Does anyone here have some smart Pool automation?
I’d like to monitor at least my pools temperatures, but a water quality sensor for pH values would be great. Is there some DIY or OOTB sensors around? Of course, they should integrate with openHAB!
I’ve had my Smartpool for over a year now, and I love it. I had an issue with it a couple weeks ago where the pump wouldn’t turn off after being on for about 6 hours but customer service sent me a new one that arrived the next day. It comes with a 1 year warranty so if anything goes wrong, they’ll send you a new unit.
Not a smart pool per se. But just the thermometer and the sensor for water quality. The pool is already there, but just a dumb place for water! 
Ecowitt has a pool thermometer operating over RF. There’s ecowitt2mqtt docker that can bring it into openhab.
Currently I’m only automating/managing my chlorinator and heater. I’m interested to see if there’s a good / practical water quality sensor (pH, chlorine) available.
hmm… that’s cool. I already have a Sainlogic WS3500, but I think I can’t use it to receive the Ecowitt WN34 data. I’d need something like the Ecowitt GW1100 Gateway, right?
but perhaps, someone already has combined a DIY ph/temperature sensor!?
Update: just received the DFRobot-newsletter and guess what:
I’m digging into this right now.
hmm… it seems, the “consumer/prosumer” grade pH sensors don’t allow to be immersed in water for a longer time:
“This is a laboratory probe, it can’t be immersed in the liquid for too long time.”
So, either you have to built like a automated water filling and emptying device around the sensor, so it only is immersed, when testing the water quality - or there’s just no “24/7”-sensor or pH around?
Oh there are commercial sensors specifically for pool pH testing. But if you go there, might as well get an automatic pH doser plus chlorinator controller.
One example is zodiac iaqualink system.
I control my pump using an ESP8266, Tasmota and a SSR, as well as the solar heating and ORP which I detect with a Phidgets ORP probe I plumbed into the pump return feed. I’ve also got their PH probe which isn’t accurate anymore so I ignore it.
This combo works for me
- Inkbird Wireless Pool Floating Thermometer (Wireless version not bluetooth)
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ with
- GitHub - osmocom/rtl-sdr: library for turning a RTL2832 based DVB dongle into a Software DefinedReceiver; mirror from https://gitea.osmocom.org/sdr/rtl-sdr and
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GitHub - merbanan/rtl_433: Program to decode radio transmissions from devices on the ISM bands (and other frequencies).
rtf_433 set to pipe the output as JSON formatted MQTT messages.
Works well, cheap, easy to setup and good fun to play with. Once you get the first device setup the following integrations come for free.
Personally use this to also read from a Meteo Station and a couple of thermometers around the house.
do you mind sharing a little more info about your setup? what’s “ssr”? i’m starting something myself and my main goals are to monitor temperature and eventually manage salt water generator, pump and pool heater.
i’ve seen a few things for pentair but i also have a feeling that once i connect, the pump will assume its 100% remote controlled so i’m hesitant to continue i have enough time to find something or build something that can do full scheduling, etc.
Sure - apologies for the delay.
ssr = Solid State Relay, this operates in a similar manner to a normal relay but without any moving parts, AC Pool Pumps are inductive devices and destroy conventional relays quickly so I switched to a SSR after my conventional relay stopped working. You will likely see this problem with any load that has a large starting current including some battery chargers.
Regarding my setup I have a minimum filter time set per day, that is extended if the ORP is too low. ORP = Oxygen Reduction Potential - a measure of the sanitizer strength in the water. This is measured by a probe in the return water line to the pool after the pump and filter and before the chlorinator. With my system I control 4 channels:
- Pump ON / OFF
- Chlorinator ON / OFF - I do this by leaving the Chlorinator on full time and switching its power supply
- Pool Heating - OFF signal controlled by 3 sensors measuring water temperatures from my home made solar return lines ON controlled from the output of my Solar Panels and a temperature sensor where the sun lands on the pipes. This is further modified by a pool temperature sensor that controls when the pools hot enough in summer, and how much hotter the returning pool water from the solar array has to be to achieve anything.
- Pool Pump Speed - this switches an inverter that I’ve built and inserted into the pool pump power feed. For normal filtering the pump runs slowly. When solar heating the pump switches between slow and fast depending on the strength of the sun.
Hopefully this gives you an idea - I’ve developed and added to this over a few years.
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Hi I use pool sense
They have and api that you can use with the http binding.
Great for telegram notifications about chlorine or pH.
Could you please share photos of your orp sensor installation?
