Remote Start Regulation

[Skirge01]

I love the idea of a 3D printed mount I have not peeked inside yet, so not sure what is needed. I certainly was planning on just zip tying inside the enclosure because the shelly is not weather proof, and the wire connection screws are somewhat out in the open.

Thanks! Glad you like the idea. (TL;DR at the end.) I just took the bottom panel off and, while there's plenty of room in there, I'm not seeing an immediately apparent mounting location for any sort of part. Once you've got yours fully wired up and working, I'll go ahead and pick up the necessary parts to get mine connected. This will give me an idea of wire lengths, etc. Once I've got that, I'll probably need to disassemble most of the shelf to get a better understanding of the possibilities.

After looking at it for only about 5 minutes, my quick assessment is that this will likely require a couple of holes to be drilled somewhere. The question is whether I can find a location that won't require everyone else to also disassemble the shelf. I'd like to make this as simple as possible, but proper placement may negate that desire. The shelf looks to be a sort of inverted "nested box" design with he black portion fitting up inside the stainless steel. They mounted the circuit board on the stainless steel and the nested design is the likely reason. The front of the shelf is bent, meaning it's solid, so there's ZERO chance of any liquid getting down there and making contact with the board. The display is most certainly sealed to the cutout with a gasket or actual sealant, which, again, means zero chance for liquid to get in there.

On the other hand, because the black metal insert is technically "upside-down" (big, flat surface facing down) when it gets inserted, that creates a non-sealed edge where the sides meet the stainless steel. As a result, this isn't where you'd want to mount any electronics. Now, due to the limited space at the front display, this may not be the best spot, either. Plus, any screws would be staring you in the face at the front and, I don't know about you, but that would irk my bit of OCD.

TL;DR: I've got some ideas, but I'll need to wait until I've got a relay wired up before going any further. I look forward to following along and getting this working.

 

[Pizza_Smoker]

Im thinking about using some heavy duty velcro with sticky back... LIttle piece on the inside of the RT area and a bit on the back of the shelly.. Bam.. That way you can easily remove the Shelly if it needs to be fussed with..

 

[Motodad1776]

So glad that y'all are not gonna install a Karen, as there are entirely too many of those.........just sayin.

 

[C. Keeper]

 

[Skirge01]

@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

 

[Jim6820]

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

It is called “exercise.”

 

[Skirge01]

It is called “exercise.”

In that case, I get enough of that lifting the fork to my mouth. You should see these pythons, brother!

 

[Skirge01]

I took apart the shelf today to get a better look. My first realization was that I'm way out of my depth. It looks like wiring up the Shelly will require soldering, which I've never done before. I'll be better off asking someone to do the soldering for me, locally. In the attached pic, I've highlighted the four solder points of the grill's power button on the controller board. Not being an electrician, I don't know what needs to be soldered to make the circuit's connections. I have some guesses, but that's not the way to mess with this because–while this is a smoker–it's not supposed to make magic smoke. At this point, I'll patiently wait for someone more electrically savvy than me to explain what needs to be done.

 

[catboxer]

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.

 

[Skirge01]

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.

I appreciate the concern, but I did openly admit that I was out of my depth and waiting for someone with the proper knowledge. You even repeated the exact phrase I used.

That said, both the Shelly 1 and the Shelly Plus 1 being discussed in this thread are dry contact relays.

 

[PRC]

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.

That is just like unplugging and plugging back in the power cord. You will still have to push the power button to start the grill.

 

[BigAl too]

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.

The Shelly one and Shelly Plus One are both dry contact relays.

 

[Eki]

OK!

Sorry fellow smokers ... life happens and I could not find the time to do the grill..

But I completed it this morning.

I am happy to report that I can now remote start my grill with Alexa (or your smart phone but I prefer Alexa)

Give me a half hour or so and I will post the steps complete with photos step by step.

I forgot to mention -- I am assuming one read my previous posts on how to prepare the shelly-1 relay, the smart app, and alexa. At this point, these should have done before starting the recteq surgery.

Note a soldering iron is required. here is a link to lowes
These lever wire connectors are also required.

Disclaimer:

These steps involve modifying electrical wires and modifying the control board. This will void the warranty. One could also electrocute oneself. If you are not comfortable doing any of this, then do not attempt.

I am providing these details for entertainment purposes only on what I did.

I am not telling you to do anything.

I am not responsible for anything you do that causes fatality, damage, or voids your warranty

do not be the next Darwin Award recipient

 

[Eki]

some tools are also required

• wire strippers
• needle nose pliers
• Phillips head screw driver
• double sided tape

some wire is required

• power cord wire. I just cut up an extension cord and cut 6" of black and white
• low voltage wire. I just cut up a section of cat-6 and cut a 6" section of the green twisted pair.

For the wire, I just looked around my junk drawers... not really critical.

 

[Eki]

This was easy enough to do outside at the grill without disconnecting the controller board. I suppose one could remove the board and do this inside... but I am lazy

These directions are for my RT-590, so details and steps may slightly differ per model and revision

1. I removed 6 screws that hold the bottom panel of the hopper
2. I removed 2 screws that hold the control panel to the chassis
3. I popped the control board down through the bottom
4. The control board has two pads for the the start push button circled below

 

[Eki]

1. Up inside the chassis is the electrical cord.
2. The cord has black and white wires
3. this is the splice point for the shelly relay

 

[Eki]

1. I took the piece of cat-6 cable
2. cut off 6" or so
3. pulled out the twisted pairs
4. pulled out the green twisted pair and discarded everything else
5. I strip back a 1/4" of twisted pair to reveal the copper wires
6. I used the needle nose pliers to put little loops into the wire
7. resulting in this

 

[Eki]

I poked the controller board back through its opening so that the chassis is supporting the board like a jig. Makes it easier to solder

 

[Eki]

This is step is the hardest, because it takes a steady hand. The circuit board has lots of open space so there is room for slop.

1. I fired up the soldering iron
2. when it was hot, I put some solder on it and then wiped the solder off on the damp sponge to clean off impurities
3. I tinned the wires by putting the soldering iron on each wire and adding a little solder. This puts a layer of solder on the wire making it easier to solder to the board.
4. I shook off the excess
5. on the control board I put the soldering iron on each tab of the push button switch and after a second or two added the wire hook of the cat6 wire i previously prepared
6. only thing I was careful about is the little diode to the right of one of the pads. I didnt want to bridge solder between the switch and pad.
7. The picture below illustrates
8. Hard part is done, no more soldering

 

[Eki]

I like to provide strain relief for solder joints ... so I just wrapped the twisted pair around the circuit board standoff so that nothing pulls on the solder joint