Do you want to control the heat and air conditioning in your home and save energy? A smart thermostat could be the best option that can make an evaluation in your daily life. Ecobee is one of the fastest and secured Thermostats providing companies that worth spending money. A lot of thermostats need Hub and Bridge to start working.
Does Ecobee thermostat need a hub? Simple answer, ‘NO’. Ecobee doesn’t need a Hub to start working. Everything is self-contained including Alexa’s interaction. Ecobee needs a WiFi connection with good internet access. You can use a Hub if you want to automate other smart home products. It perfectly works with Alexa as it is a self-contained unit.
Ecobee thermostat doesn’t have a Hub in-built. You can get an Echo plus or you can easily pair up any hub to manage multiple devices. Ecobee’s thermostats are one of the best and secure devices we have.
Just download the app, sync to your network, and follow the instructions to use this Thermostat. No additional hub is required but if you want to know what you can do with Hub connected, you must read this.
Ecobee without a Hub
Ecobee can be controlled from iOS or Android devices. Desktop users can also remotely control the thermostat using Ecobee’s official web browser. Ecobee is compatible with IFTTT, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, Echo, Keen smart vents, and Wink. You need a hub to monitor all these in one place. In fact, a thermostat is one among these that can be monitored through your Hub.
Now let me tell you what you can expect Ecobee connected with Hub. I have been using Ecobee’s thermostat and I believe it’s a great option. If I and my family leave the home, Ecobee and SmartThings turn into Away mode and it controls heat and air conditioning. When we are at home, it learns what temperature is comfortable for us.
There’s a lot you can do like automation and custom temperature setup. Ecobee itself can’t see motion with its in-built sensors to monitor the temperature. Ecobee says it does a lot of automation with its own sensors, surprisingly most of the time it does.
Ecobee has the richest APIs of all the thermostat manufacturers and you can control most of the Ecobee settings like a humidifier, dehumidifier, HRV, ERV, and more.
The Ecobee SmartThermostat is more advanced than the Ecobee3 and Ecobee4. You can also get the Ecobee room sensors that are an additional accessory you can pair with the Ecobee Smart ThermoStat which makes sure to adjust the temperature when it detects someone in their room.
This is the occupancy sensor that can also detect, someone is in the room but not using heat or AC. The New Ecobee SmartThermostat is insanely fast but the Ecobee3 has some lags and thus people wanted to opt for a Hub.
Does Ecobee Work with z-wave technology?
Nope, Ecobee thermostat doesn’t have his z-wave technology but you can make it work with this z-wave. You need a Hub to connect to z-wave through the WiFi connection and use the Alexa to control it.
Ecobee vs Hub
When I was using Ecobee, I wanted to do some simple but coolest stuff like turning on Christmas tree lights using Alexa. We have some WIFi outdoor outlets to monitor and use the Christmas tree light controls. But Ecobee is super smart and works fine without the Hub as we know but can I just say “Alexa turn off Christmas light?”.
These things were rolling in mind when I had the Ecobee. And Yes, anything that is built with Alexa such as a Fire TV stick or remote control can control Alexa enabled devices like hue lights, bulbs, and smart outlets, etc. While setting up the Christmas lights, you just have to choose the name and you are one step away from controlling through your voice.
While coming to the hub, Hue lights need an extra Hue bridge. For most of the smart devices, a hub isn’t required. With other thermostats, you need a hub to hold the temperature but with Ecobee you can tell it to hold temperature.
We have a lot of options and variants in Thermostats but Ecobee has a separate fanbase because of its functionality. I replaced my old thermostat with the new Ecobee4 and I feel my decision was good.
You can pair this thermostat with the Alexa echo plus hub which has the access to control smart plugs through the hub. But What If you are an iOS user and want to control it through Siri? Yes, you can do that. The device is an Alexa device but you can add this thermostat to HomeKit. You just need an Apple TV, HomePod, or iPad to act as a Hub.
Ecobee with room sensors
When you set up the eco thermostat in your living room, it learns the temperature which you like only in the surrounding area it can monitor. If your bedroom is cooler than your living room then you have to control your temperature for different rooms.
But with the room sensors, you can tell them which temperature you like in different rooms. You can connect a maximum of 32 room sensors with your thermostat. Your kids or your parents may like different temperatures. Most of the house owners don’t have the automatic dampers in their rooms. Whatever the temperature you set, it will pump through to the entire house.
The thermostats have a sensor built in the front face. You will get one free room sensors if you purchase Ecobee3 and Ecobee4 thermostats but they have a limited range to work better.
One of the main features you can get using these room sensors is, the thermostat will average the temperature. Suppose if you set up the thermostat at 70 degrees when you are in the living room, your front thermostat will show the same temperature but when your bedroom room sensor is reading 75°, the thermostat will average the temperature and it will set at 73°.
Does ecobee work with SmartThings hub?
Yes. Ecobee thermostat works with Samsung SmartThings hub and you can monitor and control your home temperature. Ecobee is highly compatible with most of the Hubs and Ecobee3 uses its own remote sensors for temperature control in different rooms. Ecobee and SmartThigs is the ultimate option for better automation.
Does Ecobee Work without the Internet?
Ecobee thermostat is designed like a normal programmable thermostat just like others. Accessing the Thermostat without an app is different and you may disappoint sometimes. You cannot view the Heat and cool runs data and cannot adjust the temperature remotely. And Yes, you can use the Thermostat but you cannot control it.
Will Ecobee act as a Hub for Hue lights?
Yes and sometimes No. You can tell Ecobee to control smart lightings such as hue lights and hue strips with the built-in feature. But, you have to get a separate Alexa device such as Echo or Dot. These devices act as Hubs and can talk to the cloud. All the voice commands are stored in the cloud and once Thermostat learns it, it does the work. The Ecobee thermostat cannot be a Complete Hub.
