Nest Wiring Diagram: Full Explanation! 

Standing ovation and a round of applause for this guy! Thank you so much :-)

Thank you so much for this video. I bought a Nest thermostat for my house and unfortunately my husband passed unexpectedly before it was installed. After some time I decided I wanted to have the new Nest installed, but folks wanted either a lot of money or they didn't have the time to help me. With your video and wonderful explanation, I was able to install my Nest and have it working all by myself. I got really nervous because all the other videos were talking about 4 wires and when I popped off my old thermostat I had 6 wires. And to add to the confusion, one of them wasn't connected but seemed important (turns out I already had a blue common wire). Thank you!

Thank you so much for this immensely helpful video. Your thorough work and explanation made all the difference!

I cannot say hoy much I appreciate this tutorial. I have been listening over a dozen of guys (so much time wasted) but you are the only one that explained what are the wire connections for, and could make the difference between each ones features, so that I know what is suitable for me. It is incredible how everybody speaks about this C wire but none is able to explain what it is as you are. My appreciation from over the ocean!

one f the best explainations on all of the different configurations. Go through the whole or fast forward for your current setup and you should be ABLE TO WIRW AND SET UP NEST EASILY. MOST EDUCATIONAL AND STRAIGHT FORWARD all in one. better than nest site. Thank you for your great work.

This video was exactly what I needed since I didn't take a picture of the last thermostat! You also gave me a pro tip (obvious in hindsight) to go look at the control panel - DUH! All the wires at the control panel were clearly marked, etc.

Thanks a lot I was struggling with my nest thermostat because we had lost the original wiring from our old thermostat but now I’m all good. Great video thanks a lot

Brilliant video! This answered every single question I had with regards to Nest wiring configurations. THANK YOU!

That O/B wire got me. Thanks for setting me straight. You saved me lots of money.

OMG you are a life safer with this video and your heat pump info about people in the south. I live in Florida and didn't know I had one and I could only get the heat to blow until I moved orange to the OB slot. Yay, AC finally.

This is the most thorough video explanation I've seen. You definitely know what you are talking about

Thank you for this video. I have 4 wires and in my original thermostat, the power wire was connected to Rh while a jumper wire was connected from Rh to Rc. When I installed my Nest, I did not know whether to install the power wire to Rc or Rh. In the end, I installed it to Rh, but I was still hesitant and I did not know much about it. I'm from South Florida where the weather is quite often hot. Your video provided me confirmation when you said it can be either Rh or Rc for the power wire to be connected to.

Thank you so much for this video. Because of your video I was able to install my Nest thermostat on my own. I appreciate that.

Holy cow, thank God you made this video. Old houses and new modifications are a nightmare.

Great explanation. I had to hook a few of these up for a client and am not familiar with HVAC systems so this helped tremendously. Thanks

Wooooow!!..super clear.. understanfable explanation! That's what we are talking about... I have a feeling that you really know what you are talking about!!... Million Thanks!!.. We appreciate your very valuable time!!..

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

This is a very well done presentation - thank you for making it so clear!

Seven wires heat pump system; all I needed to know I found it in your video. Thank you!

Like dis dude, broke down da meaning ov every wire and what it does. Damn sure needed dat info for sure👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿

Thanks for your video, just by explaining what the OB terminal does, you helped explain to me why my fan would go on non-stop 24/7. It was because I had a wire in OB instead of in G. Moved OB to G and now the nest recognizes I have a fan and I can turn it off. Saved me lots of hastle, thanks!

Hey Sir! Excellent video! Thank you. I have a split system (One hvac system with 2 thermostats). My downstairs nest has been working perfectly however my wife recently bought me a Nest for the upstairs to replace an old thermostat (which works fine). The new Nest gives me troubles. When I first installed it I had to charge it via USB and then it worked for a pretty good while. However came home one day and it was now stuck in air-conditioning mode (the upstairs was freezing)! The only way to stop it was to remove the yellow wire. I contacted Nest and after an hour and a half of troubleshooting they sent me a new base. The Nest still doesn’t charge unless I throw it on a USB charger AND now I get intermittent “no power to Y1 or RC errors. I have a 4 wire setup. Y1, G, Rc and W1. Btw that is exactly how the downstairs Nest is wired and it’s been working for 2ish years. Do you have a video that explains this? Thank you!

Dude… Can’t thank you enough for the info. Great video.

Best explanation I saw so far, Thank you!

Thank you, your video helped me install my new Nest Learning Thermostat on my single-stage system...

I installed my nest in the winter and come spring I realized I had no a/c. This video solved my problem!!! Thank you so much! You’re awesome

Thanks man! Awesome video that answered my questions about Rc and Rh slots :)

Thank you for this posting buddy. RC and RH had me confused thx very much for helping. Hv a blessed day!

Thank you, this video was very helpful to us, we were wired wrong and your expertise showed us what we were doing wrong.

GREAT EXPLANATION, THANK YOU

great video very good explanation for older systems that have more than 5 wires and that is the problem with the others videos that explain the easy replacement of a thermostat and not the confusing old thermostat like my in my house that carry about 9 or 10 wires that are so confusing that I am intimidate to install a new thermostat like the Nest for the little information and experience from my part ,thanks for you explanation

This videos was very helpful for installing my nest 👍🏼

Excellent demonstration. perfect!

thank you for sharing this! I am looking to upgrade my thermostat. And your video is very helpful!❤

Thanks bro, it was exactly the explanation I need

This really helped. Thanks for posting

Thanks your videos are Nest are super helpful. Question: if I had an old nest that only did the cooling with four wires: R, G, C, Y1. If I want to get a new Nest for both AC and boiler (which is two wires without C), do I need another C wire for the boiler or I could just rely on the C wire from my AC. Thanks so much!

Awesome explanation. Thank you

Thank you for this video!!!

Thanks for that video, great explanation. I have a question, I am trying to install my Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Gen and after removing my old thermostat (Aube TH144HP 3H2C)and I am wondering if I should put my actual "W" wire to the W1 or W2/Aux on the Nest. My Furnace booklet tells me that this white wire is Aux. Heat... We have a 2 Stage Furnace with Heat Pump system. Also, my old thermostat has jumper in the back and the Aux Jumper is set to Y+W... Does this change the way I plug my new Nest? Thanks in advance.

Amazing video. Thanks

Thanks for the amazing video. I just bought the 3rd generation nest. I look up my old thermostat wires. I see the red power wire goes to RY and a jumper from RY to RC. Do I need to do that with the nest? And then, there is another jumper from W2/aux to E/emergency heat. Do I need to do that with the nest? Thanks for your help in advance.

Great video.

Great explanation on all. I bought the new nest gen 3, nothing was working according to their directions. I had a 4 wire system, but the white wire was connected to OB. You said in the video to put that wire on W1. I did, everything works now. It's also nice to know what all those wire spots do. Our business has 3 furnaces, and now all 3 are working properly now. Thank you. FYI, I called OnTech (Google tech), he showed up today, and I asked him about it all anyway, and I knew more than he did! (Just from your video). My only question that I still do not have answered: How can I get the fan to run on "high" all the time. The google help says it can be done with my Learning Nest, but I cannot get it, and the Google Tech was clueless (as always).

Thank you for the video! Question: I have a geothermal and the gas system in my house. Do I connect geothermal to O/B or W1? Thanks.

Thanks, just bought two Nests and have a oil boiler. Will work on my R & W

You the man! Thanks!

Hi I have a white cable that came from my old thermostat connected to O but in the nest it doesn't have one does it go to W1?

Awesome video!!! Explains everything for me. :-)

Thanks for your video, I have a Honeywell thermostat which has only two wires named A&B. It seems it got the high voltage on it, can I connect my Nest 3rd on these two wires and which I should connect to? Is is it possible at all or I need to install the main

Awesome presentation 👏

Thank you so much, stay blessed...

Saved me. Thank you!

Excellent video, thanks

I have a question. I was wanting to install a nest thermostat. My current thermostat has a orange wire in the y slot. But it also has a yellow wire that’s not being used. So which wire should I plug into the y slot in my nest thermostat the yellow wire or the orange wire???? I have gas heat

Great job 👍

Great Video well done sir.

Very well said. I live in northern climate with only heat. My old wires are red, white, green and blue wires. I’ve recently hooked up my nest and everything appears to work but get message N256 and see the C and G wires are undetected. I can’t seem to find a diagram on my old wiring to feed the nest. What color wires should go to my nest connectors?

Thanks for the video. I have a standard hvac system and air conditioner but my thermostat has the red wire going into RC with a jumper going to RH. I'm looking at the installation video for the regular Nest...not the learning or the E....and it only has one spot for R. Is this going to be an issue? Also, if I buy a nest learning, which has spots for both RC and RH, do I run a jumper from RC to RH? Thanks!

Great video, do you happen to have any Nest videos for a heat pump system with a 2 speed fan?

Great explanation! I got Honeywell HZ322 zoning panel where W2 is connected with white wire and W1/E is connected with black wire. Should my Nest learning thermostat also be wired same as Zoning panel? Currently white wire is connected to W1 and black wire is connected to “*”. Any suggestions is much appreciated.

Thanks, our Nest has worked for 6 months now, but one of our 4 Nest Learning thermostats just lost WiFi (Google is replacing it). During the troubleshooting phase, I learned about the battery recharging and voltage amounts seen under Power in the Nest Options (Thanks for that info as well). Our batteries were all 3.7 volts, with the lin at 20 or less. I believe connecting the Common is a no-brainer if the wire (Blue). In our case, we have 5 wire runs to the thermostats, and the Blue is not being used. So I will connect the Blue unused wire at the boiler and connect to the "C" at the thermostat. Our wiring at the furnace Accel CS - System 2000 - EK-1C is not as intuitive as shown in some videos, but we have our boiler installer coming out for our first annual service, so I will have them connect the Blue wire to 24V at the furnace.

Extremely helpful and the way he explained is very clear. You are a pro thank you!

super helpful!! thank you

After watching this video I follow the steps and it was all so easy after that. 1. I removed the old thermostat. 2. Took a picture of the current wiring. 3. I opened the manual that came with the Ecobee3 thermostat which has many wiring drawings then i compared the wiring in the manual with the wiring of the old thermostat and took a picture of it. 4. Since I was able to find match the wiring of the old thermostat with the Wiring of Ecobee3 there was no need in using the adapter kit that came with Ecobee3. 5. I simply wired my Ecobee3 exactly as the diagram in the manual and that was it it worked fine, no issues.

Thanks for your video. I have a question my old thermostat have a jumper between rh & rc. I have white wire to W & red to RC. On nest do i need a jumper? & how do i connect white & red wire?

What If you have an E wire

Great Video. We are about to bring the two LV wires from a boiler heater over to the AC area and merge onto a newly installed NEST. One of the heat wires would go onto the RC terminal I am not clear about where to place the second wire? I think RH and W1?

So if I get the latest (2020) version of the Nest thermostat, and I have "Rh" connection; can I plug that into the "R" terminal and it will work? Or do I have to get the higher priced nest thermostat and use the "Rh" labelled "plug"?

Great video. I am just installing a learning Nest thermostat and and my old Honeywell thermostat has 6 wires and the blue wire was connected to W2. I don't have heat pump or dehumidifier . Should I install that wire in the W2 connection of the nest thermostat? Thank you so much for your help

Very helpful how do I hook up if you have y1 and y2

had my heat wire going to heat pump since i completely fllowed old tthermostat setup. changed it after watching video now all good

thank you for your video, I have some issue with Nest, it running 14hr a day, I do not think it should run that much. I had no C wire but was able to add using unused wire and my old thermostat had jumper between R and Rc. I connected the red wire only to Rc. Do I need to add jumper, Nest recommendation was without C wire but two red one go to Rc and other to Rh

What should I do with a W1 that has a jumper to W2? I assume the jumper is the power to the Emergency Heat switch on my current thermostat. I have an electric heat pump and would like to switch from a ProSelect model PSTS21NP thermostat to the NEST learning 3rd Gen.

Thank you for this video, Pleas help...I have a simple straight cool/heat system, all my wirings were done by a pro and all was working fine (for 2 years) until I heard a bright lightening flash during a thunder storm and a couple of seconds of electric interruptions. Everything sounded fine after that cooled perfectly until I noticed that the blower motor/air handler does not shut off even if you turn the thermostat to off it keeps on running. Could you tell me how to trouble shoot the thermostat? (I have 5 wires with Common) should I check for voltage 24vac between C and G? (thermostat set to off) if the voltage is there then the thermostat is bad? Thank you in advance.

I have a Heat Pump with a current thermostat that has W1 wire in the spot then a jumper to W2. What do I do with that on the Nest? Currently it's in W1 and I set my need to for Alt Heating to 30 degrees. We did have really cold few days but my electric bill was double last month. Curious if I need to raise the temp for needing Alt heat and what to do with this W1/W2 wire situation. Thanks Brian

thank you for this educational video. i have an office running in a same unit a/c with 2 different wifi now the nest is in other office beside me. can i add my own nest for my office i have 5 wire would it be possible to use the same color code for the new one getting branch out from other office.

Thanks for the help, I was able to figure out in my dual-zone home that the previous owners had put ONE zone's blue wire into the Common Wire slot, and had put the OTHER zone's blue wire into the Blue slot (because it's blue, so obviously it goes there, right? Pffft). I don't have a heat pump and was able to figure it out with your help!

I have a 2 stage air handler and it’s mostly for heat but has y1 and y2 and only a w1. We find the air doesn’t seem to push while the heat is on. No heat pump is hooked up yet. Will be just not this winter) Would we be able to switch the y2 to the w2 in the nest and in the air handler or how would we go about that?

I do not have AC and my yellow wire just sits behind the mounting plate. Can that be used as a common wire? My furnace was off for much of the summer and now the nest doesn’t charge while furnace/fun is running. I have to pull it off of the mount and charge with the micro USB every two days or so. Thank you

Ok, so I think I've got the concept but I'm checking to see if I can make minimal changes to get this to work. I set up the * wire and have access to it near the furnace. I can connect that to the wire leading to the humidifier relay. My question is about power. Do I have to run the power from the furnace C, or can I keep it on the plugin transformer?

Thanks this explains a lot for us novices😊😊😊

I appreciate you!

Great video on how to setup the nest with a heat pump. I'm wondering will all nest thermostats work with a heat pump ? I have a nest that I installed a few years ago on my oil burning furnace heating system. I'm planning to replace this furnace with a central heat pump and was wondering if my nest will be compatible with the new pump.

Thank you so much for describing very smoothly, but have 1 question regarding my old thermostat, so it has 5 wires as follow RH= 24 Volt, Y/0= air conditioning Compressor, W/B= Heating, G= Fan, Y1= Heat Pump Compressor as per my old thermostat diagram (Hunter Model 44360), if you can describe me which wire goes where please, and thanks again.

Question, Goodman heat pump, with y1, y2, r and c wires available. If I just want to use it for AC can I just connect the y1 and c wires to the wiring block in the Goodman has furnace. Is using the 2 stage heat pump feature worth it. My furnace wiring block only has a y terminal. Would I just run the y2 back to the nest thermostat if I to use the y2 terminal for 2 stage? Thoughts? Thank you, Jack Perlmutter

James - Thank you so much for explaining all of this in such a clear and understandable way. I have a question - I have a system that has two G wires - for HIGH and LOW fan. Do you have a video that explains where that wire should be connected? Oddly the thermostat appears to be getting power - yet it gives an e75 error indicating that there is nothing connected to y1 or w1 even though the correct wires are connected to the terminals. When I look up the error on the nest site - it says invalid error. I am not sure if this 7th wire has anything to do with it…. so I was hoping you might have another video that could help. Again - Thanks so much…

This is helpful. I ran into an issue but I'm not sure it's explained in this video, unless I misunderstood. I installed a Nest but our first floor has two separate thermostats: A main one and another for a bedroom but it only operates the heat, not AC. After installing the Nest as the main thermostat, it seems to have superseded the bedroom thermostat, meaning the heat runs throughout the first floor, whenever it kicks on, whereas before, it would only run the main thermostat. Previously, we could control the bedroom heat but setting the temp on the bedroom thermostat. It makes for a pretty warm bedroom most of the time. Is there a simple fix to have Nest to bypass the bedroom thermostat/heating system? Or might it require something more advanced?

excellent explanation thank you... one cuestion what color would be the C wire, . I have the 4 wire RHRc, W,G,Y . but I have to wire more not connected to my thermostat...

Hi, what about wiring with an Argo heat switch system?

On my old thermostat I have 1 Y terminal but 2 wires are connected to it. When moving to the NEST would I just connect one of the wires to Y1 and the other to Y2?

I have 2 red wires going into the RH wire. One wire is a larger gauge than the other. I’m your opinion, which one could I stick in the R slot since I cannot put two wires in there. Great video. You spoke very clear.

I'm literally crying rn, we've been almost 2 weeks without heat -in WI, in January, in a cold snap. We bought this house last September, and the previous owners had installed a Buderus Logamax GB-142 condensing boiler for in-floor radiant heat. the wiring job is... less than obvious. Since the Buderus is a two wire system (white and red), there's no common wire, and whoever did the wiring spliced a brown wire to the red wire from the boiler, probably to not confuse it with the red wire from the AC. The white wire from the AC was spliced into a black wire - again, probably to avoid confusion. Avoid confusion, it *did not* Because of the wiring shenanigans, the Nest was freaking out about the wire setup. I finally fixed this by seeing your video and putting the brown wire (red from boiler) into the w2 slot and the black wire into RC. Suddenly the Nest recognized the wiring and now I'm waiting for it to have enough juice to connect to the wi fi. Thank you so much, I would never have enough for a repair tech, as I'm on SSI.

Hi. My old thermostat has G, G2, G3 Im assuming because it has 3 fan speeds. If i where just to connect the G wire will it still be able to change speeds?

Thanks, I had a Nest Gen 3 connected to a Burnham/Beckett 80's two wire system here in chilly central Massachusetts using the Rc and W1 wires. I was concerned because the installer used Rc instead of Rh. I moved the wire from Rc to Rh and the nest asked me if my wiring had changed. I said yes and 30 sec later I'm back in business. I guess the Rc and Rh in this case are the same but its nice to get your confirmation rather than feeling uneasy with the much less detailed videos out there. Can I assume that during a hot summer when the Nest never "calls" for heat that the unit draws just enough current to power the Nest without unnecessarily turning on heat or could this explain why i need a new Nest battery after 3 years?

I have heat pump system electric Heat-A/C - I bought a nest and I am trying to make sure I am using the correct terminals. The original used Brown (E), Red (R), White (Aux), Yellow (Y), Green (G), Blue (C), Orange (O). For the Nest it is clear which ones to use except for the Brown (E). I have emergency heat so Do I place this on the W1 or asterisk? Thank you

Thank you Mike Napoli

Happy 2022! I do have a question for you. I do have variable speed furnace and heat pump system. My variable speed didn't work since we install nest thermostats. It goes only on slow speed witch makes the system runs very long time to heat up my house specially when is very cold outside. I think I have 2nd gen type. 4zones system.10 year old house. My hvac guy told me the nest is not compatible with variable speed system. Is that thru? Appreciated if I get an answer from anybody who knows this. Thank you

Thank you for the videos! I have been searching and unable to find an explanation for my situation. I have a Nest Learning Thermostat which is connected to a Goodman (2 stage blower) heat pump/AC and have Propane for the backup heat. It was installed about 3 years ago and every season change from cooling or heat I have had to call an HVAC tech to come out and re-connect the system so it will work for the season. Yesterday it was 85 in the house and the AC was blowing 100-degree heat. The HVAC tech thinks that the nest is defective... Any suggestions?

Great help. I am using the Nest thermostat standard wiring for a HVAC system. Would it be possible to use one of the other power connections to operate a whole house fan?