HouseBot

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.

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.

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