I am wanting to work on a little project to see if I can use HE to control my old steam shower. The steam head unit uses an RJ-11 connector for control. I am no electrical engineer and a noob when it comes to schematics, but from what I can make out in the diagram below, it seems like I may be able to use a Zen16 to control it? If anyone has the expertise and is willing to help me explore a new skill, please give me a DM. I may try and integrate a temp sensor that can withstand the heat. So any suggestions there are appreciated as well. Thanks!
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Just guessing, I'd say the RJ-11 is "J6.x" and is 6 pins. From the schematic, there's no clear sign of which end is pin 1.
Pin 4 is a sensing contact and will need a pullup. It seems to use the NC contact of the Heat Contactor control relay. It's 0v when the heat contactor is de-energized. It would be VCC (through the pullup) when the heat contactor is energized.
You'd connect pin 5 (VCC) to pin 3 to energize the Heat Contactor relay, and connect the same pin 5 (VCC) to pin 6 to energize the Power Flush Solenoid relay.
The schematic does not identify the voltage that is on pin 5. Make sure whatever you use to control this is able to work with the actual voltage.
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Curious, what brand steam shower you have. We have one that also doesn't natively support external control and I've played w/the idea of integrating it off and on.
We have an Elite Steam (since bought by Delta and renamed SimpleSteam) setup w/a couple wired control pads (in shower and outside bathroom) that link up to the steam generator. I haven't looked into any details on the wiring yet, but thinking that this will be interesting to watch... 
Wow, thanks for the speedy response and willingness. Thanks and sorry in advance for my noob-ness. But a couple follow-up questions.
— I don’t need the powerflush feature (my head unit doesn’t have that) so is it really simply turning the steam on and off by completing the circuit between with Pins 5 &3? (If this works I would also bypass the existing controller in lieu of my relay to just turn on the steam and turn it off base on time and temp in HE)
— I didn’t know what a “pull up” was but went reading. Looks like it it is a resistor that normalizes voltage so that you can cleanly asses sensor state? (feels a little like an EOL resistor in alarm systems?) But still a little lost of what pin 4 does if the existing controller is not attached. Do I need Pin4?
— and finally how do I best safely determine voltage on pin 5. Just a multimeter to 5 and what [pin 3?] (told you I was a noob, but hat to learn a little and be are while doing it.)
Thanks again…
An older Thermasol
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