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Switch control box

S

stamper

Well Known Member
Just wondering those that have the switch control box what their thoughts are on it. I was going to try to figure out a way to wire it to my hanger heating so I could call an hour or so before I get up their to turn heat on. Is the box easy to us?
 
It's extremely easy to use...I love it. I use it for my Reiff engine block heaters. For that I use the phone call option, not the iPhone app. That ends up being a free call.
 
I love mine. I use one channel for the sump heater and another for the hanger heat. Simple text messages turn it on or off. The only fussy part was working with the phone service provider (T-Mobile in my case) to get the SIM card properly configured.

Depending upon how cold it is, I turn the sump heater on either a couple of hours before my planned arrival or as much as 10 hours before. The hanger heat (natural gas) is turned on an hour or two before I plan to arrive.

My hanger neighbor uses a NEST thermostat and a weak wifi signal in the area. As long as the wifi is available, his system works well, too. His system has the added advantage of allowing him to see (on any internet enabled device) the current temperature in his hanger.

Good luck,
 
scrollF4 said:
It's extremely easy to use...I love it. I use it for my Reiff engine block heaters.
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Same here. I put the Reiff system on output 1 and the battery minder on output 2. I use texting for on/off commands, since it responds with a text to tell you if your command was successful. Very handy.
 
I've got a phone switch that I use with Reiff oil and cylinder heaters and it works great. My oil temperature starts out at 100° on January days. The biggest hassle is remembering to keep the T-mobile sim card updated.
 
stamper said:
Do you have to have a t-mobile Sim card or will another card say us cellular or such work
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Switchbox ships with your choice of T-Mobile or AT&T. I used T-Mobile because they provide a stronger signal at my airport. Your mileage may vary, so I'd ask around to see which company provides better service at your airpatch.
 
Alan Carroll said:
The biggest hassle is remembering to keep the T-mobile sim card updated.
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That's for sure. They give you no warning of any kind when the account needs additional $$ added. The good new is, T-Mobile's automated phone service is pretty good ... it's easy to add $$ to the account when you call.
 
Hey Phillip,

Speaking of the app alerting when credits are running out, will it start accounting for the 30 free texts per month that T-mobile gives now on the $3 plan?
 
phillipny said:
Hey Kurt

Yes when you start the app it should show $3.00 in there for the initial use
P
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Not exactly what I was asking Phillip. Every month, T-mobile users on the $3.00 plan get 30 free texts now. Which means the balance should not decline for the first 15 text commands sent to the Switchbox since it uses two texts per command/response pair.

As it is now, the app does not consider the first 15 text commands to be free, and incorrectly decrements the balance each time. The actual T-mobile account balance doesn't decrement because those texts were free. Thus the balance shown on the app never matches the actual balance on the account.

Not a huge deal but one you might want to look into with your next app revision.
 
Lycamobile might be a good option for this. They are a T-Mobile MVNO, so if T-Mobile works well in your area then Lycamobile should as well. They no longer advertise their pay as you go rates as far as I can tell, but texts are $0.04 and you only pay for outgoing texts. The sim is free, minimum recharge is $10, and you must send at least 1 text every 90 days to keep the assigned phone number.
 
Christmas gift

Katie gave me a Switchbox for Christmas!

Phillip, you must have helped her and recommended AT&T for Oregon. I e-mailed you for sim set-up as per instructions. No hurry....I was playing with the app, and went online and added account credit. The phone number is active and I wasted some credit fooling around .

Another thought; would it be feasible to add a schedule/timer to the app, so while you are sleeping it makes the pre-programmed text call? Then the simple system would be even better!

Thanks!
I look forward to the great product!
 
Hey guys,

Happy to help. Any SIM card by any GSM carrier can be used
- Tmobile
- ATT
- Bell, Rogers, etc in Canada
- Lyca works great (I think they use tmobile towers)

Each company has different rates for texts and plans.

Phone calls are free to use with Switchbox and will not subtract any $ from any account above. If you use the app, you can trigger outlet1 with a free phone call 100000x and its still free.

** To answer the tmobile question, let me explain really quick. Switchbox comes with $3.34 of credit on your account. Tmobile takes $3.00 away from the balance and converts this to 30x messages. If you check your online account, on the left side of page you will see "30 messages" and on the right side "$0.34). So you are in fact paying for those 30x texts. Nothing is free unfortunately **
 
Rogers Sim Card

Hi Phillip

I just bought a SwitchBox from someone here on VAF and I curious to know if it will work with Rogers here in Canada??

I will also require a new Sim Card...Are these cards standard Sim Cards that you can get at any electronics Stores or do they have to be purchase from you???

Thanks

Bruno
[email protected]
 
Hey bruno

You can use any SIM card from any company

Just needs to be
- GSM based
- full size chip

thats all, pretty easy to swap cards
p
 
Canadian sim card

Hey Bruno, if you find a Canadin SIM card that is as good as deal as t-mobile, can you post it. I 've had a few problems with reception with t-mobile but am unable to find anything Canadian in comparison to t-mobile as far as price.

Thx, Al
 
Canadian Sims Cards

Hello Al

Sorry for the late reply but I've been out of the country with poor internet for a few weeks..

Once I return home ( this week end ) I will check with Rogers and Bell to see if they have something that might work with the Switch Box and if I get something worthwhile I will post it here...

Cheers

Bruno
 
Canadian sim card

Thanks Bruno, when I checked Canadian sim cards were quite a bit more but it may be worth it if it works better than T-Mobile.

Phil, I have to check with a hanger mate as I believe he still uses T-Mobile with no real problems.

It must be something about the geographical location.

Al
 
I absolutely loved being able to heat my plane so it was ready to fly with my switchbox. Great product and excellent support.

Marshall
 
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