Wireless relays

[strawburner]

Does anybody have some experience with wireless relays. I have a customer with a pressure switch for his water well in the house and he does not want to tear up his lawn and yard to get a wire to well and I was wondering if there would be a way to wirelessly go out to one of his outbuildings and get our power for the well there and and control the well with a relay from there? It would be about a 100 feet from house to outbuilding. Would there be a dependable system a person could build with some off the shelf parts or maybe something made for lighting control that would connect to a relay to control well?

 

[jim dungar]

If you have the money, someone has a solution.
http://www2.schneider-electric.com/...xb5r-batteryless-and-wireless-technology.page

 

[strawburner]

I was thinking of something we could build ourselves for a fairly reasonable price could somebody point us to something in that direction.

 

[GoldDigger]

I was thinking of something we could build ourselves for a fairly reasonable price could somebody point us to something in that direction.

Are you willing to take the responsibility for failure or incorrect operation of something that you build yourself?
Any such product would need to incorporate redundancy and fail safe design appropriate to whatever it controls. Including the possibility of interference from other sources.

I do not see why a simple pressure switch located wherever the well pump power and the well outlet pipe come together (like at the top of the well shaft) would not be preferable.

 

[strawburner]

Are you willing to take the responsibility for failure or incorrect operation of something that you build yourself?
Any such product would need to incorporate redundancy and fail safe design appropriate to whatever it controls. Including the possibility of interference from other sources.

I do not see why a simple pressure switch located wherever the well pump power and the well outlet pipe come together (like at the top of the well shaft) would not be preferable.

This is for a neighbor and friend of mine and there really is not too much to screw up with a 1/2 HP submersible well pump I would be willing to assume the responsibility for its operation.

 

[FionaZuppa]

the wireless piece is fairly easy
http://www.controlanything.com/Relay/Relay/WIRELESS

the control board will likely need to control a hefty solid state AC relay to handle the power needed by the pump, etc.

you can also use goole and search for "wireless relay control board", a gazillion sites that have what you are looking for. as already noted, you'll need some fail-safe controls in the system (mechanical and/or other) to handle those odd scenarios.

 

[iceworm]

I've used these in two applications. Worked really well
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/bussmann/wireless/products/industrial_wireless/wireless_input_outputio/multi_i_o_units/w_905u_1-4_wirelessio.html


http://www.phoenixcontact.com/onlin...02&library=usen&pdfmode=direct&pdflanguage=en

I've seen these used in a few applications. They worked fine - however, I was not involved with design, install or commissioning so I can't tell you much about them.

ice

 

[Jraef]

Does anybody have some experience with wireless relays. I have a customer with a pressure switch for his water well in the house and he does not want to tear up his lawn and yard to get a wire to well and I was wondering if there would be a way to wirelessly go out to one of his outbuildings and get our power for the well there and and control the well with a relay from there? It would be about a 100 feet from house to outbuilding. Would there be a dependable system a person could build with some off the shelf parts or maybe something made for lighting control that would connect to a relay to control well?

Your use of the word "there" has me confused, remember, we can't see you pointing to different places...

So you have power at an outbuilding near the well, so all you want is for someone in the house to be able to turn on the well from inside of the house, without having to run a control wire from the house to the outbuilding, right? Why is this necessary if he already has the pressure switch in the house? Or am I confused by that wording too? Usually, the pressure switch is looking at the water pipe pressure in the house. When someone opens a spigot, the pressure drops and that turns the pump on. So what is the wireless switch for? Is this a NEW system and someone put in the lawn before thinking about how the well was going to work?

If that's the case then, the problem will be with the concept of "reliably". In a well pump scenario like this, the pressure switch must also turn OFF the well when it is satisfied. If you use wireless, and the radio signal gets squirrelly, it can cause the well pump motor controller to chatter, which can destroy the pump and the controller. If you use a latching relay to prevent hat, and the radio signal gets lost, then it can run the well dry. Can they just put in a bladder tank system at the well, tied to a local hard wired pressure switch system? That way you don't need anything at the house at all, the bladder tank provides pressure for a time when the house needs it, then IT decides when the well pump needs to run to make up for the losses.

 

[strawburner]

Your use of the word "there" has me confused, remember, we can't see you pointing to different places...

So you have power at an outbuilding near the well, so all you want is for someone in the house to be able to turn on the well from inside of the house, without having to run a control wire from the house to the outbuilding, right? Why is this necessary if he already has the pressure switch in the house? Or am I confused by that wording too? Usually, the pressure switch is looking at the water pipe pressure in the house. When someone opens a spigot, the pressure drops and that turns the pump on. So what is the wireless switch for? Is this a NEW system and someone put in the lawn before thinking about how the well was going to work?

If that's the case then, the problem will be with the concept of "reliably". In a well pump scenario like this, the pressure switch must also turn OFF the well when it is satisfied. If you use wireless, and the radio signal gets squirrelly, it can cause the well pump motor controller to chatter, which can destroy the pump and the controller. If you use a latching relay to prevent hat, and the radio signal gets lost, then it can run the well dry. Can they just put in a bladder tank system at the well, tied to a local hard wired pressure switch system? That way you don't need anything at the house at all, the bladder tank provides pressure for a time when the house needs it, then IT decides when the well pump needs to run to make up for the losses.

It is a newly drilled well. The previous pressure switch and pressure tank was at the old well head in a little well house that always wanted to freeze in winter. Now They would like to put pressure switch in basement of house with the new pressure tank. It is not very feasible to trench new wire across new lawn and other landscaping to house. We do have power in outbuildings close to new well. Would like to use something wireless to control well whenever the pressure dropped and pressure switch calls for more water.

 

[FionaZuppa]

It is a newly drilled well. The previous pressure switch and pressure tank was at the old well head in a little well house that always wanted to freeze in winter. Now They would like to put pressure switch in basement of house with the new pressure tank. It is not very feasible to trench new wire across new lawn and other landscaping to house. We do have power in outbuildings close to new well. Would like to use something wireless to control well whenever the pressure dropped and pressure switch calls for more water.

should be as simple as low voltage digital control in the basement. a wall-wart powers the pressure sensor (hopefully thats digital in some way) and the wireless control board. the wireless board (or some logic between sensor and wireless board) simply outputs a 0v(zero, gnd) or a high (5v, 12v DC) and that triggers board to send "on relay" to remote side. i suggest you wedge in there on well side a pressure cut-off or release valve just in case the well side controls get stuck in "on" position. turn to Omega if you have a hard time finding proper pressure sensor/switch for this application.

 

[GoldDigger]

As a fail safe if a higher limit pressure switch in the basement tripped, indicating that the pump did not shut down under control of the wireless switch, you might want to cut off power to the whole outbuilding feeder that supplies the pump circuit.

 

[Barbqranch]

Where does the power for the pump come from, can you interrupt it at the house near the panel?

More importantly (at least to me), can the pipe between the pump and the new switch in the house freeze? If so, you will probably burn out the pump. At the very least, I would want a secondary pressure switch at the well between the pump and where it will first freeze. Another, but I think not as good an option, would be a pressure relief valve down in the well below freezing, to relieve the pressure. Or some type of temperature switch that would disable the pump a few degrees above freezing.

 

[readydave8]

It is a newly drilled well. The previous pressure switch and pressure tank was at the old well head in a little well house that always wanted to freeze in winter. Now They would like to put pressure switch in basement of house with the new pressure tank. It is not very feasible to trench new wire across new lawn and other landscaping to house. We do have power in outbuildings close to new well. Would like to use something wireless to control well whenever the pressure dropped and pressure switch calls for more water.

Would the money be better spent by leaving pressure tank in old well house and insulating around it? In similiar situations, I have used styrofoam sheets around pressure tank, also insulated all piping. Of course my Georgia solution may not work in Kansas.

 

[darekelec]

Why going so heavy duty? Maestro pico wireless switch is up to 100ft within line of site. It may be indoor install though but the spec does not mention. Under 100$.