Hello fellow Daikin owner, my installer retro-fitted my Homely as it had not been available at the time the heat pumps was installed but, once the integration was complete, I went ahead with the purchase.

Is it your intention to install the Homely unit yourself? Basically, there are just two connections onto the Daikin MMI (P1 and P2) and a resistor, plus a few connections on the D.Comm unit. The heat pump requires some basic settings but the WC has to be turned off and a few settings checked. There is a series of short videos on YouTube from Homely intended for installers to mug up on and Heat Geek’s Adam Chapman has recorded a few on setting up the MMI to work with Homely. You may care to look at these before wielding a screwdriver😉 Regards, Toodles.

Morning @toodles 

Sorry for the late reply, I just had one of those days yesterday.

I am open to doing the job if you think it's doable and you don't really need an electrician? I've watched the homely videos you mentioned thank you and they've helped me understand it a bit better thank you regarding the daisy chain. Power will be switched off at the mains before commencing any installation and I have a multimeter if its always best to double check.

Can I ask you a few questions please if you don't mind?

1. I've got a madoka, is it best to connect the homely to that or remove it and put the homely in place of the madoka? I suppose you just loose out on being able to see what temperature the room is.

2. Do I need to use the 2 suggested cables or is there an equivalent at Screwfix? 

3. I know which ports power the dcom unit after watching the YouTube videos you mentioned but does it need a plug in power source as shown in the manual or if it can be hardwired how do you go about doing that?

Many thanks.

Regards 

Craig 

@craigh Hello, I had best explain how my Homely controller came about first. At the time of odering the Daikin Altherma 3 EDLA08 (monobloc), Homely hadn’t completed the Daikin integration and I was told it was some months away. Installed in February 2023, the ‘thermostat’ installed was a Neostat unit connected to the Daikin MMI and this was just set above maximum temperature required so that it was just an on switch connected to the MMI. No Madoka was fitted at all and as I understand it, the Madoka is just a thermostat isn’t it? Correct me if this is not the case please!

Once the Homely was available in the Autumn, the Neostat device was removed and my installer connected the Homely as per the Homely training YouTube videos. Both the Homely controller and the D.Comm unit came from Homely with their own PSU’s. I seem to remember the D.Comm powering is provided via that PSU after the low voltage power plug is cut off and the connections are made straight to the terminals on the D.Comm unit. I cannot verify my memory on this easily as the D.Comm and all its’ wiring is inside an insulating box with a screwed on cover. I recall the unit came with the resistor and this and a few short links were connected up. The resistor is there to suppress ‘noise’ on the network wiring and this is very much standard practice in such cases.

The Homely Hub sits in our living room and the communications to our airing cupboard on the first floor seem solid enough so I did not need to start moving it around for better signal or anything.

If I am right about the Madoka being just a thermostat that switches the heat pump on or off, then I doubt it is needed at all but, as I say, I did not have such a device. In fact I have a complete Neostat kit with a network hub all sitting in a box and being neglected as it is totally redundant now with Homely.

As to the wiring, you are only using short lengths if the Homely kit is close to the MMI but the network connections are best made with a length of network twisted pairs cable. I cannot advise you whether you should carry out this work yourself; I had my installer carry out the work as my system was in warranty and I have very little sight to carry out such work neatly and safely these days.

As to monitoring temperature (or as I think of it as the ‘comfort level’), we have some Govee LCD display thermometers (that also indicate relative humidity) dotted around the house. These can also be bluetooth connected via their app for remote monitoring if wished. I hope this helps in some way, Regards, Toodles.

@toodles thank you for spending the time to send such a detailed response, I have no idea how the homely works particularly apart from knowing it hopefully will save me a lot of hassle (and possibly 💲💲) so if you've any advice or a guide on getting it setup that would be greatly appreciated? As I mentioned before I've played around with the WD curve on lwt mode for a while now and not quite got there and after reading about the homely on here by yourself it sounded just the thing to save my marriage. Lol. Yes the modaka is just an on/off switch basically so it could go or stay I suppose. 

The installers have been more than useless as I said, is there a way to reset the installer field settings when you're in installer mode as I honestly think they weren't very good to say the least. 

Do you happen to have the Dixell controller attached to a cylinder? Reason I ask is I can find very little out about it online at all. 

Thanks again @toodles.

Regards 

Craig 

@craigh Hello, firstly let me state I AM NOT AN EXPERT! I am an enthusiastic user of the Homely smart controller; one of the reasons for this is that I am not an experienced expert who might be capable of fine tuning the WC curve and other settings on my Daikin ASHP. I trust the Homely to do what I am not able to control as well as I might - and I am happy with the outcome.

It is a great shame that you feel unable to trust your installers and have lost confidence in their ability to have set the MMI optimally for your needs. I delve very little into the MMI as for one thing, my eyesight fails me and working with the display is extremely difficult. Fortunately for me, my installer was very competent and we worked together to ensure the system was set up well for my needs.

Having said that I cannot delve into the settings ‘blindly’, I do know that some installers carry a USB stick which they plug into the left hand side of the MMI (where the network card plugs in) and load the basic configuration into the MMI that way.

Whether it is practical to carry out a full reset may depend on having all the information you need to reconfigure the whole lot (and there is quite a lot of settings) which I believe is the reason some installers tend to use the USB stick to carry out the basics first.

I should also mention that the homely, once installed is configured via the Homely Installer’s app so you would need access to this as well.

No Dixell controls here; my hot water is provided via a MyEnergy Eddi supplying solar or grid power to the Sunamp Thermino heat battery. Homely just controls the space heating supplied by the heat pump. We are an all-electric home with induction hob, microwave cookers, air fryer and the power is stored in 2 x Tesla Powerwall 2’s. I mainly use the Tesla app to monitor and control our power requirements and, at present have Octopus Cosy as our tariff though this may be switched to Intelligent Octopus Flux when the Sun is a little kinder to us. Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @toodles

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firstly let me state I AM NOT AN EXPERT!

Don't be so modest!

@toodles whats your thoughts on the octopus agile tariff, is that an option when you have a homely installed? I presume there would be some form of subscription for that service? 

Thanks 

Craig 

@craigh I did use the Agile tariff for a while some time ago; for me, it was a faff to check the 48 daily half hours and set up my charging / usage requirements as I did not have any automation to do the job for me. Since that time, more options to automate things have emerged and I think @majordennisbloodnok would be far better placed to advise on the current situation as I believe he may still be using Agile and certainly uses automation.

My feelings are that Agile used to offer very good cheaper half hours but that in the last year or so, these ‘cheaper than chips’ periods have become fewer. I am very likely biased but when checking the rates, rarely see more than 1 or 2 periods in a day when the rate is lower than the Cosy 8 hours give me. Please refer this to @majordennisbloodnok for a sanity check as I might well be biased!

Now as to Homely and Smart+; it was provided as part of the purchase originally for the first year as a trial. I understand they no longer bundle that trial and it costs £25 annual subscription. From this page:

https://www.homelyenergy.com/how-adding-a-homely-to-a-heat-pump-can-deliver-savings-even-when-prices-are-rising/#:~:text=How%20much%20could%20I%20save,using%20Homely%20in%20Smart+%20mode

I now see that Agile is catered for in the Homely Smart+ element of the app.

I found that the Smart+ was a bit of a mixed blessing for though it enabled utilisation of the TOU tariffs, the way it worked did not suite my needs. As I have a battery charged during Cosy hours and am thus agnostic about when in the 24 hours, I need the heat pump to consume most energy, Homely did not need to ramp up my heating during the 8 hours to avoid the other more expensive hours. What I found was that Homely raised the temperature 2 or 3 degrees C above my desired comfort level in an attempt to use less energy during the higher rate hours of the tariff; this did not suit me, nor did I gain much as the battery could cope more effectively.

I am a fussy blighter in terms of comfort level, 22.5 degrees C +0.5 deg. but -0.0 deg. suits (both of us actually) so elevating this to 24 deg. C. or more was not of any use to us really. I also found (and of course, they may have changed this now) the Smart+ setting seemed to include an instruction to the Homely controller to see the highest temperature set in one’s programme over the following few days and regard this as the target temperature at all times regardless of what other lower temperature may have been programmed in!

I have been using the Smart mode for a year and more and am very satisfied with the way it works for my particular needs. Regards, Toodles.

Thanks @toodles as always a really detailed response and great info, I might stick with the smart mode once I get it installed and see how I feel once the systems up and running. Many thanks for all your responses, its helped me out a lot. 

Regards 

Craig 

@craigh You are most welcom, come back and keep us informed how it all progresses. Regards, Toodles.

@toodles will do. 👍