Nest Thermostat Battery Power?

Ben1989

Thanks Jonny. I have no rear access to it unfortunately. Seems a bit of a negative with most gadgets now running on batteries. All my Ring alarm system is fully on batteries. Had it two years and not had to charge anything yet.

FaceHead

I have a Nest E and a Learning Nest 3rd Gen.

They need to be hard wired - either plugged in, or the learning nest can be wall mounted if it is wired back to the boiler to get 12V power. 

(The UK Nest E cannot be wall mounted. You'll find videos online of the US version being wall mounted).

I think batteries are best avoided as a rule. Lights, thermostats, smoke alarms: hardwire everytime. It's best to do these things when you're doing major refurbishment, and do them properly, rather than having some half baked add-on battery solution. 

alanobrien

It needs to be connected to the mains but that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be put on a wall.
It can be charged by a usb charger, the usb port is on the back of the thermostat. 
the stat can then be put on a stand and located anywhere in the house/flat next to a a mains plug to keep it charged. 

Typical stand;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/EEEKit-Bracket-Learning-Thermostat-Generation-White/dp/B07891LH5J/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=nest+stand&qid=1661519410&sr=8-5

The Nest thermostat is an excellent bit of hardware.  Unfortunately support is poor since google took it over.     The nest app is fine just dont  "upgrade" to google home.   Example - hot water boost is missing from the google app and has been for years but they dont seem to care (relevant to system boilers).      If i was buying today i would go with Hive instead for that reason.    Its a real pity as the nest hardware is excellent. 

sgc21

I had nest but changed to tado which I find is a lot superior, the thermostat is battery and can be moved, radiator thermostat are a must, you can independently control each radiator and the tado app shows which radiator is using most kWh, you can also keep a track on your energy usage for each room and only heat the rooms you use.

greensalad

Why not just put it elsewhere in your house, like the kitchen? I have mine in the hall but that's just because there was a convenient spot to plug it in. My friends have theirs in the living room.

anotheruser

Cash-Cows said:

I've never understood why people put thermostats in the hall - you don't live in the hall. 

Because the hall is generally one of the coldest places in the house.

Therefore the best measure of temperature to get your house to the required temperature, is the lowest one.

Remember, this is because a lot of people still heat their whole house to the same temperature.

While heating certain rooms may be good for saving money (how much though?), you then move from a warm room to a cold one, allowing all the cold air to whoosh into the warm room in the process.  Not sure of the claims about heating certain rooms is better (unless the unheated rooms are not used at all / doors kept closed - but that's not our situation).



You will be hard pushed to find someone who can compare Nest and Hive - generally people stick to one and that's that.

I chose Hive as it's owned by British Gas.
Nest wasn't owned by Google at that time so discounted it as an option in case the company stopped updating the app / app stopped working.

Our Hive control unit / thermostat goes in my Son's room as that's the one we want to be at the temperature we set.  It's battery powered, so portable although I 3D printed a back / stand for it.

If you're invested in Google and Google products, go for Nest (look for pictures / reviews that wil tell you if Nest is portable or not).
If you want a pretty good brand name, go Hive.
If you want to go cheaper, go for another brand.