Electric Baseboard thermostat control via ST

I’d agree with Scott here :smile:

I think the LFM 20 should be ok for you as long as you can keep the wattage under the max…

Every heater is at most 20amps, just checked it.

I guess I am confused. I googled lfm 20 and it looks like it’s for ceiling lights with at most 150W? Is that right?

Dunno what you found… 20Amps @ 120V = 2400 Watts.

Not sure I follow everything that’s flying by here, but I’ve been trying to find a way to control my electric baseboard heaters in a “smart” connected way for a couple of years now. When you get this set up working, please come back and give us a detailed explanation of what you learned. Thanks!

I know it’s not ST controlled, but I just found this new system for electric baseboard control. It ticked almost all my boxes, including being pretty cost effective. SinopeTech Thermostats

Some other opitons are Caleo that is due in January at $150 with wifi and promise of an API
https://casaconnect.com

The Walker Systems at $200 with Zigbee Pro http://www.walkersys.com/homeproducts.html
SmartThings Zigbee Line Voltage Thermostat for baseboards
http://www.walkersys.com/images/products/lvstatlarge.jpg

From the Left field and cheapest by far with PID control at the heater certified to maintain the temperature fluctuations to less than 1.5C at the room center with a smaller (but much hotter) modern design - the Dimplex Connex with an unreleased-but-mooted-in-2012 Connex to Wifi bridge. It’s about $110 at more electric per baseboard heater, and the timer is $50. The little remote is $25 but not compatible with the programmer. http://blog.dimplex.com/energy/re-inventing-the-electric-baseboard/

And the nuheat wifi which has no API (although they did mention once back on Facebook then dumped the thread) and is $250 per room with no triac control for convectors.

Seeing as this thread has found some life…

The Sinopetech Thermostats are $200 for the starter kit, which is 2 stats and the hub, and then $65 for each additional stat, making it the most cost effective I have come across.

When I called and asked about integration with other systems, all they would say is that they are in talks, with who/what system they wouldn’t say.

Those look nice and a good price point. Are they Triac or Relay?

I’m not quite sure what you mean by that, there isn’t a relay that has to be added into the circuit.

If I told you they’re only made to handle resistive loads, not inductive, would that give you the answer you’re looking for by inference?

I think that because they support a variable duration, if they can get that duration down to 15s it’s Triac. 2-15 minutes is relay.

A relay makes audible clicks.

Regarding the Caleo, I email them and they said they would be supporting ‘if this then that’ platform. Does this work with Smart Things?

Their response: “We are currently looking into home automation integration. Our current choice lies with IfThisThenThat (ifttt.com) and we should be able to open a channel there before Caleo ships in January. Hub integration will come next and since every manufacturer has come up with their own tricks, we will require time to adress all devices out there. Hubs that can pilot a web handler such as ifttt.com will be integrated right away. Those that rely on proprietary protocols will come in sequence afterwards.”

There is a Smartthings channel on IFTTT, but it’s pretty basic so it might take some creative setup to get it to talk to Caleo. I’m betting you’ll be able to make it work that way. Can’t know for sure until we see what Caleo’s IFTTT channel includes.

My Sinope stats arrived today! They’re smaller than I expected.

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Why did you get the Sinope ones are they compatible with ST?

I got them because they’re the first really cost effective and “smart” thermostats I could find for electric baseboard heaters.

Hopefully they’ll become integrated with some sort of “smart” system down the line.

Can you control it from the Internet or do you need the hub?

The hub connects all of the thermostats to the net, it is required if you want to program the stats from the web. Without it, they won’t talk to each other, or the web, but you could program each one manually.

So how do you like the sinope? I am thinking of getting them as well even if it’s not going to integrate with St?

I couldn’t be happier. The only thing I’d like is a way to view the usage of all of the stats in a single page view on the website. I’ve sent a request for this to Sinope, we’ll see how responsive they are.
I haven’t looked for myself, but my wife says she’s seeing a dip in our weekly electricity usage already.

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Do the sinope thermostats come with an iOS app? If so, under wich name do I find it?