On Fri, 27 Nov 2020 16:33:27 +0000, Caecilius
wrote:

snip

I was considering replacing the convector
heater with a oil-filled rad to smooth the output by increasing
thermal mass, but I don't think I'll bother now if that's how they
work.

That's how some of the cheaper ones work yes. We are currently running
a more traditional upright oil-filled rad (on 1kW) here in the lounge
(with the external timer stat) and it's fine. The point being it's
surface area is better matched to it's output power so it works
'properly'. ;-)

snip

Mount it all in a plastic double box (like a trailing lead) with a
double pole switch on one side and 13A socket on the other and with
the stat coming out though a rubber grommet to somewhere suitable in
the room and you should be good to go (if you are ok with the coding).
;-)

Yes, I'm fine with coding - I used to be a software engineer in the
1980s so I'm comfortable with C.

I'm still hoping there's a neater pre-built solution though. I would
hope that solid-state switching add-on thermostats would be common - I
can't be the only person with this use case.

That's *exactly* what I thought when I was looking for the same a
couple of years ago and I couldn't find one then. ;-(

I was sorting though some electronicy stuff earlier and came across an
ESP32 with external SIM card reader that was part of a project I was
playing with previously. That has built in BT and WiFi so you might
even be able to use one of those and set / adjust the required temp
with an App! ;-)

This is the sort of thing I like to play around with, but don't want
to integrate into "production" equipment around the house that I want
other family members to be able to use.

Understood. That's why something even 'preset' at whatever temperature
you consider reasonable might be a good solution, or add reading the
value of a pot to the project and make it fully adjustable. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. On these little (and they are pretty small) 450W oil filled rads
I was also going to fit one of the PWM modules inside the unit to
limit the power to something they could actually radiate!