Remote switch for shop furnace or block heater

[Motorboatin]

"I also have a small LED light on the outside of my shop wired into the furnace circuit so I can see when the furnace is on."
That's an original and very useful idea.,,,,,,,,,unless you can ask the gizmo "is the garage heat on?" when you forget.

I have Alexa hooked into our Nest thermostat. You can tell it to turn the temperature up or down, turn the fan on or switch from heat to air. You can also turn the furnace on and off

I have a furnace in the garage that I keep at 45 all winter. When I want to work out there I tell Alexa to turn the heat up to 65

 

[dnw64]

I use TP Link Smart Switches. Can be used with Alexa, but doesn't need to be. It DOES need to be installed within WiFi range (I use WiFi extenders as needed). You can turn it on or off anywhere you have an internet connection for your phone, and you can also set schedules or use a timer. It shows the status of the device(s) on the app.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0178IC734/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[John_Mc]

I was looking for a similar solution so my wife could turn on and off the entry light to her woodworking shop remotely. Sometimes it's really dark out there when she's headed in or out. If she shut off the lights to come back to the house, those first few steps after working in a brightly lit shop were really tough. What we really wanted was a three way switch, with one switch in the house, and one in the shop, but wiring that up was just not going to happen. No WiFi in the shop at the time, so the Alexa-type controls were out.

I looked at the "garage door remote" type remote RF controls, but no one seemed to make one that would cover the 160 ft distance from the house to the shop (In fact, I've tried 3 different models and none worked reliably to turn on the block heater in my tractor from 50 ft away even with brand new batteries in the remotes, despite advertising 75' range). A call to a local electrician gave me the solution. He recommended this wireless, batteryless, remote control light switch by Acegoo (see links below). It has a range of 300 ft outdoors, and 100 ft indoors. Never replace batteries - not sure of the technology, but it produces it's own power from the "click" when you press the switch.

You install the receiver either in the light fixture's box or in place of the existing wired switch (if it's in the fixture's box, you either remove the wired switch and bypass it, or just leave that switch ON all the time). I replaced the manual switch inside the shop with the receiver, and mounted one of their remote switches nearby (it just sticks on the wall with 2-sided tape, not wiring for it). We mounted a second remote switch just inside the front door of our house.

It's been working perfectly for over a year now. The signal travels through the wall of the house, 160' feet and through the wall of the shop and reliably switches the light on/off from either location. You can easily add more switches to the same circuit.

You can also set it up that one switch turns on more than one circuit (you just need a receiver for each circuit). I've debated getting another switch to leave in my wife's car, but that has not proven necessary at this point.

The switch does have a 10 Amp limit, so if your shop heater is electric, that may be an issue (unless you are just switching a control system, which is typically very low amperage). I suppose you could use the switch to activate a relay for heavier loads.

The link for one receiver and one wireless switch
Extra switch
Extra Receiver

 

[dnw64]

The switch does have a 10 Amp limit, so if your shop heater is electric, that may be an issue (unless you are just switching a control system, which is typically very low amperage). I suppose you could use the switch to activate a relay for heavier loads.

The link for Robot Check one receiver and one wireless switch
Extra switch
Extra Receiver

(For some reason your first link redirected to a no-longer-available refrigerator switch at Walmart.com. Very strange, as the link that shows when hovering is correct, and when I quoted you the text came in correctly. The second link worked fine.)

This is really cool. I am going to talk to my electrician about installing the receiver on our dust collector and put transmitters throughout the building. It will save hours over the course of a year.

It would also be cool to add one to my barn lights for the same reason you installed it in your wife's shop.

BTW, for controlling HVAC they make a 12-24v DC one that's even cheaper. amazon.com/gp/product/B07FTC943F/

There are two main reasons I like the TP-Link for most of my applications so far. I can control them from anywhere I have a wifi or cell signal. So I can turn on my block heater while I'm at work and have it warm by the time I get home. They can also be programmed to a schedule; for instance our driveway lamp posts are scheduled to turn on "at sunset (you give it your location so it knows when that is throughout the year)" and off at 11pm.

 

[buickanddeere]

I was thinking about something like that to turn on an electric heater in the cab of my vehicle. Remote starts are expensive and waste fuel and don稚 even help much. It takes a long time to make much heat idling at 15 degrease.

That is why we use block heaters and sometimes an interior heater.
Yes I know the engine will start without a block heater. The warm engine heats the windshield almost immediately. Preheating also reduces excess engine wear and burning $$$ fuel idling.

 

[Al 2]

This is a follow up to my LED light on my garage indicating my furnace is on. I also have another garage and I can't see the door from the house to see whether it's closed or not. I used a regular magnetic contact door switch on the garage door and wired it to a low voltage 12v LED light and mounted the light on a tree I can see from my house. Works great. I realize there are garage door monitors on the market but they don't have the range or a bright enough light for my purpose.
Al

 

[mikester]

Hi Folks
This subject has been discussed before but I've finally found a system that works. Either Google Home or Amazon Echo. A few months ago we bought Google Home for our house , mainly in order to get a decent radio station that we like and we really enjoy it. Ask it almost any question and it usually has an answer. In Canada price varies from $80 to $180 depending time and sales or whatever. The pros and cons of such devises can be discussed in another thread. With an appropriate wall switch these units can control numerous outlets but need to be connected to wi fi. A one time set up to your phone and no service charges. My shop is 200 ft from my house the wi fi will work at that distance. Previously I had a regular wall switch at my door to turn off my furnace when I left my shop. I replaced that switch with a Google switch for $35 and now can turn my furnace on or off by using Google home in my house or from anywhere I can a wi fi connection on my phone. Turn it on a few minutes before I go out and shop is warm. My wife thought I'm getting to lazy but I reminded her that she has a $400 remote start in her car. I'm sure you could control a block heater the the same way. I also have a small LED light on the outside of my shop wired into the furnace circuit so I can see when the furnace is on. Some may be interested.
Al

If your rural internet is as bad as mine then anything that is cloud based wont work when your ISP goes down. Id recommend something that uses a hub that runs on your local network instead.

 

[pmsmechanic]

If your rural internet is as bad as mine then anything that is cloud based wont work when your ISP goes down. Id recommend something that uses a hub that runs on your local network instead.

Any suggestions as to what works through my own wifi?

 

[dnw64]

Any suggestions as to what works through my own wifi?

Pretty sure the TP-Link devices don't need internet to control locally. And I know that you don't need any network connectivity to continue already programmed schedules or timers - those are stored on the device.

 

[John_Mc]

(For some reason your first link redirected to a no-longer-available refrigerator switch at Walmart.com. Very strange, as the link that shows when hovering is correct, and when I quoted you the text came in correctly. The second link worked fine.)

This is really cool. I am going to talk to my electrician about installing the receiver on our dust collector and put transmitters throughout the building. It will save hours over the course of a year.

It would also be cool to add one to my barn lights for the same reason you installed it in your wife's shop.

Strange. The links in my original post and when you quoted it both work for me (though the displayed name in your quoted post shows some different text).

If anyone has trouble finding the link, just search for Acegoo wireless lights switch on Amazon.

There are competing brands, but this is what our electrician recommended, and he's tried a bunch of them. I put it in myself without any problem - as simple as replacing a light switch. Some of the other brands out there do not have the same range as this one. It was a perfect match for our needs.