CBI Astute Smart Controller

[Scubadude]

I'm no home automation fundi but I got fed-up of my failing pool timer running down my batteries when not expected, so I replaced it with a CBI Astute ASC. Installation was quick and easy even for my non-electrical brain and setup surprisingly straight forward. In addition to the ability to set up timed operating slots, I also like the manual override for when I do the weekly filter service, and the count down timer for the same reason. That and the ability to remotely turning off when we have 8/8ths cloud cover and loadshedding between the 1 and 2 pm running time. BW price is R 459 until Monday 20 March. Well worth it I think.  

Edited March 12, 2023 by Scubadude

[RocketBoy]

I installed one of these on my geyser to replace the digital timer. Was pretty simple to install and I am using Tuya to get it into Home Assistant. 

I have a few schedules set but with HA being aware of loadshedding its quite easy to turn off the geyser if Im running on battery. Im thinking of replacing a breaker I have for some LED outside lights with one, the daylight sensors on the lights flicker like crazy when it starts getting dark. With all of the flickering it destroys a bulb within a few months.

[Rogan]

Question. What does the little Isolation switch on the unit do? The little button at the bottom. 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Rogan

[BugsRSA]

On 2022/06/24 at 5:06 PM, Robbo said:

I use Home Assistant and NodeRed to turn off all my large loads during power failures, with some exceptions like when the sun is shining and batteries are already full etc. That way I can have all my loads on the essential side but not drain the battery unless I want to, its all about options for me.

Node-Red monitors the frequency of the grid and when it drops to 0 then it runs the flow to turn things off.

So that answers the turning off part of the question, however the changing time part is more tricky. I havent done it but in theory NodeRed could monitor for planned load shedding and then force the geyser on at a different time. Your time of use settings on the inverter would need to be logically set so that it pulls from the grid and doesnt just drain your batteries earlier.

Hi Robbo, can you share your NodeRed flow? I want to do the same thing and it would be great to get a flying start on the flow.

[Robbo]

1 hour ago, BugsRSA said:

can you share your NodeRed flow

@BugsRSA sure, you will need Solcast or some kind of solar forecasting tool integrated into HA, and I also use the telegram bot to send myself status updates. e.g. if it turns off all geysers at 10am and doesnt get to a stage of turning them back on again then I will be in trouble, so I want to get whats happening pushed to me so I can turn things back on.

I personally dont want everything turning back on when power is restored but the option is there.

PS I'm no expert on node red so there is probably a far better way of doing it, but I can understand this and it works

 flows.json

[Sc00bs]

5 hours ago, BugsRSA said:

Hi Robbo, can you share your NodeRed flow? I want to do the same thing and it would be great to get a flying start on the flow.

@BugsRSAI just did a video on this exact automation in Home Assistant. 

Turns the pool on when the Solar Forecast is above a set level. 

Is really easy to do, no need to install Node-Red

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Sc00bs

[Muttley]

Hi guys,

I currently have 3 of these units for our geysers (2 oldish but 1 is new). None of them show energy consumption in the Tuya Smartlife App. There is a 4th unit which is on the pool pump and for some reason shows unit shows consumption.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Wondering if it's because I've paired them directly in the Tuya Smartlife App and not in the CBI App.

I'd obviously like to pull this info into HA but am unable to do so.

[McGuywer]

@Muttley I use Tuya Smart. I get the power consumption but I do not get it in HA. Only one device though.

[Zodiac69]

Hi Muttley

I used the Tuya App as well 1st and i get all the values in HA.
Install LocalTuya via HACS, i prefer to not be dependent on internet connectivity, so local LAN control is preferred.
The LocalTuya site explain how to get your "key's" to integrate them into HA
The DPS that you need to use for the CBI units are:

21 - Current, Unit - Current, Factor of 0.001
22 - Voltage, Unit - Voltage, Factor of 0.1
23 - Consumption, Unit - Power, Factor of 0.1
and the last one is a switch for manual operation, 20.

[Muttley]

2 hours ago, Zodiac69 said:

Hi Muttley

I used the Tuya App as well 1st and i get all the values in HA.
Install LocalTuya via HACS, i prefer to not be dependent on internet connectivity, so local LAN control is preferred.
The LocalTuya site explain how to get your "key's" to integrate them into HA
The DPS that you need to use for the CBI units are:

21 - Current, Unit - Current, Factor of 0.001
22 - Voltage, Unit - Voltage, Factor of 0.1
23 - Consumption, Unit - Power, Factor of 0.1
and the last one is a switch for manual operation, 20.

Thanks so much for the input - I actually had Local Tuya connected to my Tuya account - just forgot to add the devices in.

Please see below (apologies for all the images but I'm trying to include as much info as possible):

After selecting a device from above, I'm assuming that I should leave them all on protocol version 3.3:

Are these settings correct?

After saving the above successfully, only the Pool Pump and Kitchen Wall Plug are showing the current & consumption as attributes:

Any ideas why I'm not getting the current and consumption values?

Also, how does one view history etc on an attribute? I'm only used to dealing with entities and I know that these need to be included in my recorder.

Thanks in advance

 

[Vaughanza]

Guys, I see some asking about monitoring your kwh . You can get your kwh in Home assistant if you create a energy sensor under helpers. ( Riemann ) 

[Zodiac69]

Hi Muttley

I presume you set it up as a switch 1st...
If you set it up as a switch 1st, then the sensor values become "Attributes" to your switch.
See bottom of your image.

I selected sensor, then the DP (21,22,23) for Current, Voltage and power.
Then i selected switch as the last entity.


 

[Muttley]

On 2023/06/21 at 6:04 PM, Zodiac69 said:

Hi Muttley

I presume you set it up as a switch 1st...
If you set it up as a switch 1st, then the sensor values become "Attributes" to your switch.
See bottom of your image.

I selected sensor, then the DP (21,22,23) for Current, Voltage and power.
Then i selected switch as the last entity.


 

Thanks - I've removed all the local Tuya entities and created a new "connection" to my Tuya account etc

It's detecting my Tuya devices with their IP's - happy days.

When I set the entity type as a sensor, it gives me this screen:

I've tried adding the 21, 22, 23 in Manual DPS but then not sure what to select below:
I've also left the above blank and still not sure what to fill in, in the next pages:

without selecting anything:

Not sure what to select for ID, unit of measurement, device class and scaling factor- not sure where the 21, 22, 23.
 

Thanks once again

Edited June 22, 2023 by Muttley
typo

[Muttley]

Hi all,

Just had a chat to Larry from CBI (what a great guy).

Currently experiencing an issue where 1 timer keeps going offline.

When I explained our setup (Breaker->Astute Timer->Contactor->Geyser) he mentioned that this is the reason why I won't get consumption as the Astute Timer is only measuring the consumption of the contactor which is minimal.... now I need to decide if the contact is really necessary to extend the lifespan of the timer...

[Tegra]

On 2023/07/10 at 3:45 PM, Muttley said:

Hi all,

Just had a chat to Larry from CBI (what a great guy).

Currently experiencing an issue where 1 timer keeps going offline.

When I explained our setup (Breaker->Astute Timer->Contactor->Geyser) he mentioned that this is the reason why I won't get consumption as the Astute Timer is only measuring the consumption of the contactor which is minimal.... now I need to decide if the contact is really necessary to extend the lifespan of the timer...

I have four geysers each fitted with CBi Astute geyser timers. They were installed in Sept 2022, and thus far I have had two units fail after 10 months, in that the relay fails to switch through power to the geyser thermostat/element.  CBi swapped out the first failed unit and I trust they will similarly swap the 2nd unit. Both failed in July 2023 after 10 months of use.

I guess it won't be ling before the remaing two original units fail as well.

Having had similar issues with CBi timers on swimming pool pumps, I am now going to install Onesto 25A Contactors and forgo the data I would normally have if directly connected.  Its cheaper to replace a contactor than the CBi geyser timer.

Anybody else with similar experience?

 

[hoohloc]

Had mine since Feb 2021 and never had any issues. The best device ever, works like a charm. Pity they don't make one that switches DC

[ZaydS]

I've got a first gen one on my pool pump and 2 newer ones on my geyser and borehole system.

First gen one works like a charm for about 2 years. Only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it does't remember it's status when loss of power. Newer ones a couple of months old, so early days. These ones have a setting for the status in the event of power loss.

[Yuri]

8 hours ago, Tegra said:

I have four geysers each fitted with CBi Astute geyser timers. They were installed in Sept 2022, and thus far I have had two units fail after 10 months, in that the relay fails to switch through power to the geyser thermostat/element.  CBi swapped out the first failed unit and I trust they will similarly swap the 2nd unit. Both failed in July 2023 after 10 months of use.

I guess it won't be ling before the remaing two original units fail as well.

Having had similar issues with CBi timers on swimming pool pumps, I am now going to install Onesto 25A Contactors and forgo the data I would normally have if directly connected.  Its cheaper to replace a contactor than the CBi geyser timer.

Anybody else with similar experience?

 

I have a cbi smart isolator feeding an geserwise tse (it is also a tuya smart product)

The geserwise is reading temperatures and I have set it up if the setpoint temperature is reached it switches off the geyser...  

Edited July 28, 2023 by Yuri

[McAllstar]

On 2023/07/28 at 4:02 PM, Yuri said:

I have a cbi smart isolator feeding an geserwise tse (it is also a tuya smart product)

The geserwise is reading temperatures and I have set it up if the setpoint temperature is reached it switches off the geyser...  

Morning, how did you set this up? Do you have automations that switch the geysers off during load-shedding etc? 

[Yuri]

I have a sunsynk inverter and this will stop the geyser when the power is off 

There is a other way see this mod on a gate motor controller 

https://tuya-smarthome.co.za/shop/smart-loadshedding-detector-eskom-utility-power-present-sensor-wifi-tuya-smartlife/

You can also built one https://isphome.co.za/shop/wifi-switches/tuya-gate_garage-door-controller/

For stopping the geyser at 70c

[Yuri]

How to get watts into KWh

go to settings, Devices & Services, next at the top of the page Helpers

 

+ CREATE HELPERS

 

select integrations - Riemann sum integral sensor 

next setup

Give the KWh sensor a name 

select the power (watt sensor) that need to be converted into KWh

select 2 decimal points 

k (kilo) to convert to (K)Wh

and hours for KW(h)

 

 

[JayMardern]

Been using two of these on my geysers for a few months, I don't love that they don't 'catch up' when a schedule is missed due to load shedding (I compensate by having repeated schedules every hour on the half-past - somewhat inelegant but it does the job),

But I've otherwise been extremely happy with these for managing peak demand for solar purposes; very easy to recommend.

I've set a pair of daytime-only automations in the regular app such that the main-bathroom geyser stays on during the day, and:

• Automation 1: When main-bathroom-geyser power consumption goes above zero, it switches off the kitchen geyser (since we know the bathroom geyser is now heating)
• Automation 2: When the main-bathroom-geyser power consumption drops back to zero, it swiches the kitchen geyser back on

This ensures that only one geyser is active at any given time which helps solar supply meet demand; and is better than static timers since there's zero downtime if either geyser has heating to do.

 

My issue is night time use: right now, I run an extra hour-and-a-half, an hour after sunset, for each geyser to re-heat to make sure everyone has hot water for when they're depleted.

The issue is that when some of us shower in the day, the additional heating happens in the day instead (powered by solar), and this evening runtime (powered by muncipality) is wasted since no-one needs it.

 

Therefore, is there a way to set an automation to switch these off when the Today (KWh) use hits a threshold? This would allow me to allocate a daily consumption budget (say, 10KWh) and when the geyser has heated to that threshold, I could power it down for the day since we know everyone is done; regardless of when the water was actually used? I thought the 'Increase Electricity' event would do the trick but it seems to be for something else.

 

TIA!

Edited August 14, 2023 by JayMardern

[solazzz]

See some discussion around getting kwh of energy consumed..

I am currently using the riemann sum method as above. It does work well, but I find it can easily be thrown off (when compared to the total energy consumed shown on the Tuya app).

Any way to get the reading from the Tuya app into HA?

[Zodiac69]

Hi JayMarden

Set a counter on your geysers kWh.
Set a timer to reset at midnight.
Set rule / and gate that the on signal can only pass if the kWh is less than the value you want.
Set rule to switch off units when you reach your preset kWh

[Yuri]

You can use the utility meter function and make a daily, monthly or yearly counter  

Edited September 18, 2023 by Yuri