Water cop hardware replacement

Hardware
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22

I think it still track. If they expect something they will say and realtor will put in buyer contract. esphome is probably better/more reliable than any device you would purchase from store/web.

I also have belief that buyer in this category rips and replaces(want very specific) or just wants working and dont care the details very much (inspector will mention if it looks like problem and recommend replace with non smart) .

buyers vary and there is no pleasing everyone.

23

Here is my first shot at the schematic based on what I found in the Shelly documentation and the inputs from forum. Does this look right?

image
image1596×906 100 KB

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The image didn’t copy well let me try again.

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Scan Jan 7, 2026 at 6.22 PM -2
Scan Jan 7, 2026 at 6.22 PM -21920×1353 111 KB

26

Is that L “line” connected to pin 7 of the Watercop? the +5VDC?

Those L and N are LINE VOLTAGE on the Shelly 1 Mini – that powers the device.

Since you have a nice home and you may sell, take a look at the Zooz Titan valve. It sits on a normal valve and when you move the new owner can remove and still have access to the water valve.

If you really want to wire this up or do it for almost no money, then ESPHome is really the way to go.

BTW – another z-wave device you might look at is the Zooz Multirelay which has three (you need two) relays and can also monitor the postion of the Watercop.

I use an ESP32 to remotely control a driveway gate with a relay and monitor if the gate is open or closed.

27

The Line is connected to the +5vdc that is provided by the water cop. I was looking to try to keep the existing valve and use the aux port to drive the shelly’s and the Shelly’s trigger the valve positions. I am replacing the old water sensors with GoveeLife Water Leak Detector 2 devices.

I assume from reading the docs (maybe incorrectly) that the L/N power the relay inside the device and the shelly can put the signal on line 5 or 6 depending on which Shelly fires to position valve.

I am not comfortable I understand yet how or if this will work. I plan on breadboarding the entire thing up this weekend assuming I can carve out some time to try to use the shelly and see what actually happens whether i can control the signal out line 5/6 using the web interface. I want to ensure everything does what it should before I plug it into the aux port on the water cop controlling house water.

28

That’s not right. The Shelly is a line voltage device. It’s not what you want.

The Shelly is a relay powered by 120-240VAC. You really don’t want to be messing with that if you are not 100% confident in your electrical skills, and know about code requirements. It’s a relay, yes, but it’s the wrong tool for the job.

29

It’s totally wrong. You should only connect I/O (dry contact input/output).

Shelly I connects to 7 and O connects to 5 or 6. Those are the only connections between Shelly and Watercop.

Obviously you need to power Shelly1 properly from mains L/N.

30

Sounds like I am totally off base on the selection of the Shelly. I only have +5vdc available to power shelly and make contact. Back to looking for the right device.

31

I suggested first esphome board, then shelly plus uni… Both can work at 5V supply.
Be aware that the supply current has to be sufficient, >750mA is needed.

32

I will dig into to those. I had already bought the other shelly to figure out how it worked. Missed the high voltage required to run the relay and wifi.

33

I originally discounted the Shelly plus uni as i was looking for something in a form factor that could just be plugged in. The lack of casing distracted me.

34

First tell what is this exactly:

35

The watercop valve assembly on the house main water provides -5vdc through the aux port.

36

It’s not enough that you have 5V somewhere.

37

Bill, I think you should state your goal.

  • If you want it to be inexpensive and a project, then do ESPHome route.
  • If you want to be prepared for selling the house, I’d replace/add a ball valve and use the Zooz Titan because it can easily be removed and there’s a manual cut-off valve.
  • If you want something in the middle then look at that Zen16. But for either of the Zooz options you need to have a z-wave hub, which is not hard just a little more cost.

But the ESPHome stuff is really the way to go.

  1. You buy almost any ESP device, plug in a cable, then flash it via the ESPHome web page..
  2. Install ESPHome builder add-on in Home Assistant.
  3. Adopt the device into the add-on so you can edit the ESP’s config.
  4. When you buy an ESP you can also order some Dupont cables and that relay (somthing like this)
  5. And then you can get pointers on wiring it up here, but you can probably figure it out.
  6. You can also add sensors to report on the current state since the Watercop reportss that, too.

My gate is not that different than your setup – although I have a single button, but you would have two buttons (open or close)

So the config in my case for one relay looks like this, which is basically all I added to the ESPHome config. This creates a button in Home Assistant that closes the relay for 1.5 seconds.

output:

  # Relays
  - platform: gpio
    id: relay_1
    pin: GPIO01

button:
  - platform: output
    name: "The Front Gate"
    id: gate_button
    output: relay_1
    icon: "mdi:gate"
    duration: 1500ms

Oh, before you start all of this, make sure you are able to control the Watercop just by connecting the +5v to the open or close pins. No point building all of this if the Watercop isn’t going to work.

38

Just a comment here.

If OP goes with esphome route, which I proposed long time ago, (or Zen16) he need’s to verify his 5VDC source before going forward.

39

If you mean verify the 5v available on the Watercop, then I would not suggest using that. Plug the ESP in to a standard usb wall power adapter and then use the 5v pin on the ESP board (the usb wall power adapter’s 5v) to power the relays.

You want the ESP to run independenty from the Watercop – that way you could even monitor if the Watercop’s power turns off and report that in HA.

40

Then there’s mains available as well, which OP denied… :wink: