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I want to control an electric heater and have it to switch off after reaching a limit of kwh consumed.
It's in a shared area and it's repeatedly being left on when there is no one in the room.
It needs to be available for a few hours a day but it's not at any set time.
So I need something that will turn if off and not leave it running overnight until I find a red hot room the next morning.
I have a number of Tapo wifi plug sockets and they work well but cannot do what I want.
Pi (or similar such as an esp8266) running something like a PIR sensor to detect room presence.
If no one detected for a period of, say 5 minutes, it sends a message to IFTTT to switch off your Tapo plug.
Could work the same for switching it on and you could limit the general timeframe it worked within...I.e. between 9am and 11pm and you could easily add a temperature sensor to limit the room temperature as well.
Total cost <£10 if you used an esp8266 (which would be my choice now.)
Tapo plugs work very well with IFTTT - I use them a lot for switching heaters on and off depending upon electricity prices.
It’s in a shared area and it’s repeatedly being left on when there is no one in the room.
I think what you really need is a new patio
Could the solution be a time switch. A press gives 30 minutes heat then turns off. Repeat if you are still present
For example
Items in the tuya architecture can be set up with an inching setting natively no messing around with programming.
So any time it's set to on itl count down by the figure you put into the inching menu.
2 plugs for a 10er on Amazon.
@trail_rat I can't see those plugs for less than £10 each. Still cheap though.
Eve power sockets will do exactly this if controlled through the eve app. I don’t think you can do it through iOS HomeKit though.
You set a trigger that the time is turned on manually, then a condition that after a certain consumption the item is turned back off.
With eve, once programmed it’s loaded up to the socket so it can run independently of your presence
I can’t see those plugs for less than £10 each. Still cheap though.
Yes individually. But the packs come in cheaper than individual .
Don't need to be tuya branded just need to be tuya smart compatible.
Just found out that I can set an “auto off timer” on my Tapo plugs
Was about to suggest those, cheap at Screwfix. Of course they do require you to trust no-one to simply remove the Tapo plug
It could be worth investigating their 'power protection' setting though I'm not sure whether it refers to the total power used or rate of power use for turning off
Regarding removing the plug, I was considering simply super glueing the plug to the face of the socket. Not sure how that sits with the regs though!
Regarding removing the plug, I was considering simply super glueing the plug to the face of the socket. Not sure how that sits with the regs though!
can't see an issue with that personally. It's can still be removed from he wall socket.
I've got one of those time switches on my immersion heater as I was always forgetting to turn it off. Doddle to install and works fine.
Would you not be better gluing the rad plug to the smart plug.
Otherwise surely the perp can just unplug the rad and put it into another outlet