Inside or outside installation?

[bcjmk]

I live in North Florida and my Jandy panel is on the west side, getting 8-10 hours of direct, baking sunlight for 6+ months each year. Im somewhat reluctant to put the PI-zero in that box. Also concerned about the wifi signal making it out of the metal box, but could probably get an antenna extension cable and poke it out of the hole on the bottom.
HOWEVER, I have some 16 gauge speaker wire about 10 feet away which runs back to my inside wiring panel. Run distance is about 50-60 feet, so I presume within the RS485 distance.

A) Will the kit work inside the box under the high humidity and heat conditions of Florida?
B) Would the speaker wire work for the RS485 run?
C) If I run it to the inside, is there an Ethernet option for the kit so I can eliminate 1 more RFI emitter?

This looks like an amazing solution! I'm really annoyed at the Jandy app and web interface. Looks like it was built by pool builders in their spare time.

Thanks!

[sfeakes]

Most of what you have asked is in the FAQ. https://aqualinkd.github.io/faq/

A). Yes it will work, but we do not recommend it. The device will constantly be on the limits of its operating range which is not good for life expectancy. If you go that route at present I’d recommend a DIY solution and not one of our kits, as I can’t guarantee the life expectancy. In the FAQ are some links to what others have done.
B) 16 gauge speaker wire will work, (you need 4 core, so assuming you have a run for 2 speakers) but obviously I can’t state the quality or resistance of wire you have. Ie if it’s been outside for years not terminated correctly/ not outside grade it may not give a clean signal. you’d be better off running new wire. (The distance is not an issue)
C) you can get a USB2Ethernet adapter that will plug into our kit. This is the one we recommend. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082K62S48?

Again, everything is open source, if you are happy building it yourself, you could get a Raspberry Pi 3 (with Ethernet onbloard) and simply use our RS485 hat (or USB2RS485 adapter).

[bcjmk]

I actually have a pi4 in my drawer. I think I’ll order your hat and give it a go with the speaker wires. I need to take another look at my panel so I’m not going off of aging memory….
Thanks for this project. Looks like a fix for a couple of my pool challenges.

[eivancic77]

In response to your question about the kit’s performance under high heat and humidity in Florida:

I live near Tampa, FL, and have the AqualinkD Radxa 3W unit installed on the very sunny south side of my house in the base of the low-voltage chase, on the left of the Aqualink RS.

To prevent overheating, I installed the "Radxa Heatsink 5519A" and have not experienced any issues since. I also surface-mounted an external high-gain antenna, and the unit operates flawlessly.

Here are the links for reference:

Link for Radxa Heatsink
Link for External High Gain Antenna