Turn on device with an iPhone?

[Carbar66]

I own an infrared sauna. When I want to go in it I usually have to wait about 45 minutes for it to heat up. What I would like to do is say 45 minutes before I leave work be able to text or go to a website or something and turn on the sauna. Is this possible? If so what equipment would I need? I am curious to see if something like this is even plausible, so I would love your opinion on it! Thanks in advance! If you have any questions on what I am trying to do feel free to ask!

 

[kanewolf]

I would get a Raspberry PI and use the I/O capabilities to control a relay. The power required for your sauna is beyond the current capability simple direct control. But a 30A or 50A 250VAC relay is very reasonable to control.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

The biggest question would be how do you normally turn it on?

 

[Carbar66]

The biggest question would be how do you normally turn it on?

There is a small control panel at the back of the sauna. It has on/off buttons temperature up/down lights on/off and a timer up/down.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

OK. That makes it both harder and easier.

The best way to go about this is to first pull open the housing for the control panel, and take detailed pictures of everything inside. This means that you can put it back to how it was.

You'll want to put the contacts of a 5V, single pole single throw (SPST) relay in parallel with the ON button.

This is approximately what you want to do, except connect the contacts of the relay only to the pool and not to the RPi: http://www.openhomeautomation.net/control-a-relay-from-anywhere-using-the-raspberry-pi/

You'll also want to slightly modify the code so that there's only one button, and it triggers on, wait ~500ms, off.

While this shouldn't get you anywhere near mains power, BE VERY CAREFUL NEAR ELECTRICITY AND WATER. You may want to get an electrician or someone to check your work, or do the electrical bits for you.

 

[Carbar66]

OK. That makes it both harder and easier.

The best way to go about this is to first pull open the housing for the control panel, and take detailed pictures of everything inside. This means that you can put it back to how it was.

You'll want to put the contacts of a 5V, single pole single throw (SPST) relay in parallel with the ON button.

This is approximately what you want to do, except connect the contacts of the relay only to the pool and not to the RPi: http://www.openhomeautomation.net/control-a-relay-from-anywhere-using-the-raspberry-pi/

You'll also want to slightly modify the code so that there's only one button, and it triggers on, wait ~500ms, off.

While this shouldn't get you anywhere near mains power, BE VERY CAREFUL NEAR ELECTRICITY AND WATER. You may want to get an electrician or someone to check your work, or do the electrical bits for you.

That guide seems simple enough to follow, but would something like sending an email to a certain address be able to turn it on? Or would that be a lot more work than it is worth?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Should be, but just going to a bookmark would be easier to code, and probably easier to use.

Actually, another idea. SMS is probably more polished, and you don't need quite as much coding work: http://www.instructables.com/id/Control-the-relays-via-GPRS-SMS/