briankmc22 Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Ok I have a cabin that has electric baseboard heaters, there used to be a standard mercury thermostat that went back to a 24v relay that would trigger heat on and off, worked great for years. I put in two C4 thermostats, put the relay on RH and W1, so this would close the relay, turns unit on and off no prob but do not want to rely on batter power... its just a two wire hookup back to the relay, one red and one white...how can I power steal on this, do I put a jumper from W1 to TS/C, and enable the common wire feature??? I have normal 4 wire hookups in my main house but thats oil forced air... sad but this seemed easier, this electric heat scenario is driving me nuts, however I know theres a lot of you out there who may have electric heat full time so im sure you would know..any help would be GREAT!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henniae Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Power stealing will not work with just 2 wires. Run a common wire.It never ceases to amaze me how cheap HVAC guys are when it comes to running wire. Run the extra wire HVAC guys, it my be needed someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briankmc22 Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 alan the wiring running there goes threw original wood beams, Ill look to see if i can somehow get a wire there, where would I plug a stand alone common wire into? I know on the TS/C on the tstat but where would it go after that?? to the relay, A radio shack power source?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henniae Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 alan the wiring running there goes threw original wood beams, Ill look to see if i can somehow get a wire there, where would I plug a stand alone common wire into? I know on the TS/C on the tstat but where would it go after that?? to the relay, A radio shack power source??The other end goes to the common on the HVAC power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briankmc22 Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 ok now i feel even more stupid.... the baseboard heaters have standard 12 gauge romex going into each of them, that runs down a control box with the relay attached to it, then two wires back to the tstat, the box the heat runs are attached two are then hard wired into the electric panel... if I didnt want to screw with the panel can I wire in my own power supply, ive looked up some other tech bulletins and everything seems to point to a main control panel, but this system seems real mundane (we are second owners, house is 35 years old with heater updated 15 years ago) I think I can go threw common closets to get power there so Im ok running another wire... if l let you know what the relay was could u look at it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henniae Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 ok now i feel even more stupid.... the baseboard heaters have standard 12 gauge romex going into each of them, that runs down a control box with the relay attached to it, then two wires back to the tstat, the box the heat runs are attached two are then hard wired into the electric panel... if I didnt want to screw with the panel can I wire in my own power supply, ive looked up some other tech bulletins and everything seems to point to a main control panel, but this system seems real mundane (we are second owners, house is 35 years old with heater updated 15 years ago) I think I can go threw common closets to get power there so Im ok running another wire... if l let you know what the relay was could u look at it?In this hookup there should be a low voltage power supply to run the relay. If it is the correct type of power supply you should be able to run the tstat from it. You will still need the common wire for this to work.Pictures would help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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