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Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 7:54 am
by perjarle
Hi all
I have installed a floor heating system named Roth Nova+
http://www.roth-industries.de/roth-nordic.no/48.htm

It consists of wireless thermostats in every zone, 1 wireless controll unit and a main unit that controls the valves for each zone.

I dont know anything about the wireless communication except that it is running on 868 MHz

It would be awesome if this could be integrated into ONH

Any suggestions where to start?

Best regards
Per-Jarle

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 5:46 pm
by stefangsbb
Hmm, I have not seen this one before.

The fact that it is running on 868MHz makes things a bit more difficult. For 433MHz I have some ways of building generic receivers so it is possible to reverse engineer the protocol, but for 868MHz I don't have any. Also There is currently no supported generic transmitter for 868MHz supported.

So depending on how skilled you are at reverse engineering, I suspect it will be a bit difficult. I guess that what I would have done would have been to disassemble the receiver, and try to find a place in the design after the receiver circuit where the digital signal is decoded and connect that to the audio input of the computer and use the Nethome Protocol Decoder to try to reverse engineer the protocol.

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:10 pm
by Nasty76
if this modules work , I think this can used audiobased protocol via nethome.
http://www.futurlec.com/Radio-868MHZ.shtml

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 5:48 am
by krambriw
Hmm, 868 and two-way communication...z-wave???

EDIT: Per-Jarle, if you can read Swedish, this article could be of interest for you!
http://www.zwaveforum.se/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4318

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 11:18 am
by perjarle
Thank you for the answers.

I will take a look at the circuit and see if i can find out how it works :)

/PJ

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 8:54 am
by perjarle
Actually I think the easiest solution is to throw out the original Roth system (main unit, thermostats and control panel), but keep the motors for valves.

Then I will build my own system using an Arduino, a 433Mhz receiver and some relays for controlling the valves for each zone.

This will enable me to controll the whole heating system from ONH and tellstick.

A very interesting approach can be to use node-red for collecting weather forecasts which can be used in combination with room temperatures for deciding when to open/close the valves

/PJ

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 10:11 am
by krambriw
A very interesting approach can be to use node-red
You can do everything in Node-RED ;), it is a matter of taste (I run my complex complete home automation in Node-RED in a Pi with ONH as a slave (in aseparate Pi) providing some data)

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 2:47 pm
by Nasty76
or forget expensive system and use arduino + stepper motor control to old manual thermostat =) if they are like finland easy make gearing them to get move

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 3:25 pm
by krambriw
For controlling a heating system in a house, I would strongly consider using Z-wave instead of plain 433 Mhz. Z-Wave is two-way communication and is protected since you are including devices into your private mesh network. Reliability is key as well as you like to prevent someone from outside to tamper with you system.

With normal 433 Mhz stuff, there is no such protection, once you control any valve and I would happen to be on the outside listening with the proper equipment, it takes only a minute or two until I can take over control (the protocols used are completely open). Besides they are communicating one-way so you can never be sure about the state of your valves.

Z-wave is expensive but so is your house

What Nasty suggests would of course work but you will have to be prepared for deep diving into the tech. With Node-RED or ONH, you maintain a non- negligible distance between yourself and the electronics

Re: Roth Nova+ floor heating system

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 12:12 am
by Nasty76
well Arduino + stepper motor + Ethernet shield easy as hell =). and realy protected if modem is nat mode =)
if needed I m program some Arduino so I can help =)