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Ecobee 3 (general discussion, tips & tricks)

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  • Aug 1st, 2018 1:11 pm
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Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2011
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jrees wrote: Hmmm. Is there a way to force a firmware update? I couldn't find one in mine.
You can send them an email to request the firmware be pushed to your device.
Deal Addict
Nov 10, 2012
2962 posts
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Calgary
golden wrote: I heard that Ecobee3 doesn't do a good job controller whole house humidifier, is there any truth to it? I have yet to find anything online about it. Any comments? I'm upgrading to the fan based humidifier and debating if I can save money for the manual model vs the automatic model since I have Ecobee3 that's suppose to do the work. The installer told me that Ecobee is not as good as the auto model (which has an auto module to control the humidifier).
I’m not an expert but I hooked my humidifier up to my ecobee 3 and I believe it’s working fine. Have had it for 2 winters now and each year by the end of winter the humidifier filter is covered with minerals etc from the water running through it so I assume it is working well.
Deal Fanatic
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Sep 9, 2012
6963 posts
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Oakville, ON
vkizzle wrote: You can send them an email to request the firmware be pushed to your device.
You can also use their online chat to request it. Did it just now and they pushed it out right away.

Just need to check in 15-20 minutes or so to confirm it downloaded & rebooted etc.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2011
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CanadianLurker wrote: You can also use their online chat to request it. Did it just now and they pushed it out right away.

Just need to check in 15-20 minutes or so to confirm it downloaded & rebooted etc.
Not sure why they didn't roll it out to everyone?
I can't find a change log either.
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Sep 9, 2012
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vkizzle wrote: Not sure why they didn't roll it out to everyone?
I can't find a change log either.
Indeed, it’s a bit weird. Also not sure what happened between 3.7 from fall of 2017 and 4.2 available now. That’s several minor releases not pushed out.

If I had to guess, they’re not confident in the quality of their work so leave you where you are unless you ask. If you have a problem addressed by a newer release then they’ll push it out to deal with your problem. Otherwise, it only gets pushed out on new devices or on demand. Kind of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it mindset.

This approach avoids the disaster that could occur if they push out something that’s buggy to all devices out there in the wild and cause potentially thousands of customers to lose heat or a/c until they can push out an emergency patch. I guess better safe than sorry as an issue like that could ruin a small young company like ecobee.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2011
41802 posts
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CanadianLurker wrote: Indeed, it’s a bit weird. Also not sure what happened between 3.7 from fall of 2017 and 4.2 available now. That’s several minor releases not pushed out.

If I had to guess, they’re not confident in the quality of their work so leave you where you are unless you ask. If you have a problem addressed by a newer release then they’ll push it out to deal with your problem. Otherwise, it only gets pushed out on new devices or on demand. Kind of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it mindset.

This approach avoids the disaster that could occur if they push out something that’s buggy to all devices out there in the wild and cause potentially thousands of customers to lose heat or a/c until they can push out an emergency patch. I guess better safe than sorry as an issue like that could ruin a small young company like ecobee.
Do you remember if they use to send out courtesy emails before pushing a firmware upgrade?
I rarely, if ever, touch the tstat and only noticed the change the other day, as the clock was very obvious.
Would be nice to know what the changes are.
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Sep 9, 2012
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vkizzle wrote: Do you remember if they use to send out courtesy emails before pushing a firmware upgrade?
I rarely, if ever, touch the tstat and only noticed the change the other day, as the clock was very obvious.
Would be nice to know what the changes are.
I’ve had mine for just over a year now. I don’t recall an email about firmware updates.

That said though, since a lot of their emails are more marketing oriented I don’t bother looking at all of them and only quickly skim the ones I do look at - so might have missed it if they did send something out though.
Newbie
Aug 13, 2017
69 posts
6 upvotes
Just installed a new ecobee 3 refurb I got direct, and I love it for the most part but have difficulty understanding a few things.

1. This model claims to have motion sensing technology, so if it doesn't detect anyone home, it automatically goes into away mode...But what if you have a schedule set, does the schedule take precedent? Or does the motion sensing? The reason I ask is because my parents live in my basement, and stay downstairs for most of the day, which is why I set it to "away" while I'm at work, because they always complain that the A/C is too high, and it's too cold in the basement, so I figure I can lower it while I'm at work

2. When you have it set to "auto" or attempt to adjust the temperature range in the comfort settings, once you adjust the "desired heat", it automatically changes the "desired cool", and vice versa if you change the "desired cool" it automatically changes the "desired heat". Is this expected behaviour? Can't you adjust them both individually?

3. When I set a schedule and it has my comfort settings, even though I change my comfort settings, it doesn't seem to automatically adjust the temperature as per my schedule update. Maybe this goes back to #1, where, it should be on the "away" setting which means it should be 26 right now unless it knows my parents are still home and the motion sensing takes precedent?

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