Sump Pump motor monitoring for detection of faults and preventative maintenance.
Copyright(C) 2021, BrucesHobbies, All Rights Reserved
SumpMaster is designed to detect abnormal operation of one or more sump pumps. This includes components such as the motor, pump, float switches, one-way valves, and discharge pipes. Simple float switch water level alarms don't address float switches that are stuck on. Likewise for frozen discharge pipes, leaky one-way valves, etc. unless they lead to the water level rising above the alarm level.
SumpMaster, when properly set up, detects abnormal operation of the sump pump motor run time and power consumed. For most sump pumps the run time is very consistent as it is the time for the water to be pumped out of the basin. Likewise the power level is very consistent and depends on the check valve, discharge pipe length, diameter, and height above basin.
Potential Conditions that would generate Runtime / Power Alerts (modify settings in algSump.py):
- Frozen discharge/drain pipe (detection of abnormal power)
- Motor / impeller (detection of abnormal power)
- Motor starter capacitor (detection of abnormal run time)
- Water level switch stuck on (detection of abnormal run time)
- Check valve malfunction (detection of abnormal run time)
Logging of data to Comma Separated Variable (CSV) files, InfluxDB, SQL, or MQTT
- Energy perspective (tLog minutes default, long term log): logEnergy.csv
- Details of on-time (tInterval seconds default, short term log): logDetails_chan_name.csv
- Preventative maintenance (end of on state): logStats_chan_name.csv (algSump.py)
Period statistics
- Daily
- number of cycles
- min run time
- max run time
- total run time
- power
- Per on cycle
- average time
- standard deviation of runtime
- average power
- standard deviation power
Power alerts
- out of range power/HP/wattage
- exceeding n*stdev()
Run time alerts
- exceed run time
- exceeding n*stdev()
Displays and logs to Comma Separate Variable (CSV) file, MQTT, etc.:
- Current instant time, and motor column label
- voltage (V), amperage (A), power (W-Hr), freq (Hz), power factor, and state. (Uses power to calc energy and not meter energy summation)
- Current interval: cycles, run time, and power(W-Hr)
- Last interval: cycles, run time, and power(W-Hr)
- Today: cycles, minRunTime, maxRunTime, total run time, power(W-Hr)
- Yesterday: cycles, minRunTime, maxRunTime, total run time, power(W-Hr)
Data Logging Features (time series of records)
- Comma Separated Variable (CSV)
- MQTT (publish / subscribe message queue)
- influxDB
- SQL (multiple variations to be added)
- Future options
- IFTT
- PubNub
- Twilio
- Cellular
- APRS
Send status and alert messages via email or SMS to a cell phone
- SMS text message to your cell phone
A Python script is included for plotting the sump pump cycles, energy profile, etc. It provides a template that includes various plotting intervals over last 48 hours, last 2 weeks, last month, last year, etc.
Monitoring of the pump motor power is done through a PZEM module available off Amazon.
Consult an electrician for your local electrical codes. Also refer to the documentation that comes with the PZEM module. For pumps powered off household Alternating Current (AC), either 120 or 240 VAC, the PZEM uses a split current transformer (CT) to measure current through a wire. It is snapped around the neutral wire to sense the current flow. The module also requires connection to hot and neutral to measure the voltage being provided to the motor. For Direct Current (DC) motors there is the PZEM-017 module.
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For Alternating Current (AC) pump motors
- One of the following AC power PZEM-016 modules - different sources listed below may have different shipping times depending on inventory
For Direct Current (DC) pump motors
-
One of the following DC power PZEM-017 modules - may have different shipping times
-
2-conductor low voltage wire as needed (RS-485 connection from PZEM module to USB dongle)
- Raspberry Pi (any of the following)
- Power adapter for your Raspberry Pi
- Heatsinks (optional)
- SD-Card
Here are the instructions to install the Raspberry Pi Operating System. Raspberry Software Install Procedure
Before continuing make sure your operating system has been updated with the latest updates.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get full-upgrade
sudo reboot now
To get a copy of the source files type in the following git command assuming you have already installed git:
git clone https://github.com/BrucesHobbies/sumpMaster
Download prerequisitie ModBus.
sudo pip3 install pymodbus
Verify PZEM module presence using the RPi command line (once attached by USB cable and RS-485 cable with module power on):
ls /dev/ttyUSB* # Show USB devices
lsusb -v # Show USB devices with details
To add additional PZEM modules, add a name to the chanNames list in sumpMaster.py.
chanNames = ["SumpPump", "Pump2"]
chanPorts = ["/dev/ttyUSB0", "/dev/ttyUSB1"] # One entry per chanName[]
chanAddrs = [0x01, 0x01] # One entry per chanName[]
chanOnThresholds = [5, 10] # Watts, with one entry per chanName[]
To change the sample interval or logging interval modify these lines.
# Timing parameters
tInterval = 0.5 # time interval in seconds between measuring current
# Nominal time on RPi3 is 0.072 seconds, don't go below 0.1 on RPi3 or Zero
tLog = 15 # time interval in minutes between logging energy measurements to csv file
To disable or enable status messages and alerts modify these lines.
statusMsgEnabled = 1 # non zero enables sending of email / SMS text messages
statusMsgHHMM = [12, 0] # Status message time to send [hh, mm]
alertMsgEnabled = 0 # non zero enables sending of email / SMS text messages
runTimeAlert = [30*60] * len(chanNames) # Run time to trigger email / SMS text - seconds
minIntervalBtwEmails = [2*3600] * len(chanNames) # Wait this long before sending another email - seconds
To update the sump pump monitoring algorithm, see algsump.py.
For example for MQTT:
sudo apt-get install mosquitto # local broker
sudo apt-get install mosquitto-clients # local publish-subscribe
sudo systemctl enable mosquitto # Enable the broker and allow it to auto-start after reboot
sudo systemctl status mosquito # Check status
sudo pip3 install paho-mqtt # Python interface to MQTT
#
# USER CONFIGURATION SECTION
# Select one or more options to enable
#
CSV_FILE_ENABLED = 1
EMAIL_SMS_ENABLED = 1
MQTT_ENABLED = 0
INFLUX_DB_ENABLED = 0
UPDATE: It has been reported that you don't actually need to lower the security settings for the RPi to access gmail. Gmail now allows you to set up a one-time password for low level security apps using gmail and still have TFA enabled. We still recommend a separate email account for your RPi for extra protection.
You can use Google Gmail to send status and alert emails. Others have also used Microsoft Live/Outlook/Hotmail, Yahoo, Comcast, ATT, Verizon, and other email servers. Currently, status and alert messages are sent by email which can also be sent as an SMS text to your cell phone. Gmail works with Python on the Raspberry Pi if you set the Gmail security settings to low. As such, you can create a separate Gmail account to send messages from. Under your Gmail account settings you will need to make the following change to allow “Less secure app access”.
Then click on “Turn on access (not recommended)” by moving the slider to ON. Then click the back arrow.
When your first email is sent at program startup, Google will ask you to confirm that it is you. You will need to sign into the device email account that you created and go to the critical security email that Google sent you and confirm you originated the email before Google will allow emails to be sent from your Python program.
Once you have created an account, start the sumpMaster™ program. Type:
python3 sumpMaster.py
The first time the program starts up it will ask you for your email user id and password for the account that you just created to work with this program. The password will be saved to a file called cfgData.json. Please be careful to not send that file to others. If you ever change your password you will need to delete emailCfg.json so that the program will ask you for your password again.
Enter sender’s device email userid ([email protected]):
[email protected]
Enter password:
password
Next the program will ask you for the recipient email address. This can either be the same email address, your primary email address or your SMS cell number carrier’s gateway. To email an SMS to your cell phone construct the recipient email depending on your cell phone carrier:
| Carrier | Format |
|---|---|
| AT&T | [email protected] |
| Verizon | [email protected] |
| Sprint PCS | [email protected] |
| T-Mobile | [email protected] |
| VirginMobile | [email protected] |
Enter recipient’s email userid ([email protected]):
[email protected]
Please feel free to fork and contribute or provide feedback on priorities and features
On the first time sumpMaster™ starts, if using email it will ask you for your email userid and password for the email account that you created to use for the alerts and status messages. Once you have entered a password the program will send an email message indicating the program has started up.
Let us know what you think of this project and any suggestions for improvements. Feel free to contribute to this open source project.
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