Spapilot — Quick Start Guide

01

Check the box

The box contains one item:

Spapilot unit — the cable is already attached to the device

The Installation Manual and all other documentation are digital. You will find them at zavepower.com or via the Spapilot app.

Before connecting: Verify your spa control system is Balboa BP-Series or Gecko IN.YE-Series (YE-3 / YE-5) before proceeding.

02

Connect the cable

Connect Spapilot to your spa's control box using the supplied cable. The connection point depends on your control system model — refer to the wiring diagram in the Installation Manual for the exact port location.

Balboa users: You can connect with the spa powered on. Once connected, the Spapilot Lightframe will illuminate.

Gecko users — read before connecting Power off the spa completely before connecting.

The connector must go in perfectly straight. If you insert it at even a slight angle, the pins will bend and the connection will be permanently damaged. There is no repair for bent pins — the connector will need to be replaced.

Hold the cable straight, align it carefully with the port, and press in firmly and evenly. Do not force it. If it does not seat smoothly, pull out and realign before trying again.

03

Download the Spapilot app

Install the Spapilot app on your phone. Available for both iOS and Android. You will need to create an account — use your email address.

Do not connect to Spapilot Setup WiFi yet Stay on your normal Wi-Fi while you download and set up the app.

Connecting to Spapilot Setup WiFi happens in Step 4 — not here. If you connect to it now, the app will not work correctly and setup will fail.

Complete this step on your regular home Wi-Fi or mobile data.

04

Connect to Spapilot Setup WiFi

Go to your phone's Wi-Fi settings and connect to the Spapilot setup network. No password required. Then open the app and follow the on-screen instructions to connect Spapilot to your home Wi-Fi.

Network Spapilot Setup WiFi

Password None — open network

2.4 GHz only. Your home Wi-Fi must be 2.4 GHz. Spapilot does not support 5 GHz networks. If your router broadcasts both bands, make sure you select the 2.4 GHz network during setup.

05

Set up Cost Control & Planner

Choose the pricing mode that matches your electricity contract, configure your settings, then schedule your first bath. Planner Basic is done after settings — all other paths continue to the Planner.

Step 5 — Cost Control

Choose your pricing mode Matches your electricity contract

Recommended

Hourly Price

Live spot-price contract

Choose Planner

Zone-Based

Fixed cheap/expensive hours

Fixed Price

Flat-rate contract

Basic Planner

Fixed schedule

⚙ Settings

Max price Set €/kWh

Target temp Set °C

Peak Charge Mode Toggle

✓ Done

Go to Step 7

Dynamic Planner

Auto-adjusting

⚙ Settings

Max price Set €/kWh

Peak Charge Mode Toggle

Ready

↓ continue

⚙ Settings

Cheap hours Define

Expensive hours Define

Peak Charge Mode Toggle

Ready

↓ continue

⚙ Settings

Contract price Set €/kWh

Target temp Set °C

Peak Charge Mode Toggle

Ready

↓ continue

Step 6 — Planner

Configure

When do you want your spa ready?

🕐

Time of day

18:0021:30

Clock time your bath should be ready

📅

Days of week

MonWedFriSun

Which days the schedule repeats

🔁

Recurring slots

Every evening

Multiple sessions — Spapilot handles the rest

All paths complete — continue to Step 7

Time zone: Spapilot runs on UTC internally. The app converts to your local time automatically — verify your phone’s time zone is correct.

07

You're set. Here's what to know.

Spapilot now manages your spa automatically. These are the things you'll encounter in day-to-day use.

Lightframe LED

Orange — steady Standby. Schedule is set, no heating needed right now.

Red — pulsating Actively heating. Spapilot is working toward your target temperature.

Blue — steady Cooling down. Water temperature is above the target — waiting to reach it.

No color Inactive. No schedule or heating active.

Next Planned Bath

Shown on the Home screen, this is the date and time Spapilot will start heating so your spa is ready at the temperature you set. It is calculated automatically from your Planner schedule — you don't set it manually. If no upcoming bath is scheduled, this field will be empty.

"Basic Planner" / "Dynamic Planner" label

This label appears on the Home screen below your current temperature. It tells you which pricing mode is active. Basic Planner means you chose Hourly price → Basic (fixed schedule). Dynamic Planner means Spapilot is actively optimizing around live electricity prices. If you want to switch modes, go to Planner → Settings.

Filtration cycles

Filtration runs automatically to keep your water clean and safe — even on days when no heating is scheduled. You will see the scheduled slots (e.g. 06:00 and 18:00) in Planner → Filtration.

Filtration is never governed by electricity price. It always runs at the scheduled time, regardless of how expensive the electricity is that hour. This is intentional — consistent filtration is required to maintain water quality and cannot be skipped to save cost.

For this reason, we recommend setting filtration times at night, when electricity prices are typically at their lowest. To change a slot, tap it in the Filtration tab and adjust the start time and duration. Filtration does not heat the water — it only circulates it through the filter.

Changing your settings

To adjust temperature, pricing mode, or bath schedule: go to Planner in the app. To update your max price or target temp without changing the whole schedule, go to Planner → Settings. Device information and advanced options are under Profile → Device Info.

App navigation

Five tabs at the bottom of the screen. Here's what you'll find in each.

Home

Your daily overview

Current temperature, Next Planned Bath, active planner mode label, and current Spapilot status. This is the screen you'll check most often.

Stats

Energy & savings

Initial Cost vs. Optimized Cost — your running savings tracker. Shows energy used, heating sessions, and how much Spapilot has saved you over time.

Live Control

Center button — immediate override

The Spapilot logo in the center of the tab bar. Instant Heating, Hold Temperature, Jets, Lights, Blower.

Important: activating heating here overrides all Planner rules immediately. Spapilot ignores your schedule, your price limits, and your pricing mode — and heats at full power toward the target temperature. It keeps going until you press Stop or the session ends.

Use the built-in Timer to set a duration (e.g. 2 hours) so it stops automatically. After midnight, or once you press Stop, Spapilot returns to the Planner schedule as soon as possible.

Planner

Schedule & filtration

Your bath schedule, pricing settings, and Filtration cycles. This is where you change when you want your spa ready, adjust your pricing mode, and configure how often the water circulates.

Profile

Account & device

Account settings, Device Info (serial number, firmware version), and Service Center for diagnostics and support contact.

Re-connecting to Wi-Fi

If Spapilot loses its Wi-Fi connection or you change your home network, use the Spapilot Reset Hotspot to reconnect. This is a separate process from the initial setup — follow the steps below carefully.

Required before connecting Your phone's name and the hotspot name must not be the same. If they match, the connection will fail. Before proceeding, do one of the following:

Option A — Rename your phone: Go to Settings → General → About → Name and change it to something other than "Spapilot Reset Hotspot".
Option B — Change the hotspot name in the app: If the app allows renaming the device hotspot, set it to a unique name that differs from your phone's name.

Do this before you hold the reset button. The connection will not work if the names conflict.

Network Spapilot Reset Hotspot

Password Zavepwr21#&

Wi-Fi requirements

Signal strength: Spapilot requires a stable signal of −75 dBm or stronger for reliable operation. A weaker signal may cause intermittent disconnections. If the connection keeps dropping, move your router closer, add a Wi-Fi extender, or relocate the device to improve signal quality.

During a disconnection, Spapilot loses access to live electricity prices and cannot execute the optimization algorithm. It will not heat according to your plan until the connection is restored. The longer the outage, the more bath sessions it will miss.

Router port requirements: Spapilot communicates outbound on two ports. If your router has a firewall or port-blocking policy, make sure these are open:

8883 MQTT / TCP

443 HTTPS / TCP

Both are outbound only. If your device connects to Wi-Fi but cannot reach the Spapilot platform, a blocked port is the most likely cause. Check your router's firewall settings or contact your ISP.

Good to think about

Things that sometimes cause confusion — not errors, just behavior worth knowing in advance.

Changed a setting but nothing happened yet?

If the Planner is currently running an active cycle, Spapilot finishes what it's doing before picking up your new settings. This can take up to 30 minutes. This is not a malfunction — the system avoids interrupting a cycle mid-execution. The new settings will apply at the next cycle.

Setup complete, but the spa isn't heating yet?

After initial setup, Spapilot doesn't heat immediately. It waits for the first scheduled bath time to approach, then calculates backwards to determine when to start. If your first scheduled bath is several hours away, nothing will appear to happen until then. Check the Next Planned Bath on the Home screen to confirm the schedule is set correctly.

Heating started at an unexpected hour?

With Dynamic or Zone-Based pricing, Spapilot actively looks for the cheapest window to heat. It may start heating at 2am or 4am — hours that feel unusual but are correct. This is the optimization working as intended. If you want predictable heating times regardless of price, switch to Basic Planner in Planner → Settings.

Target temperature not quite reached by bath time?

Spapilot calculates how much time is needed and works backwards from your scheduled bath. If the water is very cold, or the available cheap-price window is short, it may arrive slightly below target temperature. It will continue heating until it reaches the target — just a few minutes after your scheduled time. No action needed.

Need help?

The Service Center is available under Profile in the app. It contains diagnostics, device information, and direct support contact.

For technical questions contact support@zavepower.com and include your device serial number (found in Profile → Device Info).