Wiring – I have older HVAC unit (heat pump) and looking for the C wire to hook up to Smart Thermostat

After looking closely at the images you've supplied, this is what it appears is going on in the last photo.

From what I know about HVAC systems, I would guess a broader view of the system would look something like this.

• The transformer supplies power to the thermostat through the RED wire.
• The BLUE wire serves as the COOL call from the thermostat.
• The BLUE wire connects to the WHITE wire, which is connected to the coil of the contactor in the condensing unit.
• The GREEN wire is the other side of the contactor coil.
• The GREEN wire connects to the BROWN wire, which is the other side of the transformer (C).

When the thermostat calls for COOL, the BLUE wire is energized. This energizes the WHITE wire leading to the contactor, which pulls the contactor closed. The GREEN wire connects to the BROWN wire, which leads back to the transformer, thus completing the circuit.

Therefore, if you want to use the YELLOW wire as C. You should include it in the twist-on wire connector with the GREEN and BROWN wire.

You'll just want to make sure the transformer is sized properly to supply the additional current draw of the thermostat.

If it were me, I'd rewire it so that the YELLOW wire was the COOL call, and the BLUE wire was C. As that's a more common color coding.

I don't know if you ever got this worked out or not, but I'm in the same boat. Bought an Ecobee3 and I have the RA832A relay. It doesn't appear as though it has any sort of C wire capability.

Awhile back before I bought the unit or knew what my boiler was using in any sort of detail I reached out to Ecobee and this is what they said (I was planning to merge the boiler and AC into one thermostat as they are two separate now).

They said:

The boiler would use Rh and W. The AC would use Rc C G and Y

On their support site they have an article talking about what you can do if you don't have a C wire and one of the options was use a transformer and isolation relay.