It has been 12 months since we removed our traditional heating controls and started to install the Drayton Wiser smart heating system. So now is an opportune time to reflect on our experience with the setup and share our conclusions.
If you Google ‘smart heating controls’ you will have no shortage of results, including enough reviews of the Wiser to keep you occupied for hours. The majority of these articles typically focus on system setup and limited use over a few days. The true test of these systems only comes with living with them and once commissioned, the ability to forget it’s there. This article highlights some of our experiences with the Wiser system over the past year.
Change for the Better
It would appear a lot has happened since the launch of Wiser. For some post launch purchasers the installation process did appear to throw up issues. Judging by the comments left on our previous articles the main issue was range. This appeared to be a common theme amongst early users as feedback on Screwfix and Amazon reviews mirrored some of the comments we received.
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បុរេតសសន៍
ផលិតផល
ការផ្ដល់ចំណាត់ថ្នាក់
តមលៃ
ចេក
Drayton Wiser smart Heating Radiator Thermostat works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT
2,115 Reviews
£42.98
ទិញនៅលើក្រុមហ៊ុន Amazon
Our test house is a long bungalow with the boiler and controls located at one end of the property and the bedrooms at the other. We are not aware of any system that could cope with those distances and we were stretching the capabilities of the Wiser system. To illustrate, we even need 3 WiFi access points to get full coverage. We suffered with low signal strength and unreliable connections with devices dropping off the network but thankfully this was overcome with the use of mains powered range extenders provided by Drayton. The range extenders provide a mesh network and allow the Wiser devices signal to hop back to the heat Hub, ensuring we had full coverage over the property.
There have been a number of firmware updates for all the devices over the past 12 months. The app has also had updates including an interface refresh. These updates have all helped with system stability and introduced new features. The visual refresh of the app is subtle and gives a succinct view of the room temperatures and the devices.
Home screen – before (left) and after the refresh photo (right)
Device details interface – before (left) and after the refresh photo (right)
New Hardware
Users can now buy a smart plug with range extending capabilities which is a new addition to the hardware range. The app now supports control and scheduling of the smart plugs and the earlier range extenders allowing users to control plugged in devices such as lights via the app or Alexa.
Whilst this is a great add-on to the Wiser ecosystem you probably won’t be installing Wiser for this feature alone as other smart plugs are available for less but this is a great addition to an existing home wide system. We now have lights plugged into our smart plugs that we control via Alexa. We have set the lights to operate to a schedule. This is a convenient feature day-to-day and a useful security feature that give the appearance of occupation when we are away.
2,111 Reviews
Drayton Wiser smart Thermostat Heating control Heating only – works with Amazon Alexa, Google home and IFTTT
kit includes heat HubR and smart room thermostat which you can take control of from your phone
This 1-channel kit is suitable for combination boilers
Heat HubR fits directly onto your UK standard wallplate for simple installation
£144.05
ទិញនៅលើក្រុមហ៊ុន Amazonលក្ខណៈពិសេសថ្មី
New features with version 3 of the app include a ‘Comfort Mode’. The system learns how long it takes for a room to reach temperature and then adjusts the boiler on time to ensure the room is at the target temperature at the ‘on time’ set in the schedule. Drayton have also included ‘open window detection’ which can be enabled room by room.
Comfort mode info
There is a feature to lock the iTRV so anyone adjusting the thermostat cannot change the temperature mechanically via the device.
The system now supports IFTTT to help link to other systems and adding features such as geofencing. You could activate or deactivate the heating based on your location or switch a smart plug on or off. hopefully more triggers and actions will follow.
IFTTT Setup
Retired Features
With the recent refresh one obvious feature has been retired, the signal strength icon. users no longer see the signal strength bars. users will only get alerted to ‘No Signal’ with a flashing red triangle in the app or on the room thermostats. This did make us ask where has it gone? អ្វីដែលយើងនឹងធ្វើ? On reflection why care about the signal strength? As long as devices connect and stay connected. perhaps some of our initial ‘range anxiety’ issues would have been avoided if this had been the approach from launch however we would still have been calling the help desk for our ‘No signal’ issues.
Help at Hand
The help desk now operates 08:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday and 09:00 to 17:00 at weekends.
We made a number of calls to the help desk and calls were typically answered promptly. The staff were helpful although during the early stages of our setup some seemed to be following a diagnostic script and once complete quickly needed to refer to someone else with more experience.
We also submitted issues via email and whilst taking longer to respond to these tickets they were always followed up on.
Range Matters
Most of the issues we faced were range related. Thankfully we appear to have got to the bottom of the issues due to the improved firmware and careful positioning of the smart plug / range extenders to form a mesh network. We held off adding more devices to the system for a time until we became comfortable with its reliability. We can report that we have continued added more devices and are intent on being 100% Wiser.
Incremental Additions
One of the selling points of this system (or any room/radiator zoning system) is the ability to add incrementally to it. Whilst this is true we found that unless all radiators in a traditional zone are equipped with iTRV’s the heating in some rooms would be on longer that needed as a room equipped with the iTRV could potentially keep the boiler running. We prioritised fitting the system to the bedrooms to realise the full benefit of the system. Our daughter would come home from school and go to her bedroom to do homework (more like watch YouTube). previously she would turn on the heating for the bedroom zone, heating all the bedrooms, now just her room is heated to a schedule.
We now have 12 iTRV’s, two room thermostats and three range extenders controlling 10 rooms. We still have 5 radiators operated by traditional TRV’s that we will ultimately switch to iTRV’s.
Battery life
Two of the iTRV’s have had their supplied batteries replaced after 9 months and a third device is currently showing low battery. It would be useful to see battery life expressed as a percentage. The devices appear to be consuming batteries at different rates. This is probably attributable to how hard the devices are having to work based on their schedules, temperature fluctuations in the rooms and signal strength. It’s hard to envisage batteries lasting 2 years but be sure to check Automated home in October 2019 for our next instalment!
The owner of another system we helped install called the help desk to discuss short battery life and he was told to send an iTRV back to the retailer as hardware improvements had been made that increased battery life.
Is the price Still Right?
One notable change since our initial purchase has been price. At the time of our initial analysis we did a cost comparison with other systems and the Wiser system was by far the most complete and cost-effective.
The price of the Wiser components have increased significantly from our original retailer, Screwfix. additional iTRV’s were initially purchased for £34.99 each from Screwfix. They are now on sale in Screwfix for £52.79 which is in the same price bracket as many other smart radiator valves. That’s a huge £17.79 or 50% increase.
Thankfully they can be purchased from Amazon for £39.99. That’s still a market leading price for such a device and still makes Drayton a winner in our cost effectiveness assessment. The Drayton website lists approved Wiser retailers.
It does pay to check these links for pricing as the iTRV example above illustrates there can be large variations in pricing. Amazon are charging £41.99 for the smart pluG និងឧបករណ៍ដូចគ្នាអាចរកបានពីការផ្គត់ផ្គង់ទឹកនៅទីក្រុងក្នុងតម្លៃ 34,99 ផោន។ នៅពេលត្រួតពិនិត្យអ្នកលក់រាយផ្សេងទៀតមិនបានបង្ហាញដោតស្មាតហ្វូននៅលើទំព័រផលិតផលដែលឆ្លាតរបស់ពួកគេទេ។
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នៅតែមានការចាប់អារម្មណ៍?
ប្រព័ន្ធនេះមិនមានភាពរលូនទេ។ នៅពេលសរសេរសេវាកម្មពពកកំពុងជួបប្រទះបញ្ហាស្ថានភាពឧទាហរណ៍នៅពេលព្យាយាមធ្វើបច្ចុប្បន្នភាពកាលវិភាគកម្មវិធីអាចបង្កកមិនមែនគ្រប់ពេលទេប៉ុន្តែពេលខ្លះ។ បញ្ហានេះត្រូវបានដោះស្រាយមុនពេលដែលយើងបានបោះពុម្ពផ្សាយ។
ថ្មីៗនេះកម្មវិធីថ្មីៗនេះបានធ្វើបច្ចុប្បន្នភាពទៅកំណែទី 3 ហើយបានជូនដំណឹងដល់យើងអំពី “របៀបផាសុកភាព” ប៉ុន្តែនៅពេលដែលយើងបានចូលទៅក្នុងកម្មវិធីនេះមិនមានសញ្ញាអ្វីរបស់វាទេ។ ក្រោយមកយើងបានរកឃើញមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលកម្តៅមិនបានបញ្ចប់ការតំឡើងកម្មវិធីបង្កប់របស់ខ្លួនដើម្បីបើករបៀបនេះទេប៉ុន្តែ 48 ម៉ោងក្រោយមកកម្មវិធីបង្កប់បានធ្វើបច្ចុប្បន្នភាពហើយយើងបានបើករបៀបផាសុកភាព។ ប្រហែលជាសំរបសំរួលការធ្វើបច្ចុប្បន្នភាពផ្នែករឹងជាមួយនឹងការធ្វើឱ្យស្រស់កម្មវិធីអាចត្រូវបានធ្វើឱ្យប្រសើរឡើង។
ទាំងនេះគឺជាបញ្ហាតូចតាច។ ពួកគេមិនបានធ្វើឱ្យមានបញ្ហានៃប្រព័ន្ធនេះទេហើយប្រហែលជាមិនត្រូវបានកត់សម្គាល់ដោយអ្នកប្រើប្រាស់ជាច្រើនទេ។ យើងប្រហែលជាត្រូវចេញទៅក្រៅច្រើនជាងលេងជាមួយប្រព័ន្ធកំដៅរបស់យើង!
យើងក៏មានបញ្ហាជាមួយនឹងការវាយលុកចុងក្រោយដែលយើងបានទិញដែលម្នាក់ក្នុងចំនោមពួកគេបានអានសីតុណ្ហភាពចន្លោះពី 7,5-8 ដុង deg c, មិនត្រឹមត្រូវ។ យើងបានបញ្ចប់ការកំណត់រោងចក្រឡើងវិញនៅលើឧបករណ៍ប៉ុន្តែវានៅតែមានបញ្ហាដូចគ្នា។ យើងបានផ្លាស់ប្តូរកាលវិភាគសម្រាប់ឧបករណ៍នេះដើម្បីអចិន្រ្តៃយ៍ដាច់ជាអងចកបើមិនដូច្នេះទេវានឹងត្រូវអំពាវនាវជានិច្ចសម្រាប់កំដៅ។ យើងបានហៅតុជំនួយនៅព្រឹកថ្ងៃច័ន្ទនេះហើយត្រូវបានគេប្រាប់ឱ្យប្រគល់វាទៅឱ្យអ្នកលក់រាយ។ នេះគឺជាក្រុមហ៊ុន Amazon ហើយការជំនួសត្រូវបានដឹកជញ្ជូននៅថ្ងៃតែមួយដែលបន្សល់ទុកយើងឱ្យចុះផ្សាយអង្គភាពដែលមានបញ្ហាដោយប្រើប្រៃសណីយ៍បង់ប្រាក់ជាមុន។
អ្នកមានទេ?
ដូច្នេះយើងប្រហែលជាមានប្រាជ្ញាច្រើនតែយើងមានមែន? មានការអះអាងជាច្រើនដែលបានធ្វើអំពីការសន្សំដែលអាចដឹងថាបានប្តូរទៅប្រព័ន្ធកំដៅឆ្លាតដោយឌី