Installing EasyTouch w/IC60. Any issues to consider?

[CraigMW]

So I finally broke down and ordered an EasyTouch system, the 8PSC plus IC60 SWCG. Our pool system is relatively simple at the moment:

IntelliFlo 10118 - main filter pump
2HP WhisperFlo - Waterfall pump
DE filter
attached spa
cleaner suction line with Zodiac MX8
Pentair Minimax 400 NG heater
Pentair IntelliBright 12V lights in pool and spa run from Intermatic pool transformer

I eventually plan to install a solar heater on the roof of the pool house. I might also like to install a spa blower on the venturi air line that exists at the pool equipment pad.

For plumbing, there is a vacuum manifold that selects between skimmer and spa drain, and a return manifold that selects between pool and spa returns. So, two main 3-way Jandy valves that control the spa vs. pool modes. The suction manifold also has a 3-way Jandy valve that controls the suction from the skimmer vs. the cleaner line.

My plan is to install the two actuators that come with the EasyTouch kit on the suction and return 3-way valves, and at some point, to purchase an additional actuator to control the cleaner line. The IC60 will be plumbed in right before the return manifold. The water temp sensor will be plumbed in the line between the filter and heater input, with air-temp sensor mounted on the shaded back wall of the pool house. The IntelliFlo will be connected via the comm. port, as will the wired remote control and (eventually) the ScreenLogic 2. The WhisperFlo (single speed for now) will be connected to one of the 220V relays (Aux 1?). The 12V Intermatic pool light transformer hooked into the two IntelliBrites will be connected to the Aux 2 relay. The MiniMax will be connected from its contoller board to the heater terminals. The 8 function wired remote will initially be run with CAT5e from the pool house, but eventually be run in existing conduit to the main house over CAT5e.

Any problems with this installation plan? BTW, I already have a sub-panel feeding the pool equipment and pool house. I was planning on running the EasyTouch with a dedicated 120V/15A line and not using its breaker panel (GFCI breakers for the pumps and heater are already mounted in the main sub-panel), and cable runs to the equipment via flex conduit from the sub-panel. In this manner, the EasyTouch will really just act as a controller.

Also, I would imagine that I should not connect up the IntelliChlor until I have salt in there. I've just ordered the TF100 kit with the Taylor saltwater kit. Once I have that, I should be able to determine my existing salt level prior to going down to buy a huge number of bags of pool salt. Currently, the water is very clean but with a rather high level of chlorine due to some recent problems with yellow algae spotting on the walls.

Any tips and recommendations appreciated. I want to do this correctly from the start and not have to redo things down the road. I'll take a pic of the equipment/pad and upload this shortly.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

A picture of the equipment pad would help greatly!

 

[JasonLion]

That all sounds reasonable. You can install the IC60 before adding salt, jut don't turn the percentage up above zero until the salt has been in for 24 hours.

 

[CraigMW]

A picture of the equipment pad would help greatly!

Yes, I should get one up soon. Thanks.

 

[CraigMW]

Jason:

Okay, good to know regarding the IC60. I'll keep it off until the salt is in for 24h.

I'm amazed at how large the panel is. I guess I figured it to be quite a bit smaller. In any event, it will be nice to have it running. I'm hoping that programming and operating the thing won't be that painful. And then trying to control it via my Android phone is still on my bucket list. Autelis has a controller that can do this via an ISY99i/ISY994i, which would be cool, but they don't support the Easytouch yet.

Thanks for the response.

 

[CraigMW]

I picked this up yesterday at the will call place from my pool supplier. Wow, this thing is huge! I guess I could have figured that out from the dimensions listed in the online specs. Heavy too! I just recently installed a new power panel on the back wall of the pool house near the pool equipment pad. That has the 220V GFCI breakers for the pool pumps. It might just be easier to run power for the pool equipment from this new panel. As I see it, the job will require:

1. Mount panel on wall using heft bolts into wall studs.
2. Run power wires from sub-panel. Minimum 40A from 2P breaker. Red and black to Easytouch line buses, white to neutral bar, green to ground bar.
3. Run bonding wire to bonding lug.
4. Move GFCI breakers for pumps to Easytouch panel. Route pump conduits to Easytouch. Main pump direct connected. Waterfall pump switched on Aux1 relay.
5. Add 15A 1P GFCI breaker for pool lighting circuit (to Intermatic pool transformer via conduit). Connect this to Aux2 relay.
6. Route IntelliFlo comm cable from pump to comm. bus.
7. Install actuators on 3-way valves. Route wires to motherboard connectors.
8. Install wire from heater aux switch terminals to heater connectors on motherboard.
9. Plumb IC60 into return pipe prior to 3-way return valve. Wire into connector on bottom of Easytouch.
10. Wire EasyTouch transformer to GFCI breaker.
11. Wire IC60 transformer to GFCI breaker.
12. Power it up.

BTW, I noticed that besides the motherboard, there is a second board in the Easytouch that includes other 4-wire comm. ports. On the motherboard, there is a single comm port connector. When wiring in the IntelliFlo and the wired remote, should I connect them to the comm port on the mother board, or is it possible to use these comm. connectors on the second "power?" board?

 

[JasonLion]

That looks like a good plan.

If you only have one thing which needs to be connected to a comm port you can connect it directly to the main board. Most setups have several things that need to connect to comm ports. In that case, run a wire from the main board comm port to one of the comm ports on the expansion board. Then connect all of your other comm port cables to the expansion board.

 

[CraigMW]

Thanks for the tip Jason. BTW, I just received my TF100 kit with the salt test option. According to the salt test, my water already has 1400 ppm NaCl. Does this mean I only have to put about 1/2 the amount of salt called for? Where did all of this sodium come from? I'm guessing that it is from the liquid chlorine I've added, but wow, I didn't figure that it would be so high without adding any pool salt yet!

 

[Bama Rambler]

It's not surprising that your salt level is that high. I've never added salt and mine was 2000 ppm at the end of last year. It's still 1200 this year after all the water loss and rain we've had.

You only need to add enough to get to the range recommended for the swcg. The Pool Calc can tell you how much that is.

 

[CraigMW]

Thanks for the info Bama...

Onto another related question... I have an IntelliFlo pump, so I don't plan to install the pump via a relay. Instead, I'll just run the comm. line from the EasyTouch to the pump. But, I'm confused as to whether or not I can still use the functionality of the 1st of 8 relays. Related to this, if I'm not using the relay to control the pump, can I just power the IntelliChlor direct from the circuit breaker? The EasyTouch really should be controlling all of this.

And another...

I recently installed a sub-panel on the back of the pool house near the equipment pad. This is on the opposite end of the wall where I will mount the EasyTouch. Currently, the two pumps are wired directly off that panel with 220V GFCI breakers. Would it be best to move those breakers and just run a 40A line from the breaker panel to the EasyTouch panel, or can I keep things as is and just run say a 20A line to the EasyTouch. My instinct tells me it might be simpler to just move the breakers and flex conduits for the two pumps and heater to the EasyTouch. In addition, this would have the advantage of having the breakers in the EasyTouch, providing for disconnects to be near the control panel, esp. for emergencies. Thoughts on this?

 

[BillH]

I just completed my installation of the Easytouch 8 w/IC 60 and VS Pentair pump and Clean and Clear plus filter. I also have a waterfall and decided that I want to to eliminate one of the two pumps and just use the VS pump. Since one pump was used only for our waterfall, I came up with a plan to use the actuators to for the waterfall. The only problem I am having is programming the actuator valves for the various settings I want. I like the idea of being able to set up the VS pump to run our waterfall which goes into our pool anyways. I do not have experience setting up these systems and it took me two days to remove my old equipment and to get the new system installed and running. I noticed my salt level increased over the first week and ended up having to drain the pool to lower the salt level. Shoot for a low number and after the first week add enough to get it to the lower acceptable limit. I find the owners manuals a little to be desired and had to search on how to set up the wiring in the control panel, but the pump does not need to go through a relay, the control wire from the pump to the controller acts as the relay. I did run the IC60 through the first relay.

Good luck on getting it set up and running. I love the system, just not sure how to set up the controller, but that will be another thread.

Bill

 

[dtlight]

I also have a waterfall and decided that I want to to eliminate one of the two pumps and just use the VS pump. Since one pump was used only for our waterfall, I came up with a plan to use the actuators to for the waterfall. The only problem I am having is programming the actuator valves for the various settings I want. I like the idea of being able to set up the VS pump to run our waterfall which goes into our pool anyways. I do not have experience setting up these systems and it took me two days to remove my old equipment and to get the new system installed and running.

You need to select an unused feature under 'settings' 'circuit names' and rename in to waterfall or another descriptive name. Under the 'settings' 'valves' menu item select the valve (A/B) that runs the waterfall, and set it to be controlled by the waterfall feature, the name you just set should show up as one of the options. In the 'settings' 'intelliflow' 'flows' menu item select an unused speed and set the name to the waterfall feature and the rpm you want the pump to run. To activate the waterfall, go to the features main menu item and scroll down to the waterfall feature and set it to on. You can also set up a schedule for the feature if you want it to run at specific times, or an egg timer if you want it to shut off automatically after you turn it on manually.

 

[dtlight]

BTW, I noticed that besides the motherboard, there is a second board in the Easytouch that includes other 4-wire comm. ports. On the motherboard, there is a single comm port connector. When wiring in the IntelliFlo and the wired remote, should I connect them to the comm port on the mother board, or is it possible to use these comm. connectors on the second "power?" board?

I connected the pump and screenlogic to the open SWG comm daughter board connectors in mine. The pheonix connectors on the daughter board pop off if you pull them straight out away from the board. They are a lot easier to wire out where you can reach them, and once they are wired you can pop the connector back onto the daughter board pin header.

 

[dtlight]

That looks like a good plan.

If you only have one thing which needs to be connected to a comm port you can connect it directly to the main board. Most setups have several things that need to connect to comm ports. In that case, run a wire from the main board comm port to one of the comm ports on the expansion board. Then connect all of your other comm port cables to the expansion board.

In my Easytouch panel the SWG comm daughter board was factory connected to the main personality board, so it should be good to go without adding any jumpers.

 

[CraigMW]

I just completed my installation of the Easytouch 8 w/IC 60 and VS Pentair pump and Clean and Clear plus filter. I also have a waterfall and decided that I want to to eliminate one of the two pumps and just use the VS pump. Since one pump was used only for our waterfall, I came up with a plan to use the actuators to for the waterfall. The only problem I am having is programming the actuator valves for the various settings I want. I like the idea of being able to set up the VS pump to run our waterfall which goes into our pool anyways. I do not have experience setting up these systems and it took me two days to remove my old equipment and to get the new system installed and running. I noticed my salt level increased over the first week and ended up having to drain the pool to lower the salt level. Shoot for a low number and after the first week add enough to get it to the lower acceptable limit. I find the owners manuals a little to be desired and had to search on how to set up the wiring in the control panel, but the pump does not need to go through a relay, the control wire from the pump to the controller acts as the relay. I did run the IC60 through the first relay.

Good luck on getting it set up and running. I love the system, just not sure how to set up the controller, but that will be another thread.

Bill

Bill - Thanks for all of the tips! I'm planning to set this all up on Saturday when I should have some time. I guess I should probably add the salt tomorrow so it has some time to circulate through the system and get mixed in.

I guess I don't understand why the IC60 would need to be run through a relay since it has its own communication cable to the ET8. If it is continuously powered (by wiring directly to a breaker), wouldn't that make more sense?

 

[CraigMW]

I connected the pump and screenlogic to the open SWG comm daughter board connectors in mine. The pheonix connectors on the daughter board pop off if you pull them straight out away from the board. They are a lot easier to wire out where you can reach them, and once they are wired you can pop the connector back onto the daughter board pin header.

Ah, that is clever. That's great info. So I guess that SWG circuit board carries the same RS485 signal. I wonder why they don't describe this in the manual, as that is a nice feature to make wiring up accessory controllers that much easier?

 

[CraigMW]

That looks like a good plan.

If you only have one thing which needs to be connected to a comm port you can connect it directly to the main board. Most setups have several things that need to connect to comm ports. In that case, run a wire from the main board comm port to one of the comm ports on the expansion board. Then connect all of your other comm port cables to the expansion board.

In my Easytouch panel the SWG comm daughter board was factory connected to the main personality board, so it should be good to go without adding any jumpers.

dtlight - In my ET8, the SWG daughter board has three comm/RS485 connectors. Only one of these is used for connection of the daughter board to the main board. So, it looks as though these are all wired in parallel, providing extra connectors to run remote control wiring, etc. It is not that big of a deal, but makes wiring a bit cleaner.

 

[dtlight]

I guess I don't understand why the IC60 would need to be run through a relay since it has its own communication cable to the ET8. If it is continuously powered (by wiring directly to a breaker), wouldn't that make more sense?

I believe Pentair doesn't want there to be any chance of the SWG operating in a no flow situation. If would also cause a no flow error in the control panel when the pump was off.

 

[CraigMW]

So, the flow cell doesn't have its own flow/pressure sensor? I guess I should assume the same for the heater and run that off the same relay? So, should I run the Intelliflo filter pump off of that relay as well? Shouldn't the pump maintain continuous power since it should be controlled by the RS485 signal? I guess I'm not understanding why the SWG needs to have its power controlled by the pump relay when in theory it shouldn't need it. The controller should know when the pump is on and when it is not. For that matter, the pump could be on but at a very low speed that is insufficient for the SWG, or the pump might not be primed properly or flow through the filter blocked. In these cases, the SWG is still producing chlorine gas (and hydrogen???) with no flow. There must be a flow detector in the SWG.

One other thing... in the manual for the IC60, it says that controlling its power via the main pump relay negates the need to have the SWG's power circuit GFCI protected. Is this because the main filter pump circuit would normally be protected by a GFCI or am I missing something here? I think Pentair should be a bit more specific about this because it could lead to a situation where that circuit is not protected.

 

[Qwaxalot]

FWIW,

Both the Intellichlor and the heater have their own flow detection components, so the issue with the computer thinking the pump is on, and water is not actually moving is guarded against twice.