A little background – I have a pool with an inground spa attached and I love them both! The issue is that the spa is turned on and off with an air switch so there is a looooong length of tubing running from the spa to the equipment pad. I’ve replaced the tubing already a number of years ago and it was not fun or easy. I always wanted some sort of remote for it but everything that is out there is way too expensive. There are 2 pumps for the pool and check valves between everything so all that needs to be done to start the spa and heater is for the pump to get power.
I have been a user of SmartThings and Action Tiles for home automation for about 4 years. I really like the interface and how other items (Z-wave, Lutron Caseta, Alexa) interface with them.
A few weeks ago, my spa air switch broke. Now I had an excuse to replace it!
There is a Z-wave controlled 220 volt switch/relay (Amazon, of course), so I purchased that and installed it in the enclosure that used to house my air switch. Installation on some of the SmartThings/Z-Wave items can be tricky but I got it installed and it worked perfectly, and I can control it from SmartThings or my ActionTiles panel or smart phone easily! It also shows power consumption but that's not a big deal for me on the spa.
How can I make this better? Well, I want to control the spa while I’m in it, so I purchased this Minoston Remote switch. It has 4 buttons and each button has 4 functions so you have 16 different items or scenes you can control. All I really care about, at this time, is the spa pump and the lighting, but I can add other scenes later.
I set the large top button to SPA PUMP ON for a single-press and a double-press is SPA PUMP OFF. The 2nd large button is SPA PUMP ON and POOL LIGHTS ON with one press and PUMP OFF and LIGHTS OFF with a double press. The smaller buttons are set to LIGHTS ON FULL with one press, LIGHTS ON at 75% with a double press, and LIGHTS ON 50% with a triple press (you get the picture). I’ll probably add other functions/scenes as time goes by (many of my house lights are also Z-Wave or Lutron Caseta). The scenes/functions are intuitive and easy to edit via the SmartThings interface on any smart phone.
The nice thing of the “remote” is that it includes a wall mount for it. I cut the wall plate screws short and used the (included) double-sided tape and stuck it to the outside wall in an area that is sheltered from rain. There is a 3D printed holder available on Etsy for the Lutron remotes, so I bought one for the 2nd remote I purchased and programmed so I can take it to the spa with me. Note that I can also remove the wall-mounted one, as it sticks on to the mount magnetically and can be removed and replaced.
The switches are cheap enough ($28) that I’m not worried if they have issues if I get them wet (so far, so good). This has been an ultra satisfying project and I love the outcome.
Total investment: About $100 for the SmartThings Hub (though I already had that), about $100 for the 220 volt Z-Wave switch/relay, and $28 for each switch and $10 for the 3D printed holder.
I have been a user of SmartThings and Action Tiles for home automation for about 4 years. I really like the interface and how other items (Z-wave, Lutron Caseta, Alexa) interface with them.
A few weeks ago, my spa air switch broke. Now I had an excuse to replace it!
How can I make this better? Well, I want to control the spa while I’m in it, so I purchased this Minoston Remote switch. It has 4 buttons and each button has 4 functions so you have 16 different items or scenes you can control. All I really care about, at this time, is the spa pump and the lighting, but I can add other scenes later.
I set the large top button to SPA PUMP ON for a single-press and a double-press is SPA PUMP OFF. The 2nd large button is SPA PUMP ON and POOL LIGHTS ON with one press and PUMP OFF and LIGHTS OFF with a double press. The smaller buttons are set to LIGHTS ON FULL with one press, LIGHTS ON at 75% with a double press, and LIGHTS ON 50% with a triple press (you get the picture). I’ll probably add other functions/scenes as time goes by (many of my house lights are also Z-Wave or Lutron Caseta). The scenes/functions are intuitive and easy to edit via the SmartThings interface on any smart phone.
The nice thing of the “remote” is that it includes a wall mount for it. I cut the wall plate screws short and used the (included) double-sided tape and stuck it to the outside wall in an area that is sheltered from rain. There is a 3D printed holder available on Etsy for the Lutron remotes, so I bought one for the 2nd remote I purchased and programmed so I can take it to the spa with me. Note that I can also remove the wall-mounted one, as it sticks on to the mount magnetically and can be removed and replaced.
The switches are cheap enough ($28) that I’m not worried if they have issues if I get them wet (so far, so good). This has been an ultra satisfying project and I love the outcome.
Total investment: About $100 for the SmartThings Hub (though I already had that), about $100 for the 220 volt Z-Wave switch/relay, and $28 for each switch and $10 for the 3D printed holder.
