Checks to see whether your sump pump is running more than usual. If you connect a multi-sensor to the sump pump and it will alert once every X hours if the pump is running twice or more in Y minutes. Also provides a history of when the pump last ran (in the settings tab).
- A multi-switch that can monitor energy usage and report a change as acceleration. The Zooz Power Switch / Zooz Smart Plug (ZEN15) is an example of such a device.
Note The multi-switch should be set up to be always on (this can be done in ST Smart Lighting) to avoid the chance that it is shut off and does not fire at all. Additionally, the multi-switch will have to be configured to trigger based on the power usage of the pump when running and not trigger when it is in the idle state. For example, set the multi-switch to report idle at < 5 W and active at anything > 25W where the power consumed while pumping is expected to be in the 600-800 W range.
The SmartApp is installed as a custom app in the SmartThings mobile app via the "My Apps" section. Therefore, the app must first be installed into your SmartThings SmartApps repository. For multiple sump pump installations, simply install the app twice.
- Open SmartThings IDE in your web browser and log into your account.
- Click on the "My SmartApps" section in the navigation bar.
- Click on "Settings"
- Click "Add New Repository"
- Enter "LLWarrenP" as the namespace
- Enter "ST-Smart-Sump-Pump-Monitor" as the repository
- Hit "Save"
- Select "Update from Repo" and select "ST-Smart-Sump-Pump-Monitor"
- Select "smartapps/sump-pump-monitor.src/sump-pump-monitor.groovy"
- Check "Publish" and hit "Execute Update"
- Open SmartThings IDE in your web browser and log into your account.
- Click on the "My SmartApps" section in the navigation bar.
- On your SmartApps page, click on the "+ Create New SmartApp" button on the right.
- On the "New SmartApp" page, Select the Tab "From Code", Copy the "sump-pump-monitor.groovy" source code from GitHub and paste it into the IDE editor window.
- Click the blue "Create" button at the bottom of the page. An IDE editor window containing the SmartApp code should now open.
- Click the blue "Save" button above the editor window.
- Click the "Publish" button next to it and select "For Me". You have now self-published your Smart App.
Set the sensor and switch (might be the same device typically, such as in the case of the Zooz switch) and then customize the behavior with the options. Some options of note are given below.
Over what timer inerval (minutes)?: The window that you want to be alerted on if the sump pump fires more than once during the window. Alerts are sent out at this same interval to avoid excessive alerting. For instance, if you select "2", an alert will be sent out if the sump pump fires twice over any two hour period and then every two hours if it continues to fire.
Alert me if the sensor has not provided status in this many hours: This monitors all events from the sensor to ensure that it is online. Make sure that the sensor is generating events at a shorter inverval and set this to suit to keep tabs on it. An alert will be sent if the sensor does not send out an alert but under normal circumstances in the IDE you will see "heartbeat" messages.
Keep the switch turned on at all times I found that the Smart Lighting rule executes much faster but it’s still within a couple of seconds max. I think the ST app is perhaps more optimized but I like having everything in one place in one app. The feature triggers on an off event and turns it on and then does a quick check and reissues the command if it still thinks it is off just to be sure. You can of course still use the ST Smart Lighting rule instead.
Check switch status every 15 minutes and turn it on if off: Simply checks the status every 15 minutes to verify it is on and alerts you (if you have the “alert if off” option above also enabled). If you have the “keep it on” option above enabled it will attempt to turn the switch on first and then only alert if it seems to still be off.
Alert me if the switch is ever turned off: Just a push or SMS if it finds that it is off at any point. If this option is off you won’t get any of the “it’s off” messages to your app/phone (but you will see the status in the full logging in the IDE).
There is no user logging other than the alerts. However, the app will log any heartbeats, sent or suppressed alerts, or other routine messages to the debug log in the IDE.