Alde control - battery backup

For your Alde 3V supply, you can buy the OEM one from Alde, or for £2 make your own.

Amazon sell two bits you need;

20.5" Long Power Button Switch Cable for PC Switches Reset Computer and
SODIAL(R) 2 x AA 3V Battery Holder Case Box Slot Wired ON/OFF Switch w Cover

 

Takes 10 minutes to make, and about same time to fit

 in the morning the heating is turned up when I get up. That is anytime between 5.30am and 6.45am. Turned down when we go out if it is cold out and up when we return. (off in summer probably). 

 So I want the heating on when I get up, not when I might get up as it varies. I get up as soon as I wake. Can be any time from 5.45 to 7.00 as a rule.  

So easyT, what time do you get up.

I do what lornalou does,  not cos I get up at different times but because I can't set it up right. I had a proper go for the first time last week while away, set up the night time temp and the start / stop time but for some reason it seemed to affect the temperature in the 'van during the evening. I reverted back to plan A .....

I fitted the back up system to my 3020 about 18 months ago. Can anyone tell me how long the battery’s can be expected to last. There were no indications of this in the instructions, and the Alde technical info. doesn’t cover it either. 

Ken

So easyT, what time do you get up.
 

In the caravan usually not before 6am but always before 7 usually 6.15. At home usually between 5.30am and 7 but usually just before 6.00. 

I usually get up when I wake at home if it is around 5am or later. 

The other thing about having temperatures preset is that I have arthritis in my spine. That means that if I have been out in the cold during much of the afternoon when away in cold weather I find that. even though I have had warm clothes on I sometimes feel a need for more heat than usual, and particularly if we come in about 4pm in December and I have been prepping food and cooking. At home I might sit in my study, off the kitchen and rest my spine occasionaly whilst making a meal. When food is nearly ready and plates are warming I will sit down for 5 mins whilst Fliss dishes up and takes the meals to the dining table. 

 

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Should we assume that those who advocate setting the temperature manually on waking and before retiring, do similarly at home with their central heating? Are domestic central heating controllers used without regard to timed switching? Should replacing the convenience of home automation with manual controls be preferred, when remedies are available at low cost?

Why assume anything? People do what suits them, just as you do.

I make no assumptions. At home our heating will come on at around 5.30am at this time of year for 30 or 40 mins. It comes on about 3.30pm also for 30 mins from memory. If it is a particularly cold day we will flick it on by advancing it and it will go off after the next timed period at about 4pm. The temperature is controlled by thermostatic valves. 

We run it that way because it suits us. We never run it after OH goes to bed at 10 - 10.30pm, should it be on. I sleep less and I may well go to bed after midnight and be up around 6am.  If caravans had the same thermal insulation levels as our home I would probably not use the heating overnight in the caravan

No reason the Alde controller can’t replicate exactly what you describe. I assume other modern heating controllers are capable of similar.  

BTW I wish our house was as well insulated as the caravan.