Hayward Owners - Reason NOT to upgrade Hayward Aqua Plus to OmniPL? Most owners satisfied with Hayward Omni PL?

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QPSUtah

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In The Industry
Sep 12, 2024
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Salt Lake City
Have a customer with a Hayward Aqua Plus panel that wants to add wifi. From my research, the Aqua Connect system is discontinued and no longer supported so probably not something I would recommend to him which leaves the OmniPL upgrade kit.

We just install and service way more Pentair sytems than Hayward so I have limited Hayward experience. Customer's pool consists of a white/single color light, pump (superflo VS), salt cell (Hayward Turbo) and heater (Raypak). Very simple.

To move to an intellicenter with load center is going to be a big jump in price, and I'm guessing not worth the extra cost.

I'd consider an intellicenter lite, and moving the breakers on his hayward panel to the electrical panel feeding it right next to it, but the way the electrical is routed (all the panels are inside his house), would not be a simple endeavor, so intellicenter lite doesn't really seem like a feasible option.

Are most of you Hayward owners pretty happy?

Thanks in advance for helpful replies.
 
OmniPL is a fine system. You will be challanged to learn about the "Configuration" process you have to do for the software setup. The hardware installation is very similar to Pentair systems.

@ChrisABS installs Hayward stuff and you two industry guys may want to connect.
 
QPSUtah said:
, pump (superflo VS),
Click to expand...

Pentair Superflo VS Pumps - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

In the SuperFlo VS product line, there is the SuperFlo VS pump manufactured before 11/20/2020, which does not have RS-485 communication ability, and the SuperFlo VST, SuperFlo VS, and Sta-Rite Supermax pumps manufactured after 11/20/2020 that have RS-485 communication ability.

You need to understand if the Superflo VS pump has RS-485 that any automation can control.

If the pump has RS-485 then firmware Revision 3.2 and the Pump Converter accessory board (HLPMPCONV) gives the ability to control Pentair Intelliflo VS pumps. The HLPMPCONV board connects to the Omni RS-485 bus with 4 wires and the IntelliFlo RS-485 data port with 2 yellow/green wires.

This Hayward Technical Update provides additional information on setting up the Omni Pump Converter board.

Hayward_HLPMPCONV_Pump_Converter_accessory_board.png
 
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I upgraded my AquaLogic to the Omni PL just a few months ago. It was an easy DIY project. Be sure to record all your settings from the original control system before disconnecting everything. The most frustrating thing was the wifi. On my wifi router, I had to reserve a specific address for the Omni PL and then enable a static rather than dynamic setting while in the network settings of Omni PL configuration, otherwise the signal would drop out. It took two days of troubleshooting to figure that out. The system itself works great so far. The phone app is fine. It allows setting schedules and % chlorination, turns on the lights and other features.
 
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desoto said:
I upgraded my AquaLogic to the Omni PL just a few months ago. It was an easy DIY project. Be sure to record all your settings from the original control system before disconnecting everything. The most frustrating thing was the wifi. On my wifi router, I had to reserve a specific address for the Omni PL and then enable a static rather than dynamic setting while in the network settings of Omni PL configuration, otherwise the signal would drop out. It took two days of troubleshooting to figure that out. The system itself works great so far. The phone app is fine. It allows setting schedules and % chlorination, turns on the lights and other features.
Click to expand...
Super helpful. Thank you!
 
ajw22 said:

Pentair Superflo VS Pumps - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

In the SuperFlo VS product line, there is the SuperFlo VS pump manufactured before 11/20/2020, which does not have RS-485 communication ability, and the SuperFlo VST, SuperFlo VS, and Sta-Rite Supermax pumps manufactured after 11/20/2020 that have RS-485 communication ability.

You need to understand if the Superflo VS pump has RS-485 that any automation can control.

If the pump has RS-485 then firmware Revision 3.2 and the Pump Converter accessory board (HLPMPCONV) gives the ability to control Pentair Intelliflo VS pumps. The HLPMPCONV board connects to the Omni RS-485 bus with 4 wires and the IntelliFlo RS-485 data port with 2 yellow/green wires.

This Hayward Technical Update provides additional information on setting up the Omni Pump Converter board.

Hayward_HLPMPCONV_Pump_Converter_accessory_board.png
Click to expand...
I just looked. It's a 2018 manufacture date. It's a "PMP Superflow VS 1.5", manufactured 6/25/2018.
 
ChrisABS said:
Message me if you need any help. Flow monitoring and freeze protect kind of mess with the system and scheduling. If the customer closes their pool I recommend disabling freeze protect.
Click to expand...
Okay. I just responded to AWJ22 regarding the pump converter board. If it's an older model (before 2020), and does not have the RS-485 connection, what is your recommendation?
 
QPSUtah said:
I just looked. It's a 2018 manufacture date. It's a "PMP Superflow VS 1.5", manufactured 6/25/2018.
Click to expand...
That pump VS speeds cannot be controlled by any automation - Hayward or Pentair.

Whatever way that pump is controlled and running with the AquaPlus is what the OmniPL would do.
 

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I was able to install and program my PL omni myself with NO experience in pool automation. this is the second year with no problems crossing my fingers
 
ajw22 said:
That pump VS speeds cannot be controlled by any automation - Hayward or Pentair.

Whatever way that pump is controlled and running with the AquaPlus is what the OmniPL would do.
Click to expand...

That is not totally correct.

Automation cannot control that pumps speeds through RS-485.

The pump does have Digital Input speed selection of four speeds that can use available relays on an automation system. If relays are available some speed control can be wired. For more read...

Pentair Superflo VS Pumps - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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