ProLogic Panels - lets see some pics

[gangstead]

I'm upgrading my Hayward 2100 control to a ProLogic PL-P-4. The control is ordered and I'm doing all my reading to get ready for the installation. It's pretty basic pool/spa setup: main pump, cleaner pump, heater, lights and blower.

Does anybody have a wiring job that they are particularly proud of? Let's see some pics!

I'm also replacing the whole board that the panel is mounted on since the old one is all wobbly. I'd also like to see pics of your entire set up if you think it's particularly nice. I'm mainly focused on the electrical since I'm not planning on rerouting any of the plumbing.

Are there any pitfalls to watch out for? Anything you wish you'd done differently?

 

[jblizzle]

With everything you just listed, I am not sure you are going to have enough relays in the controller for it all. There are 4, so assuming you do not have a 2-speed pump, that would control the 2 pumps, lights, and blower.

Mine installed without issue, although I only have a 2-speed pump running on 2 of the relays. I did not bother hooking my light in to the controller since the switch is on the house already. Also, mine is currently just hanging on a wood fence which is not its final resting place.

If you have any questions about setup, I should be able to help figure anything out.

 

[gangstead]

From my understanding from the manual the heater is controlled through a low voltage connection that does not use one of the relays. Is this not the case?

 

[jblizzle]

That is correct, the heater does not need a relay. But, with what you have you would not be able to switch to a 2-speed motor to save money on electricity unless you gave up control of something else.

Also the P4 does not have quite the flexibility that the PS4 does ... like no macro buttons that might have made switching to spa a little easier.

 

[gangstead]

I looked very seriously into a PS-4 but the difference in cost was $400 for the main unit. The macros sound nice, but not quite worth that much. Just having a new unit is going to be a big advance from the old controller I have now. If money was not a factor I'd totally have the PS-16 with remote control water falls and color wheels and laser light shows.

I already have a variable speed Intelliflo pump. When the old single speed pump was wearing out a couple years ago my dad surprise installed it while I was at work. At the time the brand didn't make any difference because the 2100 controller couldn't control any variable or two speed pumps. Right now it would be nice if it was a Hayward variable speed pump so the ProLogic could control it directly. The Intelliflo is awesome though, it is super quiet. I go out and manually switch speeds for times like when I'm expecting some ICE mode runtime in the winter. I read someones description online about buying the Intellicom and wiring it to the ProLogic relays and doing lots of kludgey settings in the ProLogic, but it still wouldn't get me exactly what I wanted. It would end up costing $800 more to get the PS-8 and for the Intellicom and it would take too many years to save $800 worth of electricity.

 

[jblizzle]

Yeah, I could not justify the added cost of the PS4 over the P4 either.

Being that you have an Intelliflo, is there a reason you did not go with a Pentair automation system? With no control over the pump, this is not going to be very automated.

 

[gangstead]

My reasons for Hayward over Pentair
1) The Pentair was expensive, at least based on MSRP alone. The ProLogic was cheaper on MSRP and I ended up finding prices much lower than MSRP.
2) Pro Logic wireless controllers were cheaper and I figure if I lose or break a piece it's going to be the wireless controller being tossed around by the kids.
3) I couldn't quite figure out what a personality engine was.
4) I already have a Turbo Cell SWG that is only a few years old. It has a separate control box and gets powered, but not controlled by, the current controller. Being able to keep the $500 SWG that I am happy with and control it with the new unit is a big plus.

In the end I'll have to settle with binary control over the filter pump and if it fails then it'll get replaced by something the ProLogic can control. How long do pumps last?

I'm still looking to see some pics!

 

[J.T.]

I gave the ps8 system with remote
I just installed the aqua connect home network!
So far I love it, except the pool lights have to be turned off and on to go to next phase of colors
there is another pool light module to buy to correct this issue

 

[gangstead]

Nice. Open that panel up. I want to see inside!

 

[J.T.]

It looks just like this, except I have breakers in it!

ps16

ps8

 

[clandry4]

post601602.html#p601602

 

[gangstead]

The wiring to the breakers (underneath that black cover) is the part that I want to see.

 

[macmini]

The first picture shows the connections from the breakers to the relays. Red wire carries one leg of the 240v current, purple carries the other leg. The breaker goes to filter pump, and the other relays that need 240v power are jumped from the line in terminals of filter pump (for example aux 2). Black wire jumps aux1 to lights (120v). That black wire comes from a gfci plug on the right side of the box.

The second picture shows the aqua logic remote and heater connections.

 

[gangstead]

@macmini thanks this is great info. I was going to put everything on it's own breaker and I was trying to figure out how to do that with only 8 slots, especially with each motor taking up 2 slots. It seemed like overkill to put a 6 amp load on a 20 A breaker.

In your picture there's one 240 V breaker for Filter Aux 2 and Aux 3 and a 120 V breaker for the outlet, control board, lights and Aux 1. I see the top of a third breaker. Is that for the heater?

For you pool historians out there my 2100 controller does not have any breakers and is much smaller. You wire 240 into the control board and it's got 240 and 120 connections for all the pumps and lights across the bottom and the low voltage connectors are pretty much randomly spread around the top. It's a huge rats' nest of wires and the Pro Logic is going to look much cleaner.

 

[clandry4]

 

[clandry4]

 

[clandry4]

 

[gangstead]

@clandry4 you rock. This is very similar to what I was planning. Are those 20A breakers for each of the motors?

 

[clandry4]

@clandry4 you rock. This is very similar to what I was planning. Are those 20A breakers for each of the motors?

My son-in-law is the electrician, yes 20 amp.

 

[gangstead]

Thanks for the pics everybody. I thought I'd share mine from the finished job. There are some peculiarities that wouldn't be there if I were doing this job from scratch and I'll explain below. I'm happy with the end result. Removal of the old and installation of the new was done in one day, but I did some pre-wiring of the new panel beforehand. I think there were about 4 Home Depot trips total.

Here's the mess I started out with on the 2100 controller:

Here's my job on the PL-P-4:

I ended up running all of the 240 equipment off of one 40A breaker. I did it this way because the old controller only had one 50A breaker at the panel for all the equipment so I didn't see any reason to add 80 amps of breakers to it.

The red wire nuts are the heater attached to the FILTER relay. This way it is only being energized when the filter is running and is not powered 24/7. Cleaner is on AUX2.

The yellow wire nuts are for the blower motor, which hasn't worked the entire time I've owned the house and so I didn't hook it up to anything. If I get around to replacing it then it'll go into AUX1.

Currently the pool lights are on LIGHTS relay and the Spa lights are on AUX1. If I ever fix the blower then they'll both go onto the LIGHTS relay and onto one breaker.

All that excess wire stuffed into the left side is the old wiring for the wired house and spa remotes. I'm thinking of getting a wired remote for the house and wireless for the spa, but haven't ordered either yet. When I do I'll reuse the old house wiring.