Control pool valve via ESPhome

ESPHome
1

Hi all,

Last year, I integrated my solar pool heater into my home automation system so I could see temperatures and pool heating state. See How I added a Hayward solar pool control to HA via ESPhome

Now, my next project is to add an actuator to the valve to my pool waterfall that I want to control through automation.

This is the valve I intend to buy: actuator and I’ve seen on youtube how to set it to turn 90°, so I’m one step forward.

I also understood from a bunch of internet searches that I will need a 2 channel relay to make the valve turn in either direction - something like this: ​2 channel relay board​​​

That’s about as far as I got with this…

How would the 3 wires (from the valve) connect into this board?
And what would the ESPHome configuration look like to do the switching?

Anybody have any hints / suggestions?

Thanks a ton in advance,
Bernard.

2

I am unable to get to the valve link but the relay board basically has 2 single pole (k1 and k2) double throw contacts. I am going to make an assumption here since I have not seen the valve wiring. The three wires are likely.

  1. Clockwise, or maybe open
  2. Counter Clockwise, or maybe close
  3. Power common

It is very likely I got the descriptions wrong but it should be helpful anyway.

In my example I would connect #3 to your power supply negative, common, or neutral.
I would then connect your power supply hot, or positive to the center screw terminal on your relay board.
Connect your valve close #2 to the normally closed screw terminal on the relay board shown on the right of the center screw.
Connect your valve open #1 to the normally opened screw terminal on the relay board shown on the left of the center screw.

Therefore when the relay is energized “on” you will have power flow from the center terminal to the left terminal and the valve will open, when the relay is de-energized “off” you will have power flow from the center terminal to the right terminal and the valve will close.

Good luck.

3

Thanks for the pointers, pcwii!
I corrected the link to the actuator.

I think I understand what you’re saying and it makes sense!
I just need to then figure out the code / config in ESPhome - any suggestions / ideas for that?

Thanks!

4

There these style valves

Wifi versions too I think.

5

I think you’d probably set up 2 x gpio switches and then either interlock them, or set up a 3rd template switch which merges and interlocks them using the on/off actions.

This said it may depend on the wiring others have suggested (ie if interlocking is done at hardware level, then possibly no need for multiple switches?)

6

Thanks all for your pointers so far.

Via the TroubleFreePool forum, I got the following setup:

relay_2
relay_22000×948 191 KB

With the actuator pulling only 0.75A (24V) I think I should be able to do this with this relay:

Am I on the right track?

7

Your schematic looks pretty good.
One word of caution would be your transformer is showing a 240 vac input. I am not sure of your location but the valve specifications in the link you provided is 60 Hz. Not sure the impact if you are on a 50Hz system.

Screenshot_20230820_142920_Drive~2
Screenshot_20230820_142920_Drive~21080×1433 249 KB

8

I’m in the US and have 240 VAC coming into my home which is used for all my pool equipment.
Afaik, it’s 60 Hz but please correct me if I’m wrong!

Thanks,
B.

9

If you are in the US it is definitely 60Hz.

10

Clearly I had too many wines, I pointed to zigbee stuff. However I am sure the same base hardware can be connected to an esp.

11

No worries - I hope you enjoyed the wine :slight_smile:

12

Hi all - thanks to your help, I was able to complete this piece of work - needed some extra time to move the ESP board & kit into a larger enclosure.
If anybody wonders what it looks like, see here: