I am using the Ariston Andris Lux 15L storage water heater which I bought from Sim Siang Choon (IMM) for S$280.
Li Xiang and I are typical working adults. We leave the house at 9am, and return only after 9pm. Sometimes we will forget to switch off the storage water heater and there goes a few dollars to the electricity bill.
The light indicator on the default switch is so tiny that you can miss it sometimes. It is not obvious enough.
We will also wake up about 30 minutes earlier to switch on the storage water heater and go back to sleep so that we can have a hot shower in the morning.
Since I am already using MCO Touch Panel for all my lights in my house, I decided to get another MCO Touch Panel (1 Gang MH-S411) at S$130 from Automate Asia to replace the switch of my storage water heater.
Installation of the MCO Touch Panel for the storage water heater is different and slightly more tedious than the installation for lighting.
It still needs the usual extra signal cable and an electrical contactor.
Since lighting uses less power, the load can be taken on by the MCO Touch Panel.
However, for storage water heater, it uses a lot of power and the MCO Touch Panel will not be able to take the load.
It needs a device to proxy the power, in this case the device is known as the electrical contactor.
So your MCO Touch Panel will switch on/off the electrical contactor and in turn the electrical contactor will switch on/off the storage water heater.
You can get a hager electrical contactor for probably less than S$50.
If you need a electrician to do the installation for you, feel free to contact Automate Asia.
Finally, I can set my storage water heater to be switched on at 7.30am from monday to friday and have it switched off when we leave the house!
hi lester so MCO touch panel just a typical switch panel (zwave) so your Hager electrical contactor is basically the actual load relay to the heater? For what I know Fibaro has a single 1*3kW relay module. I wonder which is a safer choice.
The person who installed for me also brought the Fibaro relay module along as well. But he ended up doing this method instead.
Any idea if whats the experience so far from him in terms of fibaro vs this method..
looking at hager since its more of a stable reputable electrical component, find this maybe safer but till now. i do not faced any issue. Just find Fibaro not so smooth
I am not sure, but I am guessing Hager should be better since that is his first choice followed by Fibaro.
Hi Lester, can share the contact of the electrician who installed this configuration for you? thanks in advance.
It is in the post, If you need a electrician to do the installation for you, feel free to contact https://www.automate.asia/.
Hi, does this method work to switch fans on/off as well?
Yeap if your fan is a ceiling fan. For mine, it is a standing fan, so I use a smart switch instead https://lesterchan.net/blog/2016/06/27/aeon-labs-aeotec-z-wave-smart-switch-6-gen5/
Hi, do you mind sharing the wiring diagram? I am planning to use a Xiaomi aqara switch to activate the contactor. Do I need the Neutral version of the aqara switch?
Sorry I’m wanting to do the same as you but also confused by the picture.
So the Contractor is installed on the water heater tank side or the switch side?
Is in between the switch and the water tank.