Monitor closed contact event date, time, and duration?

[philbabich]

New to forum and I see most posts are way more advanced then me. Although I can add other house automation features later ... primarily right now I am trying to log an event which is sump pump running. I have a current sensing relay attached to power plug of pump but now need to interface with Housebot to keep a log of on off to track working and average run time. Any help in laymen's terms or as close as possible would be appreciated.

[ScottBot]

What type of automation technology does the sensing relay use?

You will need to find a hardware interface that works with the same technology to install in the computer running HouseBot and hope there is a plugin that support it.

[vcruz777]

Since it looks that is a dry contact you can use different technologies to track the status in Housebot. You can probably use insteon low voltage input/output device. I haven't use them for input but I imagine it can be set up as a on/off switch in HB. The other method, that I actually use, is through the W800 RF interface. Since I use it for the RF motion sensors I also use it for dry contacts. I basically use the DS10 security sensors but instead of using the magnetic contact to close the circuit I connect the wires to the relay (cut the wires from the magnet) When the relay closes it sends the RF signal to the W800 like it is a door sensor. In HB I just configure the device as a security sensor. There are other cleaner ways but this one has worked great for me and simplify the installation since no wiring nor power is required. This is what I use for the rain sensor I have outside.

Hope it helps,

Victor