Hi all. First thanks to all those who post here and help with various pool questions. This forum is a great resource.
After troubleshooting my aging Hayward SWG (with the infamous corroding display board connectors) and failing salt cell (after-market inherited from prior home owner), I decided to just replace both. After some consideration of what I consider a flawed design by Hayward (the way they chose to connect the two PCBs with header pins instead of wire connectors, and poor seal around the box enclosure inviting in moisture) in combination with their generally much higher prices, I decided to give another brand a try.
Sharing my experience as many others search for replacement options.
I went with "CircuPool RJ-45 PLUS Salt Chlorine Generator". Plumbing is same as Hayward, so it's just a drop in replacement aside from mounting it and hooking up the electrical. From a design standpoint I liked these advantages over my old Hayward:
1 - The metal back of the SWG chassis acts as a heatsink. This seems smart for longevity of the internal electronics.
2 - You do not open the enclosure to make the electrical connection. It comes with a whip dangling out instead. Should allow for better sealing. Again, hoping for longevity.
3 - The salt cell connector had a better seal than the Hayward. (But not same - so generic Hayward replacement cells won't be an easy option, but this brand is reasonably proced so I'm with that.)
So to install just needed about $10 of parts from Home Depot. A single gang plastic electrical box to enclose the connections, and a "cable gland" connector to ensure a watertight seal for the whip from the SWG.
Can only speak to one season so far, but currently running great at 40% duty cycle for my pool (about 28k gallons). So I suppose at the moment that's a recommendation for the product (I ordered from discountsaltpool.com - they have a funny promotion where you pick the model one smaller than you need and for $10 upgrade up to the next one. Was about $1200).
If you're considering doing same, I'd say definitely go for it.
After troubleshooting my aging Hayward SWG (with the infamous corroding display board connectors) and failing salt cell (after-market inherited from prior home owner), I decided to just replace both. After some consideration of what I consider a flawed design by Hayward (the way they chose to connect the two PCBs with header pins instead of wire connectors, and poor seal around the box enclosure inviting in moisture) in combination with their generally much higher prices, I decided to give another brand a try.
Sharing my experience as many others search for replacement options.
I went with "CircuPool RJ-45 PLUS Salt Chlorine Generator". Plumbing is same as Hayward, so it's just a drop in replacement aside from mounting it and hooking up the electrical. From a design standpoint I liked these advantages over my old Hayward:
1 - The metal back of the SWG chassis acts as a heatsink. This seems smart for longevity of the internal electronics.
2 - You do not open the enclosure to make the electrical connection. It comes with a whip dangling out instead. Should allow for better sealing. Again, hoping for longevity.
3 - The salt cell connector had a better seal than the Hayward. (But not same - so generic Hayward replacement cells won't be an easy option, but this brand is reasonably proced so I'm with that.)
So to install just needed about $10 of parts from Home Depot. A single gang plastic electrical box to enclose the connections, and a "cable gland" connector to ensure a watertight seal for the whip from the SWG.
Can only speak to one season so far, but currently running great at 40% duty cycle for my pool (about 28k gallons). So I suppose at the moment that's a recommendation for the product (I ordered from discountsaltpool.com - they have a funny promotion where you pick the model one smaller than you need and for $10 upgrade up to the next one. Was about $1200).
If you're considering doing same, I'd say definitely go for it.
