Long story short - bought a house in July that needed work.

The HVAC system was installed in 2014 and is a Nortek electric 2.5 ton SEER system. When we moved in, we had a hard time figuring out the AC programming. It would constantly return to a set schedule regardless of how I programmed it, and the blower fan seemed to run continuously. So I said fuck it and bought a honeywell wifi thermostat. That solved the programming issue, but now that the heat pump is turning on I am running into a similar issue with the blower fan running almost constantly.

The reason I am posting is this; although it runs constantly, I am noticing that it will suddenly turn off, and then immediately turn back on in a span of 3 seconds. But I can hear a click from the thermostat, so I don't know if it is the thermostat telling it to turn off and then it immediately turns back on, or what is happening. I took pictures and labeled the thermostat wires and installed them how they were, but maybe the wiring was wrong to begin with? In any case I can't afford continuous high electric bills and I dont want to have an hvac guy come out if it is something I can fix myself. What can I do to troubleshoot?

Editing to add: After standing in front of my thermostat, here is what I am seeing. It switches off when switching from "heat on" to "Auxiliary heat".It will then switch off temoprarily  from "auxiliary heat" to heat on mode. Temperature outside is mid 30's. Maybe it is working how it is supposed to? My question would then be why is it switching modes so frequently?

Update:I have a nordyne jt4bd-30k heat pump 2.5 ton.

So I have today to get this figured out. I have the thermostat off of the wall and am going to try to fix it.

There are 7 wires total- a red and a white wire are in a jacket together, separate from the other 5. The colors of the 5 remaining wires are green, blue, white, yellow and red.

The yellow wire is in the y2 slot - which I do not think is correct because I do not have a 2 stage system. The remove tab broke off so the yellow wire is in the y2 slot. so I can cut it out if I dont need it.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Sometimes you need to program the tstat with the type of heat it is controlling. Radiant,  forced hot air, etc.  then you can set the recommended cycle rate per hour.  Read the manual.  And a lot of the new Honeywell tstats have an anticipator that learns how your system reacts and gets to the set point where it is satisfied in an amount of time based on the load of your house. They are smart. So set up the new tstat by reading the manual to set the correct parameters for your system. Start there.

good point. I watched a youtube video and did not read the manual.

This thermostat did have a series of question at set up - it asked single stage or two stage, heat pump or forced air, what it is controlling, etc. I will read the manal and see if that offers a solution.

If it it not the thermostat, is there anything else I should be looking at?

If you hear he tstat clicking on and off it's the tstat. The tstat only makes or breaks the circuit depending what you have it set for. You could also be loosing power and the tstat is turning off and on because sometimes they get power from the step down transformer   But I find it highly unlikely that the transformer is turning off and on because it's bad, usually it would just be dead.  Try the tstat first, because that is the relay that controls everything. The tstat tells The relay where to send power

The stat is not set up correctly.  

meaning the wiring?

"After standing in front of my thermostat, here is what I am seeing. It switches off when switching from "heat on" to "Auxiliary heat".It will then switch off temporarily from "auxiliary heat" to heat on mode. Temperature outside is mid 30's. Maybe it is working how it is supposed to? My question would then be why is it switching modes so frequently?"

what does this mean when the tstat does this?

It could mean that the temp differential between aux and primary heat are set too close to one another. There might be a setting for that.  
Also, it could be at that outdoor "weird" temp(where it's cold enough but not too cold) putting a different load on your house, where the primary heat needs to run a minute or 2 longer that it normally would then the tstat thinks the primary is struggling so it switched to aux.  

Correct me if I'm wrong (anyone) but primary heat should be the heatpump and the aux should be gas fired furnace or electric (depending on the system)

There should be a setting when to call for aux heat.

Some tstats also read outdoor temp and will disable heatpump and only run the aux heat based on temperature.  

Sound to me your tstat is still not setup right for 2 stages of heating. You might need a new style tstat for what you want if you cannot adjust aux and primary heat settings.

Also, the Honeywell could be learning how long it takes to be satisfied on temp, so it could be playing with options to make it happen faster.  Let it go for a few days to a week. See if it learns

Can you post model number of outdoor and indoor air handler or furnace, a picture of thermostat wiring at the sub base of the thermostat and model number of thermostat? 

I'm going to guess it's either Tstat is set for wrong system type or its a combination of the temperature differential for the aux heat to kick on combined with air circulation. Sometimes the aux set point is as low as .5 degree, so if it gets .5 below your desired temp it kicks aux on. If the unit is kicking off entirely it's possible the tstat is located in a slightly warmer place in the house, yet a place where cool return air can pass over it. Tstat kicks on, calls for heat, the blower circulated air in the house, sending cooler air towards the tstat, which triggers the aux heat to kick on.

You need to RTFM and get the tstat set up properly. If you cannot adjust the offset temp for the aux heat then get a new one that can be changed and set to at least 2 degrees, if not more (prefer 4 degrees so the temp has to drop significantly before the aux comes on).

I have a nordyne jt4bd-30k heat pump 2.5 ton.

So I have today to get this figured out. I have the thermostat off of the wall and am going to try to fix it.

There are 7 wires total- a red and a white wire are in a jacket together, separate from the other 5. The colors of the 5 remaining wires are green, blue, white, yellow and red.

The yellow wire is in the y2 slot - which I do not think is correct because I do not have a 2 stage system. The remove tab broke off so the yellow wire is in the y2 slot. so I can cut it out if I dont need it.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Attached File
This is for your specific model.  Make sure your t-stat is set up as a one cool, two heat for proper operation. 

you dont have a clearer version of that do you?
the problem I am encountering is that not all of those letters match up with the ports on the new thermostat I bought, which looks like this
http://i.imgur.com/pg3p7bk.jpg
Any idea how to figure it out by the wiring in the air handler? Or can you explain the wiring diagram?
ETA this is what the old tstt wiring looked like -
http://imgur.com/a/fFpT2

I sent to your email the manual, along with another aid for low voltage wiring.  Looks like someone did not use standard low voltage wiring which really messes things up, you have too many of the same color in the picture with the original stat.  You should have the following wires for HP operation. 

Red for 24 VAC coming from AH
White for Heat
Yellow for Cool
Green for indoor fan
Black, sometimes blue for common
Orange for Reversing valve

Amazon services had a thermostat install for $90. I agree that there is non standard wiring. im hoping he can figure it out or look at the rats nest in the air handler and figure it out from there.

The system was installed in 2014. So the red and white wires, seperate from the other wires, could be remnants from the old system that were repurposed into the new system?

the thermostat installer I ordered from amazon said it was going to be more money to have to trace back wires. What would you say a fair price to have hat done is?

Sounds like you need a pro. Please don't take offense to this statement: you have no clue what your doing. Some people cant comprehend certain things as well as others, and that's why certain people have certain jobs. You need proper tools and testing instruments to solve this issue your having and it's been a while on this topic and a lot of guessing and going back and forth.

Having said that, Iam a professional, but there are limitations on what can be done and what can't be done over the Internet, through a phone or computer, giving directions to somebody else, to solve this type of issue.

You really should have payed more attention unwiring the old tstat, labeling or taking note, where each wire went. Just because the general rule of what color wires go where doesn't mean they ACTUALLY are that way.    There are ways to tell what wire does what by touching the red to the green to see if the blower comes on, etc. but what you do there is at your own risk and if you make a short because you touched the wrong wire to another wire it will further create problems and cost more money.

Not being rude, but you should call someone and stop dicking the dog and get this fixed once and for all

I use a camera toe take pictures of everything.

It makes an easy way of documenting what WAS there before anything is altered or disconnected.

It makes the old 'label tabs' look primitive and we used to have a small portable  office label printer for those.