This video just saved me a visit from the AC people. As soon as you got to :40 and said don’t touch the wires to the outside condenser I knew I had messed up when I installed this in January. Tried to turn the AC on and it wouldn’t run. Watched this video and fixed my mistakes. Works like a charm.
Your wiring trick saved me! I was about to have a heart attack after it didn't turn on, but after taking your advice regarding the Green and the Yellow cable, put me in business!!!!!
Thanks. DTE install this for me in the winter time when it was time to use the AC it didn’t work. I waited two weeks for technician to come out through the protection plan and he spent two hours trying to figure out why it didn’t work. He kept saying it was the thermostat. I ran across this video and I noticed that a wire was in the wrong place. When he got here, the heat worked when he got done nothing worked so I went online and saw your video and I fixed it myself.
Thanks for the video it helped. I did a ecobee smart thermostat enhanced, and when I wire it without the extender, there was no because my customer had a 4 wire. That wasn’t wired up on a common. So your video was helpful but once I connected it wired it up correctly the thermostat didn’t have the option for cooling under the mode setting. I’ll look at some threads went through the settings. Accidentally selected reconfigure the thermostat did its thing. Asked if I use the extender kit I selected yes. Asked if I wired it up using the PEK . I said yes, it did it again and then it worked
I thought I had everything hooked up correctly. My system doesn't have a control board, just wires spliced together. When I turned the system back on, the ecobee started to boot up but the fan in the HVAC system just started turning on and off really quickly, like so fast that the fan didn't even get up to full speed. I noticed an unused blue wire along with the red, yellow, green, and white wires going to the thermostat. Maybe I'm supposed to try to use that as a C wire without the pek, but then where would I splice that unused blue wire in at the HVAC system?
The C wire always goes the common of the 24v transformer. Sometimes that is feed thru a control board, but no matter what C is the Common of the transformer.
@@TECTubefilms I think I figured it out. I ended up splicing the unused blue "C-wire" to the brown (White) wire coming out of the fan unit. After that I hooked up the ecobee per the instructions for installation without the power extender kit. Seems to be working now I think, the smart thermostat turned on and no weird turning on and off. AC and heater seem to be working too, so I think I just have to learn how to use the app. Thanks for responding!
@@TECTubefilms I guess I got lucky and found another person with the same type of Apollo hydroheat system that had the same question about splicing in a C-wire
My control board in my furnace only seems to have 3 W R G cables labeled and connect with prongs and quick disconnects. I tried to locate the C coming from the transformer and it looks like there’s 3 blueish cables on the left side (2 of the quick disconnects are connected together) and the right side only has one red cable. Those cables both come from a plug-in on the board with a bunch of wires coming out of it. There’s a white and yellow cable coming out of two separate brown tubes from the thermostat I believe and they’re wire nut together for some reason. The yellow cable is labeled as Y on my thermostat, so do I use that as the missing Y on my PEK?
Sorry, we are not really sure what you are talking about. If tracing out the wires is a little beyond your skill set, you will want to have an HVAC contractor do it for you. The PEK output of the thermostat combines fan and cooling stage 1 commands into a single wire and then the PEK box separates it back out into two wires for independent cooling and fan commands. That is all it can do. Whatever wires that corresponds to in your specific piece of equipment is something that has to be determined on-site.
I’m working on a package heat pump with only 4 wires, R, Y, C, and O/B. ( No auxiliary heat. ) It seam I could use the PEK to free up a wire to run the fan independently. My O/B still needs to run strait to the CB right?
Question, I have 5 wires in a conventional heat and AC config. I also have a Aprilsire 800 steam humidifier. Can I use a PEK for regular hvac and then dedicated the 5th wire from humidifier to the ACC connection on the eco bee and the 2Nd humidifier wire connected to C on the furnace board? Or do I need 6 total wires? I currently have a Honeywell stat with a EIM doing the job.
You could use 4 of the wires with a PEK to handle R, C, Y, W, and G. That would free up the 5th wire for something else. If the Aprilaire has its own internal transformer, then you need 2-wires from the humidifier back to the stat so this would not work. If the Aprilaire does not have its own transformer and instead gets power from the furnace, then yes you could run one wire to the stat and one to common on the furnace.
Good video and it basically seems simple, but I still have an issue. I have a two speed furnace and a fifth wire to my thermostat to the W2 terminal. Ecobee support tells me to keep that W2 wire and use the power extender for the rest. I’m dubious.
Very useful video. I have a question: In my furnace control board, I got C and Y wire coming to screw terminal from outdoor AC unit. So Can I connect same (C and Y) wires from PEK to that same screw terminal?
@@TECTubefilms great. Thank you for your response. So I did that way. But when my ecobee3 lite reaches 22°C, it reboots itself. (Is it something I need to worry about?)
@@kbinoyn1 We would think that rebooting issue at a certain temperature is an unrelate issue. Yes, you should be worried about it and you should have someone check it out.
@@kbinoyn1 that’s caused by incorrect wiring my friend. I had the same issue. One or more of the wires is incorrectly installed, either at the thermostat or (more likely) at the furnace control board. If you have a power SOURCE going to the C terminal (which itself is neutral and COMPLETES the circuit but does NOT provide power) when that power source turns on it will cause the thermostat to turn off because your common is no longer a common, it is inadvertently a power source. Go over your wiring and correct the issue.
I have this exact same setup however I now have a 2-stage Furnace. From my basic understanding I need a wire from the W2 Ecobee to the W2 on the Furnace, I guess I just connect directly to the furnace and bypass the PEK?
Yes, correct. Either run all 6 wires (R, C, G, W1, W2, and Y) to the furnace OR run 4 wires into the PEK and 5 into the furnace plus run a direct wire for W2.
If you are installing the ecobee now, we would use the PEK. It will make the startup slightly easier with the wiring auto-detect function. It will also make future troubleshooting easier later from whomever works on it after you. But if the ecobee is already up and running with the Fast-Stat 1000, then just leave it alone. Don't fix what ain't broke, right?
@@TECTubefilms It was working fine for the 1st few years but now the fan is inconsistent... sometimes it does not kick on, other times there are multiple loud clicks before it starts. Something about wires into the fast stat, because when I position it differently, it works but only temporarily.
In my case, I have a total of 5 cables going into my control board. One has two wires that, I suppose, are going to the condenser (connected to C and Y terminals) and another bundle that has 3 wires that are connected to R, Y and G terminals. On my thermostat, a bundle with 5 wires are connected to Rc, R, W, Y and G terminals. Nothing on C and no 6th wire behind the wall. Apparently the cable running from the thermostat has a splice somewhere which I couldn't find. Any suggestions?
My board is very similar to yours and all of my thermostat wires are going into the green connector at the top left of the board. Is this common? Previous owner had a hardy heater so I have 5 wire bundles going into the furnace. I am trying to figure out which one goes to the thermostat.
That green "phoenix connector" is for a communicating thermostat, such as Infinity, Evolution, Observer, or Ion. Do NOT wire a standard thermostat, such as ecobee to those terminals.
We currently have Ecobees with these adapters installed but we want to try the Alexa thermostat. If these c-wire kits are already installed can they also be used for Alexa thermostats? In other words, are these adapters proprietary or are they essentially generic adapters? Thanks
The particular PEK adapter shown in this video is proprietary to modern ecobee stats. We believe they used to have a generic one back in the day. There are also other brands that make generic adapters, such as Venstar Add-A-Wire and FAST-STAT.
Why would you want to switch to the Alexa stat? It runs on Honeywell technology and we think it has less features than ecobee and also not as easy to use. We are curious what you are finding interesting about Alexa stat that you want to switch?
@@TECTubefilmsThanks for taking the time to reply. We have a three zone system and have had ongoing issues with the system cycling on and off repeatedly when one of the zones comes on. We’ve had multiple technicians look at the system and one even recommended to replace the Honeywell control board which we did but it didn’t fix the problem. The PEK adapters are wired to the Honeywell zone control board. One of the techs said that the Ecobees may be causing the problem so I replaced the one we thought was the issue but it didn’t fix the problem. So long story short, I’m looking to try a Honeywell manufactured thermostat but want it to be “smart” and cheap. I can get the Alexa thermostats through wholesale for $40 each. From what I understand the Alexa thermostats are made by Honeywell so I figured it may work better with our Honeywell system.
@@matt6573 The Honeywell zone panel uses generic R-G-Y-W wiring and the brand of stat that you use with it does not matter in anyway. We have put all sorts of brands on it including ecobee.
No, it would be different. In your case you would have R, C, G, Y, W1, and W2. It is a 6 wire application. The PEK only extends you from 4 to 5 wires so you are still short. You need 1 more wire. Alternatively, you can use a product called Venstar Add-a-Wire instead. You will need two of these kits. R and C will be dedicated wires. One kit will be used to combine G and Y onto a single wire. The other will be used to combine W1 and W2. In many application, it may be easier and/or cheaper to pull new wire instead. Watch this video starting at the 4:20 mark - th-cam.com/video/KHsXndmHv_M/w-d-xo.html
@@TECTubefilms Thank you, this is very helpful. We had our furnace/ AC replaced and the company installed the ecobee with the PEK the same way you have it. Although the furnace turns on, is it correct to assume that we are only getting one stage heating instead of two? Also is it safe to run it with the PEK configuration? I will call them and see if they can do what you suggested.
@@edgarromo26 We can't speculate on what they did. We supposed they could have just wired W1 and 2nd stage never comes on, but that is unlikely. They could have jumpered W1 to W2 and made it into a single stage unit. They could have just wired it to W1 and then the furnace will engage 2nd stage on its own after a time delay (that would still be 2 stages, but it would be an inferior way to do it compared to the stat handling the staging).
I have the ecobee3 (non lite). There is no PEK terminal on the back plate. I tried going r,g,y1, and w1, however I have no success when in theory it should be working. This green wire to C, and yellow wire to pek, since I don’t have that option am I kind of screwed?
The regular ecobee 3 lite used a different type of PEK than more current stats (ecobee 3 lite, ecobee 4, etc.). The PEK shown in this video is not compatible with the old obsolete ecobee 3. How did you even end up with a new PEK and an old stat? Why not use the PEK that originally came in the box with the ecobee 3?
@@TECTubefilms I have the old PEK and the old mount from the old (obsolete) ecobee3. I had quite the time but I figured it all out. The previous owner had a 4 wire coming from the furnace box and jimmy rigged a 7 wire cable to it which was what caused problems since there was no C wire with the 4 wire setup.... Anyways, I started from scratch with a fresh 5 wire setup and all is well, works great, very confusing/ frustrating though! Thanks for the reply.
Confused with blue I thought was common but when I get to the thermostat. Green went to common and blue is going to PEK. Is this correct? Red went to Rc and white went to white. Coming out of PEK blue is on the "Y" terminal and "G" for the green wire. I go to the setup screen and it is not showing me the white wire as being installed but it is? Any help? Sorry just a little confused. TY
The way you are wording it is confusing. But in either case we are not in a position to troubleshoot wiring issue for each viewer. The video shows which colors to match where. You can also look at wiring diagram at support.ecobee.com/hc/article_attachments/115011386328/ecobee4ecobee3PEKwiring.jpg
I don’t have a terminal board. I have wires that come from a harness. I put the t-stat wires in, then used a wire nut to the five wires from the harness. But, it’s not working.
It doesn't matter "how" the wires terminate to your equipment, but what the specific job if each wire is. You need to know which wire on your equipment needs to be connected to which wire on your thermostat.
I don’t understand how G wire @ the T-Stat can be repurposed as Common @ the T-Stat. If you wired everything from the IFC Board, to the PEK as G Terminal using the Green wire and then switched the G (Green Wire) to the Common Terminal @ the ECOBEE how is the Indoor Fan going to power on?
The output terminal on the ecobee labelled PEK sends a communication signal out to the PEK kit located near the equipment. That signal communicates the stat's need for fan, cool, or both. The PEK then turns that communicating signal back into traditional relays for G (fan) and Y1 (cool).
2-wires total? Must be heat only on a very old boiler or furnace. All smart stats, including ecobee, are going to need a 3rd wire in your application for common. The PEK will not work in your application. The only other option you have other than pulling more wires, would be to use a Fast-Stat Common Maker with ecobee.
This video was based on gas furnace with A/C. If you have a heat pump, the wires in this video still do the same job but you also have to wire the reversing valve at O or B. And your W wire becomes auxiliary heat.
Around 3:30 you are talking about where the wires go... previously you stated that not everyone will have the same wire setup as you... then you start talking about there the colored wires go... why didn't you use the wire names, like "Y", "O/B" etc... Would make it a lot easier for the laymen... now I have to look up with wire is the "heating wire" and which is the "cooling wire"...
Sorry for any confusion you had on that. Our channel is intended for HVAC professionals, which are customers of our company. We do not have lay people in mind when we make the videos although we do realize that many regular folks stumble upon our channel these days too.
@@izzy_v_b If they are R, G, Y, W, C at your equipment, the PEK installs "upstream' of that white connector. Somewhere there will be wire nuts to connect the cable that runs through the wall to that white connector.
@@izzy_v_b Just be 100% sure that each terminal on that white connector is labelled as R, G, Y, W, and C. This connector you mentioned makes us wonder if you have a communicating system instead of a standard 24v system. If that is the case, ecobee and other thermostats are likely not compatible.
We have 30 HVAC wholesale locations throughout the Midwest doing business as Temperature Equipment Corp (TEC) and National Excelsior Company (NEC). Locations listed at excelsiorhvac.com/locations/ and tecmungo.com/locations/
Some of the videos will say North Aurora if they were filmed at our training lab there. The bulk are filmed in our lab in Melrose Park, IL and and occasionally other locations too.
i don't know how to wire this since I have a C wire on the furnace but no C wire on my thermostat already. I can't use the power extender since I already have a C wire on the furnace.
If you have a C wire at the furnace, I bet your C wire at the thermostat is just tucked in back behind the wall. Mine was wrapped around the other wires but stuffed behind the wall. When I pulled them out a few inches, I found the C wire. Good luck!
He addresses this at 0:35 - you've probably got a C wire and an extra Y wire, both of which go to your A/C unit. Leave those alone. You'll have to trace the Y wires to know which one is which.
Tec Tube Very true and it would be easy to check I suppose. Just pull wires gently out from wall to see if there is an unconnected blue wire wrapped around the rest of them. That’s how I discovered mine.
The "old PEK" is for the ecobee 3. The current "new PEK" is for ecobee 4 and ecobee SmartThermostat (aka ecobee 5). Conceptually they work the same way... allow 4 wires to behave like 5 wires... but you should order the correct PEK for the product you are connecting it to. All of these ecobee stats mentioned shipped with a PEK in the box, so there is seldom a need to ever order a PEK.
@@TECTubefilms Thanks. I've had my 3 for awhile. PEK never came with mine so I purchased a venstar. Was looking for a 4 to 6 wire solution for a 2 stage furnace but it seems the furnace will spin up on its own if temperature is not climbing fast enough.
@@carmelotreviso You can actually use TWO Venstar Add-a-Wire kits on an eocbee to go from 4 to 6 wires. You can't split hot (R) or common (C), but any of the signal wires can be split into two. So you can split Y into Y1 and Y2 with one Add-a-Wire. And then you can split W into W1 and W2 with another Add-a-Wire. But at some point it may become easier and less expensive to pull a new 6 or 8 conductor cable.
@@TECTubefilms I'd love to pull a new cable but I'm in a condo on the second floor with furnace in closet outside of my deck and vaulted ceilings everywhere. God knows how they ran that wire.
Two wires on each terminal of your furnace? Where do the other ends of those wiring cables go? Does one set of W/R/G/B/Y go to your thermostat? If yes, where exactly does the other set go?
@@jameslawson3109 We suppose you could send a picture to Ecobee Support and they can assist. Our recommendation is to first figure out exactly what each wire connects to on both ends of the wire.
It is included in the box with an ecobee 3 lite, ecobee 4, or ecobee 5. It also only works with those thermostats. Why are you trying to buy it separately?
question.... after the PEK is installed.... Will the fan work alone without asking for heat or cool... On the thermostat...you can just set fan with no heat or cooling. On Honeywell video they add a jumper cable and move the wire to the C-wire and they also stated that the fan will no longer work alone. The fan will only work if it's asking for heating or cooling. I have a general idea what this unit is...and I'm hoping Im wrong before I decide to open this unit apart. I have a bad feeling this is nothing more than a large jumper made for novice(suckers). th-cam.com/video/TT4vbK1K1wo/w-d-xo.html
The video that you sent the link on is an old school hack. We would never recommend doing it that way. If you have a Honeywell stat, you can get a kit called Honeywell WireSaver. It works much like the PEK does for ecobee, but it is specific to Honeywell stats. If you use the WireSaver, you can still operate the fan independent. th-cam.com/video/rM03qDvLba0/w-d-xo.html
There is also a generic kit called Venstar Add-a-Wire that will work on any thermostat. So WireSaver is for Honeywell, PEK is for ecobee and Housewise stats, and Add-a-Wire is for any of those and more. th-cam.com/video/KHsXndmHv_M/w-d-xo.html
Take a look at a 3rd party product called Common Maker from a company called FAST-STAT. That will allow ecobee to use its R-W-C wires over an existing 2-wire R-W or T-T setup.
You keep saying very very FAST to the outdoor condescending what is that ????? Is it the AC unit ?? if so Why don't you say so instead of outdoor condescending
Outdoor condensing unit is the proper terminology used by HVAC professionals, which is the target audience of this channel. But yes, a homeowner would generically call that unit the "air conditioner" or the "A/C."
The industry uses the term "outdoor condensing unit" because we also have indoor ducted condensers, heat pumps, chillers, geothermal, WSHP, PTACs, RTUs, window units, and other types of equipment that are "air conditioners," too. Hope that helps make sense of it for you.
OK Mr professional thank you . but remember we're not all HVAC PRO's that's why we're here .Couldn't imagine HVAC professionals would be looking for help in this simple matter
@@stevejosrph6065 As mentioned, our intended audience is specifically HVAC Pros. We are an HVAC distributor who sells components to HVAC technicians. The vast majority of the videos that we made have been at the request of HVAC contractors. They use videos like this one when training their new hires. If homeowners stumble onto our channel and watch and a few videos, that is fine. However, we are going to use the correct industry terminology as much as possible.
This isn't meant for homeowners, but they can watch it if they want. We are addressing professionals and they know what we mean. Sorry the word upstairs is so confusing. ;P
Sorry, in our market in the Midwest, the majority of furnaces are installed in basements and thermostats are upstairs, so this is a very common way for HVAC pros in our area to refer to it.
This video just saved me a visit from the AC people. As soon as you got to :40 and said don’t touch the wires to the outside condenser I knew I had messed up when I installed this in January. Tried to turn the AC on and it wouldn’t run. Watched this video and fixed my mistakes. Works like a charm.
Your wiring trick saved me! I was about to have a heart attack after it didn't turn on, but after taking your advice regarding the Green and the Yellow cable, put me in business!!!!!
Thanks. DTE install this for me in the winter time when it was time to use the AC it didn’t work. I waited two weeks for technician to come out through the protection plan and he spent two hours trying to figure out why it didn’t work. He kept saying it was the thermostat. I ran across this video and I noticed that a wire was in the wrong place. When he got here, the heat worked when he got done nothing worked so I went online and saw your video and I fixed it myself.
I’m having the same problem what wire was in the wrong place?
Perfect explanation for unprofessional people. Saved my day. Thanks a bunch 💯
Awesome video. Really clearly and expertly explains setup for 4-wire.
Thank you for the video, my wiring was messed up and kept blowing the fuse. This video saved the day!
Your video really helped with the installation. Thanks man. Cheers~
Can you zoom out more?
bullshark 😂
That’s for the break down. Helped me install the PEK for my ecobee 4
Thank you for this video, I couldn’t have done it with out it!!! God bless
Thanks for the video it helped. I did a ecobee smart thermostat enhanced, and when I wire it without the extender, there was no because my customer had a 4 wire. That wasn’t wired up on a common. So your video was helpful but once I connected it wired it up correctly the thermostat didn’t have the option for cooling under the mode setting. I’ll look at some threads went through the settings. Accidentally selected reconfigure the thermostat did its thing. Asked if I use the extender kit I selected yes. Asked if I wired it up using the PEK . I said yes, it did it again and then it worked
Your video helped me a lot. Thanks a lot
Amazing,, this video helped me to restart ac. Thanks so much. Appreciate very much.
I thought I had everything hooked up correctly. My system doesn't have a control board, just wires spliced together. When I turned the system back on, the ecobee started to boot up but the fan in the HVAC system just started turning on and off really quickly, like so fast that the fan didn't even get up to full speed. I noticed an unused blue wire along with the red, yellow, green, and white wires going to the thermostat. Maybe I'm supposed to try to use that as a C wire without the pek, but then where would I splice that unused blue wire in at the HVAC system?
No control board at all? So the wires go from the stat to the splices you mentioned and then from those splice where does that wire continue to?
The C wire always goes the common of the 24v transformer. Sometimes that is feed thru a control board, but no matter what C is the Common of the transformer.
@@TECTubefilms I think I figured it out. I ended up splicing the unused blue "C-wire" to the brown (White) wire coming out of the fan unit. After that I hooked up the ecobee per the instructions for installation without the power extender kit. Seems to be working now I think, the smart thermostat turned on and no weird turning on and off. AC and heater seem to be working too, so I think I just have to learn how to use the app. Thanks for responding!
@@TECTubefilms I guess I got lucky and found another person with the same type of Apollo hydroheat system that had the same question about splicing in a C-wire
My control board in my furnace only seems to have 3 W R G cables labeled and connect with prongs and quick disconnects. I tried to locate the C coming from the transformer and it looks like there’s 3 blueish cables on the left side (2 of the quick disconnects are connected together) and the right side only has one red cable. Those cables both come from a plug-in on the board with a bunch of wires coming out of it. There’s a white and yellow cable coming out of two separate brown tubes from the thermostat I believe and they’re wire nut together for some reason. The yellow cable is labeled as Y on my thermostat, so do I use that as the missing Y on my PEK?
Sorry, we are not really sure what you are talking about. If tracing out the wires is a little beyond your skill set, you will want to have an HVAC contractor do it for you.
The PEK output of the thermostat combines fan and cooling stage 1 commands into a single wire and then the PEK box separates it back out into two wires for independent cooling and fan commands. That is all it can do. Whatever wires that corresponds to in your specific piece of equipment is something that has to be determined on-site.
I’m working on a package heat pump with only 4 wires, R, Y, C, and O/B. ( No auxiliary heat. )
It seam I could use the PEK to free up a wire to run the fan independently. My O/B still needs to run strait to the CB right?
The PEK will combine G and Y over a single wire. You then have R and C running through the PEK. You could just put nothing on the W1 terminal.
Question, I have 5 wires in a conventional heat and AC config. I also have a Aprilsire 800 steam humidifier. Can I use a PEK for regular hvac and then dedicated the 5th wire from humidifier to the ACC connection on the eco bee and the 2Nd humidifier wire connected to C on the furnace board?
Or do I need 6 total wires?
I currently have a Honeywell stat with a EIM doing the job.
You could use 4 of the wires with a PEK to handle R, C, Y, W, and G. That would free up the 5th wire for something else. If the Aprilaire has its own internal transformer, then you need 2-wires from the humidifier back to the stat so this would not work. If the Aprilaire does not have its own transformer and instead gets power from the furnace, then yes you could run one wire to the stat and one to common on the furnace.
Good video and it basically seems simple, but I still have an issue. I have a two speed furnace and a fifth wire to my thermostat to the W2 terminal. Ecobee support tells me to keep that W2 wire and use the power extender for the rest. I’m dubious.
Yes, ecobee is correct. Even with the PEK installed, you can still use W2, Y2, and ACC separately.
Tec Tube thanks for your quick reply!
Very useful video. I have a question: In my furnace control board, I got C and Y wire coming to screw terminal from outdoor AC unit. So Can I connect same (C and Y) wires from PEK to that same screw terminal?
Yes, you can (and you should). That is how the thermostat is going to connect to the outdoor unit.
@@TECTubefilms great. Thank you for your response. So I did that way. But when my ecobee3 lite reaches 22°C, it reboots itself. (Is it something I need to worry about?)
@@kbinoyn1 We would think that rebooting issue at a certain temperature is an unrelate issue. Yes, you should be worried about it and you should have someone check it out.
@@kbinoyn1 that’s caused by incorrect wiring my friend. I had the same issue. One or more of the wires is incorrectly installed, either at the thermostat or (more likely) at the furnace control board. If you have a power SOURCE going to the C terminal (which itself is neutral and COMPLETES the circuit but does NOT provide power) when that power source turns on it will cause the thermostat to turn off because your common is no longer a common, it is inadvertently a power source. Go over your wiring and correct the issue.
Why did you connect the C wire to the C on the furnace when you said you’ll leave the C alone? Please lmk cuz I’m planning on installing. Thanks!
I have this exact same setup however I now have a 2-stage Furnace. From my basic understanding I need a wire from the W2 Ecobee to the W2 on the Furnace, I guess I just connect directly to the furnace and bypass the PEK?
Yes, correct. Either run all 6 wires (R, C, G, W1, W2, and Y) to the furnace OR run 4 wires into the PEK and 5 into the furnace plus run a direct wire for W2.
I have a Fast Stat 1000 right now, should I replace it with the PEK?
If you are installing the ecobee now, we would use the PEK. It will make the startup slightly easier with the wiring auto-detect function. It will also make future troubleshooting easier later from whomever works on it after you. But if the ecobee is already up and running with the Fast-Stat 1000, then just leave it alone. Don't fix what ain't broke, right?
@@TECTubefilms It was working fine for the 1st few years but now the fan is inconsistent... sometimes it does not kick on, other times there are multiple loud clicks before it starts. Something about wires into the fast stat, because when I position it differently, it works but only temporarily.
So for the PEK kit's "C-Wire", should that be connected to the C screw on the furnace with the other C wire?
That's correct
In my case, I have a total of 5 cables going into my control board. One has two wires that, I suppose, are going to the condenser (connected to C and Y terminals) and another bundle that has 3 wires that are connected to R, Y and G terminals. On my thermostat, a bundle with 5 wires are connected to Rc, R, W, Y and G terminals. Nothing on C and no 6th wire behind the wall. Apparently the cable running from the thermostat has a splice somewhere which I couldn't find. Any suggestions?
Do you have a boiler? If yes, the R and W from the stat are probably going to your boiler. And the Rc, Y, and G are going to your air handler.
Very nice video I'm going to try it out now will leave another comment if it works or not,
My board is very similar to yours and all of my thermostat wires are going into the green connector at the top left of the board. Is this common? Previous owner had a hardy heater so I have 5 wire bundles going into the furnace. I am trying to figure out which one goes to the thermostat.
That green "phoenix connector" is for a communicating thermostat, such as Infinity, Evolution, Observer, or Ion. Do NOT wire a standard thermostat, such as ecobee to those terminals.
th-cam.com/video/0-IPNoSj5EM/w-d-xo.html
We currently have Ecobees with these adapters installed but we want to try the Alexa thermostat. If these c-wire kits are already installed can they also be used for Alexa thermostats? In other words, are these adapters proprietary or are they essentially generic adapters? Thanks
The particular PEK adapter shown in this video is proprietary to modern ecobee stats. We believe they used to have a generic one back in the day. There are also other brands that make generic adapters, such as Venstar Add-A-Wire and FAST-STAT.
Why would you want to switch to the Alexa stat? It runs on Honeywell technology and we think it has less features than ecobee and also not as easy to use. We are curious what you are finding interesting about Alexa stat that you want to switch?
@@TECTubefilmsThanks for taking the time to reply. We have a three zone system and have had ongoing issues with the system cycling on and off repeatedly when one of the zones comes on. We’ve had multiple technicians look at the system and one even recommended to replace the Honeywell control board which we did but it didn’t fix the problem. The PEK adapters are wired to the Honeywell zone control board. One of the techs said that the Ecobees may be causing the problem so I replaced the one we thought was the issue but it didn’t fix the problem. So long story short, I’m looking to try a Honeywell manufactured thermostat but want it to be “smart” and cheap. I can get the Alexa thermostats through wholesale for $40 each. From what I understand the Alexa thermostats are made by Honeywell so I figured it may work better with our Honeywell system.
@@matt6573 The Honeywell zone panel uses generic R-G-Y-W wiring and the brand of stat that you use with it does not matter in anyway. We have put all sorts of brands on it including ecobee.
if I have a two stage furnace and one stage cooling would my wiring be the same as you have? Rc, W1, C, PEK (I only have 4 cables)
No, it would be different. In your case you would have R, C, G, Y, W1, and W2. It is a 6 wire application. The PEK only extends you from 4 to 5 wires so you are still short. You need 1 more wire. Alternatively, you can use a product called Venstar Add-a-Wire instead. You will need two of these kits. R and C will be dedicated wires. One kit will be used to combine G and Y onto a single wire. The other will be used to combine W1 and W2. In many application, it may be easier and/or cheaper to pull new wire instead. Watch this video starting at the 4:20 mark - th-cam.com/video/KHsXndmHv_M/w-d-xo.html
@@TECTubefilms Thank you, this is very helpful. We had our furnace/ AC replaced and the company installed the ecobee with the PEK the same way you have it. Although the furnace turns on, is it correct to assume that we are only getting one stage heating instead of two? Also is it safe to run it with the PEK configuration? I will call them and see if they can do what you suggested.
@@edgarromo26 We can't speculate on what they did. We supposed they could have just wired W1 and 2nd stage never comes on, but that is unlikely. They could have jumpered W1 to W2 and made it into a single stage unit. They could have just wired it to W1 and then the furnace will engage 2nd stage on its own after a time delay (that would still be 2 stages, but it would be an inferior way to do it compared to the stat handling the staging).
Will adding the PEK to my furnace void the furnace/ac warranty?
no
With the PEK kit is installed - will I be able to turn on the fan without heat or cooling as my current stat can do?
Yes
I have the ecobee3 (non lite). There is no PEK terminal on the back plate. I tried going r,g,y1, and w1, however I have no success when in theory it should be working. This green wire to C, and yellow wire to pek, since I don’t have that option am I kind of screwed?
The regular ecobee 3 lite used a different type of PEK than more current stats (ecobee 3 lite, ecobee 4, etc.). The PEK shown in this video is not compatible with the old obsolete ecobee 3. How did you even end up with a new PEK and an old stat? Why not use the PEK that originally came in the box with the ecobee 3?
Check the video on this page under ecobee 3 - support.ecobee.com/s/articles/Installing-your-ecobee-thermostat-with-the-Power-Extender-Kit-no-C-wire
@@TECTubefilms I have the old PEK and the old mount from the old (obsolete) ecobee3. I had quite the time but I figured it all out. The previous owner had a 4 wire coming from the furnace box and jimmy rigged a 7 wire cable to it which was what caused problems since there was no C wire with the 4 wire setup.... Anyways, I started from scratch with a fresh 5 wire setup and all is well, works great, very confusing/ frustrating though! Thanks for the reply.
Confused with blue I thought was common but when I get to the thermostat. Green went to common and blue is going to PEK. Is this correct? Red went to Rc and white went to white. Coming out of PEK blue is on the "Y" terminal and "G" for the green wire. I go to the setup screen and it is not showing me the white wire as being installed but it is? Any help? Sorry just a little confused. TY
The way you are wording it is confusing. But in either case we are not in a position to troubleshoot wiring issue for each viewer. The video shows which colors to match where. You can also look at wiring diagram at support.ecobee.com/hc/article_attachments/115011386328/ecobee4ecobee3PEKwiring.jpg
I don’t have a terminal board. I have wires that come from a harness. I put the t-stat wires in, then used a wire nut to the five wires from the harness. But, it’s not working.
It doesn't matter "how" the wires terminate to your equipment, but what the specific job if each wire is. You need to know which wire on your equipment needs to be connected to which wire on your thermostat.
I don’t understand how G wire @ the T-Stat can be repurposed as Common @ the T-Stat. If you wired everything from the IFC Board, to the PEK as G Terminal using the Green wire and then switched the G (Green Wire) to the Common Terminal @ the ECOBEE how is the Indoor Fan going to power on?
The output terminal on the ecobee labelled PEK sends a communication signal out to the PEK kit located near the equipment. That signal communicates the stat's need for fan, cool, or both. The PEK then turns that communicating signal back into traditional relays for G (fan) and Y1 (cool).
Gotcha, I figured it was the PEK that does the work but I had to ask to be sure...thank you and I appreciate it.
Great Tutorial!
I only have a red and blue in my current setup can i still use echobee4?
2-wires total? Must be heat only on a very old boiler or furnace. All smart stats, including ecobee, are going to need a 3rd wire in your application for common. The PEK will not work in your application. The only other option you have other than pulling more wires, would be to use a Fast-Stat Common Maker with ecobee.
Tec Tube Okay thanks i hired a license electrician who installs Nest and Echobee
Does this wiring method apply the HVAC system with heat pump?
This video was based on gas furnace with A/C. If you have a heat pump, the wires in this video still do the same job but you also have to wire the reversing valve at O or B. And your W wire becomes auxiliary heat.
Around 3:30 you are talking about where the wires go... previously you stated that not everyone will have the same wire setup as you... then you start talking about there the colored wires go... why didn't you use the wire names, like "Y", "O/B" etc...
Would make it a lot easier for the laymen... now I have to look up with wire is the "heating wire" and which is the "cooling wire"...
Sorry for any confusion you had on that. Our channel is intended for HVAC professionals, which are customers of our company. We do not have lay people in mind when we make the videos although we do realize that many regular folks stumble upon our channel these days too.
I need to install the pek but my control board has a connector for the wires no screws. How would I go around that? Please help.
Are they labelled R, G, Y, W, and C?
@@TECTubefilms yes they are but the wires are connected through a white connector.
Through a white pin connector
@@izzy_v_b If they are R, G, Y, W, C at your equipment, the PEK installs "upstream' of that white connector. Somewhere there will be wire nuts to connect the cable that runs through the wall to that white connector.
@@izzy_v_b Just be 100% sure that each terminal on that white connector is labelled as R, G, Y, W, and C. This connector you mentioned makes us wonder if you have a communicating system instead of a standard 24v system. If that is the case, ecobee and other thermostats are likely not compatible.
Are you from the Chicagoland area?
Reason I’m asking is because it says you’re from North AURORA?
I’m in Schaumburg
We have 30 HVAC wholesale locations throughout the Midwest doing business as Temperature Equipment Corp (TEC) and National Excelsior Company (NEC). Locations listed at excelsiorhvac.com/locations/ and tecmungo.com/locations/
Some of the videos will say North Aurora if they were filmed at our training lab there. The bulk are filmed in our lab in Melrose Park, IL and and occasionally other locations too.
What if I have thermostat like Carrier-33aw-Cs1 ? Is possible to use Pro PEK Wiring too?
The PEK can only be used with ecobee stats. There are other devices on the market for other stats.
i don't know how to wire this since I have a C wire on the furnace but no C wire on my thermostat already. I can't use the power extender since I already have a C wire on the furnace.
You need to "trace out" the wires and see where they all go. And you can have more than one wire on a specific terminal for various reasons.
If you have a C wire at the furnace, I bet your C wire at the thermostat is just tucked in back behind the wall. Mine was wrapped around the other wires but stuffed behind the wall. When I pulled them out a few inches, I found the C wire. Good luck!
He addresses this at 0:35 - you've probably got a C wire and an extra Y wire, both of which go to your A/C unit. Leave those alone. You'll have to trace the Y wires to know which one is which.
@@davidquirk2105 The wire he is seeing terminated on the furnace circuit board may also be the one going to the condensing unit, not the stat.
Tec Tube Very true and it would be easy to check I suppose. Just pull wires gently out from wall to see if there is an unconnected blue wire wrapped around the rest of them. That’s how I discovered mine.
If my thermostat has a jumper between RC and RH can I install this?
Yes, ecobee can still be used in this application. But don't add a jumper on the ecobee stat!
Does the PEK kit work with the Ecobee 3 and how does this handle a 2 stage furnace? Thanks.
The "old PEK" is for the ecobee 3. The current "new PEK" is for ecobee 4 and ecobee SmartThermostat (aka ecobee 5). Conceptually they work the same way... allow 4 wires to behave like 5 wires... but you should order the correct PEK for the product you are connecting it to. All of these ecobee stats mentioned shipped with a PEK in the box, so there is seldom a need to ever order a PEK.
@@TECTubefilms Thanks. I've had my 3 for awhile. PEK never came with mine so I purchased a venstar. Was looking for a 4 to 6 wire solution for a 2 stage furnace but it seems the furnace will spin up on its own if temperature is not climbing fast enough.
@@carmelotreviso You can actually use TWO Venstar Add-a-Wire kits on an eocbee to go from 4 to 6 wires. You can't split hot (R) or common (C), but any of the signal wires can be split into two. So you can split Y into Y1 and Y2 with one Add-a-Wire. And then you can split W into W1 and W2 with another Add-a-Wire.
But at some point it may become easier and less expensive to pull a new 6 or 8 conductor cable.
@@TECTubefilms I'd love to pull a new cable but I'm in a condo on the second floor with furnace in closet outside of my deck and vaulted ceilings everywhere. God knows how they ran that wire.
Hi, my hvac system has 2 sets of
White, red, green, blue, yellow
Two wires on each terminal of your furnace? Where do the other ends of those wiring cables go? Does one set of W/R/G/B/Y go to your thermostat? If yes, where exactly does the other set go?
@@TECTubefilms this is my scenario a yellow and red together? How can I send a picture?
@@jameslawson3109 We suppose you could send a picture to Ecobee Support and they can assist. Our recommendation is to first figure out exactly what each wire connects to on both ends of the wire.
I followed this. But my ac is always running now.
where can i find that exact pek converter ?
It is included in the box with an ecobee 3 lite, ecobee 4, or ecobee 5. It also only works with those thermostats. Why are you trying to buy it separately?
@@TECTubefilms i didnt know it comes with the ecobee i thaught i should buy it seperate does nest also come incuded with pek wiring ?
@@prophetg5 Not sure because we don't sell nest stats.
question.... after the PEK is installed.... Will the fan work alone without asking for heat or cool... On the thermostat...you can just set fan with no heat or cooling. On Honeywell video they add a jumper cable and move the wire to the C-wire and they also stated that the fan will no longer work alone. The fan will only work if it's asking for heating or cooling. I have a general idea what this unit is...and I'm hoping Im wrong before I decide to open this unit apart. I have a bad feeling this is nothing more than a large jumper made for novice(suckers).
th-cam.com/video/TT4vbK1K1wo/w-d-xo.html
Yes, the fan will continue to work independently of the heating and cooling.
The video that you sent the link on is an old school hack. We would never recommend doing it that way. If you have a Honeywell stat, you can get a kit called Honeywell WireSaver. It works much like the PEK does for ecobee, but it is specific to Honeywell stats. If you use the WireSaver, you can still operate the fan independent. th-cam.com/video/rM03qDvLba0/w-d-xo.html
There is also a generic kit called Venstar Add-a-Wire that will work on any thermostat. So WireSaver is for Honeywell, PEK is for ecobee and Housewise stats, and Add-a-Wire is for any of those and more. th-cam.com/video/KHsXndmHv_M/w-d-xo.html
Question. Is this adapter works for heat only? Like a regular boiler that have only W-R for example.
No. This particular adapter can only be used to make a 4-wire R-G-W-Y setup behave like a 5-wire R-G-W-Y-C setup.
Take a look at a 3rd party product called Common Maker from a company called FAST-STAT. That will allow ecobee to use its R-W-C wires over an existing 2-wire R-W or T-T setup.
@@TECTubefilms thank you.
I'm going to try
I don't have any blue wire.
Color doesn't matter. You can use any color you want for any wiring project. So maybe your installer used yellow (or whatever) in place of blue.
You keep saying very very FAST to the outdoor condescending what is that ????? Is it the AC unit ?? if so Why don't you say so instead of outdoor condescending
Outdoor condensing unit is the proper terminology used by HVAC professionals, which is the target audience of this channel. But yes, a homeowner would generically call that unit the "air conditioner" or the "A/C."
The industry uses the term "outdoor condensing unit" because we also have indoor ducted condensers, heat pumps, chillers, geothermal, WSHP, PTACs, RTUs, window units, and other types of equipment that are "air conditioners," too. Hope that helps make sense of it for you.
OK Mr professional thank you .
but remember we're not all HVAC PRO's that's why we're here .Couldn't imagine HVAC professionals would be looking for help in this simple matter
@@stevejosrph6065 As mentioned, our intended audience is specifically HVAC Pros. We are an HVAC distributor who sells components to HVAC technicians. The vast majority of the videos that we made have been at the request of HVAC contractors. They use videos like this one when training their new hires. If homeowners stumble onto our channel and watch and a few videos, that is fine. However, we are going to use the correct industry terminology as much as possible.
@@stevejosrph6065 BTW - we are thinking of starting a separate channel for homeowners
This is my wiring at wall
He really needs to replace "Upstairs" to "Thermostat" Nobody knows WTF you mean when you say "upstairs".
This isn't meant for homeowners, but they can watch it if they want. We are addressing professionals and they know what we mean. Sorry the word upstairs is so confusing. ;P
Sorry, in our market in the Midwest, the majority of furnaces are installed in basements and thermostats are upstairs, so this is a very common way for HVAC pros in our area to refer to it.
Dolly Parton
Bro you really did not show nothing so soon your camera man to the connection