Two Speed Pump Wiring

Feb 7, 2012
39
Orlando, FL
As if this topic hasn't be beaten to death...

I got my Whisperflo pump in the mail and managed to remove my old pump. I'm about to plumb in the new pump, but I wanted to make sure I had my wiring together before I did any of that...

The old pump was wired:
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And this is what I've gathered reading online as to how to do the new pump:
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I've already programmed the system to use the pump relay for low speed, then the aux relay to switch to high speed. There's a switch on the pump, but since I'm automating, I'm just going to bypass it (aka unplug it).

A little cleaner...
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What sort of controller are you working with? You should be able to wire it with only two relays and normally, high speed is on the pump relay and low speed on a Aux relay. The common must be connected to both relays to it is connected in either low or high speeds plus the relays must not be engaged together but the controller should make sure of that.
 
It's an Easy Touch 4...

I guess I need to run another wire then... makes way more sense that way. In only have three wires running to the pump now, missing a common.

I think what was throwing me off the most was a lack of understanding of the controller... The delay was causing me to think something wasn't working and putting it into service mode allowed me to run both relays simultaneously, which made me very concerned.

The thing is, when I cancel the delay it allows both relays to remain closed, I would think it wouldn't let that happen.
 
I am surprised that putting it into service mode will let you engage both relays. Are you sure both relays are actually engaged? You would know because the breaker will trip.
 
I don't have anything wired to power or the pump yet... just watching the relays trigger.

Service mode allows both relays to close... If I push the pump button, the appropriate relay triggers... then if I push the low speed auxillary button, the light blinks and I see that a delay has been triggered. If I cancel the delay, the 2nd relay closes but the first one does not disengage. If I wait for the delay to expire, same thing happens.
 
Great. Now I've done so much fiddling with the settings that I'm completely lost and the relays come on with the touch of a button, no delay, no nothing. Just come on like you're turning on a light switch, with no regard for any programming what so ever.

This is absolutely ridiculous. This system is so inherently complicated for no apparent reason. Looking through the manual, it might as well be written in Chinese... makes no freakin sense of what I'm trying to do... A bazillion explanations for everything except for how to set up a two speed pump without Pentair's $90 'special' relay. Two days working on this and I'm in the same place where I started... except now I don't have a pool pump because the old one's out and the new one doesn't work... If I had any money I'd call someone and pay them the $500 to figure this all out, but unfortunately I don't.

Sorry, had to vent... Any help anyone can provide would be much appreciated... I'm completely at my wits end.
 

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mas985 said:
Easy Touch Controller Manual - Page 46 gives the instructions for setting up the controller for a two speed.


Load Center Installation Manual - Page 25 shows the wiring for the two speed.

Unfortunately, no it doesn't:

There must be a two-speed relay installed in the EasyTouch Load Center in order for the “2-Speed Pump” menu settings to function.

As far as I can tell, that's a SPDT relay... So my relay doesn't work to switch the load, in my application it just turns it on. It's either pump on, pump off, or pump on/aux relay on when I try to program it...

Maybe I'm missing something...

I've played around with the settings and tried a bunch of different combos... same result even if I turn all the circuits under the 2-speed menu to 'none'... The closest I've had to getting it to work was described above...

Hit the pump button - pump relay engages. Hit the aux button - light flashes, delay starts, evenutally aux relay engages.

Hit the aux button first - pump relay engages, light flashes on aux, delay starts, eventually aux relay engages. In both situations the pupm relay never disengages so if I were to have it wired to the pump, I'd be doubling to common and loading both LS/HS.
 
onesickpsycho said:
A bazillion explanations for everything except for how to set up a two speed pump without Pentair's $90 'special' relay.
That is not a supported configuration. Their special relay is required for safe operation. Pentair will not support any approach that does not use their two speed pump relay.

You could in theory setup two relays, one for each speed, but that will not work with their two speed pump program, nor will they provide technical support for such a configuration, nor is there any really reliable way of preventing both speeds from being energized at the same time when setup that way.
 
JasonLion said:
You could in theory setup two relays, one for each speed, but that will not work with their two speed pump program, nor will they provide technical support for such a configuration, nor is there any really reliable way of preventing both speeds from being energized at the same time when setup that way.

Awesome... it was my understanding in my first thread that it was no big deal to set it up this way... if I would have known that, I probably would have just opted for the VS option since now the price difference isn't that significant.

Is there any way to do this reliably and safe with my current configuration? Or am I stuck buying that relay?
 
You really need some form of double-throw relay to properly handle speed selection. That doesn't necessarily mean Pentair's relay, but it does mean a relay with both N.O. and N.C. contacts which can safely handle the current. Technically, you can control any such relay from the aux relay, and use that to select hi/lo speed. I cannot speculate on the programming, though, as I have no experience with these.
 
onesickpsycho said:
I'm going to hit up Skycraft tonight, hope they have something that works for cheap... most likely I'll end up buying the Pentair deal tonight online. For now, I'll wire it for single speed operation and fix it when the new relay comes in.

I just read your post and I am in the same situation as you and would like to know if you were able to finally get the two speed motor working with the Pentair 2-speed relay. I have a Pentair EasyTouch 4, and would like to change the single speed motor in my Pentair WhisperFlow 1hp to a 2-speed A.O. Smith B2982, and would like to wire it so I can program it to run on high speed when the spa is on. Also would like to run it as "feature 1" so I can turn it on to filter the pool water when it is being heavily used.
 
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