Hello. Keen DIY-er here. I needs some advise on the following project.
Trying to come up with a cheap and affordable way to turn my Water Heater, which has a electrical immersion heater, into a 'smarter device'. This is because the property in question often goes unoccupied for a few weeks. The requirement here is as follows;
- I want to be able to turn it on and off remotely.
- I want to be able to create On/Off schedules in order to optimise efficiency.
- I want to be able to bypass the 'Smart' capabilities of the system in case of a fault or loss of connectivity.
Here's what I'm thinking.
- Use a Smart (WiFi) Plug to trigger the system. I have a few of these plugs at home already. They are very reliable and work well with Apple Homekit.
- Use the Smart Plug to switch on 2 Solid State Relays (Fotek variety. High spec. Like a SSR-40 AA 40A AC 80-250V to AC 24V-380V SSR)
- Leave the existing Dual Pole manual switch wired in to act as a backup, in order to override the Smart system if it does not work for whatever reason.
I'm not 100% sure of the wiring of the Dual Pole switch. I'm concerned that there could be an instance where both systems are triggered on at the same time allowing current flow along 2 paths.
Also, my existing Dual Pole has a LED to indicate if power is on. I could replace this with a Dual Pole switch that doesn't have a LED, or a single pole switch. My understanding of using the Dual Pole switch is that it is safer as it fully isolates the load. Positive and neutral. This is also why I used 2 Solid state relays instead of just one.
Please see attached a crude picture of the idea. It's not a virus, I promise. It's a link to a jpeg on WeTransfer. I don't know how to post pictures to the forum.
https://we.tl/t-m17Yumj1ke
Any suggestions, connects, much appreciated.
Regards
Trying to come up with a cheap and affordable way to turn my Water Heater, which has a electrical immersion heater, into a 'smarter device'. This is because the property in question often goes unoccupied for a few weeks. The requirement here is as follows;
- I want to be able to turn it on and off remotely.
- I want to be able to create On/Off schedules in order to optimise efficiency.
- I want to be able to bypass the 'Smart' capabilities of the system in case of a fault or loss of connectivity.
Here's what I'm thinking.
- Use a Smart (WiFi) Plug to trigger the system. I have a few of these plugs at home already. They are very reliable and work well with Apple Homekit.
- Use the Smart Plug to switch on 2 Solid State Relays (Fotek variety. High spec. Like a SSR-40 AA 40A AC 80-250V to AC 24V-380V SSR)
- Leave the existing Dual Pole manual switch wired in to act as a backup, in order to override the Smart system if it does not work for whatever reason.
I'm not 100% sure of the wiring of the Dual Pole switch. I'm concerned that there could be an instance where both systems are triggered on at the same time allowing current flow along 2 paths.
Also, my existing Dual Pole has a LED to indicate if power is on. I could replace this with a Dual Pole switch that doesn't have a LED, or a single pole switch. My understanding of using the Dual Pole switch is that it is safer as it fully isolates the load. Positive and neutral. This is also why I used 2 Solid state relays instead of just one.
Please see attached a crude picture of the idea. It's not a virus, I promise. It's a link to a jpeg on WeTransfer. I don't know how to post pictures to the forum.
https://we.tl/t-m17Yumj1ke
Any suggestions, connects, much appreciated.
Regards
