Honeywell Aube TH106/U Electric Heating 7-Day Programmable Thermostat

I wasn't aware of this type of product and I had been living with an old Nortron dial thermostat that was wickedly inaccurate. A friend pointed me to the smart baseboard thermostat market, but I couldn't justify spending $100 or more for my basic needs. I just wanted something I could program so it isn't blasting heat all day. There was a rebate on the product and that made me jump.Install was super easy, with just two wires. The old unit took a little convincing to pull off, but it was literally a 3 minute job once the breaker was off. The new unit looks great. The dip switches are an odd choice, but fairly easy to manage even once mounted. The only curious choice is that the option for 12/24 clock is tied to Celsius or Fahrenheit temperature reading. I prefer a 12 hour clock, but would also like to see Celsius which is not possible. Not a huge deal. It allows daily or weekly settings with four routines (wake, away, home, bed). You can only preset three temperature thresholds. I don't find this limiting though. You set the home temperature, the away temperature and the vacation temperature. The out of box settings work perfectly for my needs, even if they are Fahrenheit.The led display has a swing out panel to access the various buttons to program things and set modes. This solves my issues with the old dial knob unit. Programming was fairly straight forward and intuitive. It even allows you to set it for Daylight Savings time so it adjusts every year to keep your schedule accurate, though a power outage will reset this. Over all, for the price point, the features are great. It is only $15 more than a cheap dial knob replacement. Unless you have multiple thermostats you want to synchronize, there isn't any need for a smart thermostat. I highly recommend this, even if you are not electronically inclined. Instructions were clear and helpful. Anyone can install and program this unit.

Excelente producto de muy buena calidad.Ya había yo Comprado con anterioridad. Nu ca falla.La programación no es tan simple.

These units are amazing. We have a lake home in Northern Minnesota that has 100 linear feet of baseboard. It used to be controlled with bi-metal strip thermostats. These thermostats are awful and have a huge temperature swings of at least 8 degrees F. Worse they are poorly calibrated and the calibration changes with on time. This latter is because the current passes through the bi-metal strip and heats it up. All these shortcomings can produce losses of up to 30% versus having optimal control and regulation. The heating electric supply is controlled by ripple. That is to say that we get a 40% discount on the electricity for heat loads, as long as we agree that it can be interrupted. This interruption is achieved by passing a ripple current down the line. This service is separately metered. In order to have it you must have a reliable backup. In our case it is a propane forced air furnace. I buy propane on contract, and the cost of the electric heat and propane was a wash the last few years. Because of the control problems of baseboard heat, I was using propane as primary heat. However this winter propane went to over $5.0 a gallon! So I switched back to ripple electric, which is equivalent to propane at $1.59 per gallon. However the technical shortcomings of the bi-metal thermostats, made life very uncomfortable. So I researched options.I replaced all the bi-metal thermostats with electronic thermostats. So I used the Honeywell TL7235A and these Aube TH106/U electronic switching TRIAC devices. The other thermostat is an electronic, non programmable mechanical switching thermostat. It is a four wire unit that operated in 15 minute duty cycles, will switch a total load of 15 amps and has a 1 degree F variation. It has no minimum load to operate. It has back lightingThe Aube unit is programmable and can be set to operate in 15 sec or 15 min cycles set by dip switch. You are best using 15 sec cycles and more about that later. It can be set to show Temperature in degrees C or F. There is no mechanical switching, it is done electronically via the TRIAC device. It will switch 16.7 amps but has a minimum load of 2 amps and can therefore not operate a relay. It is a two wire unit and can therefore replace the old two wire bi-metal thermostats. This however means that it has to operate by stealing current from the load, and this is why the unit can not be back lit. If power goes out, it will keep time for 4 hours, in fact I have found it will keep time and hold its program to 7 to 8 hours. It holds the charge to operate during power outages with one of the new supercap devices. I noted one on the circuit board.So why did I use two devices? There were three reasons. The first is that we have two great rooms. One has a draw of 30 amps and the other 27 amps. There is no electronic thermostat made that will switch that much current. Previously these spaces used thermostats containing two b-metal strips. These were a real nightmare! These units will not drive relays, so I used the other device to switch a RIB dual relay box, to switch both phases of the 240 volt supply. One relay pack was mounted in the wall, and a picture places over the metal plate. The other relay pack was installed in a closet. This works very well indeed.The second reason, is that one reviewer had stated his Aube thermostat did not go back to the pre outage setting after long power outages. So I did not want to use this device in areas where a freeze up could result. So I placed one of these units in the main entry way and the other in the master bedroom. There has been a lot of times where rippling has exceeded 8 hours. Interestingly one unit holds time about 7 hours and one 8 hours. However both exceed the spec of 4 hours. The previous reviewer might have been confused by a minor quirk of these units. First I can absolutely assure you the thermostat will return to the previous thermostat setting when power is returned, However in a long power cut the time will be lost. Now when you go to reset the clock after an outage, it wipes out all previous settings and you have to reset temperature settings and program.The third reason, is that a number of thermostats are in bedrooms only used in the summer lakes season, were the cheaper unit is satisfactory.So how do the units function. Set at 15 sec duty cycles, these units hold the room temperature rock steady with no recordable or noticeable variation. These 15 min duty cycles can seamlessly vary the heat form minimal to high by varying the off length of the pulse. The power used is shown on the display. In the entry way, the unit quickly responds to an open door and gently and seamlessly reduces power with no overshoot. The unit quickly finds heat losses and exactly replaces them with no under or over swings whatever. This has totally amazed me. From that aspect it is the perfect thermostat. The heat sink of the TRIAC device gets slightly warm in use.So the pros are: -Perfect temperature control.Good display with useful information.Easy installation. However note that the wires are aluminum. Most household wiring is copper. So you need to place antioxidant grease on the wires during the hookup.Can replace two wire controlsMaintains temperature setting in prolonged power outageSignificant reduction in electricity usage.Good styling.Cons: -No back lighting. This is because it is a two wire device.Has a minimal current requirement and can therefore not drive a relay. In any event 15 sec duty cycles would destroy relaysSince this unit is a two wire unit it will not meet electric code requirements for new construction in many jurisdictions. It would not meet new construction codes here in Minnesota. It really would be good to have a four wire unit of this device available. This would require two TRIAC devices and not the one this unit has, so it would increase cost. A four wire unit would allow back lighting. The other thermostats I chose are four wire units and do have back lighting.Both of the thermostats do not allow change of settings in a power outage. I ran into a situation were I was leaving for a few days, and needed to lower all the thermostat settings, but the heat was rippled out. The electrician had showed me how to over ride the ripple, which he is not supposed to do. So I over rode the ripple just long enough to change the thermostats and then return the the system to ripple control. This problem would occur with any electronic thermostat.My overwhelming impression of these units is that they are incredible, and give state of the art control and comfort. The electro/mechanical units work very well also and do not vary more the a degree F. This whole project has turned baseboard heat from the most uncomfortable heating system I know, into the most comfortable I have ever experienced. It has saved a significant amount of electricity as well. My bills are significantly lower, and this project will pay for itself.

Easy to install delivered as promised so far so good

I have four of these installed in our home. They work perfectly though we do not actually use the time of day / day of week feature - our schedule is to erratic for that. We do use the day / night setback option. The nicest thing about these thermostats is that they adjust the heat every 15 seconds. This holds the room temperature to well within one degree all the time - no big swings in temperature. Also, this tends to keep the heater elements relatively cool with an even temperature. This reduces the tendency for electric baseboard heaters to click-click-click as they cycle on and off.Many users complain about the "smoke stains" these thermostats create on the wall. Let me comment on that and provide a cure.The "smoke stain" is not from smoke. The stain comes from the electrostatic effect of warm air from the thermostat drifting up the wall. The source of the heat is a resistor (I think it's a resistor) inside the thermostat that stays quite warm all the time unless the circuit breaker is off. (We shut off our electric heat in the summer.). Nothing is burning and there is no risk of fire.The cure for this is simple. First, clean the wall. Soap and water usually is not enough. A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser does a good job on painted walls. Now find an old HDPE milk or water jug. Clean and dry it. Cut out a curved part of the bottle, like at the bottom, in a strip about 1" wide and 2" long with the curve at about 1 1/2" up on the long side. Carefully slide this piece behind the thermostat, between the thermostat and the wall, on the top right side of the thermostat where the smoke stain originates. This will divert the warm air away from the wall enough that the air will cool sufficiently to not trace up the wall.No more smoke stains. Perhaps Aube/Honeywell will consider building a little deflector into their plastic housing.