SwitchMote and 240v

[ichilton]

Hi,

Watching the video on the SwitchMote and it looks great - very nicely done.

As i'm in the UK though, do it support 240v AC, or just 110v?

I'm also interested in the power supply circuit that it uses - has any more information about what that is and how it works been released?

I'm looking for a way to safely power a few Arduino projects from 240v mains, without risk of them catching fire or something when i'm not around!

Thanks,

Ian

[Felix]

The switching PSU is rated for 110-240V so it should support 240V.
Not tested at 240V yet but I am trying to get it tested at that voltage.
You will be able to buy the SwitchMote PSU alone and get 5V output (60mA max!). The SwitchMote PSU can also host a SSR relay that can switch 100W of load with no heatsink or up to 8A of current with a larger heatsink (see DS for that).

[ichilton]

Hi Felix,

Thanks for the reply.

Let me know if you want any UK beta testers!

Are you able to go into more details about the design of the SwitchMote PSU? - has/will the schematic/parts list been/be released?

What's "DS"?

Thanks,

Ian

[Felix]

I will probably release a schematic for reference. But I am debating whether I should fully open source this because of the high voltage stuff. I don't want liability I don't need.
"DS" aka datasheet.

[Jacco]

Hi,

Are you going to sell the SwitchMote PSU as a separate item?

I live in Europe (The Netherlands) and I have no use of the other components in the SwitchMote kit since the shield won't fit in our wall outlets.

Thanks,
Jacco

[Felix]

Probably yes, will need to add it to the store, but I'm not so sure about 240V though. Need more testing, at the moment I do not endorse usign it with 240V.

[Jacco]

Hi Felix,

Finally got the SwitchMote (and the PSU). Got delayed at customs which cost me a lot of import duties

-Tested the PSU with 230V. Didn't blew up  and gave a clean 5V.
-Loaded the SwitchConfig sketch and configured it.
-Loaded the SwitchMote sketch and tested ok.
-Connected 230V, pressed some buttons and tested ok, at first...
-When no buttons are pressed everything is ok (for hours) but pressing the buttons sometimes (can reproduce within several seconds) results in power failure. The power led starts to flicker and the Moteino stops. What also happens sometimes when pressing a button is that the Moteino reboots (middle red led flickers).

In the meanwhile did you do some testing with 230V?
Did anyone else?

Thanks,
Jacco

[Felix]

I don't really have a way to test at 240V since it's 120V here in the US. Someone tested with a variac and it works up to about 180V without issues. But the DSheet recommends non isolated sources (VARIAC is isolated) so I don't know if that is an issue in that case.
The fact that it initially works at 240V is promising, but the flickering you mentioned is an indication that the load might be too much for it. That's why I recommend its use at 120V for now. I'm not sure if there's an easy modification to make it more reliable at 240V.