How can I monitor when my sump pump is running with my Alarm.com system?
I’m interested specifically in a single event that says it turned on. Somewhat of an electrical relay that senses power draw, and triggers the notification. I’m not interested as much in the total power draw, or hourly power draw, or volume of water, but simply how often it’s going being triggered.
There are probably many ways to do this but I’ll offer one that seems easy and is fairly low cost. I have not yet tested this setup but according to the specs it sounds like it should work. I make no guarantee that it will work with your sump pump, try it at your own risk and expense. If you do try it, please post your results here for others to benefit from.
Alarm.com’s sensor activity monitoring feature is well suited for this. If we can get a contact type sensor to switch open/closed when the sump pump turns on and off then Alarm.com will show you in the event history when the sump pump has turned on and off.
CR Magnetics makes a low cost current switch (CR9380) that detects when 350mA or more current is flowing through a cable. Get a CR9380 with the NPN transistor output (see my follow up post about using a CR9480 normally closed current switch instead).
http://www.crmagnetics.com/Products/CR-9380-P139.aspx
http://www.crmagnetics.com/Products/Assets/ProductPDFs/CR9380%20Series.pdf
This provides a normally open switch that will close when current flow is detected in the sump pump’s power cable. You would have to split the power cable from your sump pump and run one of the wires through the CT clamp of the CR9380. You can’t run both power wires through it or they will negate each other. Here are some pics on splitting the cable…
Wire the outputs from the CR9380 to the wired inputs of an RE201 sensor.
Add that sensor to your 2GIG panel as type (23) “no response type” with equipment type “contact”. Make sure you have sensor activity monitoring turned on for that sensor in your Alarm.com account. Whenever the sump pump turns on the sensor will “close”. Whenever the sump pump turns off the sensor will “open”.
The weird thing about this setup is that one would naturally think of the sensor opening when the sump pump turns on but the way I described above is backwards. That’s due to a limitation on the the RE201 because it only accepts normally closed wired sensors and the CR9380 is a normally open switch. If you can run a wire from the sump pump to the back of the 2GIG panel then you can wire the CR9380 directly to one of the wired sensor inputs on the back of the 2GIG panel and program it as a normally open sensor. If you do it this way then the sensor will “open” when the sump pump turns on and “close” when the sump pump turns off. This method also allows you to set up notifications in Alarm.com when the sump pump turns on because Alarm.com can only send notifications when sensors activate, not when they deactivate.
As long as your sump pump draws little to no current when it’s off and draws more than 350mA when it’s running this should theoretically work. Again, it’s untested so I make no guarantees. We’ll add it to the list of experiments to try on a rainy day to see if it really works.
I just looked at their website more closely and it looks like CR Magnetics also has a normally closed current switch, I didn’t even see that when I looked earlier. If this works like I think it should, use a CR9480 with an NPN transistor output wired to an RE201 and it should work as one would expect (not backwards like a CR9380 would have). The sensor/zone would normally be closed and it would open when the sump pump runs, with each opening and closing being logged in the Alarm.com event history. You would be able to program Alarm.com notifications for when the sump pump turns on.
http://www.crmagnetics.com/Products/CR-9480-P163.aspx
http://www.crmagnetics.com/Products/Assets/ProductPDFs/CR9480%20Series.pdf
Sorry for the confusion, I just learned about CR Magnetics this morning and I wasn’t aware of their full product line. The exact part numbers on their site would be CR9480-NPN or CR9480-NPN-M, either should work.
Older thread, but I’ll reply in case someone else ever stumbles upon this.
The window switches need dry contacts. i.e. it will not work with an NPN or PNP output of the relay switch above. You need to connect a 12V or 24V relay in series with the current switch.
Reading the instructions for the current switch, you need to make sure you have a “flyback” diode across the coil of the relay so that the back EMF does not damage the current switch’s circuitry. You can buy automotive relays with integrated diodes across the coil. If using NPN you wire the DC source + to the (+) of the relay coil, and connect the (-) side of the relay coil to the V+ wire on the current switch. Then connect the other side of the current switch to the 0V wire of your DC power supply/battery.
Then, after all of that, you wire the N/C relay contacts to the window switch…assuming you’re using the CR9380, not the CR9480. You want the current switch to be NO (9380), and then use the NC contacts of the relay to connect to the RE201 (or DW10 if using 2gig parts).
To summarize you need the following:
- A DC voltage source (battery, wall wart, etc…)
- A CR9380 current switch, with 1 wire split out going through the current switch as described above
- A 12V or 24V relay w/ integrated diode.
- A RE201 or DW10 entry sensor.
Thanks Woodguy! - Would anyone be able to draw this with the CR9480 on what is needed?
I have not gotten it to work on my system… yet.
Thanks!
I’m impressed that @woodguy figured that out! 
I really botched that recommendation in the first place. 
I think you can find a current sensor with a NC dry contact output built right in. For example the SZC23-NO-AL-CH. Then you just need the current sensor and an alarm sensor/transmitter with wired inputs. That would be much easier.
What kind of alarm panel do you have?