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C-Wire Check product guide

ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential (EB-STATE7-01)

Simple single-transformer systems with one stage of cooling, on a 2.4GHz network

ecobee's entry thermostat: a 2.8-inch touchscreen, temperature and humidity sensing only, and six wire terminals. The maker lists conventional 2H/1C or 1H/2C and heat pump 2H/1C, wired 24VAC through C and R. The Power Extender Kit and Trim Kit are sold separately, and Wi-Fi is 2.4GHz only.

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Published specifications

  • Maker: wire terminals C, R, G/PEK, Y1, OB (also takes W2 or Y2), W1
  • Maker: conventional 2H/1C and 1H/2C; heat pump 2H/1C; gas, oil, electric, forced air
  • Maker: wired 24VAC through C and R; Power Extender Kit sold separately for homes without a C wire
  • Maker: Wi-Fi 6 at 2.4GHz only; Bluetooth BLE 5.4; sub-GHz sensor radio; about 5MB a month
  • Maker: 3.62 x 3.62 x 0.91 in; 2.8-inch 240x320 touchscreen; temperature and humidity sensors only
  • Maker: box holds thermostat, backplate, wire labels, screws and plugs; trim kit sold separately

Fit and limits

Strengths

  • ecobee publishes the exact terminal list and stage support, so you can check fit before buying
  • Hardwired 24VAC with no batteries, and it works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit
  • Small 3.62-inch body with a full-colour touchscreen and the same ecobee app as the dearer models

Caveats

  • Six terminals only: no two-transformer wiring, no second cooling stage on a heat pump, no accessory terminal
  • Power Extender Kit and Trim Kit are both extra purchases, unlike every other ecobee model
  • 2.4GHz Wi-Fi only, no on-board speaker or occupancy sensor, and no bundled room sensor

The entry-level ecobee, and the smallest one

The Smart Thermostat Essential is ecobee's entry model, sold on Amazon as part number EB-STATE7-01. ecobee's detailed spec panel gives the body as 92mm square and 23mm deep, which is 3.62 by 3.62 by 0.91 inches, with a black front and white sides and back. The display is a 2.8-inch full-colour LCD touchscreen at 240 by 320 pixels. Amazon's specification table lists a screen size of 3.74 inches; the maker says 2.8 inches, and the maker's figure is the one to plan around.

ecobee lists only two sensors inside it: temperature and humidity. There is no occupancy sensor, no proximity sensor and no air quality monitor, which is what separates this from ecobee's dearer models. The Features and Specs list on ecobee's page does include "Works with SmartSensor", so you can add ecobee's current room sensors, but none comes in the box and ecobee's footnote says the Essential is not compatible with the first-generation ecobee Room Sensor.

ecobee's box list is short: the thermostat, a backplate, a quick start guide, wire labels, and screws and drywall plugs. ecobee then lists two things as "optional for installation" that most buyers will discover they want: the Smart Thermostat Essential Trim Kit, which covers marks and holes left by the old thermostat, and the Power Extender Kit. Both are sold separately, and the listing's own bullet says so. ecobee's accessory note is blunt about it: the Power Extender Kit is included with every ecobee model except the Essential and the pro-only Lite.

Six terminals, and what that rules out

This is the specification that decides whether the Essential fits your house. ecobee's detailed specs name six wire terminals: C, R, G/PEK, Y1, OB and W1, with a footnote that the OB terminal accepts a heat pump OB wire, or W2, or Y2. There is no separate RC and RH pair, so there is no two-transformer wiring, and there is no dedicated accessory terminal for a humidifier, dehumidifier or ventilator.

ecobee's stated compatibility follows from that: gas, oil, electric and forced air, conventional systems at two stages of heat and one of cool or one stage of heat and two of cool, and heat pumps at two stages of heat and one of cool. If you have two-stage cooling and two-stage heat, or a heat pump with more than one stage of auxiliary heat, the Essential is not the ecobee for you. The listing's marketing figure is that it is compatible with 85% of systems, which is ecobee's lowest such figure across its range.

There is one disagreement to note inside ecobee's own material. The Amazon bullet, which is ecobee's copy, lists "Conventional (2H/1C or 1H/2C) Heat Pump (2H/1C) Boilers". ecobee's detailed specification panel for the Essential does not list boilers at all, while the panels for its dearer models do. Amazon's specification table goes further off course, listing "Specific Uses For Product" as air conditioner, electric baseboard heater and furnace; ecobee's thermostats are 24 VAC devices and ecobee's own compatibility material rules out line-voltage equipment, which is what most electric baseboard heat is. Do not settle any of this by reading tables. Put your actual wires into ecobee's compatibility checker before you buy.

Powering it: 24 VAC through C and R, or buy the extender

ecobee's detailed specs give the powering method as wired 24VAC through terminals C and R, and add that the Power Extender Kit, sold separately, is available for installation in homes without a C or common wire. Power consumption is listed as less than 3 VA. Amazon's specification table lists the power source as "Battery Powered" and the item weight as 3.2 ounces; the maker describes a hardwired device, and its sibling pro sheet makes a point of saying these thermostats are hardwired and do not need batteries.

The G/PEK terminal is the tell. On this model the fan terminal doubles as the Power Extender Kit connection, which is how a six-terminal thermostat can accept the kit at all. Adding the kit is not a job at the wall: on ecobee's other models the same kit is fitted at the HVAC control board, behind the equipment cover. ecobee offers both a self-installation route through the app and a professional installation route through approved installers, and links to both from the product page.

Budget for the extras before you compare prices. If your house has no C wire you need the Power Extender Kit, and if your old thermostat was larger than 3.62 inches square you will probably want the Trim Kit. Both are ecobee parts sold on their own, and neither is in the box.

Network, app and voice requirements

ecobee's detailed specs give Wi-Fi 6 at 2.4 GHz only. There is no 5 GHz radio in this model, unlike ecobee's Premium, so your router needs a 2.4 GHz band available and reachable at the thermostat's wall. It also lists Bluetooth BLE 5.4, WPA2 and WPA3 encryption, DHCP or static IP addressing, a sub-GHz radio for ecobee's own sensors, and about 5MB of bandwidth a month.

Under "Works with", ecobee lists Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa. The Amazon title adds Siri; on ecobee's page Siri control is a consequence of Apple HomeKit rather than a separate listed feature, and there is no speaker or microphone in this model, so voice means voice on your phone or another speaker, not on the thermostat. Nothing we read on ecobee's Essential page states Matter support, so do not assume it.

As with every ecobee, remote control, alerts and software updates need a Wi-Fi network, a working internet connection, the free ecobee app on a compatible iOS or Android device, and an ecobee account. That account is a requirement, not an option. ecobee's page lists English as the only language.

Do not confuse it with the pro-only Smart Thermostat Lite

ecobee sells a second, nearly identical-looking model called the Smart Thermostat Lite, and its spec sheet says it is exclusive to professional installers. The body dimensions are identical to the Essential's, 3.62 by 3.62 by 0.91 inches, and the display is the same 2.8-inch 240 by 320 screen. ecobee's own Essential page even slips and names the Lite in one of its savings paragraphs.

The stated capabilities are not the same, and this matters if you read a spec sheet that a search engine hands you. ecobee's Lite sheet lists ten wire terminals including RC, RH, Y2, W2 and ACC, compatibility with conventional 2H/2C, heat pump 4H/2C, boilers, and PTACs or fan coil units with up to three fan speeds, plus control of a one-wire HVAC accessory with a note that self-powered accessories need an additional 24V isolation relay. The Essential's panel lists six terminals and no accessory support.

The Lite sheet also gives Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ax at 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5.0, 3 VA and a trim plate in the box. If you are buying the Essential on Amazon, use ecobee's Essential specification panel, not the Lite sheet, and check the model name printed on the unit you receive.

Warranty wording, and what to check before you commit

ecobee's detailed spec panel for the Essential lists the warranty as a "3-year extended warranty", and the same page's purchase panel says ecobee devices are covered by a 3-year limited warranty. Amazon's listing does not publish warranty terms for this ASIN in the details we read. The pro-only Lite sheet advertises an extended 5-year warranty when installed by a professional, which is a different model and a different offer; do not carry that number across.

Ask ecobee for the written warranty document before you rely on it, keep your proof of purchase, and check the seller and condition of the offer you select, because warranty eligibility follows the original purchase. ecobee's own storefront states a 30-day return window for full refund on direct purchases; a marketplace order is governed by that seller's terms instead.

The single most useful thing you can do before buying is ten minutes with ecobee's compatibility checker at ecobee.com/compatibility/thermostat, using the wires actually connected at your wall. It is the check the listing bullet, the product description and the maker page all point at, and on this model, with six terminals and single-stage cooling on heat pumps, it is the difference between an easy afternoon and a return.

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Primary sources

  1. ecobee product page and detailed specification panel for Smart Thermostat Essential
  2. ecobee Smart Thermostat Lite tech specs and sell sheet, the pro-only model with the same body size
  3. ecobee thermostat compatibility checker named in the listing and on the maker page

Primary sources checked .

Compare with

Side-by-side pages, this model next to: Sensi Smart Thermostat ST55, Google Nest Thermostat (Charcoal), Mysa Smart Thermostat V2 for Electric Baseboard Heaters (BB.2.0.01.NA-US), ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium with SmartSensor, Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) with Nest Temperature Sensor (2nd gen).

Keep comparing

Use the C-Wire Check product index to compare other models, or read the full buying guide for category-level advice.