IoT Pool Monitor Helps You Keep It Crystal Clear

April 16, 2022 by Lewin Day 5 Comments

Having a pool is great, but it also requires significant monitoring and maintenance to keep it crystal clear and clean. The OPNpool controller from [Coert Vonk] aims to help in this task, integrating neatly into the smart home ecosystem of today.

OPNpool runs on an ESP32, and is capable of monitoring pool controllers, pumps, and chlorinators, as well as working with thermostats and other hardware to control the state of the pool. This allows the system to do useful things like run high-powered pumps when electricity is cheapest, or to find the best timing to run heating circuits. The controller relies on MQTT messaging and can integrate with Home Assistant for those that prefer to run their own cloud-independent smart home systems.

With WiFi onboard the ESP32, there’s no need for a hardwired LAN connection, and the system can be administered remotely over the web. It’s also capable of talking with other hardware over RS-485 and bringing it under its own control. With OPNpool installed, monitoring pool conditions can be done from the leisure of one’s deck chair with a smartphone, rather than squinting and dark LCDs in equipment cabinets.

It’s a useful tool that could be just the ticket for the savvy, IoT-aware pool owner. We’ve seen other DIY pool controllers before, too. With summer just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to get hacking!

PiNet — One Small Project Grows Unexpectedly

June 25, 2021 by Chris Lott 21 Comments

A few years ago, [Gregory Sanders] aka [Dr Gerg] had one simple wish in mind when he started what is now the PiNet project — to know whether his garage door was open or closed. Instead of searching out off-the-shelf solutions, he looked at the project as a learning opportunity. After picking up Python, he built a system from a Raspberry Pi, a 12V gel cell battery, and a power supply / charger circuit. Thus project Overhead Door (ohd) was complete (see the ohd GitHub repository) and [Dr Gerg] was done.

Or so he thought. After getting a swimming pool installed, he got the itch again, and started a new project called Pool Controls, because:

The controls for your average backyard in-ground pool are pathetic. I felt like I could do better with a Raspberry Pi, a relay board and some Python. And so I did, and frankly, it’s awesome.

Then he built his own weather station to replaced a commercial one which had died twice in as many years, followed by his own web-based UI framework. Next was the integration of an outdoor security camera system. And finally, although we don’t believe it’s really final, he ripped out the cloud-based controls from his shop air conditioner and added his own Raspberry Pi-based solution. All of these projects are available on his GitHub page.

[Dr Gerg]’s goal in posting all this work is not necessarily so people can duplicate it, although that is okay as well. Instead, he hopes that people will realize that they can build these types of projects on their own, perhaps leaning some things and picking up new skills along the way — have fun doing it. We like the way you think, [Dr Gerg]. Do you know of any small projects which grew and grew and took on a life of their own?

A Raspberry Pi Has This Pool Covered

December 2, 2018 by Jenny List 25 Comments

Far from being a tiled hole in the ground with a bit of water in it, a modern swimming pool boasts a complex array of subsystems designed to ensure your morning dip is as perfect as that you’d find on the sun-kissed beaches of your dream tropical isle. And as you might expect with such complex pieces of equipment in a domestic setting, they grow old, go wrong, and are expensive to fix.

[DrewBeer]’s pool had just such a problem. A decades-oldwired controller had failed, so rather than stump up a fortune for a refit, he created his own pool controller which exists under the watchful eye of a Raspberry Pi. The breadth of functionality is apparent from his write-up. In addition to the pump and heater you’d expect, he as a salt water system, environmental monitoring, and even an RTL-SDR to pull in readings from an RF floating temperature probe. It’s all exposed via a node.js API, and thus far has been running for over 6 months without mishap.

From where this is being written in the gloom of a damp November in a Northern Hemisphere maritime climate we can only envy [Drew] his pool and imagine it as perpetually deep blue and sparkling, invitingly cool against the heat of a summer’s day. If you have similar pool automation woes. perhaps you’d also like to look at this ESP8266 pool monitor, or another automation project using a Raspberry Pi.