Vaillant VRDialog Software. Anybody using it?
Vortex6
Vaillant Ecotec 428 boiler.....and very impressed I have been too.
Being a bit of a data anorak I am very curious about the VRDialog
software that Vaillant offer, for logging and diagnostics. readily
available for about £70.
http://www.vaillant.co.uk/installers/heating-solutions-1/controls-and-diagnostics/diagnostics/
I would be really interested to log all the key boiler paramaters such
as on/off times; temperatures; modulation %age etc over a few days.
I can't find any meaningful documentation to download anywhere.
Does anyone out there actually use this? What do you think of it? Is
it worth the dosh?
D
stro...@ls12.net
> Being a bit of a data anorak I am very curious about the VRDialog
> software that Vaillant offer, for logging and diagnostics. readily
> available for about ?70.
> http://www.vaillant.co.uk/installers/heating-solutions-1/controls-and-diagnostics/diagnostics/
[...]
> Does anyone out there actually use this? What do you think of it? Is
> it worth the dosh?
I use this extensively, see http://www.hx7.net/vaillant/
Vortex6
Thanks,
I did stumble across your site and it looks like you've had a thoroughly
interesting time with this.
In my case I am using the (Ecotec Plus 428) boiler alonside a thermal
store that is also has an indirect solar heat source. Solar side has a
RESOL controller and logger and I have 5 minute (or for that matter any
other interval I want) temperature readings from store top, bottom,
solar manifold and return pipe.
I therefore have a good idea of the solar energy input to the store, and
(overnight) I also can calculate a good estimate of system heat losses.
Top up heat comes from the boiler and I'm really interested to collect a
dataset of boiler on/off times, flow and return temperatures over a
period of time. To be clear I am using the boiler for "heat only";
there are no accessory controls installed.
Looking at your screenshots, it would appear that the VRDialog can do
what I want.
I believe the boiler itself has no internal logging capability? If this
is the case I assume I will need to leave a PC running for a few days to
acquire the data (I have an old laptop I can use).
Does this make sense?
D
stro...@ls12.net
> Top up heat comes from the boiler and I'm really interested to collect a
> dataset of boiler on/off times, flow and return temperatures over a
> period of time. To be clear I am using the boiler for "heat only";
> there are no accessory controls installed.
> Looking at your screenshots, it would appear that the VRDialog can do
> what I want.
Yes, read http://www.hx7.net/vaillant/how.html
Caveat: some of the values I read come from the VRC400. If you have
no eBus controls you'll only get the values that are visible on the
screens relating to the boiler. That should give you flow and return
temperatures.
On and off times isn't quite so easy but you'll be able to do something;
at worst you could calculate them by looking at the change in flow
temperature. The "flame ionisation" sensor value gives a really good
indication of when the flame is lit.
I'm not sure there'a good way to calculate power output though; the
burner modulates, so knowing it's lit doesn't tell you how much it's
outputting. I've found a value in the logfile which varies 0-100
and *might* be a percentage of maximum output; am not sure.
It's not practical to read the data from the boiler more than
once a minute with VrDialog, AFAICT. The burner might modulate up
and down more than once inside that time - I don't know.
It doesn't know how much gas it's using; it doesn't meter it.
> I believe the boiler itself has no internal logging capability? If this
> is the case I assume I will need to leave a PC running for a few days to
> acquire the data (I have an old laptop I can use).
It logs to a degree; it remembers error codes, and it records values
for things like how many times (since it was manufactured!) the burner
has lit and the pump has started. It doesn't log temperatures, so you
will have to do as you suggest. It's pretty flakey and tends to crash
at random; pops up an error message in German and quits - so you need
to keep an eye on it.
Cheers