Hello everyone,
This short thread is to share my talk and my experience.
Briefly, I moved into an old house 20 years ago. I renovated everything but kept the electric heaters (Aterno) which were well made (storage heater with refractory brick thermal mass and mechanical anti-tilt safety and electronic overheat protection). Unfortunately these heaters were already old and the control modules (external thermostats with a 433 MHz wireless link) were failing one after another. The module cost €200 to replace (the price of a small radiator) and the heating element was in perfect condition.
Adopted solution:
Purchase of a SonOff Wi‑Fi TH16 module (i.e., with a max switching current of 16A) with a temperature sensor, reflashed with alternative Tasmota firmware and connected directly to the live and neutral of the heating element.
Gladys recognizes the modules perfectly and thanks to the MQTT fake devices « Thermostat » in Gladys I was able to create a scene that reads the heater temperature, compares it to the thermostat setpoint and turns the heating element on or off accordingly (with a 60-second recurrence which is more than sufficient for thermal control and avoids rapid switching of the SonOff module’s relay, which could be dangerous).
I also added scenes that, depending on the day’s Tempo color or the time of day, modify the thermostats’ setpoints.
Advantages of the solution:
- Automation cost: I don’t buy other heaters, the SonOff module is cheap (€15–20), everything works over Wi‑Fi and doesn’t require other standards or hardware (Zigbee, …).
- Scalability: any inertia/storage heater bought on Le Bon Coin will be integrated the same way into my house. I did it recently: a 1000W heater for €30 and a recent SonOff module (TH Origin) for €13
Disadvantages:
- The heater is not « autonomous » and in case of loss of connection with Gladys it can remain off or (worse) on. I plan to fix the issue by compiling the Tasmota firmware myself to benefit from the thermostat function (temperature regulation): Gladys would then only have to send it the temperature setpoint.
- The house is « large » with thick stone walls, the Wi‑Fi doesn’t reach everywhere. I had to install some repeaters here and there.
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