3 ms·

A smart electrical switch toggling your low-current LED lamp based on a motion sensor or other HA automation, probably not. A smart electrical switch toggling

A smart electrical switch toggling your low-current LED lamp based on a motion sensor or other HA automation, probably not. A smart electrical switch toggling dozens of amps over several hours... this might be getting outside the realm of what I trust cheap chinese amazon products with fake, misleading, or no UL certifications to handle.

Spivak 2y ago
> dozens of amps So like two microwaves. It's also not running 20 amps through the Arduino, if the switch the software is flipping is rated for that much power then it's fine.
- floatrock 2y ago
  "rated for" is iffy. In the DIY EVSE world, it's becoming well-known that the standard home depot-grade NEMA 14-50 outlet, although "rated" for 50amps, has a tendency to release the magic smoke. People suspect the traditional duty cycle used in rating these has been more for dryers, kilns, or welders, where they're active for an hour tops or at least not drawing full current. An EVSE can be at full power much longer, making the rating... less reflective of real-world conditions. I've heard there's a new rating system coming out designed especially for EVSE-sized duty cycles. And that's not even getting into things like torque specs for the connections, etc. None of this is blocking a dedicated, well-researched, and properly equipped DIYer, but at this level of power, there's enough "tricks of the trade" involved where the risk-to-reward ratio falls maybe outside the casual "buy things off AliExpress and who cares if the magic smoke comes out" range. At this current, spending an extra couple hundred bucks might be worth it to have an actual company with a non-made-up-syllables name and a non-Shanghai-alley address that my insurance company can go after if my garage goes up in flames because their UL claims were misleading.

3 ms·

A smart electrical switch toggling your low-current LED lamp based on a motion sensor or other HA automation, probably not. A smart electrical switch toggling

by floatrock 2y ago

Spivak 2y ago
> dozens of amps So like two microwaves. It's also not running 20 amps through the Arduino, if the switch the software is flipping is rated for that much power then it's fine.
- floatrock 2y ago
  "rated for" is iffy. In the DIY EVSE world, it's becoming well-known that the standard home depot-grade NEMA 14-50 outlet, although "rated" for 50amps, has a tendency to release the magic smoke. People suspect the traditional duty cycle used in rating these has been more for dryers, kilns, or welders, where they're active for an hour tops or at least not drawing full current. An EVSE can be at full power much longer, making the rating... less reflective of real-world conditions. I've heard there's a new rating system coming out designed especially for EVSE-sized duty cycles. And that's not even getting into things like torque specs for the connections, etc. None of this is blocking a dedicated, well-researched, and properly equipped DIYer, but at this level of power, there's enough "tricks of the trade" involved where the risk-to-reward ratio falls maybe outside the casual "buy things off AliExpress and who cares if the magic smoke comes out" range. At this current, spending an extra couple hundred bucks might be worth it to have an actual company with a non-made-up-syllables name and a non-Shanghai-alley address that my insurance company can go after if my garage goes up in flames because their UL claims were misleading.