Here is photo of the other end
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I had the bits lying around, but it would probably cost about £80 if I had to buy it all. It took about3 hours to make. The reset arm is a linear actuator from a lawnmower cutting deck height adjuster. It gets connected to 12v DC by the electronics. It moves forwards or backwards depending on the polarity.
The electronic gubbins is based on an Arduino micro controller. The black tube contains a neon indicator connected in parallel to the lock out light. (It’s 240v but very low current so not dangerous). The other end of the tube contains a5v light sensor that tells the micro controller if the lockout is on or off. The blue relays are connected as an H-bridge (basically a polarity flipper) and allow the micro controller to drive the actuator in either director. The little display just reports what the thing is up to – number of retrys, time before the next attempt etc etc. Finally the whole thing is driven by an old laptop power supply. The actuator needs about 1A at 12v.
When the software detects a lockout it waits 60 seconds and pushes the reset button. It tries this three times and then waits for an hour before trying another three times.It’ll do this forever if the reset light stays on. If it fails to start from cold three goes are usually enough. If it fails when hot an hour is usually enough to let it cool down to the point where it will restart.
I know it’s something Heath Robinson would be proud of, and I’m sure Thermecon would be having kittens if they knew about it, but until Bunker recommended James it was this or freeze!
Hopefully I’ll never have to make aMkII.
In the unlikely event that anyone is daft enough to want to know any more, ask away.