How to know if pump is on

[EricK]

I want to know if a water pump that is activated by a float switch is on. The pump is an overflow pump in a rainwater collection tank.  I have the pump plugged into an automatic vacuum switch.  When the pump turns on it sends power to the slave outlet, into which I have a landscape light plugged in. The light turns on when the pump turns on.
Automatic vacuum switch

I plan to plug a lamplinc dimmer into the slave outlet and the landscape light into it. The lamplinc should return to an on state when it receives power when the pump turns on. 

Should the programming  be “If responding” for the lamplinc.  What about when the pump turns off and the power to the lamplinc goes off. I want a second alert to tell me the pump is off.  I think I need a second program to check for the device not responding that is triggered by the first. 
Suggestions are appreciated.  

 

[MrBill]

4 hours ago, EricK said:

I plan to plug a lamplinc dimmer into the slave outlet and the landscape light into it. The lamplinc should return to an on state when it receives power when the pump turns on.

Lamplinc's don't work like this.   In fact, Insteon doesn't work like this, nothing communicates constantly, communication only occurs when control events occur.  There is no communication that occurs when a lamplinc (or other insteon device) is plugged or unplugged (loses or gains power). 

That said, it's possible to write an ISY program that causes the ISY to 'query' the device.  If it's not responding, then it doesn't have power.  However you should not load your system up with the communication events or you'll be introducing errors and collisions across all devices.  Something like every 5 minutes is probably the most often you would want to generate the constant queries.  

It's a discontinued product but what you really are looking for is SynchoLinc 2423.  Don't know if any used or new are available online thru ebay or the like.  If you have a Polisy and could run the Kasa nodeserver the KP115 might work, the problem is that it's not yet in the devices known to work with the nodeserver/ISY yet.  If your system has any z-wave there are also zwave devices that will sense and report load.

[ronvond]

There may be an easier answer.  I was faced with much the same issue with my sump pump, only in my case I wanted to know how often the pump started.  I use an Aeotec Smart Switch 6 Z-Wave plug to monitor current flow to the pump.  In my case I set the threshold to 100 watts.  So my program increments a variable every time the current draw is greater than 100 watts.  In your case, and depending on the current flow to your pump, you could simply program it to turn on an indicator light while the current flow is in excess of XXX, and turn off the indicator when it drops below XXX.

Hope that helps,

Ron

PS The Aeotec Smart Switch is available on Amazon

[EricK]

Thank you for your reply. Makes sense. I did unplug a lamp Linc and then plug back in and it did go to prior state. 

Maybe a relay and io linc are the way to go here. io linc always on. 12v relay  hooked up to slave connected to S of io linc. 

[PhanTomiZ]

Hi,

If you have the zwave module, then an easy solution is to install an Aeotec Smart Switch 6.  I use this device to compare power usage for my dehumidifier.  I have a few programs that monitor the amount of current/power to tell me when the unit needs to be emptied.  

You could effectively monitor the amount of current/power that the device is using and build programs from that information.

This will work for your situation if you have zwave.

PhanTomiZ

[EricK]

I don’t currently have z wave but might consider this. I do have an extra io linc though and have a relay set up for my water valve. So that type of set up is easy for my. Just need a relay and power supply for it, which I probably have. 

[ronvond]

A number of years ago, I can’t tell you how many, Insteon had a device called SynchroLinc that could sense the on/off state of a pump/motor/etc.  Worked really well and didn’t need Z-wave.  Perhaps there are still some available online.

[MrBill]

42 minutes ago, EricK said:

I don’t currently have z wave but might consider this. I do have an extra io linc though and have a relay set up for my water valve. So that type of set up is easy for my. Just need a relay and power supply for it, which I probably have. 

Be aware that z-wave signal strength is minimal.  If your ISY has a z-wave board and the device is close by it might work, you may also need to add some other devices to build a mesh.  

If you have an iolinc laying around already that's your path of least resistance at this point.

[EricK]

Got the io link and 12v relay connected. Io linc is always on.  Relay is plugged into the vacuum slave outlet along with a green lens landscape light.  When the pump, which is connected to the red/black cord turns on, the relay is powered up, closes, turns on the sense of the io linc.  The landscape green light also turns on. Tight fit in the medium socket box but this is a temporary set up. The dewenwills extension cord 6 outlet takes up too much space and the io linc was perpendicular, thus the mini extension cord. 
 

With that said my ISY is now not sending any notifications. This may have been going on for at least a couple of weeks since I know I had a low battery for a door sensor and didn’t get a notice. I didn’t investigate at that time. Going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks so limited time to trouble shoot. Tomorrow I’ll try a reboot of ISY to see if that helps. 
I have leak sensors, several door sensors with low battery alerts, a garage door sensor, and water valve sensor that all send notifications.  These have been in place for more than a few years. 
thank you 

E

[MrBill]

13 hours ago, EricK said:

With that said my ISY is now not sending any notifications. This may have been going on for at least a couple of weeks since I know I had a low battery for a door sensor and didn’t get a notice. I didn’t investigate at that time. Going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks so limited time to trouble shoot. Tomorrow I’ll try a reboot of ISY to see if that helps. 
I have leak sensors, several door sensors with low battery alerts, a garage door sensor, and water valve sensor that all send notifications.  These have been in place for more than a few years.

What method are the notifications?   If email and you're using UDI's default mail server you likely need to upgrade your firmware.  What version are you using?  (Admin Console: Help > About)

Without finding and linking other threads, the short story is UDI's mail server got spam attacked, it went offline for a period of time back around the start of this year.  Finally came back but only works in later firmware versions now. 

In addition to the above questions does your ISY have a z-wave board?   (the answer depends which firmware we suggest you use).

[EricK]

I’ll have to check my version but know I have not updated in some time. I did a back up of ISY last night in anticipation of doing update. No z wave board. Thank you. 

[MrBill]

17 minutes ago, EricK said:

I’ll have to check my version but know I have not updated in some time. I did a back up of ISY last night in anticipation of doing update. No z wave board. Thank you. 

With No Z-wave board you should go straight to v5.3.3 (assuming you're on v5.x already the update will be quick and easy, if you are still on V4.x you may need to manually fix certain programs or you may not just depends on how your programs where created).   I would always backup just before the update. 

[EricK]

Is there a reference I can check before upgrading.  Definitely not on 5. 

[MrBill]

21 minutes ago, EricK said:

Is there a reference I can check before upgrading.  Definitely not on 5. 

There's a bunch of threads, some of which are also outdated because things changed.    Do your programs make use of "Adjust Scene"?  If so, how extensively?   Those statements don't automatically upgrade and require manual intervention.   Most of the other one time conversion problems shouldn't effect you, and you said you don't have z-wave-- which can also be a headache when going v4 to v5.

In addition to your backup open the programs tab, click on My Programs (or whatever your top root folder is named), then right click and select "Copy Folder to Clipboard", now open Notepad (or any other cheap plain text editor that doesn't want to add pagebreaks, margins etc) and paste the clipboard.  Then save.  Now you have a text copy of your programs that you can look at.    

Is your system currently all insteon? 

[EricK]

Firmware 4.8, 6-26-2020. When we moved into our home 11 years ago it was full of X10 switches and keypads. After a couple of 3a all on events I looked for an alternative which got me started with Insteon. There are a few X10 devices left, but they are not integrated. I have one program to turn off an X10 basement light but not sure if that even works. 
I don’t have any adjust scenes. I used the more complicated route (easier for me) of creating several scenes for one fixture.  Programs set each scene on at different times of the night. 
thank you for the tip about the programs

 

Going to have to wait until I have more time to do the update. Reading update thread to troubleshoot ahead of time. 

[hart2hart]

Firmware 4.8, 6-26-2020. When we moved into our home 11 years ago it was full of X10 switches and keypads. After a couple of 3a all on events I looked for an alternative which got me started with Insteon. There are a few X10 devices left, but they are not integrated. I have one program to turn off an X10 basement light but not sure if that even works. 
I don’t have any adjust scenes. I used the more complicated route (easier for me) of creating several scenes for one fixture.  Programs set each scene on at different times of the night. 
thank you for the tip about the programs
 
Going to have to wait until I have more time to do the update. Reading update thread to troubleshoot ahead of time. 

I created update list in following post.

https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/26381-upgrade-from-473-to-5015a-task-list/

[ldb]

I have used both the Insteon Syncholinc and Aeotech Smart Switch outlet to monitor sump pump activity but did not like having the pump operation subject to an inline device failure.  I now use a Dwyer current switch to sense the pump running.  The dry contacts are wired to my ELK system for monitoring but could be integrated into any number of monitoring options.

Dwyer Current Sensing Switch Specs.pdf