Pirep of Andoer Wireless Mobile Cell Phone PDA GSM Remote Control 3 Socket Power Outlet Smart Switch

[Marauder]

Fuses aside, none of that hardware looks capable of 15 amps. Wires are too small, circuit board traces too small, etc. that fuse holder failed because a small resistance plus high current made it get too hot.

All of these Chinese boxes are claiming more than can deliver. The documentation claims 2200 watt capacity yet they installed a 10 amp fuse. Hmmmm... Even the $300 Switchbox was modified by oversoldering traces.

I wonder if anyone has ever found an industrial grade version.


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[DonMuncy]

3 hours ago, Marauder said:

 

Which fuse holder did you buy? I am going to see if any of the local hardware stores have fuse holders. I'm not sure Radio Shack is in business any longer.


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Radio Shack is still here, but greatly downsized. From what I see, they left one store in each city. Not bad for South Podunk. Not so hot for Dallas

[DonMuncy]

I don't know anything about these remote devices, but it doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to wire in a relay to carry most any amperage desired.

[Marauder]

I don't know anything about these remote devices, but it doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to wire in a relay to carry most any amperage desired.

That is was done above in the thread. I will probably go the same route.


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[Ratherbflying]

17 hours ago, Marauder said:

Which fuse holder did you buy?


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I didn't install a fuse holder. The real estate on the circuit board is pretty tight, and I agreed with larryb that this particular version of the GSM switch was never going to handle the claimed load, so I soldered in the replacement fuse and committed to babying the thing from here on out.

Here's the fuse:

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/85-11226

[Marauder]

I didn't install a fuse holder. The real estate on the circuit board is pretty tight, and I agreed with larryb that this particular version of the GSM switch was never going to handle the claimed load, so I soldered in the replacement fuse and committed to babying the thing from here on out.
Here's the fuse:
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/85-11226

Thanks. I came to the same conclusion and ordered a pack of 10 from Amazon.




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[Eraaen]

Got mine put together today.. works like a champ (at home) Will have to wait and see what reception is like inside a big metal box.  Mine looks a little different. Switch 1 and three look the same.. But, there are two double pole outlets for Switch 2.. SW2-1 and SW2-2. They are both controlled by the SW2 button.  Oh, and I found a number for T-Mobile that will get you through to a human in less then 30mins of talking to a computer.877-720-5795 #1 then #0 twice.  Once you have the phone number for your card you can refill via web at T-Mobile.com/refill (haven't tried it yet but it sounded easy enough)  Based upon earlier fuse topics I can't believe I'll ever power more then one ceramic heater for the cockpit.  I have a Hornet heater that I just leave running all the time in the winter for the engine bay.  Any more than these two running in the hanger pops breakers anyway.

 

Only downside I have/see is trying to remember the codes to turn stuff on.. I'm old and forgetful.  Will have to carry the instructions with me all the time

[DonMuncy]

If I had any question about the ability of the circuitry to carry the load, I would definitely set up a relay circuit. It would really tick me off to call to turn on my engine preheater, and show up to find it had not worked.

[mccdeuce]

I bought a slightly different box. The CL1-GSM. $35 amazon prime  

Ran into similar issues with T-Mobile assuming I wanted it activated prior to arrival. Got the number but couldn't get the online account setup code - so I put the sim into my iPhone and done. 

Put the sim back into the full sim adapter and into the CL1.

well she kinda works. I can call and I can text and the witch responds appropriately except it doesn't send the response it's supposed to.  Thinking this might have been a factor of putting the sim into my iPhone. 

[Ratherbflying]

18 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

If I had any question about the ability of the circuitry to carry the load, I would definitely set up a relay circuit. It would really tick me off to call to turn on my engine preheater, and show up to find it had not worked.

Um... yeah.

The reason this keeps coming up is: 

1) There are a number of different manufacturers in China getting in on producing these boxes. The later ones appear to have cut corners (e.g. Putting in a wimpy 10 amp PCB-mounted fuse instead of a 20 amp socket mounted fuse) on the boxes they make.

2) Another way they cut corners is to reuse the translated-to-English specifications from the original design. So, no way they can handle anywhere close to 18 amps, but they say they do anyway.

3) 18 amps is more than enough to handle most engine heaters and a small ceramic heater on low/medium setting.

4) We get these boxes and think they can handle 18 amps, and bam... fuse blows. Yes, we lose time and perhaps don't fly on a day we meant to, but we stick it back in the box and Amazon makes good financially. Welcome to Amazon and the "new economy"... globally produced crap that may be true to the design specifications or may not. Fortunately, they are funded by a permanently high stock market and don't have to worry about things like profits and loss, so they happily refund our money or send us a replacement box.

If I ordered a new one of these, the first thing I would do is open it up and take a look at the internal wiring, and more specifically the fuse, in order to understand what I really had.

[mooniac15u]

12 hours ago, mccdeuce said:

I bought a slightly different box. The CL1-GSM. $35 amazon prime  

Ran into similar issues with T-Mobile assuming I wanted it activated prior to arrival. Got the number but couldn't get the online account setup code - so I put the sim into my iPhone and done. 

Put the sim back into the full sim adapter and into the CL1.

well she kinda works. I can call and I can text and the witch responds appropriately except it doesn't send the response it's supposed to.  Thinking this might have been a factor of putting the sim into my iPhone. 

It is very unlikely that your phone had anything to do with it.  The SIM card just authenticates your phone/device on the network.  The functionality will be controlled by your device and your account.

You could try putting the SIM back in your phone and sending a text message to make sure messaging is working correctly on your account.  Just make sure you send an SMS rather than an iMessage.

[Marauder]

20 minutes ago, Ratherbflying said:

Um... yeah.

The reason this keeps coming up is: 

1) There are a number of different manufacturers in China getting in on producing these boxes. The later ones appear to have cut corners (e.g. Putting in a wimpy 10 amp PCB-mounted fuse instead of a 20 amp socket mounted fuse) on the boxes they make.

2) Another way they cut corners is to reuse the translated-to-English specifications from the original design. So, no way they can handle anywhere close to 18 amps, but they say they do anyway.

3) 18 amps is more than enough to handle most engine heaters and a small ceramic heater on low/medium setting.

4) We get these boxes and think they can handle 18 amps, and bam... fuse blows. Yes, we lose time and perhaps don't fly on a day we meant to, but we stick it back in the box and Amazon makes good financially. Welcome to Amazon and the "new economy"... globally produced crap that may be true to the design specifications or may not. Fortunately, they are funded by a permanently high stock market and don't have to worry about things like profits and loss, so they happily refund our money or send us a replacement box.

If I ordered a new one of these, the first thing I would do is open it up and take a look at the internal wiring, and more specifically the fuse, in order to understand what I really had.

Yeah, the internals are a bit disappointing. Especially since the box holds a minimal certification (CE). Of course, CE is a self certification process and they appear to hold themselves to a low standard. The same for the SwitchBox version. There is no certification at all of it and it appears to be modified by soldering additional lead to the power traces. It also doesn't have any fuses to protect it. All of which leads me to the old "Caveat Emptor".

[peevee]

My switchbox generic was getting a little flaky so I got one of these. Works great. I also use an external relay, same one I used for the switchbox. 

[Marauder]

Just finished completing my repair and installing the relay. Not pretty, but she works great.




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[Marauder]

I have been looking and looking to find somewhere to buy the optional temperature sensor probe and finally found it this afternoon:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Free-shipping-Accessories-temperature-sensor-for-Smart-Socket-Switch-SC3-GSMT/272468695702?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38530%26meid%3Da679215657b845f6a624a795f7de32dc%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D222047670491

I bought one of these sensors and it works fine. I will be playing around with it a bit to see how best to use it. I see it has a scheduling capability and if it can work in conjunction with the sensor, it will allow me to turn the heaters when the temp is below 50° and on weekends.

The temp is accurate as compared to a couple of other temperature gauges I have in the plane.



I also figured out why my fuse blew. When the heater went into temperature maintenance mode, it pulled 1620 watts.




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[DualRatedFlyer]

Just received my "smart socket" switch from Amazon.  Ran by T-mobile and got a prepaid "30 for 3" sim card.  30 minutes or 30 text or whatever combination of minutes and text that add up to 30 for $3 per month (0.10 per minute or text over 30).  If you dont need it in the summer you can just stop paying for the next month renewal.  Sim card activation was $10 bucks.  @Marauder 's translated instructions were super helpful and made setup much quicker than the prepackaged instructions. 

[PaulM]

I just pay the $20 to continue service over the summer.   You have to have a full size sim phone to activate the t-mobile sim...  the overhead of getting a new SIM, activation, new number, etc isn't worth the hassle... I just have a reminder every 3 months to add another $10 to the account. 

One thing to watch out for is for stale traffic on your sim... I was watching my 30 txt's/month disappear..  The previous owner of that phone# was set up for a lot of auto-texts and people calling & leaving messages... so I asked for a new #... and that had only a bit of stale traffic.     So if your credits keep disappearing, put the sim into a phone for a couple of weeks to see what is actually going to the #. 

[Marauder]

Anyone still have a copy of their instructions? When I went to put my new SIM in, it looks like it locked. I'm sure there is a reset function so I can see if that will work. The instruction manual was a little folded piece of paper.

[tigers2007]

I thought these were 2g only thus were phased out (“sunset”) by both ATT and TMobile. Anyone know if there is a 3G CDMA or 1xRTT/LTE version that works with Verizon?


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[mooniac15u]

8 hours ago, tigers2007 said:

I thought these were 2g only thus were phased out (“sunset”) by both ATT and TMobile. Anyone know if there is a 3G CDMA or 1xRTT/LTE version that works with Verizon?


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AT&T shut down their 2G network but T-Mobile has committed to maintaining theirs at least through 2020.

[Ratherbflying]

10 hours ago, Marauder said:

Anyone still have a copy of their instructions? When I went to put my new SIM in, it looks like it locked. I'm sure there is a reset function so I can see if that will work. The instruction manual was a little folded piece of paper.

[tigers2007]

AT&T shut down their 2G network but T-Mobile has committed to maintaining theirs at least through 2020.

Okay that explains how these are still working. I don’t think there are an T Mobile towers within 150 miles of me.


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[mooniac15u]

Just now, tigers2007 said:

 

Okay that explains how these are still working. I don’t think there are an T Mobile towers within 150 miles of me.


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The 2G coverage in Michigan looks pretty sketchy for T-Mobile.

https://opensignal.com/networks/usa/t-mobile-coverage

 

 

[mooniac15u]

The 2G network doesn't actually use much useful bandwidth in its current form.  It sounds like the 3G network is a far more attractive target for wireless providers to shut down because they may be able to use that part of the spectrum to enhance LTE.  So, if you are looking at some kind of newer cellular switch make sure it's 4G/LTE instead of 3G or you might end up with another unsupported network in the near future.

[Marauder]

Thanks man! Much appreciated.


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