Question

I want something that alerts me when my sump pump turns on. I tried a Wemo Insight, but they die fast. I have 5 or 6 other Wemo around the house, but not real happy with them. Any suggestions?  

Answer 1

Add Z2IO and use a contact closer .  

Answer 2

Shelly1pm, wire it inline, it'll monitor the power usage and report it. You can use that as a trigger for an automation of your choice.  

Answer 3

I have a raspberry pi that runs node red and already does a bunch of other smarthome type stuff and its fairly close to the sump pump anyways so I bought a strap on float switch that I set just above where the sump pump normally turns on to let me know when it doesn't turn on. 2 low voltage wires from the sump to the pi. from there you can notify yourself using any number of infinite ways. I use the node red dashboard so I get a pop up on there. I get a text message on my phone via the email node. and I have 3 lg tv's which I can put a pop up on the tvs in the house using the LGtv node. the same setup monitors and or controls a bunch of other things like 2 garage doors, the heater in the garage, outdoor dusk to dawn lighting around the property, the doorbell, Not to mention all the applications for an indoor garden.