advice for controlling large loads (120V, ~30A)

i'm looking to add some ice melt cables to my gutters. installer says to plan for 5 circuits, each either 20A or 30A. these will be 120V. i suspect my needs are similar to those trying to control pool pumps, spa heaters, or large pump/fan motors.

insteon is the first place i looked. this seems to be too much current to trust to on/off modules. the regular, outdoor, micro, and din-rail on-off modules are rated for 15A. the in-linelinc is rated 20A. then there's the 2477SA1 load controller (30A) but that appears designed for 240V. instructions do not make it clear whether this will work if i just connect it to 120V - i.e., leave L2 capped.

on the z-wave side, i see there's an in-touch / intermatic CA3750 that looks interesting. rated for 30A. anyone know if indigo supports this? should be a straightforward on/off switch i think or perhaps a double-switch (since apparently it can function as either a DPST switch or as two independent SPST's. strangely, this device doesn't appear anywhere on intermatic website.

and there's the aeon labs "Heavy Duty Smart Energy Appliance Switch" (ZW078-A) which can switch up to 40A. looks good, although docs are rather sparse. i see this device listed for sale, though oddly once again, aeon labs website does not list this as a current product (it says "coming soon").

the other possibility is to buy a high-current relay (aka "contactor"). these can generally be controlled by low-voltage DC (e.g. 24v) or by 120V. the contactors tend to be common and pretty cheap (apparently they're used in applications like HVAC). amazon sells some for <$20. to tie these into Indigo,, i'd either have to dedicate an insteon or z-wave device such as a micro on-off module for each controlled circuit.

elk (the alarm company) packages up a contactor in a nice metal box and will sell you the whole thing (about $80) as the ELK-9200. just add an appliance module and you have a complete solution, possibly a solution, however it is a bit bulky and expensive, but at least "validates" that it is a sane idea to build my own control using a contactor.

ideally, what i really like to have is something like a high-power version of an in-linelinc. looks like the aeon labs ZW078-A probably comes closest to this.

some specific questions:

can i use the insteon 2477SA1 with 120V (instead of 240)?
with a purely resistive load (heat tape), should i "trust" an in-lineLinc to run at or near its rated 20A capacity?
i'm leaning towards aeon ZW078-A - anyone know if it is supported by indigo and if not, can i "fake it" (since i just need it to behave as an on/off switch)?
anyone have any experience with intouch CA3750 (i searched and found nothing in the forums)? will it work with indigo?
is it practical to use CA3750 to control two high-current loads? or would that just create more problems in terms of how i connect it up to the rest of the electrical system (bigger breaker, etc.)?

does anyone have other experience or advice with controlling high-current loads?

hopefully to save some confusion - i note that spell-check seems to have replaced the word "contactor" with "contractor" in post without me noticing - until i just re-read it. oops. [now fixed]

fyi, a contactor is a device many would refer to as a relay.

I have a regular Fibaro switch operating a single contactor that switches our Christmas lights - which is four 16a circuits running around the house.

Christmas time we obviously plug loads of low/medium power lights in; the rest of the year we have lamps in half a dozen of the sockets around the house.


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I am successfully using the "Heavy Duty Smart Energy Appliance Switch" (ZW078-A). No problems with Indigo recognizing device type, it even reports power usage, etc. Note that the enclosure isn't really suitable for an all-weather installation. I put mine in a sprnkler controller box.

thanks for quick repllies.

especially good to know that ZW078-A is fully supported in indigo.

the only remaining concern i have is that my application would call for 120V vs 240V. anyone know if the device will work with L1 connected but no L2? seems like they could have made it so. my guess is it has a DPST relay inside and thus it just connects L1-in to L1-out and L2-in to L2-out when switched on. but there's the question of how the device powers itself - hopefully it is not dependent on getting 240V input from L1-L2. the instructions don't mention use on 120v.

aeon labs says that ZW078-A will work with 120V. they provided some guidance for hookup. i've attached the wiring diagram they provided. for 120V load, they show line and neutral connecting to L1 and L2 respectively.

You should also check with your electrician about using ganged 120V circuits if you're planning on turning multiple circuits on/off at the same time. Then you could use one of these devices to switch two of the heating circuits. So you'd only need three of them for five heating circuits.

HI,

I need to cut power to two bedrooms (making sure smoke detectors are not impacted) after 11:00 PM.

I am looking at the Aeon labs heavy duty switch, and considering placing two in a locked enclosed panel next to the circuit breaker panel, and one circuit from the panel going to one heavy duty switch to feed one bedroom, and for the second bedroom, the same setup, in the same locked cabinet to a second heavy duty switch.

I read this in the manual"Your switch should have front-end access to a short-circuit protection" Is this saying the heavy duty switch needs to be BEHIND breaker, and that is why an air gap switch is required?
- or -
Is it possible to run the wires from the load side of the breaker to the input of the heavy duty switch, and should either room exceed the 15 amp breaker draw, the respective room's breaker would trip when behind the heavy duty switch.

Just not sure what they mean by "Your switch should have front-end access to a short-circuit protection."

Thanks

The insteon is made for 240 only.
they work fine with 240v

Looking inside you could replace a resistor to make it work for 120. But that's not too easy.


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