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Hardware hacking an electric fan heater without burning the house down

BigG

I recently purchased a 2kW electric fan heater for $12 (it was on sale). This was an offer too good to refuse, especially as the latest Project14 competition is hardware hacking.

 

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These fan heaters, like any other personal heater, are great for the winter months.

 

However, as I have on the very odd occasion left an oil heater on over night (it is very easily done), I certainly wouldn't want to do the same with an electric fan heater.

 

So I want to add in some "smarts" or electronics to ensure that it can automatically turn off if I leave the room etc. and it would also be handy to remotely adjust heat and fan speed.

 

The nice thing about this particular fan heater is that it has a safety cut off switch, should it tip over. I thought that this would be my starting point for my project, as this part can be readily enhanced.

 

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The part I am struggling with is how to or what electronic options could I use to hack the heater settings switch, which is mechanical. How could I do this electronically, bearing in mind we are dealing with mains voltage.

 

{gallery:autoplay=false} Heater Settings Switch

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And the other question is what options are out there on how to hack the fan speed controller... this also is mains voltage, so I'm out of my depth in terms of using a digital potentiometer, for example.

 

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Any suggestions / ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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  • When I started reading you post I thought, why didn't I think of that. My initial response is how fail safe the mains using solid state components like triac verses relays. A logic device that monitors the environment controls the triac. The logic device gives me the advantage of creating doors to options that I can come back to and use when I need them. Unfortunately this type of design is not cost efficient and you wind up with project like a car block heater being controlled with a Raspberry Pi. It is cool but way to expensive.

  • in reply to colporteur

    "It is cool but way to expensive."

     

    A common trait amongst many entrepreneurs is "naive optimism". They set off on a quest believing they can make a difference without knowing the full picture. Then when looking back, years later having done it, they realise that if they knew what they know now they would never have begun that journey in the first place.

     

    In this case it's beginning to look like it's going to be pricey before the journey has even started. Still, I had forgotten about triac switches. So, thanks for that. It may just be the jolt I'm looking for to spark further ideas...

  • in reply to BigG

    BigG,

     

    If I knew then what I know now I'd have probably become a surfer dude, or at least a beach bum.

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to dubbie

    Good choice. LOL. If I knew what I needed to know now, I might not have spent all those hours being a beach bum, as I would have picked up most of these things while studying. There were a good many dry subjects in the engineering curriculum that were made worse by the temptation of trying to learnt to surf instead.

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  • in reply to dubbie

    Good choice. LOL. If I knew what I needed to know now, I might not have spent all those hours being a beach bum, as I would have picked up most of these things while studying. There were a good many dry subjects in the engineering curriculum that were made worse by the temptation of trying to learnt to surf instead.

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