Why "not all building types have a setback", and how can I deal with it?

grasshopper honeybee-legacy
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1

I used to do energy modeling by setting the same Setpoint/Setback values, and I never had this issue.

Now I need to supply a list of Colling/Heating Setpoints/Setbacks.
However, many building programs do not support setbacks.

Why is that so, and how can I change it to use the setbacks?

I use honeybee legacy.

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Medium Office ClgSetp Winter Design Day has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.
Medium Office ClgSetp Rule 1 Day Schedule has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.
Medium Office ClgSetp Winter Design Day has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.
Medium Office HtgSetp Summer Design Day has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.
Medium Office HtgSetp Winter Design Day has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.
Medium Office HtgSetp Rule 1 Day Schedule has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.
Medium Office HtgSetp Summer Design Day has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.
Medium Office HtgSetp Winter Design Day has no setback. Only setPt will be changed.

2

I believe I can mimic the difference in Setpoints and Setbacks by using schedules?

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If I apply a schedule like so, do I need to supply zone Setpoint/Setback then? And what will happen if I will leave that empty, will it just use the supplied Cooling/Heating setpoint schedule?

3

I have some Thermal Zones that will be fully conditioned , unconditioned, and heated or cooled[3] only.

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I was trying first to model it by using Setpoints/Setbacks, eg for spaces that are Heated only, the setbacks for cooling will be 99, and so on. But I run into a problem that not every building program supports setbacks.

So I decided to create schedules that are mimicking the setbacks. (Null schedules):

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these are the schedule names:
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But this approach is very odd, and creates lots of errors, like:
Convergence error in SolveForWindowTemperatures for window
or
DualSetPointWithDeadBand: Effective heating set-point higher than effective cooling set-point - increase deadband if using unmixed air model

So I am not sure that I am doing it correctly.

I am reading UnmetHours forum, but cannot find a solution to this…

What would be a clever solution to model “partially conditioned” thermal zones?