New to Raspberry Pi and Pool Equipment - Need some advice.

[spifftek70]

I bought a house and now have both an in-ground pool and hot tub. They were build in the late '70s and have NEVER been updated. The Hot tub propane heater went out years ago, so the owners boarded over the hot tub. When I moved in, I had a Pentair UltraTemp heat/cooler unit put in for the pool. It has a Pool and Spa mode, so it can take the place a a propane heater (just not as fast). I have to manually turn in/out valves to change flow to the UltraTemp between the pool and spa systems. It's a pain.

Here's what I have:

Here is my planning for automation, but I need help.

I'm not sure on the wiring diagram:

Suggestions / recommendations and explanations are appropriated. Thanks in advance.

[tagyoureit]

Hi, and welcome! I would definitely check out the njsPC wiki which discusses a lot of this. Likewise the REM Wiki has even more great nuggets.

A few things I can see and point out:

1. You don't need separate RS485 adapters. One will suffice (although they do sometimes go out, so having a spare isn't a bad idea).
2. We love the Sequent Microsystems cards. You'll see them referenced throughout the wikis. They stack easily and work very well and we have full support for them. It also significantly reduces the number of wires you need to hook up.
3. Some of the more popular RS485 adapters are listed here although most of them will work fine.
4. For the Ultratemp, you can connect it via RS485, but there is no advantage to doing that vs. a fireman's switch from your relay.
5. For the Ultratemp, you will need a temp sensor feed into njsPC to let it know when to turn on the heater. You cannot use the temp sensor in Ultratemp for that.
6. If you can get the Intellivalve instead of Intermatic, they are pretty good and don't need occasional adjustment like with the traditional valves. Intellivalves don't yet (maybe ever) support RS485 but are otherwise solid valves.
7. You'll need a 24VAC power supply for the valves no matter which ones you get.

[spifftek70]

Excellent! I'll check out the Wiki's this evening. Thanks for the feedback too... Based on your recommendation, my diagram should look more like this (I need to figure out the exact wiring to the RasPi Stack):

[rstrouse]

There is an extensive read on the DIY Nixie Pool Controller.

[rock-crusher]

Hi spifftek70, you may want to consider the 8 relay hat as opposed to the 4. With the 4 you are already maxed out if using the fireman’s switch. I’m sure you will want to control your pool/spa lights and any lighting/pool features you may have now, or in the future.

[spifftek70]

Actually, I went with Eight RELAYS 8-Layer Stackable HAT for Raspberry Pi instead.

[spifftek70]

Okay, so I have my workroom covered in boxes, plastic, parts, tools.. I think I have the final hardware configuration set in this diagram which is very much taken from the Nixie Controller page instructions. It's slightly different as it is tailored to my pool system, of course. Do I have this wired correctly?

[spifftek70]

yeah.... true.

[BigGass]

@spifftek70 What did you use to draw your wiring diagrams? I am starting to work on my own system and I want to layout my components and DIN rails. I've been struggling to find a way to draw them. Your drawings are so clear. I'm impressed. Thanks!

[rstrouse]

Some of those pics are from the wiki https://github.com/tagyoureit/nodejs-poolController/wiki/DIY-Standalone-Nixie-Pool-Controller and those were generated with Microsoft Visio. @spifftek70 will have to comment on the others.

[spifftek70]

Thanks for the compliments @BigGass.
I used Miro to do that schematic.
You can also use draw.io which is very similar.
Visio is also a good application, but it isn't free.

[BigGass]

Thank you both for your replies. I used to use Visio back when I was working (retired now) and its a really good program, but it is also really expensive. I will check our Miro and draw.io.