Heated mattress pad with a timer
January 12, 2015 8:41 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for a heated mattress pad that either has a timer to go ON (not the auto-shutoff most have) or has analogue controls that will allow me to put it on a timer to go on. Does this exist?
My heated mattress pad has changed my life! Being able to climb into a bed that's already warm, no matter how chilly my unheated bedroom is (it's frequently around 50° in winter), allows me to fall asleep much more quickly.
On evenings when I'm home all evening, or if I come home before going out, I can turn the mattress pad on manually well before bedtime so the bed is toasty when I climb in. But on nights when I go directly from work to an extended social event, it's a problem if I come home and want to go right to bed.
None of the heated mattress pads I've found have a timer to allow me to program it to turn on at a certain time each night, and they all have digital controls that need to be pressed manually to turn on, so it wouldn't work to plug them into a timer plug. And they all have an auto-off after 10 hours, so I can't just turn it on in the morning before I go to work.
But this can't be that weird a feature, can it? There must be one that has a timer to go on, right? RIGHT? Please help me find it!
My heated mattress pad has changed my life! Being able to climb into a bed that's already warm, no matter how chilly my unheated bedroom is (it's frequently around 50° in winter), allows me to fall asleep much more quickly.
On evenings when I'm home all evening, or if I come home before going out, I can turn the mattress pad on manually well before bedtime so the bed is toasty when I climb in. But on nights when I go directly from work to an extended social event, it's a problem if I come home and want to go right to bed.
None of the heated mattress pads I've found have a timer to allow me to program it to turn on at a certain time each night, and they all have digital controls that need to be pressed manually to turn on, so it wouldn't work to plug them into a timer plug. And they all have an auto-off after 10 hours, so I can't just turn it on in the morning before I go to work.
But this can't be that weird a feature, can it? There must be one that has a timer to go on, right? RIGHT? Please help me find it!
If you found a pad with a manual switch, a Wemo or other wi-fi connected outlet switch would work well here. Wemo can even be used in an IFTTT recipe, so you could geofence it. Meaning you could tell it to warm up your bed when coming home after 10 pm. Or not warm up your bed unless you were at home.
My only other suggestion is to get a marble and some rubber bands, tape, velcro etc and strap it on the control so that the button is always depressed.
posted by fontophilic at 9:19 AM on January 12, 2015
My only other suggestion is to get a marble and some rubber bands, tape, velcro etc and strap it on the control so that the button is always depressed.
posted by fontophilic at 9:19 AM on January 12, 2015
I had/have the same problem you do, but here is the rub...
Devices that heat things are often designed (for safety reasons) not to resume heating if there is an interruption in power. In otherwords, most likely it will not work to turn your heating pad on and then put a timer on the outlet. Once the power is off the heating pad will not be able to resume heating without a manual reset.
If I figure out a way around this I will let you know. Meanwhile I will check this discussion in case someone else comes up with anything.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 9:41 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Devices that heat things are often designed (for safety reasons) not to resume heating if there is an interruption in power. In otherwords, most likely it will not work to turn your heating pad on and then put a timer on the outlet. Once the power is off the heating pad will not be able to resume heating without a manual reset.
If I figure out a way around this I will let you know. Meanwhile I will check this discussion in case someone else comes up with anything.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 9:41 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hi,
The good news is that later this year there will be a whole bunch of cool Internet of Things devices that will make dumb products smart.
You will be able to use your current heated mattress pad with this smart outlet that can be controlled via smartphone.
You will be able to set on times, remotely turn off, the whole deal.
I have some of the early beta versions of these and we use them to control the lights and other electrical things via the internet. A really fantastic addition to modern living.
posted by bobdow at 9:47 AM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
The good news is that later this year there will be a whole bunch of cool Internet of Things devices that will make dumb products smart.
You will be able to use your current heated mattress pad with this smart outlet that can be controlled via smartphone.
You will be able to set on times, remotely turn off, the whole deal.
I have some of the early beta versions of these and we use them to control the lights and other electrical things via the internet. A really fantastic addition to modern living.
posted by bobdow at 9:47 AM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
This page may help.
tl;dr find a pad with a certain mechanical switch. Other types won't work with timing devices for safety reasons.
posted by artdrectr at 9:56 AM on January 12, 2015
tl;dr find a pad with a certain mechanical switch. Other types won't work with timing devices for safety reasons.
posted by artdrectr at 9:56 AM on January 12, 2015
A robotic arm like this would be my solution of choice, if I was more skilled at working with Arduino/microcontrollers and computers.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 9:57 AM on January 12, 2015
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 9:57 AM on January 12, 2015
I just walked to the drugstore and none of the in-stock pads have manual switches.
I'll bring in my manual-switched pad tomorrow to try it on my light timer and see if it works. It still has auto off and on (it's lit as on but not heating for a prescribed time/temperature reading). We don't have a lot of power outages or flickers so I don't know if WalkerWestridge's point applies to my particular oldy but goody mat.
You could probably work around some of these issues with timer mats designed for working with seedlings and power temperature sensors but those really are designed for greenhouse work, not for household beds; the difference requirements when these are in use may not matter but better safe than sorry.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 10:09 AM on January 12, 2015
I'll bring in my manual-switched pad tomorrow to try it on my light timer and see if it works. It still has auto off and on (it's lit as on but not heating for a prescribed time/temperature reading). We don't have a lot of power outages or flickers so I don't know if WalkerWestridge's point applies to my particular oldy but goody mat.
You could probably work around some of these issues with timer mats designed for working with seedlings and power temperature sensors but those really are designed for greenhouse work, not for household beds; the difference requirements when these are in use may not matter but better safe than sorry.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 10:09 AM on January 12, 2015
OK, some googling has found me these two mattress pads with analog controls:
Biddeford Analog Heated Mattress Pad
Cannon Heated Mattress Pad
However since they have auto-off it's possible that plugging it in even while it's turned on (which is the function of plug timers) it on won't actually start them up -- you could ask the question in Amazon's Q&A functionality.
I did also find that UL has made it not allowed for heated mattress pads/blankets to have auto-on timers, so you're not going to find this functionality built in for any modern-produced blankets or mattress pads, and it's possible that they've made "turn on when you plug it in if the switch is on" not allowed also, in which case none will work without thegreatfelecircus' arduino robot arm suggestion.
posted by brainmouse at 10:25 AM on January 12, 2015
Biddeford Analog Heated Mattress Pad
Cannon Heated Mattress Pad
However since they have auto-off it's possible that plugging it in even while it's turned on (which is the function of plug timers) it on won't actually start them up -- you could ask the question in Amazon's Q&A functionality.
I did also find that UL has made it not allowed for heated mattress pads/blankets to have auto-on timers, so you're not going to find this functionality built in for any modern-produced blankets or mattress pads, and it's possible that they've made "turn on when you plug it in if the switch is on" not allowed also, in which case none will work without thegreatfelecircus' arduino robot arm suggestion.
posted by brainmouse at 10:25 AM on January 12, 2015
I have a foot-of-the-bed one with a mechanical switch, and I use it plugged into a timer. It came from hammacher schlemmer several years ago, but my quick search there just now doesn't turn it up. The brand is Mastex, in case that helps.
posted by daisyace at 3:11 PM on January 12, 2015
posted by daisyace at 3:11 PM on January 12, 2015
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The heat pad I use (Sunbeam) has a simple switch for Off, Low, Medium, and High. A physical switch, not a digital anything. So, in theory, I could move my lamp timer to warm up my bed to Low, Medium, or High. While it does turn itself on and off at intervals (heat or time, I forget which but it's over a decade old).
But - it's a heat pad not a heated mattress sized pad. Maybe a couple of these smaller pads with physical switches to keep it a bit warmish until you get home and turn on the whole pad as you sleep in the warmish spots and the bed heats up?
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 8:56 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]