Automating a Castle Serenity (or really any pellet stove with an IR remote)

[mmcc]

Hey OP, I'm glad I found your post. What you've done is basically my ideal setup that I didn't even think was possible with my Castle Serenity.

I see your link or links were removed but from the comments it looks like the IR device you use is the BroadLink RM4, is that right? I think I need to pick that up. I was hoping you could tell me about any other accessories you needed, or which version you bought, or just any general wisdom you could share. Anything would be much appreciated.

Yes it is the BroadLink RM4. That’s all you need (besides something to run home assistant on - a raspberry pi would work just fine).

The optional USB cable with the temperature sensor is useful to know of your room is warm or not.

You might also want a smart plug to know if the stove’s fan is running or not. I’m mostly using Sonoff S31 smart plugs, which provide power usage data in addition to on/off switching. However, I put an open source firmware on them called Tasmota. This isn’t hard to do, but it does require a bit of soldering… there are some YouTube videos describing the process. Without Tasmota, control of your plug requires going out to some server on the internet which seems inefficient and a little creepy.

I can provide the IR codes for controlling the Serenity if you’d like.

 

[EnPfhy]

That's awesome, I really appreciate the tips and info. I would definitely love to get the IR codes. Thanks so much!

 

[mmcc]

I sent you a PM with the info. Good luck!

 

[EnPfhy]

Thank you so much!

 

[Mittenman]

My home automation system came in handy for a somewhat kludegy purpose. My Serenity was not starting up reliably when it was below 30 degrees F. I talked to Castle's support, and was told that they had a batch of auger motors go out with the wrong kind of grease, which is apparently too stiff at cold temps.

They sent me a replacement motor, but I don't really want to change it out right now - I want to be warm! So I took off the side panel of the stove and put a small electric space heater beside the stove pointed inward. An hour before the stove startup is kicked off, I run the space heater to preheat my auger motor. Works a treat

I am trying to have this stove turn off when the IR sensor reads a certain temperature and then turn back on when it drops below a certain temp. The button press has to occur two times fairly closely together for it to power on.

Did you ever set anything like this up that you could share?

So glad I founf your IR blaster solution I have been wanting to do somethign like this for a number of years.


Thanks!

 

[jjwilliy]

Yes it is the BroadLink RM4. That’s all you need (besides something to run home assistant on - a raspberry pi would work just fine).

The optional USB cable with the temperature sensor is useful to know of your room is warm or not.

You might also want a smart plug to know if the stove’s fan is running or not. I’m mostly using Sonoff S31 smart plugs, which provide power usage data in addition to on/off switching. However, I put an open source firmware on them called Tasmota. This isn’t hard to do, but it does require a bit of soldering… there are some YouTube videos describing the process. Without Tasmota, control of your plug requires going out to some server on the internet which seems inefficient and a little creepy.

I can provide the IR codes for controlling the Serenity if you’d like.

Could you send me the ir codes as well? I'm trying to program a universal remote since the one that comes with the stove could be described as inadequate.

 

[spoon1]

Yeah I'd like those codes as well!

 

[spoon1]

Hi,

Does anyone have the IR codes? I cannot find my remote and am not able to program the IR hub.

 

[mmcc]

Hi All - I haven't been on the forum in a while and just noticed that there have been some requests for the codes. Here they are:

"on": "JgBQAAABJZURFBEUERMSExITERQRFBEUETgSOBE5ETgSOBE5ETgSOBEUERQRFBETEhMSExEUERQRORE4EjgRORE4EjgRORE4EgAFLAABKEoRAA0FAAAAAAAA",
"off": "JgBSAAABJpQRFBEUERQRExITEhMRFBEUETkROBE5ETkROBE5ETkROBI4ERQRORETEhMRFBEUERQRFBE4EhMRORE4EjgRORE4EpYUAASDAAEnShIADQUAAAAA",
"manual": "JgBQAAABJZURFBEUERQRExITERQRFBEUETgSOBE5ETgSOBE5ETgSOBEUERQROBITEhMRFBEUERQROBI4ERQROBI4ETkROBI4EQAFLQABJ0oSAA0FAAAAAAAA",
"temp": "JgBQAAABJZQSExEUERQRFBETEhMSExEUETkROBI4ETkROBI4ETkROBI4ETkRFBETEhMRFBEUERQRFBETEjgRORE4EjgRORE4EgAFLAABKEoRAA0FAAAAAAAA",
"down": "JgBQAAABJZURFBEUERMSExITERQRFBEUETgSOBE5ETgSOBE5ETgSOBE5EjcROREUERQRFBETEhMSExEUERQROBI4ETkROBI4EQAFLQABJksSAA0FAAAAAAAA",
"up": "JgBQAAABJZURFBEUERMSExITERQRFBEUETgSOBE5ETgSOBE5ETgSOBEUETkROBITERQRFBEUERQROBEUERQROBI4ETkROBI4EgAFLAABJ0sRAA0FAAAAAAAA",
"hold": "JgBQAAABJpQSExEUERQRExITEhMRFBEUETgSOBE5ETgSOBE5ETgSOBEUETgSExITERQRFBEUERMSOBEUETgSOBE5ETgSOBE5EQAFLAABJ0sRAA0FAAAAAAAA",
"unhold": "JgBQAAABJ5MRFBEUERQRExITEhMRFBEUETkTNhE5ETkROBE5ETgSOBI4ERQRFBETEhMSExEUERQRFBE4EjgRORE4EjgRORE4EgAFLQABJ0oRAA0FAAAAAAAA"