Jandy aqualink to control heat exchanger

[General Custer]

I purchased an iaqualink kit with an RS4 board to control my spa.

It has 4 3hp relays.

Relay 1 is for the pump.
Relay 2 (aux 1) for a 240 volt blower
Relay 3 (aux 2) replaced with a 2 stage pump relay
Relay 4 (aux 3) for water colors led.

The heater for the spa is a heat exchanger that works off my oil burner. I have low voltage wire that turns on the boiler and circulator pump by completing the circuit by simply connecting the wires.

Is there a way to have the rs4 control the heater via the gas heater controls 1 and 2 on the board.

Does this close a circuit when activated or does it send out voltage to activate a relay?

If it sends out voltage to close a relay, can I have it control the 3 hp relay taken out of the aux 2 position so that it can open and close the ir unit to activate he boiler and circulator pump to the heat exchanger?

Is there a better wy to do this?

Thanks in advance

Custer

 

[CraigMW]

On typical gas pool heaters, the low voltage wires to control the heater act in parallel to the control board as a switch. The heater's control board provides the low voltage that is switched by the remote panel's heater control circuit. I don't think they supply the voltage to drive a relay, though I could be wrong. A simple test with a standard volt meter set to low voltage DC should confirm this on your board. If it does not supply the voltage and you wish to control a relay, you should be able to tap 5V to drive the relay from the RS4's power supply and then have the other side of the relay's actuator coil connected to the heater control circuit's header on the RS4.

However, if you currently have a circuit where closing a low voltage circuit activates your heater setup, you could just run these to the RS4's heater circuit header. Again, it would be best to make sure that the heater circuit can handle the load of that low voltage circuit. Controller boards for pool automation are expensive and you don't want to fry your board.

+:---------:5V+ (power supply 5V wire)
Relay coil: Heater Header
-:-------------------+: on RS4 -:--------------: 0V (power supply ground wire (not equipment ground)

Before doing this, check with Jandy to make sure that circuit will drive your relay (i.e. there is enough current handling for the heater circuit on the RS4 to handle the current requirement for the relay's actuator coil).

 

[General Custer]

I currently have the low voltage wires from the boiler (these typically would run to a thermostat) going to a Smarthome insteon I/o Linc low voltage contact closure. When my CPU sends the signal to the I/o Linc it closes the loop between the two wires and the boiler fires. I bought the jandy system to integrate everything.

I think you're saying that as long as the gas heater connections on the board aren't putting out voltage, that it should work the same as the I/o Linc.

 
 

 

[General Custer]

So does anyone know? Does the board put out a current to trigger a relay or does it close a circuit between the two wires?

 

[CraigMW]

Yes, as the I/O Linc is just acting like a switch, it should be possible to control the heater circuit by connecting the low voltage wire to the heater header on the RS4. Give it a shot and see if it works.

 

[CraigMW]

So does anyone know? Does the board put out a current to trigger a relay or does it close a circuit between the two wires?

Do you have a multimeter? Just check the heater header on the RS4 with your multimeter. With the circuit on, you should see low resistance (less than 1 ohm) when the heater is activated via the RS4. You can also check voltage on that header, though I doubt it is sending enough to activate a relay.