Need some sort of Z-wave relay

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#1

Good morning all,
I recently upgraded my in floor heating thermostat to SunTouch ConnectPlus, which has limited support from it’s app and it claims from Alexa, but not much. In the instructions, they claim support for Home Automation. In the installation instructions, it says:

Home Automation System Rough-in Wiring
A short or 24 VAC applied between the AWAY and COM terminals
will switch the thermostat into ‘Away’ mode.
• Pull 18 AWG to 24 AWG 2-conductor wire from the home automation
location to the ConnectPlus location

So, what I would like to do, is when my house is in away mode on Vera, I want to make the in floor heating in away mode as well, so it’s not wasting electricity. What I’m not sure is what I would need to apply that “short or 24 VAC” to the thermostat. Any ideas? This would essentially have to fit into the 1 gang rough in, along with the thermostat, so I would need something small.

#2

The fibaro smart implant can handle such a case easily and it’s pretty small. You would however need to find a low voltage power supply to run it (or any zwave relay).

#3

Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking, and of course the problem. Ideally I need something that inputs 120V and outputs 24V AC, but there may not be anything like that in existence.

#4

if you use Ezlo, and our Wifi Plugin, then you can get a wifi relay and get it work pretty quickly… just as an FYI…

#5

Not an option until Ezlo has geofencing, at the very least. Aside from which, I don’t think that would work. I need to power something inside a 1 gang electrical box. How is something that plugs into an outlet going to act as a relay for 24v AC?

#6

Aren’t you just looking for a z-wave dry contact relay to do the short? The Remotec Zwave Dry Contact Fixture Module can take 120V input and control a device via dry contact/closure/short. I have one wired into a string of outlets and doing a closure to active a gas fireplace. It is older and hard to find, so would be interested in seeing if you come up with something newer. I sure think smaller z-wave dry contact relays exist.

#7

A dry contact should indeed work, reading this line: ‘A short or 24 VAC applied between the AWAY and COM terminals’. The first bit ‘A short’ implies a dry contact.

You could test this by bridging these contacts and checking whether the thermostat gets into Away mode.

I think there are quite a few 110V/220V powered Zwave switches that offer this functionality.

#8

Yes, that’s basically what I’m looking for. I’m not familiar with the term dry contact, but that does seem to fit my needs. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.