Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum and I'm looking for some advice. I'm a journeyman electrician, so I am familiar with electricity and circuits, and I have taken some electronics training during my technical schooling, but that was almost 20 years ago, and I don't have much practical experience with electronics since then. I don't really have any programming experience.
I have an idea for a project, but I need some advice on how to proceed. I am looking for a method of turning on and turning off a 1200W, 120V AC electric heater from a location that is about 20km away. My idea is to use a GMS modem, connected to a microcontroller, connected to relay that has a contact rating that is adequate for switching the load of the heater. I would like to be able to send an SMS message to the GSM modem, which would communicate with the microcontroller, which would send an output to energize the relay, which would switch on the heater. I could the send a second SMS message which would turn off the heater. The heater would be used to preheat an aircraft engine without the need to actually drive to the hangar the night before a flight to turn on the heater.
I'm wondering what type of microcontroller would be best suited to this application, and my experience level. Ideally it would be reasonably priced and relatively easy to program. I'm also wondering which GSM modem would be best for this application, or is there another type of technology that would be better for this application?
Thanks in advance for you suggestions.