Remote Start Regulation

[Eki]

1. Now I spliced into the grill power for the shelly. (Do I have to say that the power cord should not be connected?) I cut the black and white wires
2. I stripped back 1/2" of the black and white wires
3. I took the black and white wires I stole from the extension cord and stripped them back 1/2" too.
4. I opened the levers on the connectors
5. I inserted the three blacks into one connector
6. I insert the three whites into the second connector
7. I closed the levers on the connectors
8. three blacks are together and separately three whites are all together.
9. I made sure no bare wires were visible
10. I made sure after closing the levers that the wires were correctly seated by tugging the wires to make sure they did not pop out
11. looks like this

 

[Eki]

1. now I connected the two power "flying leads", black and white from the splice connectors, into the Shelly relay
2. black into the "L" screw
3. white into the "N" screw
4. I made sure no bare wires were visible after inserting wires into the shelly.
5. I tightened the screws down
6. I made sure the wires were secure by lightly tugging on them and they did not remove from the shelly
7. looks like this

 

[Eki]

1. I took the twisted pair "flying leads" and inserted into the shelly 1 relay
2. Green wire to "O"
3. White wire to "I"
4. I tightened the screws
5. OK I forgot to mention that before I inserted the wires into the shelly 1 relay, I strippe them all back 1/4"... but I am hoping that was intuitive.
6. I did a quick tug test to make sure the wires were secure in the shelly
7. I made sure there was no visible copper anywhere on the connectors or the shelly relay.
8. looks like this

 

[Eki]

I forgot to take pictures of the last couple of steps

1. I took a piece of double sided tape and taped the shelly relay to the inside side of the chassis. there is plenty of room to stick it out of the way.
2. I left about 1/2" of room at the bottom of the chassis for reattaching the bottom panel so the shelly would not interfere with it
3. I remounted the control board in place with its two screws
4. I did not forget the ground wire that was on one of the screws
5. I put the bottom panel back on with its 6 screws.
6. I plugged the grill in
7. I gave the grill and shelly a few seconds to initialize
8. Lastly I told alexa to turn the grill on

Done.

 

[C. Keeper]

Hey, don't want to be a party pooper, but....
You realize that cat 6 is rated for nominal 48 volts, 90 max. Leaving your grill plugged in with this configuration is playing with fire.

 

[Eki]

I kind of belabored some of the steps. It is tough illustrating what to do when some in the forum may be electrical experts and others are first timers. If I was unclear on something, I am happy to illustrate further.

 

[Eki]

Created an account to tell you that you should stop right there. That's probably a logic membrane switch if it's anything like the regular 380. To operate that you'd need a dry contact relay which is not what you have with a Shelly. What you want to interrupt/control is the MAINS. IE power goes out of outlet and into Grill. Hot/Neutral/Ground. Follow where the power cord enters the grill and tap that into shelly and shelly back to grill. Sounds like you are out of your depth and in for a shockingly good time. You should just buy an outdoor rated wifi smart plug and use Alexa to turn it on/off. Problem solved. No soldering, splicing, or death.

WRONG

The shelly-1 is a dry contact relay. I am not using the relay to supply line power to the grill power switch. I am attaching the shelly dry contacts in parallel to the grill power switch which is a low voltage trigger for a line voltage relay on the control board

link to shelly

 

[Eki]

Hey, don't want to be a party pooper, but....
You realize that cat 6 is rated for nominal 48 volts, 90 max. Leaving your grill plugged in with this configuration is playing with fire.

WRONG

you did not read everything close enough.

The cat6 twisted pair is only used as a non-powered trigger on the power switch, which is not connected to line voltage. The power switch is actually a low voltage trigger for a relay.

 

[Eki]

@Eki Just wondering if you've made any progress getting that relay wired up. No pressure. Life before hobbies, after all. I happened to smoke a brisket yesterday and needed to start it at 5am in 37 degrees. I was NOT happy rolling out of bed, walking out there to push that damn button, waiting 30m for it to heat up, and then having to walk back out there a 2nd time! Lol

YUP, it is done and results posted

 

[C. Keeper]

WRONG

you did not read everything close enough.

The cat6 twisted pair is only used as a non-powered trigger on the power switch, which is not connected to line voltage. The power switch is actually a low voltage trigger for a relay.

Fair enough, thanks for the correction. I usually try to keep wiring at the same ratings. That's just me.

 

[Eki]

Fair enough, thanks for the correction. I usually try to keep wiring at the same ratings. That's just me.

Not a problem. I am glad people are making sure I am honest.
In this case, regarding the wire, I used different wires because:

• there is no confusing cat6 twisted pair and power cable. So, prevents wiring mistakes
• single stranded cat6 wire is easy to solder on to circuit board pads than stranded power cord

 

[Pizza_Smoker]

That is cool that eki got it to work...

With that said and someone who also purchased a shelly1.. I realized the way to go was to just use the smartlife app.. The Wifi used on the RT and LOTS of other wifi based electronics is toya based... I opened the smartlife app/ created an account/clicked on the add button/clicked on the wifi button till the light blinked/ smartlife saw the rt and even knew its name/ a new screen came up that showed set temp- current temp--aug speed ect as well as a on off button... The whole thing took maybe 2 -3 mins.. You can connect the smartlife app to your alexa and now-- i just tell alexa to start the grill...

 

[Eki]

That is cool that eki got it to work...

With that said and someone who also purchased a shelly1.. I realized the way to go was to just use the smartlife app.. The Wifi used on the RT and LOTS of other wifi based electronics is toya based... I opened the smartlife app/ created an account/clicked on the add button/clicked on the wifi button till the light blinked/ smartlife saw the rt and even knew its name/ a new screen came up that showed set temp- current temp--aug speed ect as well as a on off button... The whole thing took maybe 2 -3 mins.. You can connect the smartlife app to your alexa and now-- i just tell alexa to start the grill...

LOL - I should have tried that .... Well, it was fun with the shelly.

One question though, is there any problem with the grill being paired with two applications? The smart life app and the recteq app at the same time?

 

[Skirge01]

YUP, it is done and results posted

Awesome! Thanks, Eki! I look forward to giving this a try with some people I reached out to about soldering.

That is cool that eki got it to work...

With that said and someone who also purchased a shelly1.. I realized the way to go was to just use the smartlife app.. The Wifi used on the RT and LOTS of other wifi based electronics is toya based... I opened the smartlife app/ created an account/clicked on the add button/clicked on the wifi button till the light blinked/ smartlife saw the rt and even knew its name/ a new screen came up that showed set temp- current temp--aug speed ect as well as a on off button... The whole thing took maybe 2 -3 mins.. You can connect the smartlife app to your alexa and now-- i just tell alexa to start the grill...

I hear ya, PS, and it's probably the right solution for a lot of people, especially at the moment. Honestly, I seriously considered the Tuya app, but, if this turns out to truly be an industry-wide ban in the US, I could very easily see Tuya being forced to remove this support. Also, as I suspect they eventually will, recteq could remove the API power function entirely, negating the Tuya option. For that reason, I'd prefer going with a solution that's impervious to the regulation.

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

my remote start is working

 

[sdynak]

YUP, it is done and results posted

Hey @Eki .. Nice simple writeup and being the 1st to undergo surgery & experiment as others have here in other areas.

When you configure the Shelly is it set as a momentary switch I assume in the app? I assume you could also initiate the shutdown with the same action as turning on if a momentary switch?

Any reason you didn't go with the Gen3 mini?

 

[sdynak]

my remote start is working

View attachment 21584

View attachment 21585

Like the simplicity.. did it come with the extenders as pictured and why would they have not worked requiring the wood block?

 

[Eki]

Like the simplicity.. did it come with the extenders as pictured and why would they have not worked requiring the wood block?

Yeah, I bought a fingerbot too, and got it to work. This is viable solution, so awesome!
There are a few things about this approach I do not like:

• Fingerbot is not weather proof. Here in Tennessee we get a lot of rain. Sometimes a driven rain. So this is about remote starting, we dont cover the grill... which means the fingerbot will eventually get damaged
• I don't like the fact that you cannot use the start button normally at the unit. Yes, I know, the finger bot has a control button you can use, but I didn't like it.
• the method to attach the fingerbot is with double sided tape. Again, refer to rain, snow, high humidity, freezing temps ... I didnt think the double sided tape would hold up
• The shelly solution has no downside ... except for a longer install time. For as long as my post was, I completed it in 20 minutes. documenting it took an hour or so.

 

[sdynak]

Yeah, I bought a fingerbot too, and got it to work. This is viable solution, so awesome!
There are a few things about this approach I do not like:

• Fingerbot is not weather proof. Here in Tennessee we get a lot of rain. Sometimes a driven rain. So this is about remote starting, we dont cover the grill... which means the fingerbot will eventually get damaged
• I don't like the fact that you cannot use the start button normally at the unit. Yes, I know, the finger bot has a control button you can use, but I didn't like it.
• the method to attach the fingerbot is with double sided tape. Again, refer to rain, snow, high humidity, freezing temps ... I didnt think the double sided tape would hold up
• The shelly solution has no downside ... except for a longer install time. For as long as my post was, I completed it in 20 minutes. documenting it took an hour or so.

Either solution works for me as I do keep mine in the garage when not in use. The only time I would remote start is if I'm planning something and pull it out and get it ready beforehand and don't need to start right away.

It is rare I would need this feature but also when I was young and my father said to stay away from the razor blades while he was working and I had to do just the opposite and cut myself all over. So for me it's kind of like someone telling you can't have something and not just sitting on the sideline accepting that .

I'm going to try the Gen3 mini since it's not a high amp circuit. Like you said.. there is really no downside so why not for $12. It won't be plugged in unless I'm planning it so a random chance is pretty slim of any negative issues for me.

For attaching the Fingerbot, I'm thinking you could make some kind of bracket to go over it and screw it to the panel to hold it in place if it were an issue not staying in place with the double sided tape.

 

[Eki]

Hey @Eki .. Nice simple writeup and being the 1st to undergo surgery & experiment as others have here in other areas.

When you configure the Shelly is it set as a momentary switch I assume in the app? I assume you could also initiate the shutdown with the same action as turning on if a momentary switch?

Any reason you didn't go with the Gen3 mini?

So, awesome questions sdynak.

I'll start with the last one first.

>> Any reason you didn't go with the Gen3 mini?

Not good reasons. truthfully, any Shelly 1 with dry contacts will work. The gen3 mini is even cheaper, so it is not about price. At the time of my purchase, I could get the Shelly 1 delivered faster. I was impatient. Another worry was compatibility. I think this was unwarranted, but I could find NodeRed nodes that guaranteed compatibility with Shelly1 but not for Shelly 1 gen 3 mini. they are probably backward compatible. And the last thing was something to do with HTTP vs MQTT. I dont remember what the details were any more. So, all pretty lame reasons.

>> Shelly is it set as a momentary switch I assume in the app?

Yes, I use a three second cycle.

>> I assume you could also initiate the shutdown with the same action as turning on if a momentary switch?

Yes, and this is just me being lazy again. It is reasonable to remote start the grill when you are busy doing other things and want to preheat the grill, and there is no food on the grill yet. However, there is no reason you cannot tap the button to shut if off when you are physically at the grill to remove the food.

[ lazy part ] I use an alexa subroutine to say "Alexa, start the grill" I could just say the same thing and it would shut the grill off. But, OCD would not allow me to do that, and I would have to add a redundant "Alexa, shut off the grill" and that is too much work, since I am literally standing 6" away from the button taking the food off the grill.