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    1. · Registered
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      I realize you are pretty far into this, and the YoLink is probably a better long term solution for you, but I'll share what I just found just in case it might work for you or someone else.

      After a bit more searching this morning, I started finding incubation controllers of various types and came across these devices Temperature Controller With Relay 10A. Also these which have a little less control, but perhaps a relay that is more tolerant of Lithium battery voltages for the coil side.

      What's attractive is that 1 device can control 1 heater pad, and they have the ability to set a low (turn on) point and a high (turn off) point based on temperature delta (basically hysteresis). Effectively solving the main challenge you're working around with the pulsing timers. Assuming you set the on temperature to be around 35F and the off around 50F, the built-in temperature sensor for the RV heater pad should be invisible. I like that the RV pad has a high temperature cutoff, which would function like a second fail-safe if the micro-controller didn't turn off their relay at 50F. The Lithium BMS will also shutdown at very high temperature as a third fail safe (belt, suspenders, and a parachute). As a bonus they consume very little power (less than most incubation controllers I found).

      It does appear that these W1209 units in the first link above may come with a 14V max relay, and may fail sooner if used with Lithium to switch the coil side. The name says 10Amps, the product description says 20Amps, so I'll definitely check the relay specs when these arrive. I happen to have a 12V regulator output to power the Maxxair fan (because of a similar concern with over-voltage) so powering the coil side of the temperature controllers off of that should be compatible. It appears from the relay datasheet that you can use higher voltage on the relay side, it's just the coil side that has a 14V max. I bought 2 heater pads and 2 controllers. I plan to use 1 for a battery heater, and the other for a water tank heater, both units controlled by switches in the living space so they don't consume power during warmer days.
       
    2. · Registered
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      Discussion Starter · #221 · (Edited)
      I realize you are pretty far into this, and the YoLink is probably a better long term solution for you, but I'll share what I just found just in case it might work for you or someone else.

      After a bit more searching this morning, I started finding incubation controllers of various types and came across these devices Temperature Controller With Relay 10A. Also these which have a little less control, but perhaps a relay that is more tolerant of Lithium battery voltages for the coil side.

      What's attractive is that 1 device can control 1 heater pad, and they have the ability to set a low (turn on) point and a high (turn off) point based on temperature delta (basically hysteresis). Effectively solving the main challenge you're working around with the pulsing timers. Assuming you set the on temperature to be around 35F and the off around 50F, the built-in temperature sensor for the RV heater pad should be invisible. I like that the RV pad has a high temperature cutoff, which would function like a second fail-safe if the micro-controller didn't turn off their relay at 50F. The Lithium BMS will also shutdown at very high temperature as a third fail safe (belt, suspenders, and a parachute). As a bonus they consume very little power (less than most incubation controllers I found).

      It does appear that these W1209 units in the first link above may come with a 14V max relay, and may fail sooner if used with Lithium to switch the coil side. The name says 10Amps, the product description says 20Amps, so I'll definitely check the relay specs when these arrive. I happen to have a 12V regulator output to power the Maxxair fan (because of a similar concern with over-voltage) so powering the coil side of the temperature controllers off of that should be compatible. It appears from the relay datasheet that you can use higher voltage on the relay side, it's just the coil side that has a 14V max. I bought 2 heater pads and 2 controllers. I plan to use 1 for a battery heater, and the other for a water tank heater, both units controlled by switches in the living space so they don't consume power during warmer days.
      I looked at both of those recently but I vaguely recall people saying the boards/cpu will will burn up if you feed them more than 12V flat. And they don't offer bluetooth or cloud access which I definitely want longterm.

      I actually currently already have the thermostat w/hysteresis you mentioned. The timer/pulsing is in addition to that. So both are controlling the heat output. I may not have made that clear above. Basically my MPPT's aux relay can be set to use its battery temp sensor, which I have installed in one of the packs. And I can control my MPPT and those values via the cloud or via local offline wifi direct on my phone. I could just use the MPPT aux relay w/temp sensor by itself. I may eventually do that.

      I'm only pulsing for added safety and to conserve power (4am turn on). It takes time for heat to rise from the bottom of the pack to the middle/top where the BMS and temp sensors are. I figure a pulse lets the bottom of the pack/cells warm up, then gives time for heat to transfer upward, then the next pulse. Otherwise the bottom of the cells might be much warmer than the top for prolonged periods of time. And any time the pack with my MPPT's temp sensor reaches 50F, all heating stops for all pads even if the pulse timer is still allowing it.
      The mppt relay the timer relay are in series.

      It's just that the timer relay isn't cloud/phone controllable. And the MPPT temp probe is only measuring one pack. With Yolink gear, next year I think I can get all four pack's temp sensors and a timer relay to control the pads, and all with cloud/phone access to every setting.

      Plus, you helped remind me (thanks!) that worst-case scenario if the relay fails closed (active) the packs would heat to a BMS cutoff temp (125-130F in my case) at which point the pads would loose power. That's still not a good situation for many reasons, but it's entirely acceptable as a third fail-safe.

      The real issue is the pad temp switches are so loose in tolerance. You may get lucky with your two pads. I had one pad that heated much hotter than the others, almost seeming to disregard its temp switch, and the replacement I just bought on amazon wouldn't begin heating as temps fell down from mid 50's into the mid 40's while the rest of my pads were busying clicking on/off, so then one pack was starting from a much colder baseline.

      That temp switch isn't a clean on/off at the specified temperatures. It starts out on no matter what the temp is, then a minute or two later, turns off, then a minute or two later on again, then off, with a faintly audible click (worse on some than others). And that was on the good ones. The bad ones it can be much different behavior. Not on at all, or stays on too long.

      Now I get even heat across all four with no clicking. I'm really glad I took the temp switches out. It's better this way. Less risk of one of those switches becoming even more unpredictable or failing entirely when I'm on the road.

      Cheers.
       
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