hi one hour smart home here and today
we’re going to show you how to install
an amazon smart thermostat it’s a wi-fi
smart thermostat that allows you to
control it from your phone now one
important thing to note before you get
started installing this amazon smart
thermostat is that it does require a
common wire or a common wire adapter in
order to get this installed we’ve got a
whole bunch of resources down below in
the description that show you how to
install a common wire and that’s going
to work for this thermostat as well now
one quick way to check and see if you’ve
got a common wire is you take off the
cover plate here and you’re gonna look
and see if you’ve got a seat wire
terminal right here so we do have that
and we’re gonna be able to install this
without the need for an adapter but if
you need this adapter we’re going to
make another video that shows you how to
do this so check that description down
now before you get started installing
this what you want to do is you really
want to make sure that you’ve got it up
in your hvac system is running so i
usually turn this up or down and then
you’ve got your hvac system running and
then you need to shut the power off so
to shut the power off the reason i turn
this on is so that i can go down to my
circuit breaker in here when the hvac
system turns off so usually you can do
that at your circuit breaker or
sometimes you’re going to have a switch
near your hvac system to turn the power
off so go downstairs or upstairs or
wherever your hvc system is located and
make sure that it’s running and then
turn the power off so you hear that
system stop so we’re gonna go do that
all right we shut the power off to our
existing hvac system so we can take this
front cover off and if you’re having
trouble getting the cover off a lot of
times you want to check at the top or
the bottom of the cover and uh even the
sides as well and usually you’re going
to find some kind of indentation you can
push down on or up on and that’s going
to allow you to remove that cover now
once you’ve got this cover off you want
to slow down here for a second and you
want to make sure that you take a
picture so we’ve got all of our existing
wires here and you want to take a
picture of what you’ve got going on and
then you can also make sure that you
label these with the provided labels so
what we have here is we’ve got our g
wire that is our fan wire g stands for
fan wire we’ve got a yellow wire that is
for air conditioning y is for your air
conditioning and we’ve got that y wire
right there we’ve got this red wire
right here and that is our power
our wire is the power wire and then
we’ve got this w wire right here that is
our heat wire and the last one is our
common wire now what’s important to note
is that these colors should match what
the terminals are so y for yellow g for
and c comment that’s just going to blue
now that’s not always typical what’s
more important than color is that you
record whatever wire is in whatever
terminal and that’s because sometimes
when people are installing hvac systems
they don’t follow the convention for the
color of wires or maybe the bundle of
wires they got has different colors in
it so you want to make sure that more
importantly than matching up the colors
you take a picture of what is there
existing so that you’ve got it for when
you go install the new amazon smart
thermostat so now that we’ve taken a
picture and you’ve labeled these wires
with the provided labels and we’ve got
the power off we’re ready to remove the
terminals and the wires from each one of
these terminals so we’re just going to
use a screwdriver and take those out
we removed our g wire from the
g-terminal and we would label it now
next wire we’re going to remove is this
y wire that’s the yellow wire in that’s
our air conditioning wire and we would
label that now here we’ve got a jumper
between rc and rh which is very common
we’re going to remove that r wire that’s
the power wire or this red wire here and
we’re going to take that out and you can
just leave the jumper in there and not a
big deal the next wire we’re going to
remove is our wire and that’s our call
for heat or heat wire so we’re going to
remove that as well that white wire and
we would label that now and the last one
we’ve got here that’s our c wire this
blue wire over here and we’re going to
now that we’ve got all of our wires
removed we can remove the existing
thermostat back plate from our wall so
all we’re going to do is take the screws
out sometimes they’re going to be in
here sometimes they’ll be in another
part so we’re just going to use the
screwdriver and remove the existing wall
cover plate from the wall
now we’ve got the existing thermostat
removed in we’re ready to install the
new wall cover plate as well as the
terminal block for the amazon smart
thermostat now it’s important to note we
are showing you the instructions for how
to install an amazon smart thermostat
for a standard hvac system that has air
conditioning and heat so typically if
you’ve got a gas-fired furnace and an
air conditioner this is going to work
perfectly or if you just have heat only
or air conditioning only this is going
to be very similar you’re just going to
have fewer wires so you may not have
some of the wires which is not a big
deal now if you’re installing a heat
pump system or a dual fuel system you’re
going to have a little bit different
installation method so you’re going to
want to check our description below for
other videos when you’re installing a
dual fuel system you’re going to use
these r and rc terminals but for our
system we’re only going to use an r
terminal and for the heat pump you’re
going to have a wide variety of
different wiring so you want to make
sure that you follow a different set of
instructions if you are doing that so in
order to get this installed all we’re
going to do is slip the cover plate
right over and then we’re going to put
our terminal block on and they’ve got
three screws here but since we’re just
going to be installing this temporarily
i’m just going to put the top screw in
the existing hole and we’re going to
now that we’ve got the amazon smart
thermostat back plate and terminal block
installed we’re just going to take our
wires and put them into the appropriate
holes here so our g wire our green wire
is going to go in the g terminal so we
just press down on the terminal and
insert it so you press down on the
little side of the terminal block and
insert your wire and that’s our fan wire
and you want to make sure you use those
labels that you put on these earlier to
make sure you know where you’re putting
so now we’re going to take our white
wire and we’re going to put it in the
white terminal just press down and slide
that in there we’ve got our r wire
that’s our power wire so we’re going to
take that and we’re going to put it in
the r terminal the top r terminal since
we have just a standard hvac system with
an air conditioner and a furnace so we
push down and we put our power wire in
that’s the red wire right there and
we’re good to go with that now we’ve got
two wires left we’ve got our y wire that
is for our air conditioner we’re going
to put that in the y terminal up here at
the top and you may have to place some
wire origami folding these wires around
so i push down i insert that y wire and
we’re good to go with that and then the
last one we’ve got here we’ve got our
blue wire that is our common wire which
is required for this installation unless
you are using the provided adapter or
the adapter that you can pick up uh in
addition to this so we’ll include a link
now we’re just going to take our last
wire our c wire the common wire and
we’re going to install it into that c
terminal push down and push that wire
into place there we go and now we’ve got
all of our wires in position here’s just
a little bit closer shot of our wires
and we’re just going to kind of fold
them in place as much as we can so that
we can get this cover on there we go we
were able to get it on it actually is
bent out a little bit so maybe i need to
fold some of these wires a little bit
better you might have to play around
with this for a second and sometimes you
got to kind of reroute and push wires in
to get it in there so now we’ve got that
a little bit better and i’m going to
push that in place and we should be good
to go with that right there and what we
need to do next is we’re going to put
our amazon thermostat on there and then
we can go turn the power on and get the
so on the back of the amazon smart
thermostat you’ve got these pins and
they’re just going to line with the pins
here now you want to make sure you’ve
got the amazon arrow pointing up so this
goes up and you also see the notch here
that’s going to go up there at the top
so make sure you’ve got this right side
up and gently slide this in place and
right now we’re going to hold off on
turning the power on we’re going to go
to our app and start getting this set up
on the app and then once we’re to a
point where we can turn the power on
we’re going to go do that so let’s
switch over to the app if you haven’t
done so already download the amazon
alexa app on your phone and you can just
log in with your typical amazon account
and then you’re going to be able to
start getting this set up so let’s do
okay so here we are in the amazon alexa
app we logged in with our username and
password and we’re just at the home
screen here now in order to get the
amazon smart thermostat set up we’re
going to click on devices right here and
then we want to add a device so in the
upper right hand corner you’re going to
see this plus symbol we’re going to
click on that and then we’re going to
click on add a device and we’ve got a
whole bunch of different options here
but we’re adding a smart thermostat so
let’s go down here until we find
thermostat and then we’re going to click
on that so click right there and then it
says what brand is your thermostat we
are installing an amazon smart
thermostat it says has your new
thermostat been installed on the wall
already yes it has so we can click right
through that and it says is your
thermostats display on so ours is not
right now but since we’ve been prompted
we can go down and turn the power on
to our hvac system and then that set
display is going to show up on the
temperature so pause right now go down
to your hvac system turn that circuit
breaker back on or that switch back on
for your hvac system and then we’re
going to press yes here once that
display pops up so that we can add it to
our account so i’m going to do that
right now we just restored power to the
thermostat and you can see that it just
lit up which means we’re ready to go to
our phone because this is now powered up
our thermostat is currently on and the
display is currently showing set so
it says let’s connect your new
thermostat to alexa click next
make sure you’ve got bluetooth camera
and location on so we have all of those
on we’re going to click next
it says locate the qr code for your
amazon thermostat so it’s on the back of
this little booklet here and if you just
turn it around there’s a qr code there
that you can scan so we’re going to
we scan the qr code from the provided qr
and this is the next screen that pops up
now it says connecting to your amazon
it’s connecting our amazon thermostat to
our wi-fi network here we need to enter
now it’s connecting to our amazon smart
our amazon thermostat is connected let’s
now we need to say where our thermostat
is located so i’m just going to click
downstairs and click skip
now we need to click on the terminals
that we have connected so we have a y
that’s all five of our wires we click
do we have a forced air system
what kind of furnace do you have
it says test your new thermostat make
sure any other thermostats in your home
are off so the amazon smart thermostat
so let’s go back to our device and see
now we’re at the thermostat and you can
see it went from that set image to it
now displays the current temperature of
so we’re going to click next on the app
it says did your heat turn on
so right now you can see this little
heat logo and it’s going to 74. so i
just heard the hvac system turn on i’m
going to click yes the heat is on
now it’s going through the motions of
trying to test the fan you can see this
little fan logo and my fan is on so i’m
going to click yes the fan is on
it says choose how you want to control
alexa automatic control or a daily
schedule so i’m just going to click uh
let’s do a daily schedule for now and
click next and then turn on an energy
efficient schedule we’ll click next and
it says alexa needs more info setting
home away asleep temperatures reviewing
suggested home away and a sleep time so
we’re going to click next
so when we’re home let’s say we want our
uh temperature to be at 70 when we’re
gone 62 and we’re sleeping 62 is a
little cold for me i’m going to put that
to 65 and then i’m going to click next
the next screen that pops up is the
schedule screen and currently what it
shows is us waking up at 6am and then
going down to the away temperature when
we go to work at eight and then coming
back at six pm to that home temperature
at 70 degrees and then going to sleep at
10 pm at 65 degrees so that’s going to
work for me i’m just going to click next
but you could change any of those
numbers that you wanted here and then it
just says learn about your amazon smart
thermostat we’ll click next here
and now our thermostat is all ready so
we’re going to click done here
and here we are in the app we can
control it from the app so if i go up to
81 degrees there then you can see it
makes that change right here on the
device it shows this little fire logo
which means that it is currently heating
if i want to turn it down i can go like
this or i can turn it up and down using
these arrows right here now if i want to
change from heat to something else i
could go click cool down here and then
i’m going to be able to cool or turn on
my air conditioning so we just got to
give it a minute for it to load up and
then i can do the same thing i can
scroll down through the temperature here
we’re going to put it at 62. you can see
that the little logo there for a
snowflake pops up showing that we are
currently cooling and i can adjust the
temperature up or down using these
arrows right here now i can also go in
here and if i just want to turn it to
auto that means it’s going to turn it to
heating or cooling automatically based
on whatever my temperature preference is
the cooling and heating seasons of
spring and fall where you may get a hot
where you want it to automatically turn
on heat or automatically turn on cooling
so here you can set what is a range here
that you want your house to stay between
so at 73 the air conditioning would turn
on and at 67 the heat would turn on but
outside of those ranges it’s not going
to turn on so that’s great for the
spring or the fall depending where you
live maybe when you got the windows open
you’re not using heating or air
conditioning during those milder times
and then if you want to click here you
can just turn it completely off
if you don’t want that to turn on at all
now let’s click back we’re just going to
put it on heat because that’s the
current season that we’ve got here and
you can also see it’s got a humidity and
then it says it’s going to maintain that
temperature until 6 pm based on our
schedule if we want to edit our schedule
we can go back in here and we’ve got a
we can use a thermostat schedule that’s
in there or if we don’t want any
schedule at all we can turn that off so
that’s really easy if you just want to
the device to turn it up or down based
on whatever you’ve got here so you don’t
have to use a schedule if you don’t want
some people like to be able to just use
the numbers and that’s perfectly fine
now almost anything you can do on the
app you can do on the thermostat itself
you press this middle button and that’s
going to go through the different menu
now the pre warm and cool what that
means is that it’s going to turn on
ahead of time to get your temperature to
the exact temperature at the time you
have scheduled so let’s say you want it
exactly 70 degrees when you get home at
6 00 pm it’s going to turn on the hvac
system maybe 10 20 minutes in advance uh
so that it’s going to be pre-cooled or
preheated to that precise temperature
here you can change those preferred
temperatures that we had so uh the heat
mode cool mode and auto mode you can
change those right through here you just
click in here and then you click on any
one of these and you can adjust your
home away and sleep temperatures to
whatever you want we’re gonna go back
here and then you can click on the
schedule and we can go through any day
we want here and then click on the time
and then we can click on to change a
time so if we want it to be 3 am that’s
fine and we can also change it from home
or way to sleep or we can delete it
entirely so we’re just going to close
out of that and then you’ve got all your
different days here and if you wanted a
copy a day you could just click copy
schedule to another day real simple for
weekdays or weekends for that matter so
if we want to look and see some of our
other temperature settings in here we
can go up here and we can see uh the
name of the thermostat so right now it’s
named second thermostat i could change
that but you’re going to want to change
it to whatever you want to use for a
voice command to control this because
this does work with alex a which means
that you can use voice commands to turn
it up by saying alexa turn the heat to
but it works best when you use the name
of the thermostat so you would say alexa
downstairs thermostat 275 or alexa set
well you just heard alexa in the
background because i didn’t use the uh
proper terminology there so sorry about
that if yours went off now uh if you
click down here you’ve got fan control
you can turn it to auto or you can just
circulate air or you can leave it on so
that’s nice for days where you want to
circulate air throughout your house
our energy dashboard here we’re not
going to have anything in here yet
because we just set this up but it’s
real neat uh you can see how much energy
you’re using track it and then uh be
conscientious of that to maybe adjust
your habits and how you’re using energy
or saving energy as well as potentially
saving money with your energy usage and
you’ve got your thermostat configuration
here uh you can go into more detail of
your temperature range temperature units
if you want to use celsius instead of
fahrenheit you can change the display
brightness here so you can click it from
active to inactive and we can turn that
all the way up it just uh will help you
have better brightness if you’re having
and you can also do the same thing for
inactive turn it all the way up and then
we’re going to click there and then we
to those settings and we’ve got our
wi-fi network information there if you
your wire map your hvac type so not
anything really we need to change there
that’s pretty much what we’ve got for
this thermostat you can go down here and
look at your energy savings incentives
so some places depending on your utility
you can get incentives for installing
this and being part of an energy saving
program so you click here and you can go
through this and depending on your
provider you can potentially get a
rebate and or work with them on what’s
called a demand response program so
we’re going to click out of that that’s
here we’ve got our thermostat
air filters you can set up notifications
here if you want to be reminded every
couple months to replace your air filter
and it will notify you it gives you an
amazon recommended notification point
that’s kind of funny but i guess it
makes sense but uh you can go through
here and add extra supplies
say when you last replaced it and then
it’s going to give you a notification
every couple months based on when you
should be replacing that so that is
pretty much all we’ve got for how to set
up and install your amazon smart
thermostat if you enjoyed this video
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support us now if you have different
configurations of the amazon smart
thermostat please check in the
description below because we’re going to
have different configurations and go
through the videos of how to set up each
type of different configuration as well
as how to add a common wire for this or
how to install that common wire adapter
for the amazon smart thermostat so that
if you’ve got a different configuration
you can figure out how to set it up now
we also have videos that show how to add
a common wire to a nest thermostat and
it’s a very similar process you can use
that same process for the amazon smart
thermostat in order to get it set up
with a common wire so take a look at the
video links down below those should be
so thanks again for watching please
subscribe and we’ll see you next time
