrupted. The Ecobee understands that as an error. You will need  to connect that Red Wire on both sides to solve your problem. The way it is you only have 2 conductors and a Ground.  Like this:

    You need 3 conductor and a Ground like this:


    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?