Sun touch controller

Jump to latest Follow Reply
C

carlscan26

0
TFP Expert
Platinum Supporter
LifeTime Supporter
Dec 22, 2010
1,137
San Diego, CA
Hello all,

My solar system went in yesterday! But we ran into an issue with the sun touch controller.

I have a pool with no spa. One skimmer and a separate vacuum line, 3 returns and a waterfall feature.

Install included new quad de 60 filter and vs3050 pump.

The plan as it was sold was to be able to run the cleaner for x hours on it's speed and then switch to filtration at a lower speed having solar kick on when needed and available. And then the option to return via returns or waterfall, setting the waterfall up as the aux feature.

What happened though is that when the cleaner is running the return rotates to waterfall which won't work as I am adding a solar blanket and don't want the aeration. So filtrstion mode can use the regular returns but cleaning can't. Something about How the controls assume it's a spa and have to isolate the water flow.

We could just remove the actuator on the return valve but then to enable the waterfall it's a manual turn of the valve (no big deal) and going through a bunch of menus to up the speed to have decent flow for the water fall. What I wanted was simple one button or one button and rotate a valve.

They told me this was their mistake and may not be possible with upgrading to the easytouch...which means more money.

So my question is does anyone know if it is possible (and is so how?) to setup what I want with the sun touch controller?

(sorry about any typos I'm entering this from an iPhone while waiting for an appt)
 
I think you can do what you want as long as you don't have a spa. You need to be setup as single body mode (no spa) on the advanced menu. Valve C must control the solar system, meanwhile Valves A and B can be assigned to aux circuits, one in cleaner mode and the other in generic for the waterfall. My guess is they don't really know what they are doing and set things up as pool/spa, hijacking spa mode to turn on both the waterfall and cleaner.
 
What if there is no System type option under the advanced menu? I only see heater delay, temp units, calibrate water, calibrate air, calibrate solar and air sensor and system mode (Pool/Spa, Solar only) the system type should be next but it's not there and neither is the system reset :|
 
That is curious. The 2007 and 2010 manuals both agree that System Type should appear right after System Mode unless you are in Solar Only mode. And if you were in Solar Only, several of the other options you mentioned would not appear.

You want System Mode set to Pool/Spa and then System Type set to Single Body.
 
Yeah this could be why they couldn't get it working right...I disconnected the pump and disabled all of the actuators until they can get back out this week. I turned the pump on manually on speed 2 to keep the water filtering - speed 1 was to slow to drive the cleaner.
 
So some more questions for y'all :)

Here's my setup in a bit more detail:
1. Suction valve - one side goes to skimmer, other goes to suction port for cleaner
2. Return valve - one side goes to returns other side goes to the waterfall
3. Solar valve for solar, right where it should be between the filter and the return valve

All 3 valves are wired to the corresponding labeled valve connectors in the controller.

I reset power to the controller this weekend and the missing menu items now existed :goodjob: . Sure enough as Jason predicted it was not setup for single body. So I reconfigure it as single body...but that seems to disable the pool/spa options for the pump, etc and now I have Low and High options. How do I go about programming it to do this:

1. Run the cleaner for 2 hours - say 6-8am
2. Run filtration for 8 hours - say 10 am to 6 pm
3. Run solar as available - when available from 10 to 6
4. Setup the Aux button to turn on/off the waterfall

I can't figure out how to configure the circuits/features, valve and schedule settings to create these 4 modes...supposedly the installer is bringing out a Pentair tech this week but I'd like to figure this out myself and be done :party:

ALSO: When I go to the valves menu the only available valve is SOLAR - I can't scroll to any other valves...what gives?
 
Make sure you have the pump type setup as INTELLIFLO 4. If you do that each of the pump speed settings should have an option for four different pump speeds, rather than just two.

The waterfall and cleaner need to be setup as AUX circuits. The manual talks about an AUX circuit as corresponding to a physical relay, which they do, but that is not how they are used in this context. Instead, think of each AUX circuit as a mode or piece of equipment, ignoring the relay aspect. You want to think of the waterfall as AUX 1, which is what the from panel button turns on/off, and think of the cleaner as AUX 2. Each AUX circuit gets configured on the circuit functions menu. You give it a type, generic for the waterfall and cleaner for the cleaner. Then you assign the appropriate valve to the appropriate AUX circuit. Then you assign the appropriate pump speed to the appropriate AUX circuit. And finally you go to schedules and schedule when you want the main pump and your two "circuits" turned on/off.

Solar setup is more straightforward, as it is all done on the solar menu.

It can all get rather confusing, but after a little while it should all make sense.
 
JasonLion said:
Make sure you have the pump type setup as INTELLIFLO 4. If you do that each of the pump speed settings should have an option for four different pump speeds, rather than just two.

The waterfall and cleaner need to be setup as AUX circuits. The manual talks about an AUX circuit as corresponding to a physical relay, which they do, but that is not how they are used in this context. Instead, think of each AUX circuit as a mode or piece of equipment, ignoring the relay aspect. You want to think of the waterfall as AUX 1, which is what the from panel button turns on/off, and think of the cleaner as AUX 2. Each AUX circuit gets configured on the circuit functions menu. You give it a type, generic for the waterfall and cleaner for the cleaner. Then you assign the appropriate valve to the appropriate AUX circuit. Then you assign the appropriate pump speed to the appropriate AUX circuit. And finally you go to schedules and schedule when you want the main pump and your two "circuits" turned on/off.

Solar setup is more straightforward, as it is all done on the solar menu.

It can all get rather confusing, but after a little while it should all make sense.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jason!

I have Intelliflo VS selected and it gives me up to 8 speed and circuit pairs to configure...there is no Intelliflo 4 option...

What about the Hi/Low circuits - how do I set those up? Low for filtering and High for solar?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
JasonLion said:
You associate a circuit with each pump speed in the pump setup area and the pump speed will change when that circuit is turned on.
Click to expand...

What about the temp settings for Low vs High? And how do they interact with the solar menu settings? Am I right in thinking that if I don't configure the low/high setting to use heat under the heat menu then the temp settings for low/high don't matter?
 
So I spent some time with pentair tech support - had two guys on the line at one point. It appears that once you enable solar that you can no longer program the valves. It has a fixed program for pool spa mode for cycling the return and suction valves. In single body it only allows for the solar valve. I did find in the manual where it says that under solar if you enable the heat pump setting you can also control valve A. The tech support comfirmed this and that the setting only did this and wouldn't change anything else. So I tried enabling it but I still can't see another valve in the valves menu. It was ridiculously cold and windy when I was out there so I gave up for the evening.

On another note, the controller is saying that the pool and ambient air were both 53 degrees but when I was repositioning the cover the water was definitely warmer than that - I didn't have time to measure it properly but it's definitely not 55 like it was two weeks ago. I rechecked the controller and it was also showing the solar temp at 40 degrees - at 5 pm when the ambient was still in the 60s I'm sure I screwed them up when I was in the advanced menu looking for the single body setting last week (still have no idea why that reappeared - tech support just said power reset must have fixed it). So how do I go about calibrating the temp sensors?

PS - have I mentioned how bad the sun touch manual is?
 
What about the temp settings for Low vs High? And how do they interact with the solar menu settings? Am I right in thinking that if I don't configure the low/high setting to use heat under the heat menu then the temp settings for low/high don't matter?[/quote]

Low would be your every day temp setting. High would be your warmer setting. Pump speeds can also be associated with these. If you set low's heat setting to off, the solar will never come on. If you set it to solar, it will try to heat to that temp as long as the solar sensor is warmer than the water sensor. Same for high.

Temp sensor calibration is meant for 5 degrees or less. If you are off more that that, there are bigger problems.
 
So the High and Low are more for a spa only situation. With a pool only I could never need the High...

I read the part of the menu about reading the resistance of the sensors to determine what they are measuring as temperature - I'll try to do that tody at lunch.
 
I spoke with my solar guy on Monday - he said he was trying to get the local Pentair specialist over here; that guy is unavailable this week hence why i am trying to figure this out myself. Hopefully today I get an update on when they'e coming out. I'd love to get this thing figured out myself but I may just disconnect it all again and run the pump on low to keep the water filtering. After speaking with tech suppport yesterday I'm pretty sure we can not automate the waterfall with the Aux1 button; that's not the end of the world - I can rotate the valve while I'm over there turning on the pump..I was able to get the pump to run at a preset speed with the Aux1 button so worst case I have to hit that button and rotate the return valve...assuming we can get the clean and filter/heat modes working as I want...otherwise it looks like I'll have to upgrade to the EasyTouch after all.
 
Being the entry level system, the suntouch is limited and rightly so. Maybe think outside the box some. What if you used pool spa mode and connected your waterfall valve to intake or return? It's not idea but could work. Easy touch is your correct system though no need to waste a rep's time knowing that.
 
I finally figured out why the Sun Touch doesn't support this situation. The crucial setting on the Valves menu only applies to valve C, which must be assigned to solar if you have solar. Values A and B are hard assigned to spa mode, and disabled in single body mode. That leaves you with the option of hijacking spa mode to get one valve related feature (plus solar). Since this pool requires two non-solar valve features, it isn't going to work.

Another way to describe the problem is that valves A and B aren't really two separate valve controls. A and B must move in sync with each other. That means you can't control a setup that requires three independent valves with a Sun Touch. The manual never really explains this directly, but a sufficient amount of reading between the lines eventually points it out.

cadillac, I have no problem with Pentair making a low end system that doesn't support every situation. But in this case they have completely failed to explain that in an understandable way to several different people. The builder thought it would work. I thought it would work. PoolGuyNJ thought it would work. Neither the sell sheet or the manual ever clearly explains the limitations of the system. Pentair telephone tech support should have been able to spot the problem instantly and explain it more clearly to carlscan26.
 
I have a Sun touch trainer, and have been going over some things (not posting till i had something useful to say). You could leave it in Pool/ spa mode and eliminate the suction actuator. Put aux 1 in spillway mode (this should disable the cleaner when it comes on, just be sure to assign aux 2 as a cleaner, but not floor cleaner). And remember that pool is "low" and spa is "high", with respect to the heater. If you had a need for two different temps, use both the pool and spa t-stats. If not just use the "pool" thermostat.

Please let me know if this works. I may have missed something (using this in pool/ spa mode may cause other side effects that i can't see right now) Currently, i have just the trainer and a valve actuator plugged into valve B (return). Seems to be working when i turn on aux 1 the cleaner does turn off. Note: However, if you turn on the waterfall the cleaner will go off and when you turn the waterfall off the cleaner will not come back on, on it's own.

update: I found an undesirable side effect. It will also turn off the filter pump, when you turn off the waterfall. Perhaps not the end of the world, as you need to be at the box to turn the waterfall on anyway, you would just need to turn the filter, and perhaps the cleaner back on when you turn the waterfall off. If you choose to put the waterfall on a schedule, you will also need to put another schedule. for the filter and cleaner to come back on after the w/f goes off (if needed).

The revision on my trainer is 2.064
When you push the menu button, do you get a display that shows: Menu 1/14? Or Menu 1/13? 1/14 = service mode added.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply