need help reprogramming easy touch valve settings for solar.

[Dan-H]

I'm not sure how, but my valve and heater configuration got messed up, and I'm not sure exactly how to get it all back. somehow it ended up in heat pump mode and the default valve configs were empty. needless to say my solar setup wasn't working very well.

Pool Spa Combo, with a single solar valve.

I have re-enabled solar, and made it active but this morning the pump wasn't coming on.

Is there a good set of instructions for getting the valves and the circuits and speeds dialed in as they are supposed to be?

I have other circuits with valves like pool cleaner and water fall working correctly. Pool / spa combo working right but the solar is not really working.

Last two days I just forced it on via the toggle switch on the valve actuator and turned the pump to a higher speed.

I want this back on autopilot. can anyone help ?

 

[Dan-H]

Ok, I think I have a fair amount of it. I have re-enabled solar, which gave Valve A the option to be enabled for solar. Valve B is Spa Master.

Not sure where to kick up the pump speed when solar comes on. Still experimenting.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Menu > Settings > IntelliFlo > Pump #1 > Speeds

Look for a circuit named SOLAR. If there isn’t one, rename an unused circuit to SOLAR and set the speed.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

Unless you have some really weird set up, the Intake and Return valves are used for Pool and Spa... I have no clue why you would have valve B as Spa Master?

What does that valve do for your set up?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Dan-H]

Rocket Squirrel,

thank you I think that might be the missing setting.

I had one empty circuit on the intelliflo. I selected "solar active". We'll see if this works in a few mins when the sun hits the temp sensor on the roof.

Jim,

I'm not sure why valve "B" is set to Spa Master. It was that way and I did not change it when I started poking around through the menus trying to sort out the solar.

What should a "normal" setting be. I have a pool/spa combo with the typical jandy valves setup to change inlet and outlet when it goes into spa mode and back to pool mode. This works correctly. The spillway mode works correctly. I have two other valves configured, one for a water feature and one for a pool cleaner and they work correctly.

The solar was the only part not working. I think what happened was somehow my solar setting turned into a heat pump setting, and that disabled some other settings as a result. When I re-enabled solar and disabled heat pump I was able to set Valve A to "Solar Active". This was properly actuating the valve, but not increasing the pump speed. Hopefully the circuit on the intelliflo does the trick.

It should be warm enough soon to kick the solar on.

Thanks again,

Dan

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

An EasyTouch only has 4 valve circuits.. Intake and Return, which sounds like they are working fine.. And A and B... Since A is Solar then I am puzzled how you can have another valve for a water feature, and a valve for the cleaner. That would be 6 automated valves.. Do you really have an IntelliTouch?

If it is working, it is working, but if you get a chance please post a pic of your equipment pad showing all your automated valves.

Rocket's advice on assigning Solar as a pump speed should fix your pump issue.

Do you have ScreenLogic? If not, you should look into it, as it makes programming 10 x easier and much more understandable.. Not having ScreenLogic is like going to take an advanced math test without a calculator..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Dan-H]

Jim R,

I have an EasyTouch 8, and screen logic. The screenlogic software on my PC doesn't do everything I can do on the panel, and the android version seems buggy. I will check the setup on my old iPad. I forgot about it until now.

And, Yes you are correct that an Easy Touch supports four valve circuits. My solar installer added an additional relay to control the fifth valve.

I have five actuators:
Spa/Pool return.
Spa/Pool inlet.
Solar
Cleaner
Waterfall
When I use ScreenLogic, Cleaner appears as a light. I forget the rest of the config.

I'm not near the equipment right now to take a picture, but I will later. Here is a post from 2011 that has a picture of my panel.

can an EasyTouch 8SC-IC40 run 5 valve actuators?

 

[Dan-H]

I'm not home right now, however it is warm enough for the solar to be on and it appears the pump speed increased when the solar kicked on. Screen Logic on my PC shows the "solar active" speed is enabled and the pump is at 2700 RPM vs the slow pool speed of 900 RPM.

Thanks for the suggestions. if more info is needed on how my ET8 is setup let me know and I can post more pics in the thread linked above.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

The pump speed should increase when solar is engaged. Vacuum relief valves need sufficient pressure to close, or they leak. 2700 might be a little high. I use 2500. It depends how high and how distant your panels are. But at 900, you'd get drip-drip-drip from the VR valves.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

OK, that makes much more sense to me.. When I program I use my PC, it is not at all like the app on the phone...

Thanks for the additional info..

Jim R.

 

[Dan-H]

Rocket, 2700 rpm is needed for my solar. Panels are on a second story. Lower speed I get air bubbles in from the vacuum relief valve.

Jim, thanks for you comments. I noticed there is an updated PC version of screen logic. I will look into updating it when I get a few mins.

 

[Dan-H]

@Rocket J Squirrel Thank you again two years later

My easytouch 8 lost its config again this winter and I thought I reset everything, yet for some reason, the solar speed was not kicking up when it went on.

The search worked and I found this post, but thought I'd thank you again.

Cheers

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

@Dan-H you better bookmark this thread for next time.