Hello! I'm a beginner and only have a general knowledge of circuits, and I'm wondering if this project would be doable for me.
My heating quit a few days ago, I bought a Nest thermostat, then found out my heating system is a little wonky, so the nest doesn't work. Our current thermostat connects to a boiler room steam valve for our condo zone. It has 3 wires R, W, and Y. The valve needs power to both open and close, so the t-stat sends current through R - W, or R -Y, depending on if the heater should be on or off.
I would like to get this working with a Google Nest if I can. My understanding is that the Nest sends current through R and W to turn on the heater, and then stops the current when it wants the heater to stop. I am able to power the Nest by connecting it to a 24v transformer.
I am wondering how hard it would be to make a little circuit board that goes in between the Nest and the steam valve, so that when the Nest sends 24v to the circuit board, the board sends current from R to W, and then when the Nest stops sending 24v to the circuit board, the circuit board sends current from R to Y.
Could I use transistors to detect whether the Nest's 24 volts are being sent, then let the current pass through the appropriate wires, or would I be better off programming something like an Arduino and then using power relays to deliver the 24v to the steam valve? Or maybe it's a lost cause and I should put my energy into something else.
I'll try to diagram out what I'm thinking (I have no idea how to correctly do this).
Thanks guys
My heating quit a few days ago, I bought a Nest thermostat, then found out my heating system is a little wonky, so the nest doesn't work. Our current thermostat connects to a boiler room steam valve for our condo zone. It has 3 wires R, W, and Y. The valve needs power to both open and close, so the t-stat sends current through R - W, or R -Y, depending on if the heater should be on or off.
I would like to get this working with a Google Nest if I can. My understanding is that the Nest sends current through R and W to turn on the heater, and then stops the current when it wants the heater to stop. I am able to power the Nest by connecting it to a 24v transformer.
I am wondering how hard it would be to make a little circuit board that goes in between the Nest and the steam valve, so that when the Nest sends 24v to the circuit board, the board sends current from R to W, and then when the Nest stops sending 24v to the circuit board, the circuit board sends current from R to Y.
Could I use transistors to detect whether the Nest's 24 volts are being sent, then let the current pass through the appropriate wires, or would I be better off programming something like an Arduino and then using power relays to deliver the 24v to the steam valve? Or maybe it's a lost cause and I should put my energy into something else.
I'll try to diagram out what I'm thinking (I have no idea how to correctly do this).
Thanks guys
