Jandy iAqualink - 80211b wifi?!? Really?

[ntxpool]

I just purchased the Jandy iAqualink system to upgrade my existing PDA-based Jandy controller (control board was acting up, so figured I'd upgrade versus replace).

Anyway, I thought I saw somewhere online that the iAqualink radio is 80211"g" at least......but now that I have the upgrade package, the radio is 80211"b".

Seriously?!? Jandy, what were you thinking? Does anyone know if Jandy is thinking of upgrading their radios? It won't be a simple SW fix.....manufacturers (especially Jandy) pick radio-specific chipsets, without thought for future upgradeability.

I plan/design/install commercial grade wifi solutions for a living. One of the key things we stay away from is any devices running 80211b. I tell my clients to get rid of them. Reason: running your system at "b" levels drags the performance of the whole wireless system down.....your "g" and "n" devices will run slower due to the need to provide support for the ancient "b" devices. I honestly don't know anyone that runs "b" clients anymore......it simply makes no business (or personal) sense.....there are too many cheap "g" and "n" solutions available.

Ugh....just disappointed. I run a high performance wifi solution at home....and now I'll have to set part of it to run at "b".......not happy.

Mike

 

[ps0303]

Whats the date code on your unit? You might have received an old product.

 

[Mike_W]

Mike,
I went through that same "what the heck" moment when I set up mine. Jandy says they use 802.11b "for maximum range and broadcast compatibility with most residential Wi-Fi routers ...". "G" was formalized in 2003, so they are pretty far behind the times and unfortunately, on many routers, you give up features (like the latest security encryption) when running dual compatibility. I ended up hardwiring mine to my LAN.
Mike

 

[ntxpool]

Paul...as far as I can tell, there is no other product/date that supports anything but "b".

Mike...I'd love to hardwire, but my equipment pad is 100 feet from the house. Not wanting to trench a line right now. I do verify a signal at the pad with my tablet and phone, but so far I can't get the iAqualink to connect. I'm going to try to get my access points closer to the edge of the house and see what happens.

 

[Mike_W]

You could put a 802.11n access point in a waterproof box and connected with an Ethernet cable to the Iaqualink.
Mike

 

[ntxpool]

Mike....that's actually not a bad idea! I do have a couple of old wifi routers I could run in AP/bridge mode.

However, I did get connection this morning. I fired up my old Uverse gateway wifi (only b/g), which I've had turned off for a few years, since I have a commercial grade wifi solution running my house. However, the gateway is 20-30 feet closer to the pad than the rest of my system. Bang...got a connection.

So, obviously I need to relocate one of my two commercial APs, or just run the gateway wifi. I'll just run the gateway for now.

Now to get it all setup!

Mike

 

[ntxpool]

Ok, got everything running fine.....pretty cool.

Question: I still have the old Jandy PDA. I left the PDA radio hooked up.....do I need to do that, or will the old PDA talk to the new iAqualink radio Jbox? I realize the PDA will now just be an "on/off" device, but it might be handy to have. If I decide to ditch it, I'll just Ebay it. I just can't find any info in the install guides that says whether I should keep the old PDA Jbox running or not.

Thanks, Mike

 

[mas985]

I plan/design/install commercial grade wifi solutions for a living. One of the key things we stay away from is any devices running 80211b. I tell my clients to get rid of them. Reason: running your system at "b" levels drags the performance of the whole wireless system down.....your "g" and "n" devices will run slower due to the need to provide support for the ancient "b" devices. I honestly don't know anyone that runs "b" clients anymore......it simply makes no business (or personal) sense.....there are too many cheap "g" and "n" solutions available.

Ugh....just disappointed. I run a high performance wifi solution at home....and now I'll have to set part of it to run at "b".......not happy.

This is true only if the b client is running on the same access point as the g/n clients. But if the b client is running on a separate AP on a separate frequency, as should be the case with the Jandy and your home network, then the b client should not affect the g/n clients' performance.

 

[Mike_W]

Mike,
I kept the PDA hooked up and use it all the time. It can still control the spa temp. I also use the PDA when cleaning the pool, to control my dedicated suction line when vacuuming. Since it connects locally instead of through Jandy's servers (like the iPad does), it is sometimes faster to use for simple things like turning the yard lights on and off. It is also a backup if you lose internet access.
Mike

 

[ntxpool]

mas985....you are correct. And this would have been the case if I was running everything on my main wifi network. Since I'm now using my old uverse gateway wifi to connect to the iAqualink, it has it's own AP. And to be honest.....I don't have enough devices in my house to really sweat this problem anyway, but it still bugs me that Jandy would still be using "b".

Mike: are you still using the old Jandy PDA wireless Jbox to connect to your PDA? I'm just curious if the new iAqualink jbox can talk to old PDAs. I suspect the answer is no, but I can't find the answer anywhere.

Thanks, Mike

 

[Mike_W]

Mike,
I'm using both the iAqualink and PDA J-Boxes. When I changed the system board to install the iAqualink, I reconnected the PDA j-Box back up to the RS-485 terminals. It works fine, with the reduced functionality that you noted above. But as I said, I find it sill is quite useful.
Mike

 

[ntxpool]

Thanks for the reply Mike. My Aquapure 1400 and original PDA Jbox were both wired to the same 485 terminal, so I left them alone and plugged the new iAqualink 485 into the second block. That was the nice thing about the new upgraded board....it has two blocks. Anyway, good to hear you've done something similar. I still need to reprogram the PDA a bit; the original pool builder connected my pool/spa lights to the solar pump aux circuit, instead of a standard aux circuit. It doesn't matter......but I changed it in the new setup (didn't use the solar pump circuit). I'll reprogram the PDA for that change sometime in the next few days.

Thanks, Mike