This fall/winter I would like to automate my pool equipment and be able to turn on the hot tub remotely. I have a plan for switching the pool pump and heater already, but I’m stuck on the two Jandy valves that need to be turned to get the water flowing through the correct pipes. One of the valves needs to be turned a full 180 degrees, and the other only gets turned about 150 of the available 180 degree range in order to portion the water flow between two different pipes.
The only thing I’ve been able to find that looks remotely close to what I’m trying to do is these EcoNet valve controls but they look like they are for smaller copper pipe with ball valves that have a 90 degree turning range.
Anyone have any ideas on how to do this? I know there are some complete pool control systems out there but I’d like to avoid changing out the whole control system, it’s hard to justify the price tag on one of those.
If you know anyone who is handy with electrical gear - namely, servos - it would not be hard to rig something up. I recently bought a unit that serves that same purpose for switching a gas water heater from “vacation” (low temp - about 50 degrees) to normal operation. The unit I purchased comes with a electro-mechanical timer (i.e., all it handles is simple on/off settings over a 24-hour cycle) but it was built to allow another control mechanism to easily replace the timer. In my case, I replaced the timer with a GE smart plug-in switch.
@destructure00 you’re more than likely going to have to have someone build one for you. Unless you can do it yourself. The link you posted is only for a quarter-turn. And the problem with many of those are they don’t have enough torque once the valve starts getting old and hard to turn. I myself have resolved this issue by adding to the arms of the shut off and the Z-Wave shut off to make them longer, IE more torque.
Why not the standard Jandy (also compatible models from other vendors) servo? They can be adjusted to have stops at whatever degree of rotation you need. Mine are controlled by a complete automation system, but I don’t see why you couldn’t rig up a 24v relay to do what you want.
I didn’t know those existed…will have to check into them. If they have adjustable stops I’m betting I could just run a relay off a GE switch, and have it timed using ST to turn off after X seconds.
Google jandy valve actuator, that should give you some options. You may have to use a 24v power supply on a smart plug to drive it or something along those lines.
So I’m working on this project now. Have parts to turn on the pump and heater, need to order the Jandy valve actuators and a relay. I’m looking at the manual for the actuators, planning to wire up as shown below, replacing the timer with a smart switch. Anyone know what the reasoning is behind not double-lugging the leg wires if I am using two actuators? I can’t find a reason why I shouldn’t, but I’m not an electrician.
Got switches wired in today, now have remote control of the pool pump and heater. Also added the switch that will eventually run the valve actuators. One nice bonus - the silver box on the left is the transformer for my low voltage landscape lighting. I have a GE outdoor module that I use to turn the lights on and off - had to have outside the box previously to receive a signal - was able to move it inside with these new switches right next to the box acting as repeaters.
Ordered a relay and transformer today as well, will mount those in the panel box on the right when they arrive. Haven’t ordered the actuators yet, likely will wait two weeks so they go on next month’s credit card bill.
destructure00, very cool setup. I have had this idea for a while and have been on the fence of buying a Jandy System or attempting to build my own like you did. I joined the community to PM you about your setup. Unfortunately I am still in my probationary period and cannot message you direct, so I will post here.
Can you provide some details on what hardware you used for the 24 volt switching, Did you source a smart things capable 24 volt switch/source combo, or you are using 120 volt switch(s) into 120/24 volt transformer(s)? Both actuators can be controlled via the same 24 volt circuit?
How do you control direction of travel and degree of rotation with these actuators? Is that controlled directly on the actuator and they repeat whatever is set each time they are powered? Is polarity reversed to move in the opposite direction, or power is just reapplied? I have installed Jandy systems using these actuators years and years ago but do not remember how they worked.
Also a feature that the Jandy has is an atmospheric temp sensor to turn on the pumps in ice mode (not a big deal where I live), and a water temp sensor to let you know if the hot tub or pool was hot yet. If I remember correctly when controlling the heater in this way, the internal thermostat in the heater was disabled and once the set temperature was reached at the Jandy, the relay would turn off the heater. Im sure they have some hysteresis settings as well to keep the heater from turning on and off too often while maintaining the temperature. By the looks of it, you are allowing the existing heater thermostat to control the heat and if you need to check temp or adjust it, you do it at the heater itself?
I used this transformer as the power supply for the actuators.
I have a standard GE Zwave switch trip two of these relays (one for each of the valve actuators). Both actuators run off the same transformer but I had to separate the relays to get the valves to work correctly.
The valve actuators have internal limit switches that handle the range of motion, you can set it however you like. I let one of my valves do a full 180 degree turn, and the other one only about 135. Once wired up, is basically works that they turn one way when when the relays are closed by the GE switch, and the other way when the relays are opened.
I don’t have any way to remotely adjust the temp on my pool heater, I just leave it set to 102 (from the panel) and remotely turn it on or off. It does it’s own cutoff and relight after reaching it’s set temp. I’m in Phoenix so no worries about ice here.
Can you give me some feedback on the wiring diagram below? I first want to automate the on/off for my motor, booster motor, salt water generator and heater and it sounds like you have already done that. Once I get that running I will tackle the valves.
My thinking is that with 4 z-wave switches and 4 relays I can do what I want. The “main” switch will energize the first relay for the motor and swg as well as provide a hot out for the other three switches to ensure that none of the other relays are ever energized if the main pump is off.
Fantastic post Chris. I’m trying to do the same - automating two 24v pool valve actuators as well as switching pool pump + heater.
I’d like to know how you connected pool heater. Do you have a dedicated on/off switch for the heater, independent of pool pump? or you have a secondary switch which operates only when pool pump is on?
I’m sourcing z-wave parts currently and discovered this Vision z-wave switch ZL7431US light switch has Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) relay:
User manual doesn’t say anything about relay contacts, but I cracked one open and determined all relay contacts are made available and wired as follows:
Relay Normally Closed (NC) ----- YELLOW wire
Relay Common (COM) ----- RED wire
Relay Normally Open (NO) ----- BLUE wire
The relay itself is Song Chuan’s 892HN-1CH-C. Its coil consumes 200mW according to datasheet, which can be googled easily. I’m pretty sure these relay contacts are isolated so you can switch currents running on different power plane.
The BLACK and WHITE wires are obviously for 120VAC, Hot and Neutral respectively.
And then there’s this GREEN wire used as an external control line. (NOTE: I only tested below in the “01” configuration, which is “To control Light with 1 or 2 Wall Switches” configuration. It was the default setting according to my manual. I suspect the meaning of Green line will change in “02” configuration.)
If GREEN wire is left floating open (i.e, not connected to anything), the Z-wave controller interpret ‘On’ state as switching the relay on (i.e., Com connects to NO), and ‘Off’ state as switching relay off (i.e., Com connects to NC).
If GREEN wire is connected to 120VAC Hot, the meaning of ‘On’/‘Off’ state flips - now ‘On’ state will turn off relay (i.e., Com connects to NC) and vice versa for ‘Off’ state.
So this GREEN wire can be connected to a ‘manual override’ switch when you have z-wave connectivity problem and you can’t toggle through the hub, which is perfect for pool valve control.
My pool heater has a physical on/off switch that I just leave in the on position. It’s a 240V heater, just like the pump, so I’m using a GE switch to break one of the legs. When the switch closes, the heater comes on, and vice versa. This switch is independent of the pool pump, so it would be possible for the heater to run when the pool pump is not on.
I’m doing this from memory on a project I finished a year ago, so hopefully this is all right.
The wiring to the pump and the heater is pretty simple. They both run on 240v, so I wired each one like the following to break one leg of the 240v circuit. I also did some examination of the way the 240v breaker was set up so that I was powering the switch with the hot leg that was paired with the neutral bar for other circuits, if that makes sense.
Many won’t recommend this setup because it can give the impression that a circuit is dead with the switch off, when in fact one of the legs is always hot. This is not a recommended practice, but as far as I have found in my googling it’s not against code either. The ideal setup would use a double pole switch to disconnect both legs, but I don’t think there are any smart switches available like this, so this was my next best option. You could probably incorporate the smart switch with a DPST relay to achieve the same effect if desired.
Here’s the wiring setup for the valves. It requires a separate 120vac SPDT relay for each valve. I originally tried to run both valves off of a single relay but the internal limit switches on the valves didn’t work right when I did this, so I separated. Manual says to separate as well.
