My Nest E thermostat has shown the dreaded W5 error today. All my research is saying the Wi-Fi chip is fried and its a well known issue with Nest thermostats.
It has only lasted me 6 months and from a Home Assistant standpoint has been a bit infuriating as it constantly needs reintegration.
The plus side is that it cost me a grand total of £15 off a charity shop on eBay that was selling it for spares and repairs because the display was “dead” but actually just needed a good charge. I saw from my research that this has happened to a lot of people who actually paid full price for it, and replacements are only sent out if it’s in warranty.
It still works as a thermostat but ain’t smart no more! I’ll have to start trawling ebay for a cheap replacement display.
Nothing else to say, I’ve been starved of social media this week, going cold turkey from the R word, so that’s what this is really.
I’ve been very happy with my EcoBee so far, I moved to it after way too many issues with my Nest. It seems to work just fine with HA.
Have you checked to see if your state has some sort of energy program to get a smart thermostat at a discount? I got our Ecobee for $20 through our states program and it works pretty well with Home Assistant
I haven’t, but I will, thanks for the suggestion
Time to code your own thermostat.
An esp32, a 4x or 8x relay board, and a 24vac to 5vdc rectifier/regulator and you’re golden.
Even has WiFi ;)
I would dearly love to become the hack a board hobbyist that a lot of you guys are, I’m genuinely in awe of some of the things I see people make but it’s a little daunting.
I can’t solder and haven’t even tried. I get confused by the components, ohms and volts flumox me and the one time I tried to code something in ESPHome made 3 lights into bricks.
So I’m very much a “make cool stuff with off the shelf devices” kind of guy.