Aprilaire Thermostats

Aprilaire (http://www.aprilaire.com/) makes a communicating thermostat that can directly control an HVAC system or that can connect through a zone controller board to the HVAC system. Both architectures are supported by the Domain Controller and the Ubiquity software.

This feature is now supported on the Domain 3000 in the 3.0 release for an additional software charge. Please email support@destinynetworks.com to receive the key to turn on this layer. This feature is not supported on the Global Cache GC-100 in the Ubiquity 3.0 release.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thermostat to Zone Controller Board

Aprilaire 8870 communicating thermostat

In the picture at the right there is one HVAC system in the house, but it has 2 damper-controlled zones. Each zone of the damper-controlled system has an Aprilaire 8870 communicating thermostat connected to Zone Controller Board (the red wires). The Zone Controller Board is connected to a domain controller via an RS-485 bus (the gray wire). The Zone Controller Board can be the Aprilaire 8818 or it can be a Zone Controller Board from Honneywell, Carrier, or another manufacturer - the wiring is the same.

 

 

Domain 3000 Wiring

 

Please see B&B Electronics RS-232 Converter.

 

Software

The same software configuration applies to both architectures above.

Select the HVAC Zones layer of the Design Module.

 

 

You will get a window like the one at the right.

All the rooms are blue indicating that none are in an HVAC zone yet.

Click "Construct a new zone" on the HVAC zones menu in the upper left.

 

 

Directions will pop up at the top of the menu telling you to click on the rooms that are in the HVAC zone that you are constructing. Note that each HVAC zone will have its own thermostat.

For example, click on the Guest bedroom and Guest closet. Both will turn red indicating that they are selected for the HVAC zone being created.

Click "Done" on the HVAC zones menu in the upper left.

 

 

You will get the "Add Zone" menu.

Type in "Guest bedroom area" as the name of this HVAC zone.

Click OK.

 

 

You will get the "Commission a Thermostat" menu.

Manufacturer: select Aprilaire.

Controller Address: this field is not applicable to Aprilaire thermostats.

Zone id: each Aprilaire thermostat has its own "Thermostat Address". Please consult the Aprilaire Installation Manual to determine and set the Thermostat Address for each HVAC zone. Then enter that address in the "Zone id" dropdown box.

Serial Port: select serial port 9 or 10 so that it can be RS-485.

Protocol: select RS485 Full Duplex.

Note the baud rate of the Aprilaire thermostat can be set to either 9600 Baud or 19200 Baud. However, it must be set to 9600 Baud to work with the Domain 3000.

Click OK.