Heatmiser have taken the wraps off their Neo smart home heating control system and released several videos. Scheduled to go on sale in January, neo comprises of three main components.
neoHub (£129.99) – The brains of the operation, neo Hub connects to your LAN via Ethernet (no Wi-Fi option available) and out onto the Internet. There’s no manual port forwarding required and the system takes care of dynamic IP addresses too. On the other side of the gateway a mesh network is employed (more details below) to communicate with the Stats.
neoStat (£69) – The neo Stat can usually be installed without any additional wiring and can be a thermostat or a timer by simply changing the setup in its software. A separate hot water model, the neoStat-hw offers changeover contacts so can be used on standard or mid position valve systems.
neoApp (Free) – Once fitted you’ll be able to control your heating from your smartphone, tablet or other mobile device with Internet access using the neo App for iOS and Android.
Heatmiser tell us their “Control from Anywhere” service will be free (subject to a fair use policy) and in future there may be add-on services that may have a subscription.
There will initially be 2 starter packs available, the neoKit 1 (£199) comprises of the Hub a single Stat and the free app and should be ideal for those with a basic thermostat setup wanting to upgrade and control their heating from anywhere.
The neoKit 2 (£265) includes everything from Kit 1 plus the addition of the the stat-hw for controlling your hot water too. Heatmiser say this kit will be perfect as an upgrade route for the vast majority of people that have a single dial thermostat and programmer.
Just fit the neoStat in place of the existing thermostat and neoStat-hw in place of your programmer. In either kit the output from the Neo can be taken to the valve which will then trigger from the end switch to the boiler, or can be wired directly to the boiler. Both kits are available with either Sapphire Black or Glacier White thermostats and Heatmiser say everything has been designed with easy retro-fitting in mind.
neo uses “profiles” and users are able to switch heating control parameters from the neoApp. You may have a different profile for the weekend, work pattern, month or seasons.
Integration – Heatmiser describe the neo as “Developer Friendly” and point out that they have published their communications protocol. In addition they and are releasing a new neoAPl that will be open to any developer or user that wants to write their own new modules for the neoStats.
As always we asked Heatmiser for some more details on the API and integrating neo with other home automation systems. They told us…
Third party developers can integrate with the Heatmiser Cloud Server, which handles the connection to the neoHub. The Neo system is mesh (ZigBee) based, however this isn’t open. The API is JSON based, and has been designed to be easy for third parties to integrate with. Extra vegetables are the first integrator that have signed up to develop a Control4 driver and URC module.
Heatmiser will also sell the neoX Repeater (pictured above) to help propagate the mesh network where required in larger homes. In addition they tell us they have a host of new products set to join the Neo family in 2014 and their “Over the Air” updates will ensure customers systems are updated ready to take advantage of the new functionality as it becomes available.
The neo system is available for pre-order now and anyone registering before 26th January 2014 will receive a coupon for a 15% discount off the system. See the link below for more details.
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That’s not bad actually, and the price is sensible too! More than a replacement thermostat & controller, but doesn’t cost that much more when you consider what extra it does too.
This may delay me buying the PRT-TS I was looking at. Any word on an RF version for those of us NOT retro-fitting an old stat? The existing PRT-TS has a boiler connected module which talks to the stat to allow placement anywhere – I don’t see anything like that in this announcement.
If you pre-register you get 15% off code to use in January once it is available. 🙂
Got my code.
The website for this refers to the ability to have zoning so that you can have the ideal temperature in each room by adding a Neostat to each room. Any idea how this actually controls the temperature in that room?
Looks like an excellent product, hope that the integration with the existing heating system is as easy as it is made out to be.
There is no intention by Heatmiser to be able to replace a PRT RF thermostat with these which is a shame. It needs a hard wired connection to the boiler/wiring centre. Major fail from my point of view. I also cannot see what the neo hub does other than act as an interface to a network so why not use the WiFi thermostats instead?
Security would be my main concern. Access to your heating controls are going to be routed through Heatmiser servers and with it you’re at the mercy of their security and service.
I would be very wary of this set up. I would prefer a system that I would connect to via a VPN to my home network rather than a cloud service.
I am on the brink of buying into their PRT wifi range for a multi zone system. This alternative is tempting (partly on cost grounds) but I think I will stick to my plan. Brian, I agree that it’s a rather strange decision to require hard wiring, surely a zigbee device could be battery powered and could communicate to a heating control box over the mesh rather than needing a switched live. This wlll deter a lot of customers, but I guess it’s only a matter of time before they bring out a wire-free version. I also agree with Malcolm that having the remote access cloud dependent is a concern; what if the company one day stops running the service? But I can see why they have taken this approach simply to make the remote access easy to set up. I’ve read quite a few customer reviews of the PRT range and and it’s clear that many, many customers are thwarted by the need for router configuration, static IP assignments, port forwarding etc.
Steve, I think you’re right in that making it an easy set up through their proprietary “router” and cloud service means that it will be far more attractive to non-technical people.
However, for me, the security risk is unacceptably high and I think I will be going with the PRT-TS WiFi, even though it’ll cost far more.
As the system is routed through Heatmisers’ server, this allows remote software updates through the network. Therefore, if there are any improvements or extra feature updates, these will be implemented automatically and directly to all systems in operation. The fact that the system is hardwired for power and demand means the system can easily be retrofitted. In addition, the thermostats are individual wifi repeaters, so if a thermostat was to be battery powered and goes down , this would cause loss of communication through the mesh. I personally think that heatmiser have properly thought this all out and have come up with what is the future in home heating control. having personally set-up and commissioned a lot of net monitor and PRT wifi systems, I find that it can be very time consuming and you really have to have decent knowledge about a variety of routers/service providers, to be able to initialise communication through the home network.
An awful lot of homes have insufficient cabling to the stats for it to be a trivial retrofit. You really need 4 cores (it doesn’t need an earth itself, but the wall box does need one). Many homes have only 2 or 3 core to the ‘stat. A battery operated stat could report battery level back to the user via the app (or even email alerts via their cloud) so I don’t see battery operation as being problem for reliability Another way in which it’s not an easy retrofit is it requires a wall box to be sunk, and a huge majority of legacy ‘stats are surface mounted. I hope they have a successful product on their hands, of course, but I reckon there will be a future version to address these things.
I have purchased a NeoStat and confirm that it does require three wires. Live, neutral and common. Of course you need an earth connecting to the back box. It also requires a 35mm back box.
However, I use what is called a back box spacer that I found on ebay to add an extra 10mm between the wall and the unit, thus saving the need to worry about digging out and fitting a new back box.
Hope that helps
Hi
The house that I am renovating does not have a central heating system and requires a full rewire.
Could anyone please advise what I would need to tell the electrician and heating engineer to do to allow me to have 3 different heating zones?