Controlling pool pump - Pump start relay or Shelly Smart relay

[mcvax]

Hi everyone

I'm looking at how I can control my filter pump and spa pump from my Nixie.

As I'm in Australia we use 240V and anything wired to mains power needs to be hooked up by an electrician.

The options I'm looking at are:

• two pump start relays like these ones (https://www.hillsirrigation.com.au/shop/irrigation/controllers-timers/orbit-controllers/orbit-pump-start-relay/)
• a Shelly Pro 4PM relay ((https://www.smarthome.com.au/product/shelly-pro-4pm-relay-switch/)

I'd probably prefer the Shelly relay as it would give me four relays for about the same cost.

Would it be feasible to control the Shelly relays through nodejs-poolController?

Thanks

Chris

[tagyoureit]

Neither of those will work. The starting amps from the pool pump will blow them. Look up Pentair 52016. That's what the control systems use and it's rated for a 3hp motor @ 25 amps.

What pool pumps do you have? We can control most variable speed motors by setting the speed directly through the communications ports.

The way we control relays is by turning on/off 24vac power which then switches the relays to the right state. We have some info about controlling relays in the wiki.

[mcvax]

Thanks. As you can see I'm a complete novice at this.

I've looked up the Pentair 52016 and it isn't available anywhere in Australia. Unfortunately, Pentair automation is not common over here. I could import one but I wouldn't be able to convince an Australian electrician to install an imported relay. I have one pump I can control through RS485 (an Enviromax 1500) but the spa pump and chlorinator are just on/off.

I was wondering whether a contactor like this one would work:
Schneider LC1D25B7
https://directwholesale.com.au/products/schneider-tesys-3p-tesys-d-contactor-25a-ac3-11kw-1no-1nc-24vac-coil-lc1d25b7/

It looks like it is designed to handle the current and can be controlled through 24VAC. As I said I'm a complete novice, so I may be going down the wrong path.

Thanks for your assistance.

Chris

[tagyoureit]

Those specs look better.

How do you control the pumps and chlorinator today? How are they wired and how do you turn them on/off?

[mcvax]

The filter pump is plugged into the chlorinator and turns on/off with the chlorinator. The coordinator is old school and simply has a clock dial to set on/off times. I don't think I can even automate the level of chlorination as far as I can see.

https://www.maytronics.com.au/product/mineral-swim-pro-1

The spa pump and spa lights are plugged into standard sockets and turned on/off manually.

Ideally I'd be able to control the filter pump with RS485 and the chlorinator, spa pump and spa lights through relays/contactors.

[tagyoureit]

Gotcha. So, yes, you'll need the 3hp relays, an 24v i/o relay board to trigger the 3hp relays, and other relay boards to control the lights.