So I help manage a community pool, and one of the biggest concerns we have is lightning. We need to make sure all the swimmers are aware of the danger and get out of the pool when lightning is in the area.

We recently set up a cool system using a paging horn that covers the whole pool area. It allows us to send out announcements to everyone in real-time, which is super helpful. And we made it even more efficient by integrating it with n8n.

Basically, we created a webhook that sends a secure HTTP request to the paging horn when we receive a weather alert about lightning. We recorded a warning message, saved it on the paging horn, and set up a node to play it when the webhook is triggered.

It was pretty easy to set up, and now we can quickly alert everyone and keep them safe during severe weather events.

If you manage a pool, make sure you have a plan in place for dealing with lightning and other weather hazards. And if you want to make your alert system more efficient, consider using a paging horn and integrating it with n8n.

How we set things up

  1. We set up a webhook node in n8n to receive incoming requests. We used the “HTTP Request” node to send a secure HTTP request to the paging horn.
  2. We used Algo’s REST API to communicate with the paging horn. Algo provides a RESTful API that allows you to send messages, manage contacts, and configure settings for your paging system. You can find the Algo REST API documentation here: https://support.algosolutions.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032721112-REST-API-Documentation
  3. We recorded a warning message and saved it as an audio file on the paging horn. We used the Algo Web UI to upload the recording to the paging horn.
  4. We used the “HTTP Request” node in n8n to play the recording on the paging horn. We configured the node to send a POST with the following JSON payload.

    {"path": "filename.mp3", "loop": 0 }

Overall, the integration was relatively straightforward, and we were able to set it up in just a few hours. Here’s the link to the Algo REST API documentation: https://support.algosolutions.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032721112-REST-API-Documentation