new BLU TRV

[wooly]

Today have been started the sales for the new BLU TRV : it could be an interesting device if it follows the Shelly philosophy, but unfortunately there are not information available about the way it can be controlled, either for it nor for the gen3 gateway.
Where these documentations can be font, to see if it is suitable for my pupose [beng able to read the status, and this is quite obvious, but also to reprogram the internal heatinmg calendar from an arbitrary device, with rpc calls similar to the other devices [actually it is the only BLU device that have an output, so you cannot try to guess something from the others, since the other BLU devices  works all in beacon mode]

[Dreckfresse]

Mine is already on its way.

I'm also curious to see how it communicates.

I haven't read anything about the Home Assistant yet.

 

We'll see when the first users have it

[tgerardy]

Hi, I received mine today. My initial thought after playing with it a bit:

- the USB Blu gateway is required. I was hoping other recently launched Gen 3 devices (1PM/2PM Gen 3) could be used as bluetooth gateway for the TRV but it doesn't look like it. At least not for now and not sure it will ever be via firmware upgrade. I would really like to get rid of the USB stick. 

- to connect the TRV to external blu h&t sensor or blu contact sensor, these sensors must be connected via the same blu gateway. 

- build quality is ok but not great, the rotating knob works well, the display looks nice. I like the overall simplistic design. The system to hold the battery is very cheap and I found it very difficult to open.

- the integration in home assistant is not yet to the standards I am used to with other shelly devices. The entities that are exposed are very limited: 2 temperature sensors, 1 raw sensor (which I have no idea what it is for), test button, signal and battery. It doesn't expose as a climate entity that can be controlled, it doesn't show the valve opening %, the boost mode is also missing. In short, this is unusable for now in home assistant. But hopefully will be updated quickly.

- I am hoping that the choice of going for bluetooth instead of wifi or zigbee will translate into much longer battery life (2 years, they say) but it is hard to tell at the moment. I installed rechargeable batteries instead of the ones delivered with it. This seems to work fine and battery % seems accurate for now (some TRVs don't work nicely with rechargeable due to reduced voltage).

- Noise is equivalent to what I have been used to with other TRVs (Wiser, Shelly, Netatmo,...). Not better, not worst.

[wooly]

Nice to see someone has already used it, but for me -unless tgerardy has forgot some characteristics- it looks completely unusable. The only reason to have it connected is to be able to SEND it commands, as i would do in other devices, actually reprogramming it remotely, just reading the temperature is more viable from a thermometer far from heather.
Use case: a room used for meetings or other purposes: you have a database of reservations, so you know at what time the room will be in use and according the required temperature [that can be different is is used for a meeting of adults, say 19C, or a playground for toddlers, say 22C or as a dance studio at 17C] you would start heating at different times earlier than the entrance of people.
Of course this schedules can change at any time during the day so the device must be ready to accept any update to the schedule at any time.
If you have a device that sense mechanically the opening of windows it could send immediately a command to disable heathing, and then when closed a command to reenable, following the set schedule.
I understand that having server function would require more energy, so a standard one could have been more suitable, but if would be not completely  compatible with battery use, but it is not uncommon that you have a power supply very close to the heater, so an USB supply would not be out of question [in my house except the one in the main bathroom that never change schedule, none of heaters has nearest power socket more than 50 centimeters away].
Such device could also have the connector for external thermometer, to be put in the most suitable place of the room, .
Incidentally since there are on the market devices that have no WiFi nor BT, but can be reprogrammed via USB. connecting a gateway to that usb on one side, and to power on the other would allow to get everything one could think about

 

Edited October 4 by wooly
typos and ambiguous wording correction

[Bemowian]

Git mine yesterday and not really happy with it. HA immediately recognized it as a BTHome device but can only read values, Shelly Bluetooth gateway also doesn't expose anything to HA. The only way I found to control it locally using some nice UI is via BT gateway web interface. I have a lot of gen3 devices (mostly Shelly PM Mini Gen3) but they can't act as a BT gateway. Also Shelly BT gateway range is not great, it constantly reports weak status while being 3m away from the TRV (direct visibility, no obstacles).

After 24 hours of testing I found one strange bug: Temperature 2 sensor value (I assume it is a temperature around the TRV, didn't find any documentation for this device) in HA is not the same as in BT gateway UI (value in HA is the correct one). Values were exactly the same until I moved BT gateway in another room for 30-40 minutes to test its range, during this period gateway was constantly loosing connection with the TRV so I brought it back.  It seems like value in BT gateway is just lagging behind and shows the value that vas valid 30-40 minutes ago but I need a bit more time to prove this theory.

Edited Saturday at 11:59 PM by Bemowian
thermostat -> TRV