Pump run status indicator

[LLigetfa]

My pump runs on 240V so wiring a lamp in parallel with it would require a 240V lightbulb or a way to step down the voltage. When I was using a Square D pressure switch, I just left off the cover (unsafe, I know) so my camera monitoring it could trigger on the movement of the contacts and the recording showed the position if the contacts. The pressure gauge was within the field of view so I could see it on the recordings. One downside was false triggers if a bug or mouse crawled around the contacts. No bug or mouse was harmed during filming.

When I changed over to the electronic EPS15/99 pressure switch, I lost the ability to trigger the camera. I thought about wiring a low voltage indicator lamp in parallel with the relay inside it, but decided to go a different route. I have a low voltage transformer that converts 240V to 5V which I wired in parallel with the water pump and placed the indicator light next to the EPS15/99.

Below is a screenshot of the recording from last night while the iron filter was backwashing. The pump started at 2:04 and stopped at 2:35.

Note that the high GPM during backwash dropped the PSI to 24. This is also a good indication of the condition of the iron filter as clogging would reduce the drain line flow. Less flow = less pressure drop.

 

[Bannerman]

runs on 240V so wiring a lamp in parallel with it would require a 240V lightbulb or a way to step down the voltage.

You've chosen a great method, but an alternate low cost method would have been to wire 2-120 volt bulbs in series. With 2-bulbs of equal wattage value in series, the voltage drop across each would have been 120 volts.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Valveman]

Or with just one of the hot wires and a common, you can run a 115V device or bulb.

 

[LLigetfa]

You've chosen a great method, but an alternate low cost method would have been to wire 2-120 volt bulbs in series. With 2-bulbs of equal wattage value in series, the voltage drop across each would have been 120 volts.

I know my Ohm's Law basics and while I could buy tiny low wattage bulbs and sockets, I already had a surplus 5V power supply on hand as well as the tiny 12V bulb that doesn't consume much electricity. When I say tiny, I mean really tiny as in about an 8th of an inch. It is the sort of bulb you may remember from old radios that illuminate the tuner. Powering a 12V bulb with just 5V reduced the brightness even more.

Too bright of a lightbulb would blind the camera to where the LED display would be hard to read.

 

[LLigetfa]

Or with just one of the hot wires and a common, you can run a 115V device or bulb.

That crossed my mind but I didn't want to run a new wire with a common. I could have cheated and used the protection ground as the common but that would not be to code.

At one time, neon test lamps were easy to find and they worked on a range of 90V to 600V but I would have to order it online and pay shipping, then the wiring would need to be rated for the 240V.

As I said, I could have tapped into the low voltage drive of the relay in the EPS15/99 but seeing it is labeled as 12V and my bulb is 12V, when the magnetic field on a relay collapses, it generates a back-EMF voltage that might burn out the bulb. When you designed the EPS15/99, you should have included an indicator LED that showed when the pump has power. Heck, you could have even utilized the decimal on the display as the indicator. I don't think many folks would think that when it showed .50 PSI that it was actually one half of a pound. That is all water under the bridge now since the EPS15/99 is discontinued.

 

[Valveman]

Electronic pressure switches are cool gadgets. But over the head of most people and they just want water to come out of the faucet anyway, so simple mechanical is better. Kind of like the EV cars. Cool but nobody is buying them as they are not practical.

 

[Blue Oaks]

I recently put one of these into my rental unit to monitor and charge the tenant for the electricity consumed. It's pretty good at isolating and monitoring the electrical usage of various appliances and would likely allow you to see when a well pump is running.

Wiser Energy | Schneider Electric USA

Schneider Electric USA. Browse our products and documents for Wiser Energy - Real-time energy monitoring for your home's electrical system

www.se.com