Electric blanket automation

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Beavis

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#288289 18-Jun-2021 15:04

Now I have your attention with an interesting subject title...

I use a wifi controlled switch to turn on & off my electric blanket. Saves wandering down to the other end of the house every night. It is just an ordinary electric blanket with a manual 3 heat settings controller. I just leave it turned on at the controller & switch the wifi switch on & off.

It's getting a bit old. My wife wants to buy me a more upmarket electric blanket. One with 9 heat settings & a timer. I don't think this is going to work out too good. It might be OK if the blanket remembers the heat settings after the AC power has gone off & on...

It is a Jason Multi-Zone Electric Blanket from Bed Bath & Beyond. Anyone got one of these to report the behavior of the controller when switching the wall AC power on and off?

Thanks, Peter.

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traderstu

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#2730690 18-Jun-2021 15:10

treat yourself to this one from Briscoes. Believe it or not, it's on sale at the moment

duckDecoy

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#2730694 18-Jun-2021 15:15

traderstu:

treat yourself to this one from Briscoes. Believe it or not, it's on sale at the moment

We had one like this (not sure if was the same brand) and it worked perfectly. It had some "boost" mode too where you could heat it up really fast too, we just used that about 15mins before we wanted to go to bed (via the wifi)

disillusioned

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#2730698 18-Jun-2021 15:26

Did a similar thing in our old cold apartment, using wifi switches to turn on a simple electric blanket.

Generally a wifi switch will work well to bring some smarts to a dumb appliance with manual/mechanical controls only.

Trying to use a smart plug on an already smart device or a device with electronic controls may not work as well. Might be easier and cheaper to buy a new dumb electric blanket.

davidcole

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#2730715 18-Jun-2021 15:57

What does the goldair one use for smarts...and do you need yet another app for it?

A non smart one coul dbe controlled via plugs, but that means it has to stay set to a temperature and have it's power turned off......a little risky in my mind else i would have done it as well

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jonathan18

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#2730770 18-Jun-2021 16:35

davidcole:

What does the goldair one use for smarts...and do you need yet another app for it?

A non smart one coul dbe controlled via plugs, but that means it has to stay set to a temperature and have it's power turned off......a little risky in my mind else i would have done it as well

I'm happy enough to take this risk, especially given our nice but otherwise dumb blanket has a setting (as with many other models) that turns off the blanket after a relatively short period of time if left on.

In Google Home, changing the wifi switch to a different device like a 'fan' also allows it to be turned on/off at a set time or in x number of minutes - so, for example, I can say 'turn off blanket in 10 minutes.

Given all this, I've never missed being able to control the heat settings (and just leave it set to highest - ours heats in 5-10 minutes, so a simple 'Hey Google, bed time' turns on the appropriate lights and blanket switches not long before we got to bed).

One thing that was frustrating prior was we had both sides on the single switch, so if one of us went to bed earlier or wanted it left on longer it was a bit of pain to coordinate - this was solved by moving to a wifi multi-box ('blankets' should turn on both; [person's name] blanket' that individual one, but going by how well Google understands us it can be hit-and-miss!).

Have to say this has been a life-changer (in a minor way!) - most evenings we hang out in an external HT room and it was a real hassle going back and forward just to switch the blanket on...

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2730772 18-Jun-2021 16:41

I think we used to have one with a built-in 24/7 weekly timer, but I don't know if they still make them.

I have a gut feeling (could be wrong) that some of the newer ones have a 'safety feature' where they won't start if power is applied while they're already in the on position.

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neb

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#2730883 18-Jun-2021 22:16

Q: What's the difference between a $20 electric blanket and a $279 electric blanket?

A: $259.

All electric blankets are functionally the same, a loop of heating wire and a controller that varies how much current you run through it. It warms your bed, that's all. In terms of quality/value for money, the NZ fire service reports that 90% of all electric-blanket fires are for ones ten or more years old, whether they cost $20 or $300.

The way to deal with this is to buy the cheapest heating element ("electric blanket") you can find and replace it every five years or so, whatever you feel comfortable with based on use, before it gets so worn it's a fire risk. Put any smart control you need outside the disposable heating element, not in it so you're throwing out $279 when you replace it.

jonathan18

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#2730901 19-Jun-2021 07:53

Having just been on the hunt for a new blanket for a family member, and based on others I’ve purchased, I think that’s kinda like saying all cars are the same as they too have the same fundamental components! Yep, they’ll do the same job after a fashion, but will vary not only in their various features but also how quickly and competently they’ll go, and in what level of comfort.

For example, speed - our blanket provides a noticeable improvement in warmth after five minutes and is great after 10; others may need 45 minutes to achieve the same. Another is that big lumpy bit where the cord joins the blanket, present on cheaper blankets - man, is that uncomfortable. As for feeling the element through the sheets on a cheap blanket, as there’s simply not enough padding…

You can keep your Great Wall as I’m quite happy with my Lexus…

That said, I do agree about not bothering about getting a blanket with smarts built in - as I mentioned in an earlier post, I can do everything we want via a basic smart plug.

Beavis

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#2731536 20-Jun-2021 16:52

Thanks everyone. Looks like keep it simple & stick with the arrangement I've got.

Wife has bought me a LCD Lenovo smart clock instead!

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jonathan18

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#2731590 20-Jun-2021 17:22

Beavis:
Thanks everyone. Looks like keep it simple & stick with the arrangement I've got.

Wife has bought me a LCD Lenovo smart clock instead!

Much more useful - especially for turning your blanket off when you’re in bed! (We gave one the Lenovo smart clocks with the colour screen to my son for his birthday a couple of weeks back - pretty good little device.)

And as it happens, this thread may well have been the impetuous to get a new blanket for the same son this afternoon: his current one commits the worst sin of all, which is cold patches; a basic ‘single’ on a king single bed really doesn’t cut it - but a fitted king single blanket is only $40 at The Warehouse. And I worked out it doesn’t matter about the cord lump (which is really bad on this model) when using a smart plug - just reverse the blanket, and even though the controller will be on the wall side it’s not going to be regularly used anyway...