Actions and triggers

Changing a zone’s temperature

A zone answers Indigo’s standard thermostat actions, wherever you use them — the device list, a control page, a schedule, a trigger, an action group or HomeKit:

  • Set Heat Setpoint sets the zone to the temperature you give.
  • Increase Heat Setpoint and Decrease Heat Setpoint move it up or down by the amount you give.

Each one sends the zone a permanent override, which it keeps until something changes it. The temperature is kept between 8 °C and 35 °C. The How it works page says more.

Setting a temperature for a while

The plugin’s Set Temperature for a While action, on a zone, sets it to the temperature you give for the number of minutes you give, from 10 minutes to 24 hours. When the time runs out, Evohome puts the zone back on its own timetable by itself, with nothing needed from Indigo. That makes it the safer choice for an automation: if Indigo stops, the house goes back to the timetable instead of holding the last temperature it was sent. My EvoHome Heating Controller plugin uses it and renews it each hour.

Instead of a number of minutes you can give an end date and time, as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM, up to a year ahead. If both are filled in, the end date wins. An end in the past or more than a year away is refused with a line in the Event Log, and nothing is sent. From a script the property is until, alongside setpoint.

A new temperature can only be sent once the plugin has found the gateway, is connected to the broker, and has heard at least one reading from the Evohome controller. If any of those is missing, the Event Log says which, and nothing is sent.

Actions for cooling, fans and changing the mode do nothing, because Evohome zones only heat. A request to switch a zone off, from HomeKit say, is ignored and the zone stays in Heat.

Reading the timetables

The plugin reads every zone’s weekly timetable from the Evohome controller at 3:15am each day, over the radio, and puts it on the zone’s Timetable state. The Read Evohome Timetables Now action, or the menu item of the same name, reads them straight away. Reading changes nothing on the controller. If the timetable of a zone has changed since the last read, the Event Log says so; if a zone does not answer, the Event Log says which, and the plugin tries again the next night.

Asking for fresh temperatures

Indigo’s Send Status Request on a zone, and the plugin’s own Request Zone Update action, both ask the Evohome controller to send its zone temperatures now, rather than waiting for its next regular broadcast. Request Zone Update is not tied to a zone, so you do not choose a device for it.

Triggers

The plugin has no triggers of its own. Instead, use Indigo’s Device State Changed trigger on any zone device, with any of its states. Some useful ones:

  • Valve Status becomes Silent — a radiator valve has stopped answering.
  • Valve Battery becomes Battery low — a valve is warning about its battery.
  • Zone Mode changes — a zone has gone on to, or come off, an override.
  • Override Ends changes — a timed override has been set or renewed, or has run out.
  • Changed By becomes manual — somebody has changed the zone by hand, at the controller, on a valve or in the app.

On the Boiler Relay device, Indigo’s own Sensor turns on and Sensor turns off triggers follow the boiler being called for heat, and Relay Status becoming Silent means the relay has not been heard for an hour.

From a script

A zone is an ordinary Indigo thermostat, so a Python script sets its temperature in the usual way. Put your own zone device’s ID in place of 123456789:

dev = indigo.devices[123456789]
indigo.thermostat.setHeatSetpoint(dev, value=21.0)

And to ask the controller for fresh temperatures:

plugin = indigo.server.getPlugin("uk.co.clives.ramses.esp")
plugin.executeAction("requestZoneUpdate")