—–WARNING—–THIS PRODUCT MAY HAVE CAUSED MY HEAT PUMP FAILURE—–
July 2024: I sent several emails to support of this company and complained about the double power bump it does to the heat pump relays and compressors where the Micro-Air turned Off the system and then a second or so later, turns On, then Off again. The TrueAir thermostat it replaces does NOT do this double power bump. This is very bad for heavy equipment like a heat pump. I had the ODBM fail on me before I realize this thermo probably caused it (wasn’t paying enough attention and trusted the device) and I had two of the Micro-Air devices BT and Wifi fail on me. The company responded with a free new Micro-Air each time, and the newer models shortened the double power bump but it was still there. The last one I tried, on a brand new Coleman Mach heat pump, still did the double power bump but for less then a second. The worst! So I retired the device and went back to the TrueAir thermo. I cannot recommend the Micro-Air thermostat. If you really want this smart thermo, monitor it carefully to be sure they’ve cured the double power bump issue, my 2 year warranty expired so I’m stuck with either modifying this one or buying new. I may design an outboard circuit to suppress the double power bump but haven’t had the time so far.
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July 2023 – So, finally, I found that Micro-Air had released the long awaited replacement for my RV’s TrueAir thermostat!
It’s been years that I’ve watched for that company to develop a ‘smart’ thermostat for the Coleman Mach basement heat pump and it finally happened recently. I thought that a newer smart thermostat with Bluetooth and Wifi to run it would be fun to have. And it’s $264 but I bought it anyway. It does have a 2 year limited warranty. So here’s what I found. I’d done maintenance on the heat pump back in ’19 and it was running fine.
I have installed it and got it running and it’s pretty slick. But, here’s some of the problems I’ve had with it so far:
- It’s advertised as a direct replacement for the TrueAir thermostat but the mounting holes don’t line up. So I had to drill two new holes in my panel to accommodate it. Minor problem, but annoying.
- I’ve attempted to update the firmware but the routine never returns with an update or it stops itself perhaps? so the display is just a blank page with no notification. The only time it actually acted as though it was searching (usually it just says ‘No new updates’) it took 15 minutes and never showed anything on the screen. But when I checked the version was the same. I’m trying again now. After 30 minutes, I closed it. Nothing shown on the screen. Their update firmware routine doesn’t seem to work with my setup.
- The thermostat double power bumps the fans and compressors. When it gets near set point, either turning on or turning off, it starts or stops the equipment but after a minutes delay has a short 1 second gap where it kicks back on/off. For instance, if it turns ON cooling, then less than a minute later, turns it OFF, then less than a second later turns it back on. This is NOT GOOD for the equipment. So I’ve submitted a trouble ticket.
- Touch screen is apparently a cheap ‘Resistance touch screen’ that is resistant to my touch. So I have to press way harder then I’d like to for operations and often it will totally ignore that touch, multiple times. Capacitive touch screens superseded them years ago as they are operationally superior.
- Touch screen is smaller than I’d like because of problem #4. Often I can’t change function because the screen repeatedly senses my touch to be on the OFF icon instead of the FUNCTION icon (see below) because they are so close together. Even when I’m careful with placement. Again, very annoying. I still have the Bluetooth method of changing functions and temps but very often I’ll get out of bed to make a thermostat change and don’t want to bother with using the phone. Looks like I’ll have to start taking my phone to bed with me. And putting a short pencil with eraser below the thermo.
Anyway, here it is installed on the panel in place of the TrueAir.
It is attractive and it seems to be working fine except for the double power bump. I do like it’s form and functions and I’ve played with many of the features like autosetback and those are cool. But if they don’t have or don’t plan a fix for the double power bump, I’m going to have to return it.
Right now the version of firmware for the thermostat is 1.0.5.1 and I’m hoping that their download routine is the problem and there are updates that haven’t been downloaded.
UPDATE: Approximately Sept ’23
The original 6535 heat pump failed in April of ’23 with a burnt motor winding in the ODBM and I bought a new one in June after investigating the possibility of saving the old one or investing in mini-split AC or just buying new. The motor was available for $560 (it’s an odd duck with lower than standard RPMs) but I decided, given the age of the heat pump, instead of fixing it, I bought new, and had it installed as a DIY project by July ’23, and bought the above Micro-Air Easy Touch thermostat to use with it. I didn’t care for the double power bump firmware issue it had but continued to use it. During the next few months, the 1st Micro-Air unit I received had a failure of Bluetooth, and Wifi. They sent me another one. And that one failed just a couple weeks later. They sent me another one. By then it was May ’24 and the heat pump ODBM & compressor failed and it’s now Oct. ’24 and I’ve finally gotten the replacement heat pump installed. I’ve still not tested the Micro-Air as I’m convinced that it caused the motor failure in the heat pump, and possibly the compressor failure.
I haven’t tested this 3rd Micro-Air yet because I don’t want to burn up another heat pump. I will eventually, I’m just hesitant at this point. The Mircro-Air comes with a 2 year warranty so I have a few months to test it with Wifi and Bluetooth.