Heavy Duty Relay with Override

Devices & Integrations
1

Hi

I’ve been looking at the Gen 5 Aeon Labs Heavy Duty Relay - I’d like to control my immersion heater remotely, which is on it’s own 16A circuit. This looks to be the simplest way, I just replace the double pole switch with this.

However, it has no manual override - and part of the problem is currently it’s quite easy to lean into the airing cupboard and turn on the heater if we’re home and upstairs, and need water. The remote control needs to be an addition, so if we’re out of the house getting wet and cold I can turn the heater on for hot water before we get home. Bathtime!

If I replace the nice manual switch with a device that needs a phone to be pulled out, the app loaded, press a button… there’ll be hell to pay!

I can see two ways of doing this, help me decide!

  1. Wire the Aeon Gen5 in parallel to the switch. Is this safe? Feels like it should be, but I don’t know for sure. Note I’ll get an electrician to do it, I’m not going to electrocute myself, but he won’t know much about the remote stuff.

  2. Find another remote device that can take the input from a switch as a manual override. Anyone? I can see Fibaro do a 1x3KW relay, but my heater is more than 3KW. That does have a switch input though.

2

You could probably use this, then plug it into a smart walwart or receptacle, then use a push button, mini mote or whatever to turn on the walwart.

Not cheap - but doable.

3

I’d not considered a Minimote to be fair… does have the requirement for a working ST hub at all times but it’s been fairly reliable so far.