Pool Pump & Lights - Smart Wifi Switches

[DylanP]

I need to redo my pool pump wiring.
I want to put a wifi controller in for the pump, lights etc.
Possibly put in a connection point for some garden lighting while I'm busy with this.

I have a 1,1kw pump.

I have a few new/unused Sonoff devices at home.

An electrician I spoke to also suggested the CBI Astute Wifi controller.

I like the idea of being able to use the physical remote control on the pool pump.

I have a the following:

Sonoff 4CHPRO with RF control
This has the RF channel, but it's only 10amp, so I am not sure it's suitable for the pool pump.

Sonoff THR320 + Temperature sensor and extension cable
I wanted to connect the temperature probe and put a panel in the braai room showing the pool temp etc.
I see this one is 20A, so that would work with the pump.
I don't see any mention of this working with the remote control though.

I have been looking at the following devices:

Sonoff POWR320D
That's 20A and has power monitoring, which seems useful for alerts on the pool pumps power consumption. This could be used to trigger an alert if the pump isn't working correctly.
I don't see any mention of the remote working with this though?

Sonoff POW R3 25A 5500W Smart Switch
I looked at this, but don't see an RF function

I might try setting it up so that the pump only starts once the sun comes out and the solar panels are working.. so perhaps a scenario based on UV index, cloud cover, rain etc. Not sure what the options are here.

Any suggestions? What do you find works best?

[Scorp007]

9 hours ago, DylanP said:

I need to redo my pool pump wiring.
I want to put a wifi controller in for the pump, lights etc.
Possibly put in a connection point for some garden lighting while I'm busy with this.

I have a 1,1kw pump.

I have a few new/unused Sonoff devices at home.

An electrician I spoke to also suggested the CBI Astute Wifi controller.

I like the idea of being able to use the physical remote control on the pool pump.

I have a the following:

Sonoff 4CHPRO with RF control
This has the RF channel, but it's only 10amp, so I am not sure it's suitable for the pool pump.

Sonoff THR320 + Temperature sensor and extension cable
I wanted to connect the temperature probe and put a panel in the braai room showing the pool temp etc.
I see this one is 20A, so that would work with the pump.
I don't see any mention of this working with the remote control though.

I have been looking at the following devices:

Sonoff POWR320D
That's 20A and has power monitoring, which seems useful for alerts on the pool pumps power consumption. This could be used to trigger an alert if the pump isn't working correctly.
I don't see any mention of the remote working with this though?

Sonoff POW R3 25A 5500W Smart Switch
I looked at this, but don't see an RF function

I might try setting it up so that the pump only starts once the sun comes out and the solar panels are working.. so perhaps a scenario based on UV index, cloud cover, rain etc. Not sure what the options are here.

Any suggestions? What do you find works best?

You can always allow the 10A Sonoff to power up a relay coil and let the relay switch the pump. I have used this method to switch 2 geysers at the same time. 

[JayMardern]

7 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

You can always allow the 10A Sonoff to power up a relay coil and let the relay switch the pump. I have used this method to switch 2 geysers at the same time. 

Normally 10A would be OK for a 1.1kw load (230V * 10 = ~2.3kw ) but I guess it's not a purely resistive load so your idea might be a safer bet, maybe the electrician can advise...

16 hours ago, DylanP said:

An electrician I spoke to also suggested the CBI Astute Wifi controller.

I'm using one of these for my pool pump (as well as another 2 for both of my geysers) and it works very well. Build quality is a bit hit-or-miss (of my three, one started rebooting when turning on recently, after being 1.5 years old, and needed to be replaced) but since they're part of the Tuya/SmartLife ecosystem you can do some really complex automation with very little effort, in addition to basic timers. The app makes creating these a straight-forward drag-and-drop affair; and the physical button on the unit means the pool service can turn it on themselves without the app if they need to.

For example when the weather is really cold we have an automation to turn off the pool filter at mid-day to save energy; and the same when it rains (because there's no solar heating nor swimming happening when it's cold/rainy!). Likewise in winter when the temperature dips low enough, our one geyser's CBI turns on for an extra hour at night to compensate for the weather.

The disadvantage is that these automations are cloud-based and won't run if your internet/wifi goes down. Basic timers don't need continuous connectivity, but automations do.

[Scorp007]

47 minutes ago, JayMardern said:

Normally 10A would be OK for a 1.1kw load (230V * 10 = ~2.3kw ) but I guess it's not a purely resistive load so your idea might be a safer bet, maybe the electrician can advise...

I'm using one of these for my pool pump (as well as another 2 for both of my geysers) and it works very well. Build quality is a bit hit-or-miss (of my three, one started rebooting when turning on recently, after being 1.5 years old, and needed to be replaced) but since they're part of the Tuya/SmartLife ecosystem you can do some really complex automation with very little effort, in addition to basic timers. The app makes creating these a straight-forward drag-and-drop affair; and the physical button on the unit means the pool service can turn it on themselves without the app if they need to.

For example when the weather is really cold we have an automation to turn off the pool filter at mid-day to save energy; and the same when it rains (because there's no solar heating nor swimming happening when it's cold/rainy!). Likewise in winter when the temperature dips low enough, our one geyser's CBI turns on for an extra hour at night to compensate for the weather.

The disadvantage is that these automations are cloud-based and won't run if your internet/wifi goes down. Basic timers don't need continuous connectivity, but automations do.

I am just sceptic about the 10A rating if on any inductive circuit and even more if there is a high surge current. Those relays are really very small. 

[JayMardern]

1 hour ago, Scorp007 said:

I am just sceptic about the 10A rating if on any inductive circuit and even more if there is a high surge current. Those relays are really very small. 

You're right, surge current on a non-VSD pump is often quoted as 2-3x rated current which could very well overload 10A in this case...

[wolfandy]

21 hours ago, DylanP said:

Sonoff THR320 + Temperature sensor and extension cable

If you already have this at home, then I would suggest using this. 

If you want to use a physical remote with it, you have 2 options:

1. Sonoff RF Bridge and a RF remote. With the bridge you can use RF remotes in your system and you can assign the desired actions to the remote in the Ewelink app.
2. Sonoff Zigbee Bridge and Zigbee remote button. Same as above - the bridge lets you add Zigbee devices to your system and you can assign the desired actions to the remote in the Ewelink app.

I personally would go Zigbee as it is the more modern standard and will also allow you to use other Zigbee devices. I have a few of those remote buttons around the house for different things (short click = switch a certain device on, long click = switch the device off). Downside of Zigbee is the more limited range inside a house.

[TaliaB]

5 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

5 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

I am just sceptic about the 10A rating if on any inductive circuit and even more if there is a high surge current. Those relays are really very small. 

 

These smart breakers and switches should be used in conjunction with a mcb as the smart breakers do not have a kA rating like a normal mcb and would not withstand fault currents that could be as high as 2000 amps depending on the curcuit impedance. You need to wire these smart switches in series with a normal mcb that has a kA rating. NB the smart breakers can not replace the existing mcb in your db board.

[Sonoff Africa]

On 2024/09/24 at 8:45 PM, DylanP said:

I need to redo my pool pump wiring.
I want to put a wifi controller in for the pump, lights etc.
Possibly put in a connection point for some garden lighting while I'm busy with this.

I have a 1,1kw pump.

I have a few new/unused Sonoff devices at home.

An electrician I spoke to also suggested the CBI Astute Wifi controller.

I like the idea of being able to use the physical remote control on the pool pump.

I have a the following:

Sonoff 4CHPRO with RF control
This has the RF channel, but it's only 10amp, so I am not sure it's suitable for the pool pump.

Sonoff THR320 + Temperature sensor and extension cable
I wanted to connect the temperature probe and put a panel in the braai room showing the pool temp etc.
I see this one is 20A, so that would work with the pump.
I don't see any mention of this working with the remote control though.

I have been looking at the following devices:

Sonoff POWR320D
That's 20A and has power monitoring, which seems useful for alerts on the pool pumps power consumption. This could be used to trigger an alert if the pump isn't working correctly.
I don't see any mention of the remote working with this though?

Sonoff POW R3 25A 5500W Smart Switch
I looked at this, but don't see an RF function

I might try setting it up so that the pump only starts once the sun comes out and the solar panels are working.. so perhaps a scenario based on UV index, cloud cover, rain etc. Not sure what the options are here.

Any suggestions? What do you find works best?

 

 

 

Hi,

I would definitely use the POWR320D (Geyser Timer on Sonoff Africa) for the pool motor since the startup current is much higher than the operating current during the initial start of the pool pump.

You can create scenes to mirror one of the channels (4CH Pro) to the POWR320D. Once you click the remote to turn "ON" the 4CH Pro (let's say channel one), it will run the scene and turn on the POWR320D. The same will apply when you switch it off.

For the lights, I would use the other channels of the 4CH Pro.

I prefer using the POWR320D on most of my devices, not only because it shows how much power is utilized, but also because it has some built-in threshold protection under the threshold setting. It features voltage and current high/low settings, as well as clever protection that stops the scenes from running in case of an overload. If that happens, you’ll need to use the button on the device or power cycle the device manually.

Depending on which inverter brand you're using and whether it has an NC/NO port for battery low indication, you could combine a specific time (e.g., 9:00 am to 3:00 pm) with the NC/NO port status being above the desired battery level. You can connect this to a Sonoff MiniR2 S1/S2 port, so if it's cloudy, your batteries won’t run flat.

It's definitely easier to just use a time-based cycle for the pump. Sonoff/eWeLink offers some nice and simple sunrise and sunset scenes that are pre-configured based on your location, and you can add delays to them.

Try to keep things as simple as possible in the scenes, as it should be easy to install and maintain.

Sonoff Africa

Edited September 30 by Sonoff Africa