Recent content by sbcpool

I know how it goes. I worked at a company that offshored a piece of hardware that was the source of constant support trouble because it would regularly fail. When I inquired why we didn't switch suppliers I was told by management it was because this supplier was $5 cheaper than others. When I...

In my case it was about 3.2 ± 70%. I wasn't so put off by the initial lack of output. Even the best products have a problem here and there. What put me off was how I was treated when I reported the issue. When I first reported it the agent was snide and dismissive, asking me things like "how...

I had the RJ-60 PLUS model advertised as producing 3.2 lbs per day, but my unit struggled to produce 1 lb. per day. My IC60 easily outpaces it by a factor of 2, and they were similarly priced. I also had other problems with the unit. The collars that came with the unit would not thread on the...

Some people here, myself included, have reported trouble with the CircuPool units not producing nearly as much chlorine as advertised. For quite a while I chalked it up to something about my pool, but then I got a Pentair IC60 and it does produce as advertised. That's just my experience. There...

A Pentair IC60 cell can easily be had for $1,350. Over its 10,000-hour rated life it should generate the equivalent of about 1,000 gallons of 10% chlorine. At the current chlorine prices everything it makes after the first 1,500 hours is free chlorine. $1.35 a gallon equivalent prorated cost...

Reasonable is relative. If I still had to use LC I would be spending about $170 per month on LC during the warm season, which runs about May - November here. That's enough to lease an inexpensive car. Even at $2,000 an SWG pays for itself in a little over a year. Everything after that is "free,"...

Thanks to everyone. From all the threads I read I gathered that it had to be connected to a commercial automation system. I didn't see any threads about connecting directly to a pump and SWG. Has anyone done it that way?

I just don't like how badly the clock in the IntelliFlo drifts. It's surprisingly bad even when compared with the mechanical Intermatic. Within a couple of weeks it's off by more than a minute. That's 50-cent Alibaba clock level of accuracy. I have $20 digital watches that drift by less than 10...

OK. I think I was just confused after reading the excellent write-up about using it with existing Pentair automation. I'm not clear about connecting it directly to individual pieces of equipment. Do you need a USB-RS485 converter for each piece of equipment or is it more flexible in that all the...

I don't want to generate chlorine every time the pump runs because: 1. Spa mode 2. My chlorine demand is stable and addressed by a fixed schedule. I often run the pump at other times while cleaning, for extra skimming on windy days, swim parties, etc. As for the DIY controllers: I am not...

Thank you for the references. It occurs to me that I won't be happy with a relay since it will activate the SWG any time the pump is running rather than sticking to a fixed schedule. I really need some timer that controls both pump and SWG so they can never get out of sync or have issues after a...

My flow switch is triggered even at 1000 RPM, so I don't have to go through that exercise of having different speeds. My only concern with long pump run times is exorbitant electricity prices in the afternoon, which can run $0.65/kWh. Small changes add up. Even an extra 30 minutes of pump run...

I can't control the run times very accurately since I have no automation. The only thing controlling the SWG is an old Intermatic mechanical timer. The best I can get is about ±15 minutes. That's how I've been doing it currently. I was hoping to make it a little less of a pain that setting the...

It seems like all I would have to do to interact with the IntelliChlor is attach a serial cable and issue 0x0F02500000620F03 to query the status. If I get a 0x0F0200010000130F03 back I know I'm cooking with fire. Then to set the output to 55% (for example) I send 0x0F02501137AA0F03 and look for...

I will have a heater eventually, but it's a promising option. I sure hate all the wires and boxes on the wall of my house next to the pad. The sun is going to destroy them in short order. Not to mention it just looks tacky. As far as "talking" to the IntelliChlor via serial, are the settings...