What expectations should I have for Dolphin Supreme M4?

[doncaruana]

Don't want to get myself wound up - nothing's perfect - but I don't think this thing is doing what it's supposed to.

My expectation - and this is after talking to Maytronics now, is that it will climb the wall and scrub the waterline *sometimes* and that it will cover all of my 16x32 vinyl inground in one 3-hour cycle.

The reality is that it rarely climbs the wall (I have the "wall climbing" rings), I think I did see it scrub the wall on those rare occasions, and there's one corner in particular it just never goes to.

With my sport dig, there are some slopes against the wall so it's not 90 degree walls once you get out of the middle. The Dolphin seems to keep finding the ladder though, gets stuck there for a while (doesn't seem to react to resistance - I would expect it to back off once it hit the ladder) and then will go around and end up right back at the ladder.

What exactly the position of the handle and the floats do is cryptic at best and even the person at Maytronics couldn't decipher it. Their suggestion was get the remote as it seems to allow more "control" and make sure the pump is off when it's running. Pump on or off doesn't seem to affect behavior all that much though.

I've looked at the troubleshooting and made sure to clean the filters and such.

I originally thought it would learn the pool over time, but apparently that's not the case. So do I have unreasonable expectations, am I not doing something right or is this unit just "bad" (stupid?)?

 

[JasonLion]

A little of everything. They don't notice stairs and back off, nor do they learn your pool, nor should you expect them to do either of those things. They should go everywhere eventually, but eventually might be a lot more than 3 hours. Wall climbing is very sensitive to the handle position and float configuration, at least on my similar but not identical cleaner. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it, some setups work, others don't.

 

[doncaruana]

Jason - do you know what the handle position does exactly? From the manual I think it's supposed to be slightly diagonal, but I don't know which way is "forward" and which is "backward" and I don't even know if it matters which way the diagonal is. One way ("backward") is supposed to be for faster, but less efficient. And mine has "floats" on the handle that I guess you slide out farther if it's not turning "sharply" enough.

The manual stinks and, like I said, the maytronics person didn't know anything either.

 

[mhosborn]

If your manual is like ours for our Dolphin DX-4, I agree the manuals are almost a joke. I guess Maytronics decided we'd rather have a series of vague illustrations with VERY little text than a manual that clearly explains everything. I'm still figuring ours out, but it, too, rarely climbs the walls to the waterline.

 

[Robbo]

I have this exactcleaner and i find that it generalaly does climb my walls and more often then not, gets right up to the water line. I have noticed that having the handle at an angle gets it to more around the pool more reandomly (I think the greater the angle of the handle, the sharper the turns made by the M4). I also believe that moving the wieghts on the handle outwards gets it to climb better

I have other complaints about the M4 however. I purchased it last year and found that I would often power it up and nothing would happen. I would press all of the buttons and it wouldn't move. I would then turn it off and on again and again unitl the lights on the power module would light up and it would start moving. Ultimately, it stopped moving altogether. I brought it back to the pool store for service. Maytronics instructs the pool store that they can fix or swap out the power supply but for any other service it gets sent to Maytronics. So my pool store tested the power supply and found it was fine and sent it to Maytronics. It took a long time to get the unit returned but no biggie as it wasn't pool season yet. However, now that we have opened our pool i have discovered that the M4 still has the same issue! I have to power it on and off until it works! Anyone else have this problem??

 

[doncaruana]

Robbo - from talking to my pool store, they had a batch last year with bad chips in them, not bad power supplies. They now test everyone they get from Maytronics who claim they have fixed that issue.

I have the floats all the way out and it doesn't seem to make much difference. The one thing I did do today, which did seem to help, is put it in the water upside down. Maytronics had suggested turning it upside down in the water to get rid of any trapped air so I figured I'd just put it in upside down. Took longer to sink but it seemed to do a little better.

It seems to float off the walls and floor a lot - I called it "popping a wheelie". So it doesn't do a very good job of getting stuff in the deep part of my pool (which is in the middle). I watched it skip across the floor in the shallow part with the leading edge off the floor completely. And when climbing, the top brush will drift off the wall.

I know you have to have the "right" brush, but no idea how to tell what that is. I think I have it though.

 

[doncaruana]

You know, I decided to go "spelunking" at other dolphin products manuals since the supreme blows chunks. This is what I found...
There are 4 positions for the handle pin to be in on each side. But there are only TWO VALID positions for the entire handle. If you arbitrarily number the pin positions 1 through 4, front to back, then the handle should either be in position 1 on one side and 4 on the other or 2 on one side and 3 on the other. In the most extreme diagonal position (1-4), this is "fast waterline sideways movement". In the slighter diagonal position (2-3), this is for "slow waterline sideways movement". Now, for me, I've had it in 1-2 and 1-1, but never in either of the above.

I also got that you should change it after every cleaning. So I take this to mean if it's 2-3 one day, make it 3-2 the next, etc.

The floats in the handle can be presumably moved farther out to facilitate sharper turns to that side.

Now, will any of the above help how this thing operates? We'll see tonight...

 

[MattM]

I haven't played with the supreme, but if it is anything like the Deluxe-5 - then I would expect it in any 3hr cleaning cycle to cover the entire floor of the pool several times, perhaps 75% of walls, and 50% of the tile. The few times I have trouble with it cleaning tile is a result of either too much/too little cable being in the pool, the cable not being straight, the cable not going through the middle of the float, or not turning the unit over and getting rid of all air in the unit prior to running.

I run mine twice/month for about 4hrs each time....no real issues other than having to clean the bag and put the unit away on the caddy in the garage each time.

 

[doncaruana]

Well...changing the handle position (and "burping" it) seems to have made a world of difference. With all the air bubbles out and the handle in a proper 2-3 position, I watched MO (we named him after the scrubber in Wall-E) scrub the waterline 3 times in less than 15 minutes. And those was only "spot" watching. Seems to have done a better job cleaning the bottom as well.

So, to sum up:
Burp it (turn it upside down in the water - putting it in upside down is another way to do this) so there is no trapped air
Make sure the handle is diagonal in the middle 2 positions
Change the diagonal every other time you put it in (think forward slash vs backward slash)

That's what's working for my dolphin...

 

[JasonLion]

Reversing the handle position each time switches which way the cord gets twisted while the unit is running (the handle position will give it a tendency to turn either left or right more often, depending on which way you set it up). They are trying to keep the cord from being consistently twisted in the same direction, which will eventually kink the cord.

 

[larryfl1]

hi,

i received my m5....quickly built the cart...took it outside and to action it is.....

the only problem it is having is it only climbs halfway up the walls....

our surface is similar to diamond bright but a little smoother as it has some glass beads that were part of the mix....

what do i need to do to help it climb? different tracks/wheels?


I am thinking the combo brush is not the correct brush...

where do i find the other brushes available for the m5? i see no part numbers and /or places to get them....

thanks

 

[mhosborn]

Our Dolphin DX-4 only climbs to the tile a couple of times in a typical cleaning cycle...so I guess I'm seeing the same thing you are with your m5.

Our surface is Quartzscapes, but I don't know if that's got anything to do with it. Hopefully, you'll get yours climbing the walls consistently...if you do, please post back here what you did to accomplish it, as the same thing may help me out, too.

 

[DrYooper]

We bought a Dolphin Supreme M4 this season and so far so good. I was actually fairly suprised at how much dirt was in the filters.

For what it's worth, the store I bought it from told me I should have the handle all the way "up" on one side and all the way "down" on the other (the most diagonal you can get it). Then the next time I use it, they said I should reverse the handle so it's facing the opposite diagonal.

I have a 19' x 35' Grecian style pool, and it climbs the walls as expected.

 

[doncaruana]

For what it's worth, the store I bought it from told me I should have the handle all the way "up" on one side and all the way "down" on the other (the most diagonal you can get it). Then the next time I use it, they said I should reverse the handle so it's facing the opposite diagonal.

Read up in the thread and you'll see that the setting they suggested is supposed to be for "fast waterline sideways movement". The reversal is to "untwist" the cord, so it's not always turning in the same direction.

 

[larryfl1]

what is the logic on the sliding floats on the handle? i am trying to get my m5 to climb higher...it gets half way up the wall and has trouble... i have the handle diagonal ..all the way forward and opposite all the way back....

 

[larryfl1]

i just cleaned out the m5....

a few observations..i started with a mostly clean pool as the pool guy comes weekly...

i am amazed how much sand/crud was in the cartridge... for a clean pool it really picked up a lot of sand...proably about 2 cups worth....

also cleaning the cartridges...easy and way better then i remember cleaning the bags on the older units... a few minutes hosed off and good to go..easy access from on top..

my only issue is climbing all the way up. other then that it works great and cleans very easy....

its a keeper...

 

[Newpool2011]

I've had an issue with the power on mine as well. Sometimes I have to power it on and off a few times to get it run for an extended time. The typical run time is about 1.5 hours. I then have to unplug it then start it again. I like it run for about 3 hours to cover most of the pool. Should I be concerned about this issue?

 

[larryfl1]

has anyone tried the wonder brush option?

i have a m5 and it climbs only half way up..thinking the wonder brush may help???

not sure where to buy it from ...i called dolphin and they were like go through a reseller...

the other thing is i think the brushes are expensive and hate to spend it if it may or may not work....

thoughts? recommendations???

 

[jblizzle]

I have always lowered mine into the water and tilted it around upsidedown to get all the air out. I also always have the handle in 1-4 or 4-1 position and I think it climbs better on one or the other.

Not sure if the 2 motors help or not but when the bag is clean it almost climbs out of the water while doing the tiles. But as it gets dirtier it will not climb as well.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone