gsm contol of heating in conjunction with timer

tkm1

Im new to Boards and am just wondering the way I could go about remotely operating my heating in conjuction with the timeclock in place. I would like to be able for both to operate the heating. If it wwired in parallel would this solve it?
any help would be great
Thanks

Gate Automation

it's possible, but when you start heating from gsm you must switch off by gsm, because timer can't switch off gsm

drBill

You might consider the RPS1363 remote control socket here:
http://www.tekview.co.uk/products
I use one of these to control the temperature at a premises which I look after. It's designed for 13A devices so I had to change the heating to use a 13A plug instead of mains connection. But having done that, I can check the temperature of the building at any time, and switch the heating on/off from anywhere, or just let its built in timer switch switch on the heat for a while each dey.

Alternatively there are a few permanant-wired GSM remote devices (google gsm remote) out there but in your case you would need to wire at least 2 relays:
- one to switch control between the GSM controller and your existing timer
- one to switch on/off the heating when in GSM control mode.

The advantages of the RPS1363 are:
- it includes a temperature sensor, so you can query its temperature remotely or get it to control a device based on temperature
- it includes a (basic) programmable timer
- it can be programmed to be driven by temperature
- it has an override button which can be used to switch its connected device on/off
- it has a built in battery and automatically texts you in the event of a power failure
- is favourable in price to more elaborate GSM control systems

Disadvantages:
- it only controls a single circuit, which is its own output socket
- it can only be programmed by sending SMS messages
- its timer functionality only supports 1 of and 1 off event per day.

deandean

Have you got a smartphone?

There are a few controllers out now with an Internet connection, you can access them over the Interweb. Do a google search.

FMartinp

Try Heatslave.ie for an Irish made product.

LLU

Think you mean www.heatslave.com , not '.ie'.

Sounds roughly like what the op wants alright, but pi$$ poor website, very hard to figure out what they are selling and what it looks like, how good it is etc.

Ed-Moses

There is another maker in Dublin.
They sell to trade only so an electrician will have to be engaged first..

Worth a look, as they do a four zone controller.
http://www.2t-tec.com/shop/product_info.php/info/p53894_2t-mobile-2-home-heating.html

Diggerdunne

You can also control it through your alarm if you have a GSM on your alarm. I know the HKC has 2 output relays that you can control remotely. All you need is 2 12v to 230 relays and a Lv cable from the alarm control panel to your time clock....

Eddieken8

The only advise I can give you is to stay away from heat slave, very unreliable and even worse after sales support.

FMartinp

Eddieken8 wrote: »

The only advise I can give you is to stay away from heat slave, very unreliable and even worse after sales support.

I have had a heatslave unit in my home for nearly 3
years now and haven't had a problem with it. However, I do agree that the after sales service from them was very poor when I was trying to get it up and running. A very arrogant man from Heatslave if I remember correctly who wasn't prepared to listen to the customer. Anyway, it does what it says on the box...turns the heating on/off via mobile phone.

Eddieken8

FMartinp wrote: »

I have had a heatslave unit in my home for nearly 3
years now and haven't had a problem with it. However, I do agree that the after sales service from them was very poor when I was trying to get it up and running. A very arrogant man from Heatslave if I remember correctly who wasn't prepared to listen to the customer. Anyway, it does what it says on the box...turns the heating on/off via mobile phone.

Well now that you mention it I haven't heard any more from that job in about 2 years so I'd presume it still working away fine.
I got no customer support and was back and forward to the job trying different things with little or no help for weeks after installing it. Was eventually sort of solved with a SIM card change and installing a small aerial.
Could of been sorted a lot quicker if it hadn't been for there ignorance !!!!

Dufftronic

i bought one of these the other day... http://www.dabs.com/products/belkin-wemo-home-automation-switch--f7c027uk--for-apple-iphone-ipad-ipod-touch-and-android-devices-8D2H.html

Haven't wired it up to my heating controls yet but tested it on a lamp and it works perfectly. Will have to connect to heat controller/ timeclock via a relay i think as i believe the control voltage is <50V.

Will post again with results when i get around to doing the job hopefully early next week.

ianyb

Gate Automation wrote: »

it's possible, but when you start heating from gsm you must switch off by gsm, because timer can't switch off gsm

i've used quite a few gsm's on alarms and remote pump stations.alot you can just put in times to turn on via txt etc

deandean

Dufftronic wrote: »

i bought one of these the other day... http://www.dabs.com/products/belkin-wemo-home-automation-switch--f7c027uk--for-apple-iphone-ipad-ipod-touch-and-android-devices-8D2H.html

Wow, very interesting product. This surely is how things are gonna go, i.e. WiFi will replace GSM.

Please do post how you get on with it controlling your c/h. You should have no problem with using a relay in parallel with the c/h timeswitch.

Dufftronic

deandean wrote: »

Wow, very interesting product. This surely is how things are gonna go, i.e. WiFi will replace GSM.

Please do post how you get on with it controlling your c/h. You should have no problem with using a relay in parallel with the c/h timeswitch.

Wired it up today. Very straight forward. Didn't need a relay as the whole thing is 230V. Just removed the switched live from the heating controller and connected the output from the Wemo device (via a 13a plugtop) into that terminal. I've set up rules on the Wemo app to tell the boiler when to come on and off. I can also bypass the rules and just hit the power on button. This is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY cheaper than anything else on the market. £35 for the Wemo and approx £10 for other bits (1G dryline box, 1G switched socket, 13A plugtop, 0.5m x 1.5mm flex). No maintenance costs unlike those charged by climote, British gas (over here in blighty) etc.

deandean

Holy WiFi this is a FIND! Fair dues you you, have a Duff on me LOL.

I'm gonna buy one tomorrow. Sounds like there's a range of products on the way.

Have you seen the functionality on the app, e.g. ITTT (if-this-then-that) where you can use almost any parameter like sunrise / sunset times, and local external temperature for control logic? This is gonna be fun (anorak coming out of storage...)

[edit] and they're off! Samsung has just today announced their offering, Smart Home software protocol (SHP) official launch is just around the corner, linky here:
http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=32187
"Samsung Electronics announced Samsung Smart Home, a service enabling Smart TVs, home appliances and smartphones to be connected and managed through a single integrated platform.

"The Samsung Smart Home brand and product logo will debut at CES 2014 in Las Vegas, and the service will be commercially rolled out across Samsung devices and appliances in the first half of 2014. Pursuing its vision for a connected world, Samsung will also collaborate with third-party partners to make the Smart Home service extendible to their products and services, building the foundation for a rapidly-growing ecosystem of connected home services.

homewardbound11

Did you have to open the conttoller to access the on or boost buttons I.e. did you wire directlyvintobthe heating controller.

Diggerdunne

how do u access it remotely? do u need a static ip or dns or port forwarding? does it use dhcp? whats the setup browser like?

Eddieken8

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY cheaper than anything else on the market. £35 for the Wemo and approx £10 for other bits (1G dryline box, 1G switched socket, 13A plugtop, 0.5m x 1.5mm flex). No maintenance costs unlike those charged by climote, British gas (over here in blighty) etc.[/quote]

Just ordered mine there, can't wait to mess around with this !!!! Did you leave your time clock in place and just have the belkin as an additional switching option?

Dufftronic

Eddieken8 wrote: »

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY cheaper than anything else on the market. £35 for the Wemo and approx £10 for other bits (1G dryline box, 1G switched socket, 13A plugtop, 0.5m x 1.5mm flex). No maintenance costs unlike those charged by climote, British gas (over here in blighty) etc.

Just ordered mine there, can't wait to mess around with this !!!! Did you leave your time clock in place and just have the belkin as an additional switching option?[/QUOTE]

just bypassed the 'boiler on' function of the controller for heating as i still need the timeclock for heating my water.

On another note, the app is really badly underdeveloped and i had problems with the rules i set up not being accessible. i reset the device and reinstalled the app and it seems ok. heating came on this morning as per the rules i set, so quite happy with that

jamesd

Im using one of these since Dec to control a lamp in my sitting room with no issues, had to drop my wifi enc to wep for it to connect but that was fine and connected each time then with no issues.

vicwatson

Dufftronic wrote: »

Wired it up today. Very straight forward. Didn't need a relay as the whole thing is 230V. Just removed the switched live from the heating controller and connected the output from the Wemo device (via a 13a plugtop) into that terminal. I've set up rules on the Wemo app to tell the boiler when to come on and off. I can also bypass the rules and just hit the power on button. This is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY cheaper than anything else on the market. £35 for the Wemo and approx £10 for other bits (1G dryline box, 1G switched socket, 13A plugtop, 0.5m x 1.5mm flex). No maintenance costs unlike those charged by climote, British gas (over here in blighty) etc.

Any chance of a walk through on how you did this?

Wearb

Dufftronic wrote: »

Just ordered mine there, can't wait to mess around with this !!!! Did you leave your time clock in place and just have the belkin as an additional switching option?

just bypassed the 'boiler on' function of the controller for heating as i still need the timeclock for heating my water.

On another note, the app is really badly underdeveloped and i had problems with the rules i set up not being accessible. i reset the device and reinstalled the app and it seems ok. heating came on this morning as per the rules i set, so quite happy with that[/quote]

Did you have much work getting your router to communicate with it? Did you need to set up a DNS or did you have a static IP address.

Dufftronic

vicwatson wrote: »

Any chance of a walk through on how you did this?

Ok. The inputs and outputs from my heating controller (time clock) go to a junction box (here: http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Drayton-LWC1-Wiring-Centre-Drayton-16-Way-Wiring-Centre-/00/s/MTYwMFgxMTk1/z/lrkAAOxyTyBSVbh-/$T2eC16FHJIQFHGwrCTKCBSVbh9g6Mg~~60_35.JPG).

Firstly i fitted a new socket, with the supply spurred from the box linked above. I removed the wire from the timeclock (snipped and heatshrunk) for controlling the CH, ie when the boiler is to come on this connection gets 230V. With my Wemo plugged into the new socket, i then plugged a 13A plugtop in the Wemo, with the live from the plugtop going to the terminal on the box that the timeclock had initially been connected to for my CH (obviously neutral and earth are also connected).

Is that any clearer or is that worse?

Dufftronic

Wearb wrote: »

Did you have much work getting your router to communicate with it? Did you need to set up a DNS or did you have a static IP address.

Setup was quite straight forward. Very much plug and play.

Diggerdunne

Can you control it remotely outside the house? Did that involve port forwarding on your router or using static ip etc?

Wearb

Dufftronic wrote: »

Setup was quite straight forward. Very much plug and play.

As the other poster mentioned, can you control it outside your home network. If yes, is it done through port forwarding, DNS or do you have a static IP address. Perhaps you do not understand some of those questions, so only answer the ones you understand please.

foxirl

Diggerdunne wrote: »

Can you control it remotely outside the house? Did that involve port forwarding on your router or using static ip etc?

Wearb wrote: »

As the other poster mentioned, can you control it outside your home network. If yes, is it done through port forwarding, DNS or do you have a static IP address. Perhaps you do not understand some of those questions, so only answer the ones you understand please.

In answer to both your question it can be controlled outside the house and no need to port forward. I have a wemo but use it for a light as opposed to heating. Works really well and there is two way communication so you will know if the device is on or off.

You simply plug it in and it creates a wifi signal, you connect to this signal with your phone and it asks for your router wifi password, once you add this then you can control your device though your wifi or on a data connection when away form your house. No port forwarding, no static IP. Just works ;-)

Wearb

foxirl wrote: »

In answer to both your question it can be controlled outside the house and no need to port forward. I have a wemo but use it for a light as opposed to heating. Works really well and there is two way communication so you will know if the device is on or off.

You simply plug it in and it creates a wifi signal, you connect to this signal with your phone and it asks for your router wifi password, once you add this then you can control your device though your wifi or on a data connection when away form your house. No port forwarding, no static IP. Just works ;-)

Thanks. Thats what i wanted to know. Any negative sides to it?

foxirl

Dufftronic wrote: »

Ok. The inputs and outputs from my heating controller (time clock) go to a junction box (here: http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Drayton-LWC1-Wiring-Centre-Drayton-16-Way-Wiring-Centre-/00/s/MTYwMFgxMTk1/z/lrkAAOxyTyBSVbh-/$T2eC16FHJIQFHGwrCTKCBSVbh9g6Mg~~60_35.JPG).

Firstly i fitted a new socket, with the supply spurred from the box linked above. I removed the wire from the timeclock (snipped and heatshrunk) for controlling the CH, ie when the boiler is to come on this connection gets 230V. With my Wemo plugged into the new socket, i then plugged a 13A plugtop in the Wemo, with the live from the plugtop going to the terminal on the box that the timeclock had initially been connected to for my CH (obviously neutral and earth are also connected).

Is that any clearer or is that worse?

Can I ask a stupid question in relation to your setup?
If you didnt snip the wire coming from the timeclock to the terminal would you have been able to control the heating by the time clock and also by the wemo. For example if the clock was set to come on from 6pm to 7pm you obviously wouldnt be able to turn it off using the wemo but you could turn the wemo on outside these times so you could turn it on at 8pm and switch it off at any stage you want?

foxirl

Wearb wrote: »

Thanks. Thats what i wanted to know. Any negative sides to it?

Not really. I have mine a good bit away from my router so some times the signal is quite bad. When this occurs if you try go onto your phone you will not be able to connect to the wemo. Rarely happens though. Going to add a wifi extender in my house to solve this.

Used it for an electric under blanket on the bed. Class when you are arriving home late at night and no heat on and you can switch electric blanket on 20 mins before you get home. Imagine the brownie points from the better half

Any other questions on the wemo just shout?