user381: I have the below portable electric heater, but I would love to control it's start AND stop time using an Arduino. As-is, it does not come with a stop feature. SO, I have a burning question. How can I get an Arduino to start and stop this heater at specific times of the day?
As you can see, it does have a start time, but it does not have a stop time.
The power button is a simple push button. I suspect I would need to 'interject' into that and the board by using a switch? Apologies if the terminology is off, but I'm very green.
Where would a noob begin?
-EDIT-
The unit is always off when it's plugged back in. That likely means I cannot put a timer on the power cord. 


user220: I don't know if that heater will work for sure with this approach because the buttons are weird. However, I am 99% sure this will work.



(From http://keshavsaharia.com/2012/12/01/coffeeduino/)
Basically here's what you do:

Disassemble the control panel to find the PCB where the buttons are mounted. Find which button you want to simulate a press of.
Find the solder joint where the button meets the PCB.
Solder a wire to the two terminals that are connected. Some buttons have three or four terminals: look at the traces on the PCB to see which buttons are connected.
Wire the relay with the two wires connected so the relay acts as a switch.
Make the proper connections to the Arduino board to control the relay.

In code, you can just turn the relay on for a quarter of a second or so. Then, the IC on the heater will react like you pushed the button.
Make sure to seal all of this up and make sure you don't accidentally short out any of the wires. I would say to also isolate the Arduino and relay to make sure that you don't electrocute yourself at all if something goes wrong.

user83: Would or should begin? Don't fiddle with the internals of the heater. 
Set its switch to the always on position and control switching on and off with an external relay. Make a box that has plenty of room (you can reduce size at a later moment), a power cord, a mains adapter for your Arduino and a mains outlet in which you can plug your heater.
Use:

an RTC (real time clock) breakout to keep accurate time
optionally a 7 segment display to display date/time. Just make sure it has a driver chip on it so you don't need your Arduino to multiplex the individual LEDs
couple push buttons to configure the device
a relay rated for the maximum power of the heater to turn it on/off, that can be driven from 5V. Possibly needs a transistor and flyback diode to be controlled from an Arduino GPIO line.

And be very careful when experimenting with mains power, it can be leathal.

381: <p>I have the below portable electric heater, but I would love to control it's start AND stop time using an Arduino. As-is, it does not come with a stop feature. SO, I have a burning question. How can I get an Arduino to start and stop this heater at specific times of the day?</p>

<p>As you can see, it does have a start time, but it does not have a stop time.
The power button is a simple push button. I suspect I would need to 'interject' into that and the board by using a switch? Apologies if the terminology is off, but I'm very green.
Where would a noob begin?</p>

<p>-EDIT-
The unit is always off when it's plugged back in. That likely means I cannot put a timer on the power cord. </p>

<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ybUjr.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></p>
 220: <p><strong>I don't know if that heater will work for sure with this approach because the buttons are weird.</strong> However, I am 99% sure this will work.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qx3F5.png" alt=""></p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>(From <a href="http://keshavsaharia.com/2012/12/01/coffeeduino/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://keshavsaharia.com/2012/12/01/coffeeduino/</a>)</em></p>

<p>Basically here's what you do:</p>

<ol>
<li>Disassemble the control panel to find the PCB where the buttons are mounted. Find which button you want to simulate a press of.</li>
<li>Find the solder joint where the button meets the PCB.</li>
<li>Solder a wire to the two terminals that are connected. Some buttons have three or four terminals: look at the traces on the PCB to see which buttons are connected.</li>
<li>Wire the relay with the two wires connected so the relay acts as a switch.</li>
<li>Make the proper connections to the Arduino board to control the relay.</li>
</ol>

<p>In code, you can just turn the relay on for a quarter of a second or so. Then, the IC on the heater will react like you pushed the button.</p>

<p>Make sure to seal all of this up and make sure you don't accidentally short out any of the wires. I would say to also isolate the Arduino and relay to make sure that you don't electrocute yourself at all if something goes wrong.</p>
 83: <p>Would or should begin? Don't fiddle with the internals of the heater. </p>

<p>Set its switch to the always on position and control switching on and off with an external relay. Make a box that has plenty of room (you can reduce size at a later moment), a power cord, a mains adapter for your Arduino and a mains outlet in which you can plug your heater.</p>

<p>Use:</p>

<ul>
<li>an <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?tag=duc08-21&amp;url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=rtc%20breakout" rel="nofollow">RTC (real time clock) breakout</a> to keep accurate time</li>
<li>optionally a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/MAX7219-8-Digit-Display-Segment-Digital/dp/B00IHSE6V6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395212225&amp;sr=8-6&amp;keywords=7+segment+display" rel="nofollow">7 segment display</a> to display date/time. Just make sure it has a driver chip on it so you don't need your Arduino to multiplex the individual LEDs</li>
<li>couple push buttons to configure the device</li>
<li>a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=relay+5V&amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Arelay+5V" rel="nofollow">relay</a> rated for the maximum power of the heater to turn it on/off, that can be driven from 5V. Possibly needs a transistor and flyback diode to be controlled from an Arduino GPIO line.</li>
</ul>

<p>And be <strong>very</strong> careful when experimenting with mains power, it can be leathal.</p>
