Brand new Dolphin Premiere, trying to set up, not climbing walls

[justindlong]

We just bought a brand new Dolphin Premiere via Amazon. Unfortunately, it came with a quick start guide and otherwise very minimal documentation. There are some "Mickey Mouse ear" floaters which can be adjusted, and which from what I understand help with how it works.

1. No matter how much I fiddle, I have not figured out how to get it to climb walls. Our pool is, at the moment, in not great state - lots of fine particulates, a lot of algae, etc. I've run it through three cleaning cycles and it's done a "fairly" good job (80% or more) of scrubbing the floor of the pool. It would probably need a couple more rounds. It has climbed the first level of the stairs, but hasn't gotten on the top of the first level of stairs nor gotten to the second level of the stairs. The "shallow" end is ... about 4' deep? and it has not been able to get to the waterline on that end, much less the deep end (which is something like 10' deep). It *CAN* scrub the bottom of the deep end. It seems to have gotten about a third of the way up the walls (shallow and deep) so so it can "climb" to some extent - just not all the way to the top, nor any of the walls on the deep end. Any ideas on how to do this would be welcome.

2. I wonder if there's another related setting that would make its rollers hug the floor a bit more. I'm not sure if they're making REALLY good contact. There were lines where the little styrofoam rollers go across the algae, but not deep scrub. I think this thing is supposed to have suction against the floor?

Any other tips on how to work with this thing would be helpful. The Premiere doesn't seem to have an app, nor really any possible "adjustments" other than the floater ears. I am presently running the microfiber filters (but even that, it's not clear if the "X" side of the filters should be "out", or "in.") If you've used this, I'd appreciate advice.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Justin,

That "new" robot is about 10 or 15 years old, design wise.

It is not going to remove the algae all over the bottom of the pool, and I suspect it is just too slick for the robot to climb the walls..

Just in case... Did you rip off the climbing rings that look like "packing material" when you first look at it.. I had a Premier and came within a second or two of removing the white rings on the brushes...

Also, it only climbs the walls on every 5th try (a guess) not every time.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[wireform]

+1 what @Jimrahbe said but let me add. I'm not familiar with your exact model but to understand how the robot for a lack of a better word "sticks" to the wall is via suction from the bottom via the water pump motor. Any limiting factor to the speed/volume of the water will be a hindrance to its suction. So as you said the pool is laden with algae thereby getting stuck on the robots filter will cause less flow and also less suction. You'll be better off vacuuming to waste or at minimum through the pool filter to rid the pool of as muck as possible but obviously with the understanding that that filter will clog too and will need several cleanings in the process.

 

[justindlong]

1. After three cleanings, it's actually done pretty good at getting most of the gunk off the bottom of the pool. I'm not sure what was "dirt" and what was "algae" - but the floor is pretty clean, and the sides of the walls are pretty clean, and it's steadily working its way higher and higher. I wonder, if the gunk is off the side of the pools, will it finally "break the water" and do the water line...

2. No, I didn't take the climbing rings off - there was a "warning - remove the cellophane but not the styrofoam rings" piece of paper that said "read before proceeding."

3. out of curiosity, what is the newest dolphin design?

 

[justindlong]

The Dolphin Sigma is about the same price as the Premiere... is it significantly better?