Vivint Thermostat Offline? (How to Troubleshoot)

ByNelson Morgan Troubleshooting

You’ve been using your Vivint thermostat for a while now, facing no issues. Suddenly, the thermostat went offline. Now, you are looking for a way to bring your thermostat back online.

If that sounds like you, keep reading this article to discover how to resolve this issue.

But first, let’s explore why your Vivint thermostat may be offline to help you avoid similar problems in the future.

Why is my Vivint Thermostat Offline

Your Vivint thermostat might have lost its connection because:

  • The batteries are old, rusty, or incompatible with the thermostat.
  • Your thermostat’s connection is faulty.
  • Your Vivint panel is taking too long to load.

Now, let’s discuss how you can resolve these issues:

Vivint Thermostat Offline: Try the Following Troubleshooting Tips

1. Change Your Batteries

If your Vivint thermostat suddenly goes offline, your batteries may have reached the end of their lifetime. Old batteries often prevent your thermostat from functioning properly.

What if you’ve just replaced your batteries when your Vivint thermostat went offline? In that case, you might have used the wrong batteries. The only battery type that is compatible with the Vivint thermostat is the non-rechargeable alkaline AA battery. You must use 4 of these batteries if you want your Vivint thermostat to work correctly.

Vivint Thermostat Offline

Whether your batteries are old or incompatible with your Vivint thermostat, you need to change them to help your thermostat regain its connection.

Here’s how to change the batteries in your Vivint thermostat:

  • Carefully pull your Vivint thermostat out of its magnetic mounting plate.
  • Remove the thermostat’s plastic case to reveal the batteries.
  • Take out all old or incompatible batteries.
  • After taking the batteries out, wait for 30 seconds.
  • Insert the new non-rechargeable alkaline AA batteries. Ensure that you place the new batteries in the correct position. If you fail to do this, your Vivint thermostat may remain offline after you have changed its batteries.
  • Close the plastic case and remount your Vivint thermostat.

Now, switch on your thermostat.

2. Refresh Your Vivint Thermostat’s Connection

Your Vivint thermostat may go offline if its connection to the SkyControl Panel is faulty. The Vivint SkyControl Panel is a Smart Home Security System that allows you to control all your Vivint home appliances like the thermostat, camera, and alarm systems. All these devices rely on the Vivint SkyControl panel to function.

Likewise, the SkyControl panel communicates with these smart home appliances through Wi-Fi or Z-Wave technology.

Your Vivint thermostat is connected to the SkyControl Panel through Z-Wave technology. This technology offers easier accessibility and faster connection than Wi-Fi. In addition, Z-wave technology is less likely to suffer interference. While Z-Wave technology may be more reliable than Wi-Fi, it can also malfunction. When this happens, your thermostat may go offline.

If your Vivint thermostat loses its connection to the SkyControl Panel, you may need to refresh the connection.

Take the following steps to refresh your thermostat’s connection:

  • Turn on your Vivint SkyControl Panel and enter your pin to disarm the security system. The system will direct you to the panel’s home screen.
  • Click on the menu icon at the bottom right of the home screen.
  • Next, select “Smart Home Settings” and choose “General” in the list of options that appear.
  • The system will request your pin. Enter it to continue.
  • Now, navigate to the “Connectivity” tab and select it.
  • Click on “Z-Wave”. Then, tap “Refresh Z-wave Network” to start refreshing your connection.

Finally, select “Check” to complete the process.

Close the menu. Your Vivint thermostat should be online now.

3. Reboot Your Vivint SkyControl Panel

Another reason your Vivint thermostat may be offline is that your Vivint SkyControl Panel could be taking too long to load. Although this device connects to your smart home appliances using Z-Wave technology, the system operates with Wi-Fi.

So, before your SkyControl panel links to your Vivint thermostat, it first has to connect to your Wi-Fi. If the panel fails to connect to your Wi-Fi, your Vivint thermostat will stay offline.

That said, there are cases where the Vivint SkyControl panel may take a while to connect to your Wi-Fi. This often happens in homes that use a dual-band router.

The dual-band Wi-Fi offers both 5GHz and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks. If you use a dual-band Wi-Fi router, your Vivint SkyControl panel may sometimes connect to the 5GHz Wi-Fi network.

However, the only suitable Wi-Fi for your Vivint SkyControl panel is the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. So, when your SkyControl panel tries to connect to a 5GHz network, the procedure may last for a long time and eventually fail.

If your Vivint SkyControl Panel is taking too long to connect to your Wi-Fi, you may need to reboot the panel.

Follow these steps to reboot your thermostat panel:

  • Open the SkyControl panel and enter your pin to disarm the system.
  • Click on the Menu icon at the bottom of the screen.
  • Then, tap on “Devices” in the “Smart Home Settings” tab. Input your pin again to continue.
  • Click on the “Displays” tab and select “Reboot” on the page that appears.
  • Then tap “Yes” to start rebooting. This process should take about 10-15 minutes.
  • Close the menu once the process is complete.

Your Vivint thermostat should be connected now.

Final Thoughts

So there it is! Use the above tips to get your Vivint thermostat back online—when it goes offline. While applying these solutions, make sure to follow each step thoroughly for a wholesome result.

To recap, you can try any of the following tips to troubleshoot your Vivint thermostat when it goes offline:

  • Change your batteries.
  • Refresh your Vivint thermostat’s connection.
  • Reboot your SkyControl panel.

Note that the Vivint thermostat was formerly known as the Element thermostat. So, if you are trying to troubleshoot your Element thermostat, you can also try the tips in this article.

And if none of the fixes work, try contacting Vivint customer support for help.

You may also want to see how to troubleshoot connectivity issues in Vivint doorbell cameras.