Wiring Hive controller to a motorised valve……

[Steve H]

Please forgive the numpty question, I work on car electrics all day but I’m not as familiar with house/heating stuff!

I currently have central heating and hot water (unvented cylinder) controlled by a 20 year old gadget that is on its last legs so I want to replace it with this (or something like this!) -

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hive-active-v3-wireless...

The current system powers up a motorised valve for CH and another for HW and the microswitches in the valves then signal the boiler to do its thing.

I want to replicate this with a replacement system and it looks like the Hive is rated to handle 3a which I think should be plenty for the valves. But this is the only wiring info I can find and I am not sure how it would need connecting up.



Assuming the the valve has 240v L connected to it and the controller switches the N to energise it, what would my connections be?

Or is it just not suitable?

TIA

[B'stard Child]

Steve H said:

I currently have central heating and hot water (unvented cylinder) controlled by a 20 year old gadget that is on its last legs so I want to replace it with this

What do you currently have?

Have you googled it and found out the wiring schematic for it?

Is it on a industry std back plate? (that's what a hive will be wired with)

I had one of these and managed to re-configure the wiring to industry std back plate for a 24/7 programmer back in the early 90's

[Steve H]

B'stard Child said:

What do you currently have?

Have you googled it and found out the wiring schematic for it?

Is it on a industry std back plate? (that's what a hive will be wired with)

I had one of these and managed to re-configure the wiring to industry std back plate for a 24/7 programmer back in the early 90's

This was a super fancy digital controller 25 years ago but it’s a relic now and there is nowt standard about it .

But I know how it interacts with the rest of the system, it powers the valves, that’s it. Now I just need to know if the Hive can do the same thing through the standard connections.

[B'stard Child]

Steve H said:

B'stard Child said:

What do you currently have?

Have you googled it and found out the wiring schematic for it?

Is it on a industry std back plate? (that's what a hive will be wired with)

I had one of these and managed to re-configure the wiring to industry std back plate for a 24/7 programmer back in the early 90's

This was a super fancy digital controller 25 years ago but it’s a relic now and there is nowt standard about it .

But I know how it interacts with the rest of the system, it powers the valves, that’s it. Now I just need to know if the Hive can do the same thing through the standard connections.

It won't be powering the valves directly

To put it super simple

1. the timer for the CH will ask the room stat if heating is needed and the room stat will provide the signal to the CH zone valve which will tell the boiler to get it's ass in gear

2. The timer for HW will ask the tank stat if the water is cold and the tank stat will provide the signal to the HW zone valve and this will tell the boiler to get it's st together

Industry std backplate have been about a heck of a long time - if your controller is 25 years it may already have one

If it hasn't then it will have a wiring configuration that once you have that you can wire up a new back plate to suit the Hive

[Mr Pointy]

A very common wiring scheme is the Honeywell S Plan; have a look at this & see if you can identify if that is what you have:

https://flameport.com/electric/central_heating/hea...

Your Hive reciever is going to replace the programmer connections on N,L,3, & 4

[Steve H]

It’s not industry standard, it does power the valves directly (via a stat on the tank but not the CH). The CH uses temp sensors rather than a stat.

It’s definitely not on a standard plate and I will probably wire the new unit in a different location by the valves anyway, the advantage of wireless stuff being available now.

I am happy to wire it fresh, just need to understand if the Hive will do it and how.

[Steve H]

It’s not industry standard, it does power the valves directly (via a stat on the tank but not the CH). The CH uses temp sensors rather than a stat.

It’s definitely not on a standard plate and I will probably wire the new unit in a different location by the valves anyway, the advantage of wireless stuff being available now.

I am happy to wire it fresh, just need to understand if/how the Hive will do it.

[Mr Pointy]

Steve H said:

It’s not industry standard, it does power the valves directly (via a stat on the tank but not the CH). The CH uses temp sensors rather than a stat.

It’s definitely not on a standard plate and I will probably wire the new unit in a different location by the valves anyway, the advantage of wireless stuff being available now.

I am happy to wire it fresh, just need to understand if the Hive will do it and how.

All that Hive (& all other controllers) do is output 240V on connections 3&4 to call for heating or hot water. It's up to the rest of the system to do something with that signal. Without knowing whay your current controller does it's impossible to say if the Hive unit is compatible.

[Steve H]

Mr Pointy said:

All that Hive (& all other controllers) do is output 240V on connections 3&4 to call for heating or hot water. It's up to the rest of the system to do something with that signal. Without knowing whay your current controller does it's impossible to say if the Hive unit is compatible.

Perfect thanks . That’s all I need it to do.

So it switches the live or the neutral to 3&4? I’m guessing the live but I know some lighting circuits switch the N and I am used to switched earths in 12v DC .

Apologies again for the stupid question, with car stuff there is usually a schematic available that shows this .

[B'stard Child]

Steve H said:

Mr Pointy said:

All that Hive (& all other controllers) do is output 240V on connections 3&4 to call for heating or hot water. It's up to the rest of the system to do something with that signal. Without knowing whay your current controller does it's impossible to say if the Hive unit is compatible.

Perfect thanks . That’s all I need it to do.

So it switches the live or the neutral to 3&4? I’m guessing the live but I know some lighting circuits switch the N and I am used to switched earths in 12v DC .

Apologies again for the stupid question, with car stuff there is usually a schematic available that shows this .

It would really help if you could share what your existing controller is

The internet is brilliant and I bet a fiver we can find the wiring configuration for your current controller and work out what needs to go where.....

Unfortunately you don't want to share that info so I'm out because letting the smoke out of wires isn't a great plan.

[Steve H]

I did say in my OP that the old controller powers the zone valves, all I needed to understand was if/how the new controller could do the same. Just a lack of familiarity on my part but should be all good with the info Mr Pointy has given .