Spa Side Button - Worth it?

[Aquitaine]

Just upgraded an old Aqualink RS controller to iAqualink. I have an old spa-side 4-button controller that the previous owner put in which was shorting out in the rain, so I'd disconnected it.

When I went to look at how much a replacement was, they were $400-$500 ... for a 4 button controller and 100 feet of wire. Or $850 for an entirely separate/parallel radio / PDA interface which is way more than I want. Honestly, I want one button: pool / spa mode. I want guests in the pool to be able to do that. I don't want them to have full access to the system and I don't want them to have my phone or be on my iAqualink account.

It looks like these 4-button switches used to be $250 but then blew up to $400-$500 and now you can hardly find one in stock, presumably because they're all trying to sell you the $850 RF systems. What are people using for this? I'm tempted to just put an old Echo dot in a cabinet outside and tell people to control it from there, assuming I can get iAqualink/Alexa integration working.

Aside: As a devops engineer with some expertise in home automation, the price to quality ration on all this automation stuff from Jandy and Pentair is nuts. The iAqualink looks like it could've been made 15 years ago for $1,000! 802.11n!

 

[ajw22]

The Jandy 7441 Spa side switch and the Pentair IS4 are functionally identical. The switches are momentary contact to a common line as shown in the diagram below.

The Pentair IS4 costs $250-$300.

When I replaced my Aqualink with Pentair IntelliCenter my 7441 spa remote worked with it.

I came across this while searching that may be another option if you use Alexa...

Jandy 7441 (Alexa) Spa Switch Remote - Spa side Remote - 4 relays & Temperature | eBay

It replaces Jandy 7441 or can be used with existing 4 or 8 button spa side remote (which are prone to failures). Jandy 4 (Emulates Jandy 7441 Spa Link RS 4 button remote). Does not include Jandy 7441 spa switch…!

www.ebay.com

I agree with you about the state of pool automation and that is a whole other discussion.

 

[Aquitaine]

Thanks! Glad to know the IS4 will work. Seems to be in better supply.

And yeah, I'm just gonna put an Echo dot on my porch and have everybody yell ALEXA TURN THE SPA ON...or maybe I'll rename it 'THE %#!%! DA$!#%! SPA'

 

[MSchutzer]

Go buy a cheap Amazon Fire tablet and use it as a disposable controller. They are less than $75 dollars when on sale (far cheaper than any pool equipment you will ever buy). Any of the Fire tablets can be loaded with Google's PlayStore (look online for instructions and files to download) and then you can load the iAqualink app on the tablet and then you have full control of everything.

If it should eventually fall in the pool and get damaged it's only $75 dollars you are out.

 

[homegameroom]

Here was my solution to that problem. It was pretty cheap, but I already had most of the hardware, which wasn't terribly expensive. Cheapo Pool/Spa Remote Switch

 

[Aquitaine]

Go buy a cheap Amazon Fire tablet and use it as a disposable controller. They are less than $75 dollars when on sale (far cheaper than any pool equipment you will ever buy). Any of the Fire tablets can be loaded with Google's PlayStore (look online for instructions and files to download) and then you can load the iAqualink app on the tablet and then you have full control of everything.

If it should eventually fall in the pool and get damaged it's only $75 dollars you are out.

The trouble is that I expressly do not want to give them full control. This is for guests and sometimes renters. I want them to say 'pool' or 'spa' and my solution so far is that I put a $20 old Amazon Echo Dot on the porch so they can yell 'TURN ON POOL SPA' and that will do it.

 

[Aquitaine]

Here was my solution to that problem. It was pretty cheap, but I already had most of the hardware, which wasn't terribly expensive. Cheapo Pool/Spa Remote Switch

That's cool and I loved doing SmartThings in my old place. I haven't set up a hub in my new one. But Z-Wave can talk to one of our Alexa/Echo controllers so that would probably still work.

 

[homegameroom]

I do love my SmartThings and ActionTiles! The nice thing about my solution is that you can have a cheap button control it wirelessly (cheap = easily replaced if lost or damaged, though you can mount it to the wall if you want to to eliminate it from disappearing). Label the buttons SPA ON and SPA OFF to make the functions clear to other users. SmartThings can also automatically turn the spa off after being on for XX minutes (Alexa may be able to do the same thing, but I'm not well-versed in her capabilities). You can also easily watch/monitor usage from your smart phone.

I'm not sure I'd want renters to have access to Alexa, unless you have the account stripped down, and even a Dot would need 120 volts somewhere to plug in to.