RJ-30 duty cycle

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Fuldo

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Nov 23, 2017
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Port Orange, FL
My RJ-30 system installed six days ago has been running well, even with it calculating the water temperature as low as 57 degrees. The water temperature has continued to slowly drop. I've been trying to monitor the system to see if/when it stops generating due to its low temperature threshold. I found this isn't easy to do because the generator light is off most of the time because the output is set a 30%. I don't think there's a "low temperature" indicator on this device so I suspect it simply stops generating when its low temperature limit is reached.

Is it true this device doesn't indicate when it's unable to run due to low temperature? If so how does one know? This device seems to either be on or off and controls output by controlling duty cycle with very long on/off cycle times. Does anyone know what the duty cycle algorithm is? Also, does this device have a "life clock" that keeps track of overall "powered cell" time?
 
Thanks Locky, that was just the information I was looking for. My software level is R6.10 so it appears I should have the 200 minute operating cycle. It sounds like the cycle starts with the cell at full power for the number of minutes that would correspond to the output setting. My latest setting is 20% output with a four hour (240 minute) pump time. Based on what I've just read this would equate to 40 minutes of cell operation during the first cycle and another 40 minutes of cell operation during the beginning of the next cycle before the pump stops and disables SWG operation. This actually equates to 80 minutes of 240 minutes or 33% average output over the four hour period, much higher than the 20% setting. This of course assumes that each time the pump starts and the SWG is powered the cycle always starts from the beginning and doesn't continue where it left off. Maybe I'll contact Circupool to confirm that. It appears that the shorter the SWG on-time and less accurate the average output will be and it will always be higher than expected with short run times.

My water temp finally dropped to a point where the system won't run. The water measures 57 degrees on a thermometer and the SWG controller thinks the temperature is a few degrees less. It turns'out the generator LED flashes when the water temp is too cold or too warm (I missed that in the manual). Stepping through the menu will also display a low temperature code such as "Temp 10No" or "Temp peNo" although it's not clear exactly what those messages mean. It's also not clear how low temperature would affect the 200 minute cycle,
 
I wanted to provide an update on this in case anybody else is wondering. I just got off of the phone with the manufacturer of my SJ-40 because after the cell was producing at 50% for 2 hours it has yet to stop and cycle. They informed me that the cycle time of these is 6 hours, not the 200 minutes that I have been seeing here. So basically it will run for 3 hours and stop for 3 hours at a 50% setting.

Again, I came across this in my research and am only hoping to help anyone that may have questions as well. I have my timer set for 9 hours so on/off every 3 hours will give me 6 hours of production time. I have no clue how much chlorine this will produce though.
 
Without your pool volume I cannot tell you how much FC it will add. Can you fill out your signature?
 
Great information on the SJ , thanks for sharing! Evidently the SJs have a much longer cycle time than the RJs. They also limit the user to 25% increments instead of the 5% increments of the RJs. This severely impacts the ability to control output when chlorine demand is very low such as in the winter in warm climates. On top of that the SJs require a higher salt level. All good reasons to spend a little more on an RJ over the SJ if one is planning to buy a Circupool generator.
 
Small update to this.....after 3 hours running at 50% it did not turn off. I called back and spoke to someone else. They informed me that the polarity reverses after 6 hours. The 25% increments do not run on a cycle and different amounts of chlorine are generated based on the percentage. I have never heard of a cell that works this way so I tested. I ran 1 day for 10 hours at 50% (no bather load) and 1 day for 10 hours at 100% (no bather load). The amount of chlorine in my pool after running at 100% was actually almost double that of the 50% run. For reference, my pool is about 10K gallons and 50% for 10 hours was producing about 6ppm.

I hope this helps some people who had questions on this.
 
Thanks for the update. From your description and my reading of the owners manual found on-line it appears that the SJ series may run 100% of the time and controls output with variable plate voltage instead of on/off cycling. The manual does mention the polarity changing every 6 hours; it sounds like it runs the entire time power is applied, sets plate voltage based on the output setting and changes the polarity every six hours. Very different from the RJ, who would have guessed?
 
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