Patent attributes
Power stealing circuitry to provide power to a controller for an environmental control system. The power stealing circuitry may include a first circuit, to steal power when a load for a stage is switched off, e.g. de-energized. The power stealing circuitry may include a second circuit, e.g., a power trickle circuit, to steal power when the load is switched on, e.g., energized. The load may include a furnace, electrical heating element, heat pump, humidifier, electrostatic filter, air conditioning unit and so on. In some examples, the environmental control system may have one or many stages, each with a separate load. The controller may include power stealing circuitry for each stage of the environmental control system. In other words, the controller may include a first circuit and a second circuit for each stage of a multi-stage environmental control system.
