Cheap, Simple web-enabled pool automation with Google Assistant Integration

[skola28]

Today I went and integrated the sonoff TH16 temperature sensor for use with the heater control.

I drilled out the existing Jandy temperature sensor, and slotted in the sonoff temperature sensor.

This should allow me to set a upper and lower limit on the heater on/off.

 

[jonpcar]

Skola...there are entire TFP threads dealing with inserting those DS18B20 temperature devices into the pool plumbing...just about every possibility (some good, some not so good). But I have not seen this one...drilling out an existing temperature probe to use as a casing...haha...kudos, that’s pretty innovative! Nice project...

 

[red-beard]

You can use Air Conditioning contactors in place of the relays. They are cheap and 24 VAC

 

[setsailsoon]

Let me start of by saying, I'm not an expert -- My understanding that the most efficient way to move water with an electric motor is when you utilize the full power of the motor. And by efficient I mean best L/$. That said, if you run a 3.5HP pump, at the flowrate of X L/min when you could use a 1HP pump to move the same X L/min, you would be saving money.

I agree, maybe you have different speeds required for your setup. Maybe you run your pump for $20/mon 24/7 --- Seems crazy, but maybe! Just think, you could run it for $19/mon if you had appropriately sized motors! I digress.

I have no water features, and the pool guys replaced my 2-speed pump with a variable speed/flow pump. B/c I have a Jandy Aqualink, and this guy sells Pentair (and he was wrong when he told me it was compatible), now I have a variable speed pump that has to basically be run as a single speed pump if I want to control it remotely.

Also, please be gentle on me I'm just 'diving' into this after my pool guy really irritated me buy selling me a pump that doesn't work as advertised.

28,
Fantastic simple system! I think you can run a VS pump using digital inputs but that requires an interface for the Pentair pumps or for most simple pools a 2-speed would be easy to control. Once you get beyond a very simple pool or even when you just add a salt generator a VS pump is a far better choice. Is there an 8 channel SonOff?

Chris

 

[skola28]

Is there an 8 channel SonOff?

Chris

For $28 a piece, no reason you couldn't buy two

 

[MRoz]

Skola28
Thank you for the post.
I currently have a Jandy control board with the Aqualink RS4. My issue is that my relays have failed, and the system I have is so old they don't make replacement relays for it anymore. I will have to get a new control board, that doesn't fit in my current cabinet. It will cost over $2,000 to get the new replacement control board, relays, and cabinet. Seems like a lot of money to me. The tech was nice enough to hardwire my pump so it is on right now.

I have been looking at your system and drawings and it seems like you had a very similar problem and I am thinking I will just replace my whole system with your system. It looks like if I want to control more than just the pump I will need to add a relay for each device I want to control, up to 4 for the 4 Sonoff switches (heater, blower, lights, and pump). Since I have to replace the relays should I just get 24VAC relays? If so would I be able to skip any of the DC components?

Looks like you just clipped the 6 pcs barrier strips in half to divide your bus bars in half?

I also noticed in your pictures you have a Supco transformer, but in your video, you have the White Rodgers. Is there a reason why?

 

[skola28]

My issue is that my relays have failed, and the system I have is so old they don't make replacement relays for it anymore. I will have to get a new control board, that doesn't fit in my current cabinet. It will cost over $2,000 to get the new replacement control board, relays, and cabinet. Seems like a lot of money to me. The tech was nice enough to hardwire my pump so it is on right now.

Is it the 'big relays' that control the 220V pumps? Or from your description, more likely, its the relays built into the control board? (The ones shown in the picture below)


Either way, both are definitely replaceable, even if they don't make the same one anymore. The control board ones are much harder! But if you're looking at throwing the whole thing away, it'd still be worth trying, even if you completely destroy it (highly unlikely btw)

Send a picture of the broken relay!

I have been looking at your system and drawings and it seems like you had a very similar problem and I am thinking I will just replace my whole system with your system. It looks like if I want to control more than just the pump I will need to add a relay for each device I want to control, up to 4 for the 4 Sonoff switches (heater, blower, lights, and pump). Since I have to replace the relays should I just get 24VAC relays? If so would I be able to skip any of the DC components?

In essence, yes: you need one relay per thing you want to control. Some of the devices need SPECIAL relays for many reasons. The heater and lights can run directly off the SONOFF relays. The pump definitely needs a separate relay, but you can scavenge it from your current system (as I did).
The blower, I don't no for sure (as I don't have one, but happy to help you figure it out!).

Looks like you just clipped the 6 pcs barrier strips in half to divide your bus bars in half?

Yep, I didn't have space in the box to have the full bar for each wire. I'm not super happy with the way it turned out b/c of the relatively exposed ends on the barrier strips where I cut them, but I could add some sort of plastic rubber compound to finish it off.

[/QUOTE]
I also noticed in your pictures you have a Supco transformer, but in your video, you have the White Rodgers. Is there a reason why?
[/QUOTE]
Well, to be honest, when installing the heater, I accidentally shorted the wires from the Supco (i think) and ruined it. So I had to buy a new one. I only went with the White Rodgers the second time b/c I think Amazon was out of stock of the Supco, or shipping was longer. You really should try to salvage the current pool transformer that you already have though. Its tucked back in that box behind the control panel and is a much higher quality transformer (I think).

 

[MRoz]

Thank you for your response!

Busted Relays - The manufacturer emailed me back today and gave me a supplier that has some for $5 each, so I think I will order some and see if I can replace them.



Old control board.

 

[red-beard]

www.mouser.com

 

[MRoz]

I finally got some time to try and set up my Sonoff controller, but I am not able to figure it out. The curveball is that I have 4 breaker switches in my set up 2 - 20 amp breakers for the pool pump and 2 - 20 amp for the lights and other equipment, all coming off another breaker from the main box. I am thinking about just taking the 4 breakers out of the pool control panel so I can duplicate the schematic in this thread. Thoughts?

 

[skola28]

I finally got some time to try and set up my Sonoff controller, but I am not able to figure it out. The curveball is that I have 4 breaker switches in my set up 2 - 20 amp breakers for the pool pump and 2 - 20 amp for the lights and other equipment, all coming off another breaker from the main box. I am thinking about just taking the 4 breakers out of the pool control panel so I can duplicate the schematic in this thread. Thoughts?

You can definitely keep the breakers! In general, the breakers really should come before the SONOFF, and before the Power Supplies in my drawing. I don't have my lights on that drawing, but I only switch one of the low voltage legs with the Sonoff for my lights (only have one circuit of lights). If you draw up more or less how your system is connected, I can help translate it into a representative diagram. I'm just not sure why you have two breakers for the pumps, 2 for the lights, etc.

 

[skola28]

Thanks to @MRoz for reminding me that I hadn't updated this post since I added lighting control and heater control.

So I added the SONOFF TH16 and waterproof sensor to the system to control the heater. I also used the 4th channel of the SONOFF 4CHPROR3 to control my 12V lighting circuit. The OP now shows how I wired those.

 

[setsailsoon]

Fantastic project! Thanks for completing the documentation. I really like that you've demonstrated a way to have remote control at a very low price compared to full-fledged automation costing thousands of $. Not super feature rich but brings the basic on-off and timer control with remote input within reach of many that can't afford thousands of $. Very cool!

Chris

 

[skola28]

Fantastic project! Thanks for completing the documentation. I really like that you've demonstrated a way to have remote control at a very low price compared to full-fledged automation costing thousands of $. Not super feature rich but brings the basic on-off and timer control with remote input within reach of many that can't afford thousands of $. Very cool!

Chris

Thanks Chris! What other features do you think I should look into adding? Checking out the brochure from an Intellicenter I8PS seems like this system is on par, Plus, since it works with Google Assistant, I can control every feature with voice, or routines. It also supports LAN ONLY mode, so even when the internet is down, I can still whip out my phone and turn on/off 'all the things'. Further, the timers/routines built into the native app, Ewelink, also don't require internet, so they can run completely independently of internet as well.

I'm planning on integrating a liquid chlorine dispenser as well, but I'll have to add another SONOFF somewhere since I'm out of channels

 

[setsailsoon]

A couple favorites for me would be VS pump using digital inputs for the popular and inexpensive V-Green VS motor add on, and solar heater. Is there a way to use two Sonoffs to get 8 channel control?

 

[skola28]

A couple favorites for me would be VS pump using digital inputs for the popular and inexpensive V-Green VS motor add on, and solar heater. Is there a way to use two Sonoffs to get 8 channel control?

I've been toying around with adding VS Pump control... the problem is that would require a little bit of coding and I was trying to avoid that Some people have already implemented the Pentair VSF Pump on this particular controller, so in theory it should be relatively simple.

You can add as many SONOFFs as you want (or have space for). They just show up as individual switches so you can keep adding them.

 

[setsailsoon]

How do you integrate a temp probe? I don't see a way to do that on the 4 ch version. Do you use something like IFTTT? I would prefer to simply wire the 10K thermister directly to the Sonoff.

Chris

 

[cmc0619]

I've been toying around with adding VS Pump control... the problem is that would require a little bit of coding and I was trying to avoid that Some people have already implemented the Pentair VSF Pump on this particular controller, so in theory it should be relatively simple.

I'm of your same mind for my pool controller: no coding, no soldering! Try to avoid it wherever possible. Does ewelink allow you to map a button to a simple webhook call? If so, you could use the nodejs-poolcontroller program on a raspberry pi to act as a protocol translator. Send it a properly formatted web request and it'll convert the language to RS-485 commands that your VSF pump understands without all the coding.

 

[ryanatunlock]

WOW, what an amazing write up! Awesome project. I am trying to do something similar but much simpler. I just want to hookup a "MHCOZY 4CH WiFi RF Wireless Switch" (link - which is basically a Sonoff from what I can tell) to a Jandy actuator.

I set it all up and it would not work. Spoke to my supplier who sent out a new Jandy - when it arrived I noticed that the original one looked old. Part of me thinks it might have been faulty, and the other part of me thinks that I fried it by connecting it wrong - and so I'm not game to hookup the replacement until I am more confident - hence my post.

I have set the button to "momentary press mode".

Is there any chance that you can review the photo below and confirm if the connection is correct? (I have a 1amp fuse on the V+)

 

[setsailsoon]

Can you tell me how to do temperature control with this or the Sonoff using a 10K thermister?