B&Q Homeeasy Home Automation Central Heating Controller Hack

by simon72post in Workshop > Home Improvement

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B&Q Homeeasy Home Automation Central Heating Controller Hack

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B & Q Homeeasy home automation Central heating controller Mod

Hi this is a cheaper alternative to the standard home easy Central heating controller sold by b&q.

I was going to buy the proper central heating controller H105 but found it to be a bit to expensive and then found that it could only be controlled from the top of the range remote control H100 which was over complicated and expensive for my needs.

So what I did was to get the basic plug in modules HE302S which come in a pack with the remote control. And modify it for my central heating.

As its only basically a RF receiver and a relay.

Only do this mod if you are confident working with electronics as there is soldering and mains electricity involved.
I will not be held responsible for any accidents or faults.


Opening the Case

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anyway what I did was to open the HE302S module by undoing the screws in the rear as shown.
to do this I had to get a flat blade screwdriver and file a v slit in the middle to allow me to undo the tamper proof screws.

As Shown below

when open you will see a circuit board.

Circuit Board Removal

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Now the case is open you will have to remove the pcb by gently prissing it out with a screwdriver on the sides.

When the PCB has been removed make a note of the cable positions and colours.

the blue wire is the netral supley cable.
white cable is the live supley cable
black cable is the live output to the device that would be pluged in.

Wire Positions and PCB Layout

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In this picture you can see the PCB layout and where the cables are attached.

Isolating the Relay Contacts and Wiring

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What I did next was to find the relay contact and isolate the mains from the relay contact by cutting away some of the printed circuit board.
as you can see in this picture.

after I had cut away the PCB I checked that there were no connection by using a multimeter set to resistance measurement.
you will have to make sure there is plenty of isolation between the pin and the PCB.

after I had isolated the relay contact pin I attached 2 yellow wires

one to the isolated pin. as shown below. and the other in place of the black wire

these 2 wires will be the switch contact wires for the central heating.

next I got a pieace of mains flex. And removed the white wire from the PCB and wired in the brown wire from the flex.
then I removed the blue wire from the PCB and wire the blue cable from the flex in it's place.

So now I have a mains lead to supley power to the pcb and 2 yellow wire which will connect to my central heating thermostat terminals.

Mounting in a Box - Fitting a Button.

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after testing and making sure it worked fine I mounted it in a flush mounted plastic mains back box. using some double sided tape and a foam pad.
I got a blanking plate for the box and drilled 2 small holes in the front one for the led and the other for the program reset switch.
I then got a small nut and screw and some plastic sleaving. I put the screw through the hole and did up the nut but left it loose so it could be pushed in and out a little.
then I placed the plastic sleeve over the remaining screw thread with a little over the end which went over the switch .

Connecting to My Central Heating

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The next step was to mount the box on the wall.


And connect it to my central heating room thermostat terminals you will have to check your central heating for this information.

I also have a room thermostat so i just wired the room thermostat and my home easy modified controller in series and it all worked fine.

so now my room thermostat controls the central heating when the homeeasy controller is on and I can remotely turn it off.