NEST, Now With Plugin Power

While all internalized attempts at adding a C-wire failed miserably, the wall plug in 24v adapter did work.

Of course it wasn't as simple as plugging it in and the thermostat then playing nice. Of course not.

First, I had to go to the furnace and rewire the G wire back to the G from the C connector on the furnace. Then I had to remove the thermostat base from the wall yet again, which is getting harder as one of the self tapping screws that attaches the mount to the wall is starting to have a stripped screw head from all the times I've had to adjust it wit these many attempts.

Then, of course the contacts on the wires on the plug in unit were too short to actually plug into and lock into the NEST contacts, and I had to strip the wires for more leads. I didn't have a proper wire stripper for this, but had a wire cutter and had to figure out the exact amount of pressure to cut the sheathing without sipping the wire inside. This took some time, some broken wire, and led to some enhanced vocabulary. But, I finally got sufficient length of open wire to plug into the NEST Then I loosely reattached the base to the wall, added the NEST unit and . . . .

It finally worked. Air conditioner worked without a problem, the NEST shows good power and all is well.

Next, I will have to take it apart yet again, drill a hole near the baseboard and feed the wire up behind the drywall to make it all look nicer as there's now a wire coming out horizontally from the mount that then runs along the wall and then hides behind the bookcase and then gets to a plug. Might as well fix it to make it look nice now that it works.