Hive installation on a Potterton Powermax HE

[EFLImpudence]

I would agree with you on the meaning of recommended.

If not necessary, why do they even recommend it?

Let's hope you are correct.

 

[Lloyd-D]

I would agree with you on the meaning of recommended.

If not necessary, why do they even recommend it?

Let's hope you are correct.

I'm with you on this one.

I work for a manufacturing company and athough my electronics skillset is many years out of date, I'm pretty sure I have enough to come to a decent enough assumption.

For the sake of proving a point once and for all, I could always measure the voltage on the output triggers with the percived to be duff Hive RF receiver........

This threat has turned into a bit of a mud slinging contest!

All I wanted to do was control my heating and hot water from comfort of my mobile phone

 

[ianmcd]

just remove the Hive wiring for your CH and put a link in between the terminals and if your heating comes on then it is a control problem, if it doesnt you have damaged the boiler pcb

 

[Lloyd-D]

just remove the Hive wiring for your CH and put a link in between the terminals and if your heating comes on then it is a control problem, if it doesnt you have damaged the boiler pcb

I have already established the fault is with the Hive RF reciever - terminal 4 to be precise. As stated several times already, terminal 3 has been used to trigger the CHr on and the HWr on the boiler independantly during my fault findings.

 

[ianmcd]

Forgive me for upsetting you , I only fit them for a living and have yet to see a faulty receiver, everyday is a school day , thank you for enlightening me

 

[Lloyd-D]

**Update**

New Hive RF receiver delivered and installed and the system is now working perfectly.

Thank-you so much for all those who contributed positively over the past few days.

In the background, I've been speaking to the eBay seller I bought the Hive from and since they purchased it through Amazon, they have organised a replacement so I have a brand new system en route

 

[Okenshield]

Can anyone advise how to wire hive to as per image?
(BTW it is a Potterton Powermax HE)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IrMIaXJWq9If3F4HvVhAjUJ1sSUZDjH8/view?usp=sharing

 

[Deleted member 267285]

Should have your own thread really, but you need a permanent Live and Neutral to the Hive, link L to Common at hive, remove yellow link in boiler, switched goes to NO, read the manual as one may provide 230vac, in which case you don't need the link in hive.

 

[stem]

You already appear to have a room thermostat connected to the thermostat terminals [TL = 'Thermostat Live' & TR = 'Thermostat Return'] in which case that needs to be removed first.

Therefore, probably the easiest way for you to install the Hive is to remove the existing thermostat wires from TL and TR that go to the existing external controls and connect the terminals to the Hive instead. So effectively simply swapping one for the other. Hive also needs a neutral connection [N2 is provided for this] so it should be connected as the diagram below. [leave the other wires and links as they are]

I have assumed that you simply want to replace a standard room thermostat so have a Single Channel version of the Hive, and that you don't need any external timed Hot Water control.

Make sure that the outer sheath's of the cables (not just the wires) are securely fixed under the cable clamp.

The boilers integral time control for the central heating, should be set to be permanently on so that it doesn't interfere with the operation of the Hive.

EDIT
If you have the dual channel version Hive, with hot water control, and as the original poster says it works OK despite the dual channel Hive not having the "recommended" 'voltage free' contacts (Hive single channel does) If you want to proceed to connect it at your own risk then:

The two links between the boiler HW and CH terminals should be removed.

You won't however need the wires from HWl to Hive 1, or CHl to Hive, 2. These terminals are only needed with a programmer that does have 'voltage free' contacts, so with Hive they won't be doing anything.

The internal programmer should be switched off completely to allow the Hive to control both heating and hot water functions.

 

[Deleted member 267285]

Well spotted again @stem

 

[Okenshield]

Thanks for the useful information. The only thermostat I have is installed downstairs.

What is the yellow link in the boiler for?

 

[stem]

That's a bit strange because the wires at the thermostat are: Red / Yellow / Blue, and the wires at the boiler thermostat terminals are: Green & Yellow / Brown / Blue. Without being able to test or examine the wiring all I can guess is that either there is a junction box somewhere and maybe the position of the thermostat has been changed at some time and the cable extended, or perhaps there is also an external timeswitch also connected to the terminals. I assume that the thermostat you have shown does actually control the central heating.

As the photo you posted is of a single channel Hive receiver. [The original poster had a Dual Channel receiver, which is wired differently, so much of what has gone before won't apply to you]

Assuming that it's not too far away from the Hive thermostat, you can mount the Hive receiver nearer the boiler and connect it as below. Be careful when removing the old thermostat cable and make sure that it's 'dead' as we don't know for certain what's connected to the other end of it.

The yellow link is there for the connection of a remote programmer. It completes the heating circuit in its absence. As there isn't anything connected to it now, that indicates that your boiler has integral time control. [The purple link does the same thing for the hot water] Both links should remain in place.


Don't forget after installing the Hive to set the Heating time at the boiler programmer to be permanently 'on'

 

[Okenshield]

That's a bit strange because the wires at the thermostat are: Red / Yellow / Blue, and the wires at the boiler thermostat terminals are: Green & Yellow / Brown / Blue. Without being able to test or examine the wiring all I can guess is that either there is a junction box somewhere and maybe the position of the thermostat has been changed at some time and the cable extended, or perhaps there is also an external timeswitch also connected to the terminals. I assume that the thermostat you have shown does actually control the central heating.

As the photo you posted is of a single channel Hive receiver. [The original poster had a Dual Channel receiver, which is wired differently, so much of what has gone before won't apply to you]

Assuming that it's not too far away from the Hive thermostat, you can mount the Hive receiver nearer the boiler and connect it as below. Be careful when removing the old thermostat cable and make sure that it's 'dead' as we don't know for certain what's connected to the other end of it.

The yellow link is there for the connection of a remote programmer. It completes the heating circuit in its absence. As there isn't anything connected to it now, that indicates that your boiler has integral time control. [The purple link does the same thing for the hot water] Both links should remain in place.


Don't forget after installing the Hive to set the Heating time at the boiler programmer to be permanently 'on'

Thanks @stem, I thought the same thing about the different cable colours. Maybe as you said it has been extended with a different cable, it's likely to be the red for brown I guess. The blue cable in the thermostat is not connected to anything either. Ideally I wanted to remove the current thermostat and replace it with the Hive receiver.

 

[stem]

Unfortunately, whilst old mechanical thermostats will work without a neutral connection, the Hive receiver wont, and the cable at the boiler end as far as I can see, doesn't have a connection to a neutral terminal anyway.

The reason I'm a little cautious is that over the years I have found some very odd thermostat installations. One where the thermostat as well as being wired to the boiler was also connected directly to the back of a socket on the wall behind. Not only was this without a fuse, but was unseen and meant that the cable was still live when the power to the boiler was turned off. On another occasion someone had tapped into the thermostat cable halfway along and connected some wall lights to it. . When I disconnected the old thermostat cable the wall lights no longer worked. These situations are very rare fortunately, but it makes me cautious when giving advice over a forum when I haven't been able to inspect the installation.

 

[Deleted member 267285]

The reason I'm a little cautious is that over the years I have found some very odd thermostat installations. One where the thermostat as well as being wired to the boiler was also connected directly to the back of a socket on the wall behind. Not only was this without a fuse, but was unseen and meant that the cable was still live when the power to the boiler was turned off.

I had something similar, customer wasn’t getting hot water, heating worked fine, after a couple visits and investigations, i was going to replace the pcb, however I found when I was dead testing, that the live in the fcu was actually going to the room stat and the switched live then out to the boiler , swapped them around and customer was very happy, as was I - I love finding faults like that.