The Chinese manufacturer of DIY devices ITEAD has recently been actively developing its line of Internet of things devices based on ESP8266. This product is very different from all competitors by two important parameters. Low cost and the possibility of flashing their logic in them. Something arduino for real use.

Today I will pick one of the new products - ITEAD TH10, a Wi-Fi thermostat with a load capacity of 10A. He falls into the hands of the buyer in such a pretty box, and in it ...


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In the box there is such a device with a Chinese warranty sticker. The device is not small. This is how it looks in comparison with the good old SONOFF (this photo doesn’t convey the difference in dimensions very much, but still):



We unscrew the screw in the most prominent place and rejoice.



The thermostat does not have those nasty flimsy screw terminals that are used in SONOFF. Here are push terminals. Who loves Wago terminal boards, will appreciate.



The only "but" is the cross section of the wire that you want to switch with such a thermostat. I think the problems will begin on the cable with a residential 1.5mm2. It will not be very easy to insert into the Input-L bus (the rightmost one in the photo above), since it is noticeably overlapped by the body. Then it will not be easy to close the lid and tighten the "most prominent screw." Well, in the end you will understand that the cable in the external insulation does not fit through the input “embrasure”. Inside the device there will be only individual conductors in individual isolation. What will not look particularly aesthetic if the installation will be somewhere in sight.

This is all the "happiness" I will have a little later, when I install the thermostat in the country, while just suspicions. Although based on the experience of installations SONOFF. In general, despite the features of the case, the use of push terminals - this is a serious step forward.

Go ahead. Using the unscrewed lid, gently snap the case latches.



The upper part is easily removed, the printed circuit board is securely fastened with screws to the bottom of the case. It is also a plus of the design with respect to SONOFF, the printed circuit board of which may stupidly fall onto the floor if the case suddenly opens during installation. And it will definitely be revealed if you are trying to fasten the case to a not particularly flat base.



Immediately behind the terminals - replaceable fuse. Upon closer acquaintance, it turns out to be 20 amps, which is rather strange and unexpected. After all, my thermostat is ten-amp.





In the front corner of the board there are four of the most important contacts. Interface for flashing.



The reverse side of the medal of the PCB. Power paths are pushed, between tracks - cuts. The ESP8266 chip, flash and all the strapping are also located here.



At the top, there is a 2.5mm audio jack used to connect the sensor.



The sensor for this thermostat is also not small. On a 50 centimeter wire.





Assembled not very carefully. The sensor housing does not fully snap into place. But this should not affect the functionality.



Inside the sensor housing.





Thermostat with a connected sensor looks like.

How much is

$ 7.50 for a thermostat + $ 4.30 for a sensor = $ 11.8, which is about 740 rubles at the current rate. This is absolutely ridiculous price for all the functionality provided by the device. It is unlikely that someone in the foreseeable future will be able to do something similar for a comparable price.

Out of the box, the device is able to be friends with its proprietary mobile application. In our group, VKontakte regularly pushes the home-builders question “how to implement the initial setup of our devices”; in the eWeLink mobile application, “pairing” new devices with the home network is made easy and unencrypted. If readers are interested, I can tell you about his work with a separate post with a bunch of screenshots.

For those who do not trust the Chinese cloud and want to manage everything themselves - there are four wonderful contacts and a lot of opportunities for self-realization.