Home Automation

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Home automation is the residential extension of building automation.

It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.

Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.

Warning: Working with electricity can result in injury, property damage, or even death if it is not done properly. Please keep this in mind while assisting others. If you are not sure about what you are doing, hire a licensed professional.

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Could I use a Shelly to automate my Thermopile low voltage Fireplace with the obnoxious switch on the underside? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by YouTee@alien.top to c/homeautomation@selfhosted.forum

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Just curious, I have a fireplace with an annoying toggle switch (mounted "inside" and then sticks out through a hole in the bottom, see pic). That means a switchbot won't work and I'm pretty limited in swapping switches to something more interface-able.

It's a low voltage system, so all of the electricity to turn on the gas comes from the pilot light heating the thermopile. I was wondering if there's a shelly that would work in my situation. I'm assuming I'd have to run power to it from a wall outlet, which isn't ideal but I'm not sure what my options ARE.

I'm comfortable wiring one up as long as the relay side will work with the low voltage and the power side doesn't need a neutral wire, but I'm open to other suggestions. Other things I was thinking of:

linear actuator - Still need to mount it and I'm not as good at the mechanical side of things as the electrical/programming
Swap in a rotator switch and try to mount a Switchbot blinds-turner bot thing - I GUESS this might work, as the rotary dial should stick out through the hole but it's annoying and I'm not positive it would even work. Also expensive.
I saw another brand of bot that could interface with toggles through this little adapter, but it didn't look like there were a lot of reviews and I'm trying to limit how many more new hubs I need to support. The adapter was a plastic ring that attached to the switch and then connected to the arm of the bot, maybe there's a design out there that I could order or have 3d printed?
I have a lot of switchbots that didn't work out on other projects like... this one which is why I keep coming back to it. I really like the isolation from main wiring, so I'm open to hacking the damn things to make them work. Could I swap the toggle switch with a Single Pole Double Throw switch and then do something ridiculous like glue wires and tinfoil to the switchbot so it acts like a relay opening and closing the connection? Remember this is extremely low voltage

Thanks, in advance.

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[–] Khatib@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Your pic didn't make it through.

[–] what-the-puck@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

If your fireplace has a fan then you have power there.

With the model of the fireplace or the module inside, we could tell you in greater detail how it can be switched.

They basically all support a thermostat in addition to a manual switch. Thermostats are frequently in the form of a remote control, with a module that's just plugged in to spade terminals beneath the fireplace. For a dry contact style fireplace the module is battery operated.

[–] DaveW02@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Are you trying to mechanically toggle the fireplace switch? That's going to be a though and probably unreliable. Can you mount a low voltage relay (like 12VDC) next to the fireplace switch (as you have pointed out the thermocouple only puts out a few millivolts) and use a WiFi switch powering a 12V DC power adaptor to energize the relay? Just a thought.