The estimated reading time for this post is 7 minutes
Imagine lying in bed and feeling a bit chilly. You want to turn the heat up a few degrees but you don’t want to leave the warmth of your bed. If only there were a genie to change your thermostat on your command and make the room feel toasty while you stayed nestled in bed.
Good news! The Sensi thermostat is the next best thing to having a genie control the temperature in your home. This smart home device connects to the Amazon Echo so you can use voice commands to change the temperature. Just say, “Alexa, set Sensi two degrees warmer” and Sensi will make the adjustment.
After my recent article on the Echo Dot and Amazon Tap, Emerson, the company that makes Sensi, contacted me to tell me about their thermostat and offered to let me try it. As someone who is quite fond of new tech, I accepted their offer and received a Sensi a few days later.
Sensi isn’t the first smart home thermostat, but it is different from others. Sensi connects to your Wi-Fi network so you can control your home’s heating and cooling remotely.
Sensi can be controlled by:
- its Android and iPhone app
- the panel on the thermostat and
- the Amazon Echo, Amazon Dot and Echo Tap
You don’t have to have either a smart phone or an Echo to use the Sensi, but it’s more useful if you do. The Echo lets you adjust the temperature of your home up or down but you can’t set a schedule for the Sensi using the Echo.
The Sensi lets you set multiple schedules for your thermostat. You can create an Away schedule, a Work from Home schedule and other schedules according to your lifestyle. The app lets you create and switch schedules easily.
The Sensi app also tells you local weather information and the humidity of your home.
Using the app you can control the heating and cooling at your home wherever you are, so long as you are connected to the Internet. If you’re traveling and forgot to turn down the heat in your home, you can do that instantly with the app.
Installing the Sensi
You can have the Sensi thermostat professionally installed or do it yourself. In the spirit of The Wonder of Tech, I wondered whether I could install the Sensi myself. As I’ve never installed a thermostat before, the answer to this question was, “I don’t know.” But I was willing to give it a go.
You’ll need two screwdrivers, a medium-sized one and a smaller one, about the size of an eyeglass screwdriver. You may need a drill if your screw holes from your older thermostat don’t match those of the Sensi.
The very first thing you do is download the free app for your Android or iPhone and set up a Sensi account. The app will walk you through the installation step by step.
The app has a video on the home page that I suggest you watch, but use the written instructions on the app as a step-by-step guide. Nearly every step in the app has a short video to illustrate the process, which is easier to follow along with than the longer video.
My first attempt at replacing a thermostat gave me the opportunity to call Sensi Customer Service. I got to the step of the app where I entered the letters of the wires of my existing thermostat into the app but my wires had numbers, not letters.
I discovered when I called Customer Service that they were prompt and helpful when they advised me that my heating system wasn’t compatible with the Sensi. Oops! I had skipped the step of checking whether my system was compatible on the Sensi compatibility page.
[tip]Customer Service is available 7 days a week, though not 24 hours a day. Check the hours and make sure you’re installing Sensi when they’re open. After my call about the incompatible thermostat I didn’t need to call Customer Service again. [/tip]
No worries, the second try is the charm. I changed course and tried replacing a different thermostat in my home that connects to a separate heating system. Sure enough, the wires had letters and the system was compatible with the Sensi. Yea!
The most difficult part of the installation was reconnecting the wires. For some reason, I couldn’t secure the wires in the base, perhaps because I’m left-handed. After several tries my right-handed husband was successful in the job.
My favorite part of the installation was discovering the bubble level included in the base, making straightening the Sensi a breeze.
The company claims that installation takes 15 minutes. That wasn’t the case for me, but I do think 15 minutes is possible, perhaps just not the first time you try. My installation took about 40 minutes, not counting my failed attempt with the first thermostat that wasn’t compatible with Sensi.
Connecting the Sensi to Wi-Fi
Installing the Sensi was the first step. Next is connecting your Sensi to your Wi-Fi network. At first I was unable to connect to my home Wi-Fi.
The troubleshooting section of the website suggested restarting my router and taking the batteries out of the thermostat to reboot both. That trick worked and I was able to connect the Sensi to my home Wi-Fi network.
Connecting Sensi to the Echo
I was able to connect my Sensi to the Echo right away by using the Alexa app on my phone. Go to Settings => Connected Home and log into your Sensi account.
Have the Echo find your Sensi. If the connection is successful, you’ll see your Sensi in the list of Devices.
Alexa kept telling me she couldn’t find any compatible devices, even though she did connect to the Sensi, as shown in the app.
At first, the Echo didn’t respond to my commands to control the Sensi, even though the Alexa app showed that they were connected. I had the app forget the Sensi then reconnected them.
Voila! That worked like a charm and I am now able to ask Alexa to change the temperature of my home. Very cool (or warm).
Sensi vs. Nest
Unlike the round Nest thermostat, Sensi has a familiar rectangular shape that may match your older thermostat. Not only may that help you avoid touch-up painting, you may be able to use the existing screw holes from your previous thermostat.
Both of those were the case for my installation of the Sensi replacing a Honeywell thermostat. I didn’t need to do any touch-up painting and the screw holes for the Sensi thermostat based lined up with the ones for the Honeywell thermostat.
Unlike the Nest, the Sensi doesn’t monitor whether you’re home or away. The temperature is adjusted according to how you set the Sensi.
The Nest can be set using an app, the Nest website or on the Nest itself. Setting a schedule on the Nest itself can be challenging. You can set a schedule on the Sensi on the screen, as you would on a regular thermostat, or on the app. You can also adjust the temperature of the Sensi using Echo, which you can’t do using the Nest.
The Sensi is about $100 less expensive than the Nest.
Final Thoughts
Having the ability to control my thermostat using my voice and the smart phone app is very handy. The Sensi does seem like a very useful device that one can imagine will be in many homes in the future. If you have an Echo, you should definitely check out the Sensi.
While I did run into some challenges in installing and connecting the Sensi, the tasks were doable. Between Customer Service and the app I was able to figure out issues and solve them quickly.
If you’re someone with a sense of adventure, you may want to try installing the Sensi yourself. If you prefer to avoid hassles and don’t have experience installing thermostats, hiring an installer may be a better bet.
Availability and a Coupon
Sensi is available at the Sensi website and other retailers. The company has offered Wonder of Tech readers a coupon for $10 off the price of Sensi when purchased at the Sensi website. Enter wonderoftech at checkout. The coupon is valid until April 30, 2016.
You can see whether you qualify for a rebate in your area by checking the Sensi rebate page.
Your Thoughts
Do you like the idea of a thermostat you can control with your voice? Do you think it would be helpful to be able to control it from your phone? Would you try installing the Sensi by yourself?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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Hi Carolyn,
Informative post indeed 🙂
Never heard of Sensi, though it seems like the in-thing, yet again. It must have been fun installing it, as I read through all that you had to go through, to set it up. Glad you had your better half to help you with the installation as well.
I think it’s wonderful to have a thermostat that uses your voice, and the smart phone app looks very handy as well. Yes, who wouldn’t love to sit and bed and just command Sensi to do the needful. We do have a few such gadgets our end, but they are mostly televisions and the air conditioners and work with just the remote that has the voice command, if at all, for the costly version. Surely seems worth it – especially for those that have Sensi their ends.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, I wasn’t sure if I could install the Sensi thermostat successfully, even though the instructions said it was easy to do. I’m glad I tried it and that it worked out so well.
Commanding the thermostat to change temperature with your voice is a very cool power to have. When I got the Echo I never imagined it would have this potential. It does make you wonder what will be next?
Hey Carolyn,
Great review, particularly the hands on installation (even if it was left handed)!
I’m not sure I’d go with this over the industry standard Nest but the comparative info you gave was extremely helpful.
Thanks!
Dan
Hello Dan, Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed this review.
Yes, the Nest learns your movements and adjusts the temperature accordingly. The Sensi you can control with your voice using the Echo, Dot or Tap. Both thermostats will give you more control over the heating and cooling of your home which is handy and can save you money.
Add to cart!
Where I live I qualify for a $100 rebate on the thermostat! The rebate popped up as soon as I added the thermostat to my cart.
Bonus!
Thank you Carolyn & Emerson!
Hi Cho Cho, Very cool! I didn’t realize that a rebate was possible. That makes the Sensi practically free. I hope you enjoy your Sensi, Cho Cho!
We have this and love it! Its really nice because we have a different thermostat for upstairs and downstairs. So you can change either one no matter where you are in the house. Super convenient.
Hi Tanya, Good point, you can change the temperature wherever you are in the house, without having to move off of the couch, get out of bed or interrupt what you’re doing. The Sensi is very convenient to use.
Hello Carolyn ma,am,
Glad to meet you here.. 🙂
Wow, Excellent functions and features of sensi makes it clever for our smart home. I really like this, you know. Its amazing performance makes it highly usable.
You are great ma,am that you have brought for us this amazing technology. I am very happy to know about sensi.
Most important thing is it is easy to use, install and control. People can easily control this device by just using their android smartphone app, you know.
Thanks a lot for representing this amazing technology in front of us… 🙂
Have a good day..
– Ravi.
Hi Ravi, Yes, I was impressed with how easy installation of the Sensi was. Now that I’ve done it once, I think installing the next one really would take me 15 minutes.
You’re right, controlling the Sensi using an app or your voice is so very cool. But I also like that you can easily control it using the panel on the thermostat.
Thanks for your visit and wonderful comment, Ravi.