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Wiring an Aprilaire E130 Dehumidifier with an Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

Wiring an Aprilaire E130 Dehumidifier with an Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium


  #1  
Old 06-30-22, 03:43 PM
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Wiring an Aprilaire E130 Dehumidifier with an Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

I recently purchased an Aprilaire E130 Dehumidifier. I installed it as recommended return to return side of my HVAC unit (with about 11 or 12 feet in-between ducts). I'd like to control it with with Ecobee thermostat. I have the new Smart Thermostat Premium. The Aprilaire paperwork has diagrams for wiring single zone using external control and I believe it'd be similar using the Ecobee vs using their control module but I can't seem to figure it out.

Any insight is appreciated.


Here's my HVAC unit wired up and running.




Here's the Aprilaire E130 wiring instructions for external control.
 
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Old 06-30-22, 03:56 PM
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I found this and it's similar to the wiring of the Aprilaire External Control with the U as the DH terminal.


 
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Old 07-01-22, 07:55 AM
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Welcome to the forums.

You need at least one and preferably two spare wires from the Ecobee to the equipment area.

With two wires you connect them to ACC+ and ACC- and set the thermostat to two wire operation for dehumidify. At the E130 end you connect the two wires to DH and leave the switch in NO position.

For operation with one wire you'd need to use a relay at the dehumidifier.


 
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Old 07-01-22, 08:25 AM
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Thanks for the reply.

The unit is basically on the other side of the wall, so running new wires is probably the easiest thing about this project.

So basically, ACC+ and ACC- need to be connected to each of the DH terminals on the dehumidifier? Sounds almost too simple.

Also assume you still wiring the thermostat R, C, and G to the unit as depicted.
 

Last edited by ARAMP1; 07-01-22 at 08:57 AM.
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Old 07-01-22, 09:26 AM
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A contact closure on the DH terminals turns on the dehumidifier. That's all you need.
 
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Old 07-01-22, 12:16 PM
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Thanks again for the help. I initially wired it up with everything connected and it seemed to work fine. I ended up disconnecting everything except for the ACC+/- to DH terminals and it works just the same.

Unfortunately, I'm a little underwhelmed with the E130. With the way it's set up now, it will only dehumidify when the AC is on. I have three HVAC units in different zones of the house (this is connected to the main upstairs one), so none of the units work all that hard. So, it'll only dehumidify for a few minutes at a time. I may just disconnect it completely from the HVAC unit and route the ducting up independently from/into the living space.
 
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Old 07-01-22, 12:22 PM
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Normally you would run that instead of the A/C using the A/C's duct work.
So you'd have the dehumidifier and the A/C systems blower only run together.
 
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Old 07-01-22, 03:25 PM
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Well, it's still not working. The ecobee says it's 65% humidity. I have a hygrometer right next to it that says it's 60%. I've got the unit set for 40% but it's not running. If I turn the dehumidifier off then back on, it'll start running and say "External" and "Dehumidifying" on the control panel for a couple minutes then shut off. I believe that's what it's supposed to do when it's powered on.

I noticed the ACC- didn't show connected on the ecobee. I swapped the ACC+ and ACC- wires and the short followed, so I figured I had a short in the wire or connection. I ended up swapping the W1 with it (since I'm not using heat) and that didn't fix it. I'm guessing it's a setting with the dehumidifier.



Man, I wish I could just turn this thing on manually and keep it on for a bit.
 
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Old 07-01-22, 04:47 PM
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Well, I disconnected the thermostat from the dehumidifier completely and disabled external. Now, it's running off the humidity in the intake duct. I put a small digital hygrometer right in front of the filter and it's reading around 55% so I assume that the 51% that the dehumidifier shows is fairly accurate. I'll leave it like this until I can figure out how to control it with the ecobee.



 
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  #10  
Old 07-24-23, 07:24 AM
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Hey OP! Did you ever figure this one out? I'm looking to install an E130 as well and would love to control everything via my Ecobee4 versus having to install a separate controller.
 
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Old 07-24-23, 04:03 PM
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It looks like the E-130 dehumidifier requires a contact closure only and the E-4 thermostat provides voltage. That means an interface relay is needed between the E-4 and the dehumidifier. You will need a relay connected to ACC+ and the system C. Any 24vac relay can be used. The 24vac from the system gets isolated from the E-130.

 
 

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