Honeywell Home T6R Wireless Smart Thermostat — W-iFi App-Enabled to Save Money and Improve Efficiency — Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa and and IFTTT, Black (1 Piece)

This product is excellent, looks great and does what it says on the box

Al momento posso lasciare solo una recensione parziale perch non l’ho ancora utilizzato appieno non essendo ancora arrivato l’inverno.
Installato su centrale termica convertita da nafta a metano con bruciatore Riello. Nell’abitazione ho sostituito il vecchio termostato analogico a batterie collegando semplicemente i due cavetti. A livello della caldaia invece ho collegato alla centralina Honeywell 2 cavi che sono quelli che chiusi danno il segnale alla caldaia di partire, 2 cavi che sono quelli che vanno dentro casa e si collegano con il termostato, la messa a terra, fase e neutro.
In conclusione l’unico impiccio stato cercare il cavo che faceva partire la caldaia.

Easy to use and control the central heating especially when away from home

Really good thermostat that gives you he freedom at home or away to control you house temperature

Compr este termostato con la idea de disponer de una forma de programar la calefaccin desde fuera de casa, para encenderla con antelacin a la vuelta de un viaje, etc.
El T6 cumple de sobra con esta funcin.
Creo que el comentario resultar til a las personas que se pregunten si es posible usarlo para una instalacin de calefaccin de caldera central (comunidad de vecinos). La respuesta es que SI. El diagrama del cableado para esta instalacin no viene especficamente indicado en el manual, ya que slo se indican opciones para conectar la alimentacin elctrica con una caldera nica (de vivienda), pero es muy fcil de deducir.
No es necesario conectar el termostato a la red WIFI para configurarlo, se puede hacer todo desde la pantalla tctil.
La configuracin WIFI tambin es relativamente sencilla, aunque hay que tener en cuenta que en algunos mviles la configuracin da un error y se detiene (yo lo tuve que configurar con una tablet). Pero una vez terminada la configuracin, ya queda conectada a la red WIFI y se puede comunicar con el termostato via la app de HoneyWell.
Una caracterstica reseable es el geofencing, con la que se define un radio de “exclusin”, alrededor de la vivienda, fuera del cual, si el termostato est conectado a la WIFI, y lgicamente tenemos la app de control instalada en al menos un telfono mvil, detectar cundo salimos de ese radio de accin y bajar la temperatura de control, de manera que la calefaccin se apagar. Una vez que entremos de nuevo en el permetro, se volver a activar. Todo esto automticamente, sin intervencin de nuestra parte.
Otra caracterstica interesante es que el termostato se puede manejar desde el asistente de Google, Alexa o Siri. Personalmente lo he probado con Google Home. Una vez enlazado el dispositivo, se puede dar rdenes al asistente del tipo “apaga la calefaccin”, “pon la calefaccin a 22 grados”, etc.
Lo mejor que se puede decir de este termostato es que, una vez configurado y programado, te olvidas de que existe.

Funciona perfectamente! El sistema geofence ha sido actualizado y funciona al 99%. Honeywell atendio immediatamente a resultados de encuesta negativos por fallos en geofence y nos tuvieron informados por e-mail. La potncia de comunicacion entre el modulo caldera y el sobremesa es excelente, en nuestro caso atraviesa un muro de piedra de 60cm y un alcance de unos 10 metros. No les pongo la 5a estrella porque hecho en falta un historial en el que se pueda ver los tiempos de funcionamiento (apagado/encendido) de la caldera.

This product works really well and with a little bit of adjusting the pre programmed scheduled times and temperatures it is ideal for running your heating system.

The world of ‘smart’ house heating controls is huge and confusing – and I include myself in this even though as a Marine Chief Engineer I have worked on high voltage construction vessels that would confuse military experts.

The market seems to boil down to two types. The first type is probably the most common which is the type that simply starts and stops your boiler according to the settings along with all the other bells and whistles chucked onto it. The other type is more sophisticated and also relies upon individual radiator controls.

Both of these do not entire work for those of us who had a dual zone plus water tank system fitted.

There are also other issues of course. If you add up the cost of WIFI rad valves across your house one has to question the bonkers claim that these will save you money. Honestly, even after fitting this I’m 100% certain I will never get back the money I’ve spent on the miniscule fuel savings.

I’ll digress here a bit as well. I’m a marine engineer and as such I’ve worked on VLCC steam ships in my yoof. Steam ships are basically big thermodynamic experiments that use epic amounts of fuel. We would easily burn through 150 tonnes a day, so any saving no matter how small is easily seen and useful. And this is how we do it. Turn the temperature down. No, really. What we did was open up the main steam valves fully. 100% open. This is important because throttling is really inefficient. Then we dropped the main boiler pressure down to match the turbines with the control valve fully open. This is the most efficient way of not using fuel.

If you take a house, every time you fit a thermostatic valve you are throttling water and this is inefficient becasue in order to maintain control temperature you need a high water temperature. And heating water is a logarithmic curve. The higher the temperature the more fuel you need un an upward curve. This is why underfloor heating is efficient. A large area with water heated to 36c not the 65c for rads.

So what I do is not throttle my rads. Instead I have turned my water temp down to 57c which is above the level required for killing legionnaires but requires significantly less fuel to maintain.

Anyway, going back to controls I could not find anything that met my needs exactly because a there are no dual zone + water smart systems.

What there is, is this. Becasue basically what all these smart controls come down to is a remote controlled switch and this is just that. A typcial dual zone system consists of a dual zone controller – which simply puts power onto the mechcanical thermostat at set times. This thermostat will then open up the zone valve which will send a signal to the boiler to start.

So, if you have a dual zone system, ignore the blurb in the Honeywell instructions, because its about direct boiler control and, well you can’t do that immediately.

What I did was install this in place of the thermostat in one zone and using the 240v feed to the controller power the hub unit – which the instructions say to mount close to the boiler and which I didn’t. I of course played around with this on my bench to make sure I had it right then temp mounted it once I figured the best way to do it. See the pictures.

You then set your original controller to 24/7 on for the zone this is controlling. From then on, this smart controller will control the temperature to your settings which you program in. Of course if like me you have got one zone working on this then inevitably you will want to do both and that means another controller. Once I do that I’ll rewire the system and remove the original controller complete.

Now, the only bugbear I had was setting this onto my wifi network which took me an age. The blurb is not 100% clear and I was getting frustrated. Bottom line is that you have to use your phone/tablet to log onto the Honeywell wifi – then step back using the back button. It is noted but easy to miss so read very carefully the information and carefully check your app. It does work well once you understand it.

Anyway, once you are on line you can do the usual. Set up a calendar for on/off, geographic operation which means it will start up or stop depending how close you are to your house and of course allow manual remote control.

A quick word about geographical operation. If like me you have a lousy mobile signal at your house you might have fitted a mobile booster that uses your internet. Which also means your location isn’t your house, so you have to go and find an actual signal close to your gaff to set that up.

Once fitted its a neat system that is easy to use looks smart and allows excellent control.

Absolutely brilliant, works very well with Siri and with Apple HomeKit.

This connected thermostat generally works well. Had a few problems initially with losing connection to the wifi an reporting as offline, which was a pain as this meant it could not be controlled remotely (the main reason for purchasing it). The recent app update seems to have resolved this issue. Fairly easy to wire up, if you have your boiler wiring instructions, and set up is straightforward.

El dispositivo est muy bien, aunque tiene algn pero.
A quien pueda interesar colocar en una vivienda con calefaccin central, pero que cada vivienda disponga de termostato individual para encender los radiadores, le digo que se puede instalar fcilmente, no le servir para poner ms temperatura de la que mande la caldera, puesto que sta se enciende automticamente y desde nuestro termostato no podemos controlar ni el encendido de la caldera ni su temperatura, ya que est tarada a lo que marque nuestro mantenedor de caldera de comunidad, pero si podemos controlar las horas/das de encendido y la temperatura que est por debajo de lo que tenga tarada nuestra caldera comunitaria.
En mi caso instal el modelo cableado, solo hay que disponer de corriente de 220 v conectando en Tierra(verde/amarillo), Neutro(azul) y Live o Line(marron) en la caja/receptor,de color blanca.
Despus los cables T1 y T2 del dispositivo y del receptor conectarlos respectivamente de la caja/receptor al dispositivo con dos cables, preferiblemente de colores distintos a los mencionados para no confundirlos con los otros.
Por ltimo los dos cables que queden tras haber quitado nuestro viejo termostato, conectarlos a las conexiones de la caja receptor, en las conexiones A y B respectivamente, el orden no es importante ya que esto solo hace de interruptor.
Y ya est.

Funciona bien, pero la configuracin de las horas de arranque puede ser un poco liosa si deseamos modificar las horas preestablecidas, por ejemplo si deseamos que est encendida la calefacc despus de las 23: 50 , debemos primero modificar el horario de madrugada del da siguiente, para que nos guarde la configuracin.
Creo que en este aspecto sera mejor que no viniera configurado, tard un tiempo en dar con la solucin, para que quedara encendido hasta la 01:00

Por lo dems bien, de la conectividad wifi no puedo opinar pues de momento no dispongo de internet en esta vivienda por lo que solo lo uso con temporizador, pero si recomiendo su compra.
Lo compr para poder ver bien la pantalla a distancia, otros modelos tienen pantalla LCD pero es pequea y no tiene el contraste de este dispositivo y adems es tctil.
Lo recomiendo.

Fantastic, and can program also without wifi. Bought two of them. Could not be better.

This is a lovley looking device let alone everything else – it took me a whiLE to choose the right make – I wanted one not just compatible with Alexa or works with Alexa. I wanted one that worked directly with my Echo set up which starts with the Echo Plus.
This device works with it and of course req some set up with no extar outlay for a hub device.
The phone app needs installing and the Amazon skill to make everything work together which is now does and its marvelous.
Being able to set a routine on yoru phone and any temp – ytrun on or off if you are out is great.
Being able to say simply Alexa set temp 20 degrees and it does it is amazing to me as my smart home gradually grows.

The room thermostat req a socket to power unlike my previous device what ran on a couple of batteries – which means find a spot to place this in your home rather than in the hall out of site most of the time.
Main reason for buying this then its its design and touchscreen and the fact that in bed you can simply ask Alexa to put th eheating on when you wake up before getting out of bed.

The set up was a bit fiddly as usual with this kind of thing – its says do this and it doesn’t work – you do something else and it does.
Its able to set up all manner of routines – I just think its the smartest looking out of a bunch of boring looking ones myself.

Def works with the Echo Plus and phone (req) or just th ephone if Alexa isnt part of your needs.
Alexa was the reason I got this and the more devices that work directly it the easier this will all get…

Excellent bit of kit. Easy to use. Got a spark to install it though

I paid someone to install this, but once up and running it’s great. You can use Siri or Alexa to control this quickly and easily and I use it all the time when out of the house to turn up the heating before I get home. Although you can use the unit direct, I’ve found myself doing with the phone as it’s quicker and easier – the shape of things to come? It may save you money on heating bills, but I tend to override the learning and turn up when I’m cold!

Decent value for what it is, and once set up does the job well. Factor in another 50 or so to have fitted if it’s not something you will do yourself though!

Recommended

This Internet enabled thermostat has many great features but two key ones are:

+ Works with both Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa. (Great for families with both Apple and Android devices.)
+ Can be fully programmed and controlled directly via the thermostat touchscreen or via the Lyric App.

Another great feature, which is as a result of the second key point, is the unit will remain fully functional as a programable thermostat even without an Internet or Wi-Fi connection. Few other units can say the same, especially many of the other popular models on the market.

The unit is an ideal replacement for those with a combination boiler and can eliminate the current time clock and directly replace the current thermostat. However, even those with a fully pumped system (valves control if the boiler heats the radiators or the hot water in a cylinder) may appreciate this unit if they are just replacing a thermostat and don’t need to control the hot water separately (still controlled by an existing time clock). This was my situation partly driven by my wife wanting to be in full control of the heating but not having to rely on an App. Those who have technophobes in the family will appreciate this point!

Wiring up any thermostat is not a simple task unless you are competent or employ a electrical or heating engineer. Although on the face of it this Honeywell looks complicated it is reasonably straight forward if you know what you are doing. I have added a image of how I connected my unit and this may assist others in installing their own unit. Providing your current thermostat has three wires (must include a Neutral wire) then replacing the existing thermostat with the provided control box is easy, especially if you opted for the T6r wireless version. If the wired regular T6 then you will need a bit more work to run some extra connections but again this is not too difficult, especially when the thermostat is wired to a wiring centre. Honeywell supply additional wiring diagrams on their website which may prove useful.

Once installed and powered up the setup process, using the App (on a phone or tablet), is quite simple and I had it configured with my desired switching times and temperatures quite soon. I noticed not long after it was setup a firmware update was pushed to the thermostat via the Internet, so it is nice to see updates are automatic. I did not try but I think you could make the setup only via the thermostat touchscreen but of course without any Internet or Wi-Fi setup included.

Once I showed my wife how to use it via the touchscreen she actually commented as how it seemed better to use and see what was going on than our old programmable thermostat. I then added the Lyric App to her Android phone and showed how simple it was to use. She said she would probably not use it but a few weeks later she was out and wanted to check she had turned the heating down after she went out so used the App and confirmed the setting! Now she is a convert to Internet enabled thermostats!

We also like the fact the thermostat display is backlit all the time and have found it provides great low level nighttime illumination in the hall to prevent accidents in the dark (you can set the light level via the touchscreen). The icing on the cake has been that the temperature regulation has been far better than the old thermostat, which of course is the primary function of the unit.

Overall the Lyric T6 has provided all the features I wanted and would recommended it to anyone. Just be sure to read all the literature available to ensure you know it will work with your current system and you have the skills to fit or employ someone who does.

Very happy with this, once set up. The thermostat is very stable so the temperature doesn’t fluctuate and the gas combi boiler (furnace) doesn’t cycle. It’s very easy to adjust the temperature, time and schedule at the stat, it looks nice so even without the integration it’s price isn’t out of line with a top of the range central heating controller. Getting the stat online was easy following the prompts from the stat and the app. Getting online to Honeywell was more problematic. I could see the stat was connected to my router but the connection to Honeywell kept failing with a “telemetry error” I phoned the helpline using the number on the website not the US 1-800 the error messages prompted me to do. After 48 hours I got an email from support telling me to factory reset the stat, but whatever Honeywell had done had cleared the problem and I was able to connect the two mobile phones in the house (Samung A5 and MOTO G) to it. The app has been very stable and the geolocation works very nicely. Make sure you have a note of the MAC address in case you need to speak to Honeywell. There was no sticker on the side of mine as the help desk informed there should be, I got it from the router.
I am planning to integrate my Lyric with Smartthings, probably with the Samsung controller.

This is a very nice looking thermostat that suits the house very well, especially compared to some of the older cream coloured ones.

Once installed, the touch screen is very simple and easy to use, it responds well and the numbers are big and clear which again makes this very attractive, as it is so intuitive.

The fact that paired with your phone you can control your home temperature anywhere this is just brilliant, what a great idea that is especially in the cold winter months.

I love i

This Wi-Fi enabled heating controller and thermostat is not a like-for-like replacement for an old-fashioned controller and thermostat. Which is not to say it can’t replace the older controllers, but the thermostat does not operate on 230V (it just needs a 2-wire 20V feed from the main controller), and wiring it into an existing heating and hot-water zone valve system is not trivial, mainly because the old zone-valve system is so complicated. So you must use an electrician to fit this new one.

If you put the need for separate water heating to one side, the wiring is actually very straightforward. Assuming you have a three-wire feed from the boiler, the live and neutral go to the live and neutral of the controller, and the switched wire (the one that energises the boiler) goes to one of the switched connectors. You need a short jump-lead to connect the live side to the switch centre pin. And the 20V circuit to the thermostat is completely separate, and ideally shouldn’t use the cabling your old 230V thermostat used, or should at least be clearly labelled as low-voltage. There are various circuit diagrams included, including one for wiring up to a zone valve, but that also needs a separate timer for your water (this assumes you have a hot water tank, which I do).

Anyway, wiring apart, I found the setup a bit fiddly. You need to connect your new thermostat system to your home WiFi (2.4GHz – it doesn’t work with 5GHz), and you need to install an app on your smartphone and create an account to use the full capabilities of the thermostat. There seems to be a lot of configuring to do (I had to leave the app twice to connect my smartphone to the thermostat’s WiFi), but once you’ve completed that part, it’s fairly straightforward to complete the rest of the set up, which is choosing your preferences.

The white main unit, which will probably be in your airing cupboard if that’s where the old control unit was situated, has a light to show it’s connected and a button with a light on it to allow you to override the thermostat, and turn the heating on and off. This is presumably your failsafe in case of computer failure.

The grey/black thermostat (which will hopefully be installed in your living room) has a touch-screen display, showing the time (little numbers) and the temperature (big numbers). When you touch the display, all the options light up. There’s an intuitive +/- to set a new override temperature, a schedule enable/disable, an on/off button to disable the heating completely, and an options menu that does lots of things, most of which aren’t very interesting (you can set the idle display brightness and lock the controls, for example).

You really need the Lyric app on your smartphone to do the fancy stuff. You can set up daily schedules (with preferred daytime and night-time temperatures) or a schedule that’s different at weekends. Or you can set up geofencing, which means that the app detects when you’re away from home and turns the heating down, but then turns it back up again when you’re on your way back home. Because it uses your location, this does use up your smartphone battery somewhat. You can also set the dates of your holidays, so you don’t need to remember to turn the heating down. And yes, you can turn your heating up and down remotely, should you feel the need.

You can add additional users, so the other people in your home won’t get cold when you’re away, assuming they all have a smartphone.

The whole thing is not completely intuitive – that’s a payoff you make for having the flexibility to use geofencing or a schedule. But it’s not as scary as I’d though it would be.

Having a “smart” device heating your home, even one that’s fairly straightforward, is a big step. It gives you a lot more flexibility and makes the heating much more controllable. On the other hand, do I want my heating remotely controllable via Honeywell’s control centre? I was bombarded with automated messages to my app one night saying they couldn’t communicate with the thermostat. Perhaps my ISP was working on my internet connection, but the thermostat seemed to be working fine.

There’s a risk from installing computers to run every part of your life. What if they go wrong? On the other hand, computers are what makes life so easy. Most of us are willing to take that risk. And a touch-screen thermostat is a lovely thing!

Great product. Had it for two months now all good. Great service.

The first thing is that this is not a plug in and go, I got a professional to install the receiver box as it has to be wired into your existing wired thermostat. Setting the thermostat with a 7 day program was easy enough. Next came “Geofencing” I must admit this was the first time Iv ever head this word. It means ” to use a smartphone’s location to manage comfort when home or away”. Also you can use a combination of geofencing and time scheduling to manage you home. You can download Honeywell Lyric App from the Apple app store or Google Play for all Android phones.

The display thermostat I found fairly easy to set up my 7 day program. Setting my heating Monday to Friday as Im at work and to come on later at the weekend, you can also select a different temperature for each day. Also even set the timer to say that you are on holiday. When you open the app for the first time you need to create an account. You can also use more than one phone or tablet to control your heating. Being able to control your heating by phone does need access to 4G or internet. I live in rural Scotland so finding a 4G signal can be fun. Using the T6R Smart Thermostat over time will help me to save money as it manages my heating to the best economical way of heating my home.

A great quality piece of kit from highly regarded Honeywell. The only caveat is that you’ll need a ’24-230V On/Off’ or ‘OpenTherm’ boiler for this to interface with – in other words, generally only new installations. Check first. Other than that caveat, this can be highly recommended. Excellent software, the device syncs well with the App which can be downlaoded for iPhone or Google Android. You’ll need a wifi router in your house for the unit to connect to. Then, all can be activated and controlled remotely, even if you are abroad or on the way home form the airport. There are budget versions of this type of device available but this is very well designed and professional. Honeywell also have excellent after sales service.

The Lyric T6R Smart Thermostat can be used to replace a standard electro-mechanical thermostat, or for new installations with OpenTherm-compatible boilers. In the former case, it can use simple on/off control to regulate the home temperature, and in the latter communicate with the boiler using the OpenTherm protocol to directly access data from the boiler. The T6R allows you to set and change the heating schedule (without relying on a timer on the boiler), and further to extend control to a smartphone app, more of which later.

The package contains the T6R thermostat itself (an attractive touch screen unit), plus a ‘Receiver Box’ that mounts on the wall. These two devices communicate with each other using the WiFi in your house (and this seems to be the older 2.4GHz type only). The installation process is in two parts: Firstly replacing the existing wall thermostat with the receiver box; secondly installing the T6R and smartphone app.

There is a detailed wiring guide for installing the Receiver Box, which shows a number of different options, depending on which type of boiler you have. If you have no experience with electrical systems, I would advise to call in a plumber or electrician to do this part; thermostats are usually mains-powered and can easily kill you if you fail to switch off the mains power to the boiler while installing.

After carefully switching off the mains ring (and testing with a meter to ensure it was off), I followed the option for S-plan, which was the most similar to the way that my old thermostat was fitted. The box is 10x10cm, so somewhat bigger than the 8x8cm of the original thermostat, but installed without a hitch. The box has a LED to show you whether it is talking to the WiFi and another to show you when the heating is on. A single override switch allows you to fire-up the boiler now. With the box installed, it is now time to install the T6R.

The touch-screen unit comes with its own 5V power brick (so it needs to be within about 90cm of a mains socket). With this powered on, next install the Honeywell Lyric App in your smartphone (from your favored app store). It asks you to create an account (on the Honeywell cloud) and leads you through configuring the T6R thermostat. The T6R and the Receiver unit are already paired in the factory so know how to communicate with each other.

In my case the installation didn’t finish properly (the app would stop, or lose contact with the T6R), so I had to repeat the process about 4 times before finally everything was set-up. Hopefully, this is the one and only time I will ever have to perform this process though, since the unit seems to quite happily remember all the settings when not powered (which means you can safely move the thermostat between rooms if you choose).

Now it is possible to create schedules in the app (and you can also edit/view them directly through the T6R touch screen), and you can view the current temperature and set-point in the app. You can invite other users to the system as well (using their email address), whereupon they can also install the Lyric app and also control the heating system.

The app also allows geofencing, which means that your smartphone communicates when you go a certain distance away from your home. This allows the heating system to run when you’re around the house, but power-down when people have gone out for the day.

The schedule settings can be quite sophisticated, with separate programmes for each day, or in groups of days (e.g. weekdays versus weekend). You can also create a special ‘holiday’ schedule to run minimal heating when you’re away.

This is an attractive unit, offering the promise of reduced bills thanks to more detailed control over the heating than you normally get from the conventional timer and on/off thermostat. Also, being able to control the heating via an app (what’s now called the ‘connected home’) is an interesting new facility that I’m looking forward to experimenting with.

The Lyric T6R Smart Thermostat can be used to replace a standard electro-mechanical thermostat, or for new installations with OpenTherm-compatible boilers. In the former case, it can use simple on/off control to regulate the home temperature, and in the latter communicate with the boiler using the OpenTherm protocol to directly access data from the boiler. The T6R allows you to set and change the heating schedule (without relying on a timer on the boiler), and further to extend control to a smartphone app, more of which later.

The package contains the T6R thermostat itself (an attractive touch screen unit), plus a ‘Receiver Box’ that mounts on the wall. These two devices communicate with each other using the WiFi in your house (and this seems to be the older 2.4GHz type only). The installation process is in two parts: Firstly replacing the existing wall thermostat with the receiver box; secondly installing the T6R and smartphone app.

There is a detailed wiring guide for installing the Receiver Box, which shows a number of different options, depending on which type of boiler you have. If you have no experience with electrical systems, I would advise to call in a plumber or electrician to do this part; thermostats are usually mains-powered and can easily kill you if you fail to switch off the mains power to the boiler while installing.

After carefully switching off the mains ring (and testing with a meter to ensure it was off), I followed the option for S-plan, which was the most similar to the way that my old thermostat was fitted. The box is 10x10cm, so somewhat bigger than the 8x8cm of the original thermostat, but installed without a hitch. The box has a LED to show you whether it is talking to the WiFi and another to show you when the heating is on. A single override switch allows you to fire-up the boiler now. With the box installed, it is now time to install the T6R.

The touch-screen unit comes with its own 5V power brick (so it needs to be within about 90cm of a mains socket). With this powered on, next install the Honeywell Lyric App in your smartphone (from your favored app store). It asks you to create an account (on the Honeywell cloud) and leads you through configuring the T6R thermostat. The T6R and the Receiver unit are already paired in the factory so know how to communicate with each other.

In my case the installation didn’t finish properly (the app would stop, or lose contact with the T6R), so I had to repeat the process about 4 times before finally everything was set-up. Hopefully, this is the one and only time I will ever have to perform this process though, since the unit seems to quite happily remember all the settings when not powered (which means you can safely move the thermostat between rooms if you choose).

Now it is possible to create schedules in the app (and you can also edit/view them directly through the T6R touch screen), and you can view the current temperature and set-point in the app. You can invite other users to the system as well (using their email address), whereupon they can also install the Lyric app and also control the heating system.

The app also allows geofencing, which means that your smartphone communicates when you go a certain distance away from your home. This allows the heating system to run when you’re around the house, but power-down when people have gone out for the day.

The schedule settings can be quite sophisticated, with separate programmes for each day, or in groups of days (e.g. weekdays versus weekend). You can also create a special ‘holiday’ schedule to run minimal heating when you’re away.

This is an attractive unit, offering the promise of reduced bills thanks to more detailed control over the heating than you normally get from the conventional timer and on/off thermostat. Also, being able to control the heating via an app (what’s now called the ‘connected home’) is an interesting new facility that I’m looking forward to experimenting with.

The Lyric T6R Smart Thermostat can be used to replace a standard electro-mechanical thermostat, or for new installations with OpenTherm-compatible boilers. In the former case, it can use simple on/off control to regulate the home temperature, and in the latter communicate with the boiler using the OpenTherm protocol to directly access data from the boiler. The T6R allows you to set and change the heating schedule (without relying on a timer on the boiler), and further to extend control to a smartphone app, more of which later.

The package contains the T6R thermostat itself (an attractive touch screen unit), plus a ‘Receiver Box’ that mounts on the wall. These two devices communicate with each other using the WiFi in your house (and this seems to be the older 2.4GHz type only). The installation process is in two parts: Firstly replacing the existing wall thermostat with the receiver box; secondly installing the T6R and smartphone app.

There is a detailed wiring guide for installing the Receiver Box, which shows a number of different options, depending on which type of boiler you have. If you have no experience with electrical systems, I would advise to call in a plumber or electrician to do this part; thermostats are usually mains-powered and can easily kill you if you fail to switch off the mains power to the boiler while installing.

After carefully switching off the mains ring (and testing with a meter to ensure it was off), I followed the option for S-plan, which was the most similar to the way that my old thermostat was fitted. The box is 10x10cm, so somewhat bigger than the 8x8cm of the original thermostat, but installed without a hitch. The box has a LED to show you whether it is talking to the WiFi and another to show you when the heating is on. A single override switch allows you to fire-up the boiler now. With the box installed, it is now time to install the T6R.

The touch-screen unit comes with its own 5V power brick (so it needs to be within about 90cm of a mains socket). With this powered on, next install the Honeywell Lyric App in your smartphone (from your favored app store). It asks you to create an account (on the Honeywell cloud) and leads you through configuring the T6R thermostat. The T6R and the Receiver unit are already paired in the factory so know how to communicate with each other.

In my case the installation didn’t finish properly (the app would stop, or lose contact with the T6R), so I had to repeat the process about 4 times before finally everything was set-up. Hopefully, this is the one and only time I will ever have to perform this process though, since the unit seems to quite happily remember all the settings when not powered (which means you can safely move the thermostat between rooms if you choose).

Now it is possible to create schedules in the app (and you can also edit/view them directly through the T6R touch screen), and you can view the current temperature and set-point in the app. You can invite other users to the system as well (using their email address), whereupon they can also install the Lyric app and also control the heating system.

The app also allows geofencing, which means that your smartphone communicates when you go a certain distance away from your home. This allows the heating system to run when you’re around the house, but power-down when people have gone out for the day.

The schedule settings can be quite sophisticated, with separate programmes for each day, or in groups of days (e.g. weekdays versus weekend). You can also create a special ‘holiday’ schedule to run minimal heating when you’re away.

This is an attractive unit, offering the promise of reduced bills thanks to more detailed control over the heating than you normally get from the conventional timer and on/off thermostat. Also, being able to control the heating via an app (what’s now called the ‘connected home’) is an interesting new facility that I’m looking forward to experimenting with.

First of all this is a nice bit of high tec kit.
It does need to be hard wired, and unless you are competent an electrician will be needed.
Once fitted though you can programme it to run at your convenience.
The app you can download to your phone lets you use this control panel.
You can also the panel freestanding. It offers so many different programs.

I am still in the early stages of using this, but so far so good.

For me though it is a little expensive.