On January 17, 2019 at 02:04, davidcasemore said...
The fireplace needs a simple dry contact closure so any type of relay will work. It can be a very small relay because there's hardly any current involved. You don't even need the Control4 switch if you have any Control4 product with dry contact outputs.
This would be a much better solution than replacing a switch.
The difficulty in replacing the switch with a C4 device (Or any control system switch) is that you require 120V and also a relay which will not fit within a single gang box as they are tight enough with just your switch installed.
Since the relay requires 120V to be triggered it always has to be accessable as per Electrical code so finding a place to locate this and within a box large enough to house the relay usually becomes difficult.
What we tend to do during prewire is ensure that we have a low voltage line (usually station wire) pulled to the fireplace which ensures that we have control of it if required from the control system.
The bigger issue I have come across with fireplaces is that they are becoming "smarter" (I use this term very loosely) and the manufactures are designing them to have proprietary remotes and switches (for lights and temperatures and flame heights and so on) and no longer allow for basic contact closer control.
