PoolPilot Cell Amps

[smallpooldad]

In the manual for the PoolPilot with the cell power set at Level 3 it states it pulls 8 DC amps "(set at 100% - 24 hour operation)". I am aware that AC amps and DC amps use the same amount of power.

Is this per hour or over a 24 hour period, as the Digital unit at 230 Vac pulls 1.5 amps, I think it is over a 24 hour period, am I incorrect?

If I am wrong and it does pull 8 amps per hour it would be better to run the pump longer as it pulls less amps and set the percentage output lower on the SWG cell as you recommended to near 50% versus 70%.

One last question if it pulls 8 DC amps, and the setting is 50% at the SWG cell would it be correct to state that is pulling 4 amps?

 

[jblizzle]

Amps are instantaneous readings. Not sure if PoolPilots work a little differently than I thought the cells did. I thought the amps were only a function of the salt content. But learned today about the Level setting.

So I think it would pull 8 amps whenever it is generating, but since the amount of FC is also a function of generating time ... pretty sure the power consumption is the same to generate the same amount of FC regardless of the % setting and pump run time.

 

[smallpooldad]

jblizzle,

Thank you for the reply but my apologies I am not sure I understand completely what you have written.

I think I got the part about whether it is set at 5% or 50% it pulls the same amount of amps as this is purely a function of time and the unit is running at 100% power for the time it is on. Am I understanding you correctly?

Again my apologies I will try to make my question clearer. Is it pulling 8 amps over 24 hours if running 100% of the time, or 8 amps per hour if running 100% of the time in the hour?

What got me going here, or confused, is the line in the manual on page 11 that states "(@ Cell Power 3 (8 amps DC) (set at 100% - 24 hour operation)".

8 amps per hour seems like a lot as the pump motor gets very hot and is running at a lower amperage, of course it could be the friction whereas the cell has mo moving parts.

 

[jblizzle]

I am not 100% I know what I am talking about either

The % is the amount of time the cell is powered and generating ... lets assume the time period is 1 hour.
At 50%, the cell would be ON for 30 minutes/hour
At 10%, the cell would be ON for 6 minutes/hour

When ON it is pulling 8 AMPs (this is an assumption based on your first post, sounds like the different Levels pull different amps ... whatever the # is, the logic is the same)
At 50% the cell would use 8*30 = 240 amp-minutes (kind of odd units, but I do not know the voltage)
At 10% the cell woulc use 8*6 = 48 amp-minutes ... so 1/5 the "power", but it also generated 1/5 the FC because it was on 1/5 the amount of time ... so you would have to run it 5 times longer to get the same amount of FC, so the "power use" would be 240 amp-minutes

So same power required to generate the same amount of FC ... BUT your pump had to run 5 times longer at 10% so the pump power use was 5x more.

 

[smallpooldad]

jblizzle,

I think you are right it is 8 amps when it is running. The voltage mine is set for is 230 Vac. It might be cheaper to run the pump longer at a lower percentage or then again it might not or make no difference at all. I will have to spreadsheet this only then will I know the answer.

The heavy duty connectors and cord should have let me know, but then again I am getting old.

Thank you, you were a great help.

 

[jblizzle]

I just looked at the manual too and Level 3 is ~8 amps when ON. It will vary slightly based on the salt content.

I am not sure if your assessment is correct though as running the pump uses WAY more power than the SWG.
Power (watts) = current (amps) * voltage (amps) ... in none of this did we know the Volts used in the production of the FC so we could not estimate power, which is what we pay for. We just know it is DC, but at what voltage?

The manual does say that the max input power is 1.5amps @ 230V so 345 watts at the most ... which could be close for the highest level setting when it is ON. But the power would be lower when the cell was not on.

 

[Poolsean]

You're confusing the AC side amp draw (220 volts @ 1.5 amps when the cell is energized, and much less when it's not energized), vs the DC side of the cell, which can be either 5.0, 6.5, or 8.0 amps @ 17 - 31 volts (depending on salt level, water temperature, and cell condition), to generate the chlorine.

It's not drawing 8 amps at 220 volts.

Hope that clears things.

 

[jblizzle]

You're confusing the AC side amp draw (220 volts @ 1.5 amps when the cell is energized, and much less when it's not energized), vs the DC side of the cell, which can be either 5.0, 6.5, or 8.0 amps @ 17 - 31 volts (depending on salt level, water temperature, and cell condition), to generate the chlorine.

It's not drawing 8 amps at 220 volts.

Hope that clears things.

I understand that, but maybe it was not yet clear to smallpooldad .... which is what I was trying to get to with my last post.

Thanks.

 

[smallpooldad]

Poolsean,

Thank you for the quick response. That is great news, so running the pump for the time required to give one the Chlorine ppm one wants at a 70% on the SWG cell setting is the way to go, or is it better to run the pump at a 50% setting on the SWG cell?

I think that 70% is still safe on the SWG cell and would require the least run time on the more expensive hourly cost of running the pump, is this correct?

Poolsean as you are the expert here, what would you do if not the 70% or 50% in the cell setting in your own pool?

jblizzle,

You are correct it was not clear to me but thank you both for clearing it up.

 

[Poolsean]

For the sake of the Automatic Temperature Compensation on the Digital unit, it's recommended to run your system between 25 - 75%, the closer to 50% being most ideal (but not necessarily where you have to run it at).
If you're running greater than 75%, I recommend increasing the Cell Power up one level, then dialing in the % to maintain your desired chlorine level.
If you're running less than 25%, I recommend decreasing the Cell Power down one level, then dialing in the % to maintain your desired chlorine level.

These various adjustments allow you to run the Pool Pilot to the run time of your system, so you don't necessarily have to extend your pump run time for the sake of the salt system. If you wanted to run your pump 4 hrs/day (for example), then you have the option of putting in the larger RC52 cell, at Cell Power 3, then adjusting the % to maintain the desired chlorine level.