Easytouch 8 hookup with Intelliflo filter pump and 2 spd Superflo waterfall pump

[gumbyt]

As the title says we are building a pool with a new Intelliflo filter pump and a 2 speed waterfall booster pump (no spa), both being hooked up to an Easytouch 8 system with the built in SCG.

I know that you hook the Intelliflo straight to a breaker and the data cable to the easytouch com port and the SCG to the filter relay, but how do I hook up the additional 2 speed superflo waterfall pump to be able to control the speeds? My specific questions are:

1. Do I use the Pentair 2 speed relay (#520198) that is available to hook up the 2 speed pump?
2. If yes on #1 above, where do I hook in the 2 speed relay data cable - to the 2 spd connector or to another auxiliary connector on the easytouch board? The instructions seem to indicate that the 2 speed connector on the easytouch board is for the filter pump, but can it be used for a secondary pump?

Thanks

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

With a large pump like the Intelliflo with no spa, why even have a separate waterfall pump?
And if you do want it for some reason, why the extra money for a 2-speed?

I would guess that you have to use the 2-speed relay, but I am not sure if the ET can be made to understand it is for the waterfall and not the main circulation pump.

Again, I am not understanding the point of the 2 pumps. Seems cheaper and easier to just automate a valve to direct flow to the waterfall when desired.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Obviously I don't know the size of your water fall or the amount of water it requires, but for reference I have a 3' tall wall with three individual water falls (builder calls them rock ports) two of them are 1' wide and the middle one is 2' wide. When I push the water fall button on the EasyTouch a valve turns and routes some of the water going to the return jets in the pool to the rock ports. The Intelliflo also increases speed so that I get just the right amount of water over the falls. Works for me but you may have different requirements.

Some questions that I have about your suggested set up are:

1. Why is the pool builder not doing this?
2. Is your desire to run the water fall by itself or only when the main pump is running.
3. Do you plan to run the Superflo on 115 VAC or 220 VAC?
4. What are you trying to accomplish with a 2 speed water fall?
5. I don't believe that the Superflo has any "data" cable. You simply put AC power on one of two connections to select either high or low speed.
6. If the one Intelliflo will not provide enough flow to make everything work, then I'd opt for another Intelliflo just for the water fall since the Easy Touch can control two pumps and dial in the exact amount of water you want coming out of the water fall.

Keep in mind I have no problem spending your money

 

[gumbyt]

It is a huge waterfall with grotto and a 10' slide around the back of it. We also have some fountains and want to be able to turn some features on and off at different times. The filter pump will also run a solar heater. Once you add up everything needed it was about the same price and easier automation to just get a separate waterfall/slide/feature pump. As for the 2 speed, it's not that much more and my wife really wants a slow relaxing waterfall speed for quiet evenings by the pool.

Hopefully someone will know if the ET can be made to run a 2spd second pump without using 2 auxiliary channels.

Welcome to TFP!!!

With a large pump like the Intelliflo with no spa, why even have a separate waterfall pump?
And if you do want it for some reason, why the extra money for a 2-speed?

I would guess that you have to use the 2-speed relay, but I am not sure if the ET can be made to understand it is for the waterfall and not the main circulation pump.

Again, I am not understanding the point of the 2 pumps. Seems cheaper and easier to just automate a valve to direct flow to the waterfall when desired.

 

[jblizzle]

My 2 speed requires using 2 of the normal relays. I am not sure how the 2 speed relay your system can have works.

 

[gumbyt]

See answers below.

Obviously I don't know the size of your water fall or the amount of water it requires, but for reference I have a 3' tall wall with three individual water falls (builder calls them rock ports) two of them are 1' wide and the middle one is 2' wide. When I push the water fall button on the EasyTouch a valve turns and routes some of the water going to the return jets in the pool to the rock ports. The Intelliflo also increases speed so that I get just the right amount of water over the falls. Works for me but you may have different requirements.

Some questions that I have about your suggested set up are:

1. Why is the pool builder not doing this?
We are contracting it ourselves (with some experienced help) so you can say the builder, me, is doing this.
2. Is your desire to run the water fall by itself or only when the main pump is running.
The desire is to run the waterfall/slide/other features both by itself and while the solar heater is running separately.
3. Do you plan to run the Superflo on 115 VAC or 220 VAC?
220
4. What are you trying to accomplish with a 2 speed water fall?
Water everywhere while the kids are playing and the ability for a slow relaxing trickle in the evening with a drink by the pool.
5. I don't believe that the Superflo has any "data" cable. You simply put AC power on one of two connections to select either high or low speed.
True
6. If the one Intelliflo will not provide enough flow to make everything work, then I'd opt for another Intelliflo just for the water fall since the Easy Touch can control two pumps and dial in the exact amount of water you want coming out of the water fall.
The Intelliflo is double the cost of a 2spd pump

Keep in mind I have no problem spending your money

 

[pooldv]

What about this VS pump?
Pentair SuperFlo VS Pump 342001 | Pentair 342001

My VS has no problem running solar and waterfall at 1950rpm, less than 2/3 max speed. If I turn it to 3400 it shoots water 6-8 feet out of the waterfall. We have a 3way valve between waterfall and pool returns so we can dial in water flow with the pump and the valve to get it just right, even if solar is on and needs higher flow. Otherwise we usually run the waterfall at 1500rpm with mostly waterfall and some pool return flow.

Pics of my plumbing in link in sig.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Gumbyt,

What you said above makes perfect sense.. but, I'd still go with two Intelliflo pumps. Yes, the cost is a little more, but compared to the overall cost of the pool it is next to nothing. It will make automation much easier and you can dial in the exact speed you want. You could set up the water fall for several different scenarios depending on what is going on. Someone once said "Buy the right tool and you'll cry only once, buy the cheapest tool and you'll cry every time you use it."

Jim R.

 

[gumbyt]

I know everyone has an opinion on equipment configuration and choices - thank you all for your advice. But can anyone answer the original question: Can I use the Pentair 2 speed relay (#520198) that is available to hook up the 2 speed pump to any auxiliary connector on the easytouch board? The instructions seem to indicate that the 2 speed connector on the easytouch board is for the filter pump, but can it be used for a secondary pump?

I simply want to know whether to plan to use 2 auxiliary relays to run the pump or will the part number above work for a non filter pump and only cost me one relay position instead of two?

 

[Pool Clown]

Im sure that the OP has either already purchased the equipment, or has signed a contract to install the equipment discussed. Why don't we focus on what the OP is asking and set aside our opinions of what he should have done. A customer hates nothing more than to hear from one pool guy about how another one has done it wrong, or sold him items he didn't need. Boy, If it were me, i may have just moved on to another forum. And i don't think that's what we are shooting for here...

What is done is done. Lets move on people.

You can use the relay you are asking about. Be sure that you plug it into the socket on the board labeled "2SPD", and then program accordingly (see your manual).

 

[gumbyt]

Thank you so much for the information and help!

Im sure that the OP has either already purchased the equipment, or has signed a contract to install the equipment discussed. Why don't we focus on what the OP is asking and set aside our opinions of what he should have done. A customer hates nothing more than to hear from one pool guy about how another one has done it wrong, or sold him items he didn't need. Boy, If it were me, i may have just moved on to another forum. And i don't think that's what we are shooting for here...

What is done is done. Lets move on people.

You can use the relay you are asking about. Be sure that you plug it into the socket on the board labeled "2SPD", and then program accordingly (see your manual).

 

[Jimrahbe]

Gumby,

I apologize for going down the wrong track. I am by far not an EasyTouch expert, but based upon what it sounds like you want to do, I'm not sure it is as simple as plugging into the 2-speed port. Here are my thoughts.

I believe that the 2-speed option was designed when using the 2-speed pump as the primary pool pump. Wiring the optional 2-speed relay in the way shown in the manual will mean your waterfall pump will be running on low anytime the Pump/Filter relay is on. So, in the middle of the night if you have your main pool pump on for filtering, your waterfall pump will also be on.

From what you said above, it sounds like you'd like the waterfall pump to be independent of the main pump. The only way that I can see that happening is for the waterfall pump to be turned on/off (low) by one of the AUX relays and then on high by the optional 2-speed relay. How you control the 2-speed relay would depend on if you want to control the relay from the buttons on the EasyTouch or from some form of remote.

Thanks, Jim R.

 

[Pool Clown]

Apologies, I got your pumps mixed up. Thought you were using the 2SPD for filter and the variable for the water features. Im not sure that you will get enough water with the two speed at low RPM to get to the top of the waterfall for the low flow effect you are expecting. Water fall height, pipe size, run length, all things to be considered. In my experience with 2SPD (not much) the low speed, while it spins the motor at half speed, didn't always mean half the Hp of high. The few i have seen were @ 1/8th HP at low. Superflo pumps may be more.

If you are able to dedicate 2 aux's to the 2 speed pump, you can wire the high speed to one and the low to the other to make it work easy enough.


If you aren't going to have a pool cleaner, which i doubt, but if you weren't, you would have been able to "fool ' the E/T into thinking the waterfall pump was the filter so you could take advantage of the on board 2 speed feature.

Referring back to the possible 2 SPD shortcomings, I would put my builder (if it isn't you) on notice that you expect a certain amount of flow to the waterfall on low speed (which i'm guessing you had already discussed with him when you were selecting options), and that if it does not perform as promised/expected, that he will be expected to make it right. And that you will hold final payment (please tell me you haven't made this yet) to get this resolved.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Pool Clown,

The reason that I think the OP will need the optional 2-speed relay is because you will need to have a set of normally open and normally closed contacts. That way low speed is selected when the relay is off and high speed selected when the relay is on. I tried to do this using just the AUX relays but could not figure out how to make them mutually exclusive - not having them both on at the same time. Maybe easy to do, but it was not obvious to me. The only way I could make it work (in my head) was to use one AUX relay to turn the water fall pump on/off (at low speed) and another AUX relay circuit to turn the pump to high speed. Basically wiring like the 2-speed diagram in the manual.. but, instead of connecting to the Filter Pump Relay, you'd connect to the AUX1 relay and instead of plugging the 2-speed relay into the 2-speed socket, you plug it into the AUX2 relay socket. Push AUX1 and the waterfall pump comes on at the low speed. Push AUX2 and the speed goes to high. And you can't have both on at the same time, and when off, both legs of the 220 Volts power are removed from the pump.

All that said, I still believe that the OP will not be happy with the 2-speed water fall pump, but as you suggested that is not really my business. I believe that I have, at least in a crude way, come up with an approach that will control the pump as the OP requested.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Pool Clown]

Pool Clown,

The reason that I think the OP will need the optional 2-speed relay is because you will need to have a set of normally open and normally closed contacts. That way low speed is selected when the relay is off and high speed selected when the relay is on. I tried to do this using just the AUX relays but could not figure out how to make them mutually exclusive - not having them both on at the same time. Maybe easy to do, but it was not obvious to me.

Right, no way to turn off low speed if plugged into a regular relay socket.

The only way I could make it work (in my head) was to use one AUX relay to turn the water fall pump on/off (at low speed) and another AUX relay circuit to turn the pump to high speed. Basically wiring like the 2-speed diagram in the manual.. but, instead of connecting to the Filter Pump Relay, you'd connect to the AUX1 relay and instead of plugging the 2-speed relay into the 2-speed socket, you plug it into the AUX2 relay socket. Push AUX1 and the waterfall pump comes on at the low speed. Push AUX2 and the speed goes to high.

Thats what i thought i suggested in my second post, i just said available two relays, should have said two, either of them not being filter or aux 1(may need for cleaner). But otherwise right, you would have to know not to turn both of them on at the same time. Not practical because other people undoubtedly will be using the panel.


I think the final install should be left up to the builder, then if there is a problem, it would up to the builder to fix his configuration to the OP's satisfaction.

 

[4doorrati]

Right, no way to turn off low speed if plugged into a regular relay socket.



Thats what i thought i suggested in my second post, i just said available two relays, should have said two, either of them not being filter or aux 1(may need for cleaner). But otherwise right, you would have to know not to turn both of them on at the same time. Not practical because other people undoubtedly will be using the panel.


I think the final install should be left up to the builder, then if there is a problem, it would up to the builder to fix his configuration to the OP's satisfaction.

I am planning to do something similar. My dedicated waterfall pump gave out and I didn't want to re-plumb everything to use my Inteliflo and use up a valve actuator output to run the waterfall but I really wanted two speeds for my waterfall (old one was all or nothing). So I bought a pretty cheap 2 speed 1.5hp pump to replace it. In the easytouch system you program what circuits need "HIGH SPEED" and it powers up the 2 spd relay output when you activate it. The low speed setting gets powered via the existing dedicated relay, I'm wiring it up just like the directions but replacing the "filter relay" with my waterfall pump relay (Aux 4). I'm programming it to a feature circuit called "waterfall+). In theory, if you didn't have any need for the 2 speed output you could wire it up to another relay and power something else via a feature circuit, right?

Does anyone know where I can get the 2 pin PCB connectors for the relay outputs? I cheaped out and found the 4pdt relay online but it doesnt have the harness!

Thanks!