We love home automation. Smart devices that can give us control by using our phone or by timer— yes, we’re looking at you. Woods WiOn outdoor smart box is a very useful wifi timer that you can install to give your outdoor electrical devices, like a pool pump or water heater, smart functionality.
With a little bit of electrical wiring knowledge, which you can find and watch on YouTube (for example: How to wire a pool pump), this smart box can really simplify your chores. The only pain point is physically stripping wires and assembling wire terminals. It can be time consuming to figure out what you need to do, but it’s really worth it. First timers are welcome to give it a shot. We did!
For our example, we’re using the WiOn Smart Box to give the pool pump timer and remote control capabilities. The key here is figuring out which wires go where. Since the pool pump is already wired from the breaker to the pump, half of the figuring out part is already done. Just follow the wire colors.
How to install and wire
First, remove the existing wire connections going to the pump. There should be three- black, white and green. The green is the ground wire. Then prep new electrical wires, 1 white, 1 black and a wire pack that consists of white, black and bare copper. The bare copper wire is used for ground. Cut all wires into the same length. Make sure they that’ll fit between a conduit from the WiOn box into your power breaker if they are going to be sitting outside exposed to rain. If you’re devices are sheltered, then it’s not necessary to build a conduit from the box to your power source.
Once the wires have been stripped, and the conduit has been prepped if it’s being used, fit all the wires through the conduit. On the smart box end, you’ll use the following diagram to make the connections (Click here for wiring tutorial). The bare copper will connect to the ground spot. The black and white pairs will connect to the load-in and load-out terminals.
On the breaker end, first connect the ground wires together (green from power source, green from pool pump and the solid copper from the smart box) using a twist-on connector cone. Then connect the load in-pair wires from the smart box to the power source (black to black and white to white) using the connector cone. The load out-pair wires connect to the pool pump wires (black to black and white to white).
Turn on the power breaker and you should have power to the smart box. To manually turn the box on and off, just press the on/off button.
WiOn app control
Now we didn’t install the smart box to use the manual on/off switch. Download the WiOn app from Google Play or Apple store. Go to your phone’s wifi settings and connect to the access point named ECO-xxxxxxxx. Open your WiOn app and go through adding a device. The app will take you through the set up process. Name your device, location, etc. Once added, you’ll have a hot button on the app’s homescreen to turn on and off the device. The timer feature allows you to schedule when to run the device. It’s perfect for our pool pump application. And now we the ability to run and stop the pool pump using our mobile phone, at home or away.
Amazon Alexa & Google Home
WiOn products are Alexa and Google Assistance compatible. This means you can control your switch using voice commands. To enable voice control by either one or both, go to the app settings and tap the “Connect to Amazon Alex” or “Connect to Google Home” checkbox.
For Alexa, you will enter your Amazon account email address. Then go to the Alexa app and enable WiOn skill. Enter the same Amazon email address. Finally, go to the “Smart Home” tab and Discover Devices. It should find the WiOn device with the name you assigned to it.
For Google Home, connect to ECO Plugs service which is essentially the same as WiOn. Once you authenticate, you will be able to use Google Assistance.
Once connected, you can say “Alexa/Hey Google, turn ON or turn OFF ” to control it.
Both the installation instructions and app setup can be found on the WiOn 50054 manual.
Product description from WiOn
With the WiOn outdoor smart box, save energy on your hot water heater or manage lights, pools and spa controls. It’s wireless control at your fingertips – at home or on the go.
The free app works with Apple (iOS 7 and higher) or Android (4.0 and higher) smart devices. Download the app, connect your device to your smartphone using your existing Wi-Fi router. Control devices using Wi-Fi network or mobile internet (3G/4G/LTE).
• Control outdoor electrical devices from anywhere – using your smartphone
• Designed for commercial, industrial and residential applications
• Multi-voltage control 120V, 240V, 277V, Outdoor rated; lockable metal enclosure
• Ideal for water heaters, pools, fountains, signs, HVAC units, pumps, compressors, agricultural facilities or other heavy-duty applications
• Affordable home automation – works with your existing Wi-Fi router. No hub required, no monthly fees
• Expand your WiOn system by simply adding up to 12 WiOn smart switches
• Free app works with Apple (iOS 7 and higher) or Android (4.0 and higher) smart devices
• Programming options include – multiple on/off settings, countdown, random vacation, and sunrise/sunset schedules