Hello Everyone,
Just want to update everyone here on the Zigbee Heat powered switch. This is the first module that I am concentrating that will use heat as its main power source. The switch is design to control millivolt valve for your fireplace. Just FYI, I will still make others modules that will use heat as power. I have boards for detecting gas stove and temperature probe for your BBQ grill that is powered by heat.
Today, I just want to share that the fireplace switch is almost ready. I will have one more board iteration to clean up and adjust some of the board configuration issue. The firmware is ready and being tested by me at this moment.
Here are some the highlight of the switch that make it different from some that is available in the market.
- The switch run from the heat powered by the thermopile from the fireplace.
- The switch will operate during power outage assuming the hub is still running.
- The switch will have an optional setting to disable "on" command from the hub(Zigbee switch on command). This logic is protected in the module itself (not from the DTH or hub). I am aware and agree with some of us who are concern with being able to switch "ON" fireplace remotely. We can still switch off the fireplace remotely. This will allow us to automate the fireplace with other devices by observing the status of the switch. There is a physically wall switch that is functional to turn on/off your fireplace. This will force someone to toggle a physical switch to turn on your fireplace. Yet, you can power off your fireplace with anywhere, anytime and any how.
- I am testing the switch with multiple hubs such as Hubitat, Smartthings and Home Assistant. The switch should be compatible with any hub that support Zigbee 3.0.
- There is an optional custom Zigbee command called "timed on". The idea is to turn on the fireplace with an interval information. The switch will turn off the fireplace after the interval elapsed. We can eliminate the need for the hub to send switch off command. In the case where the hub is down, the fireplace has a way to switch off in this case.
Here, how it looked like installed on my fireplace. I am thinking to update with YouTube demo.
There are a couple wire patches that need be done at the current iteration of the board. The next iteration of the board have all those fixes. At this point, I should be able to share them with anyone who are interested. In the meantime, if you have any feature that you would like to see, please feel free to share it here.
Would it be cool for us as the community to have have modules that harness power from its surrounding? I feel that it is cool. Yet, more importantly, lets us take a leap on the technological front. I feel that it is time we should make a better switch that depend less on conventional power such as battery and power grid when possible. It will reduce the cost physically and mentally maintaining our devices.
On separated note, I am just a hobbyist. I funded this project from the proceed that I got by selling my other Zigbee module that I have developed. If you want to see this project to grow and looking for a Zigbee Environmental Sensor, please consider give the Environment Sensor a consideration.
I apologize for the long update. I want to thank you for your time and interest. I also want to thank everyone who had supported my other projects.
br
Iman
