Discount Salt Pool Sales

Good chance they will have another one soon I don’t want you to miss a deal but i do know they do it lot
I bought mine in Jan 2020 for a similar deal, the edge 40 cost more now but same upgrade special.

That being said I think they are a good outfit.

During July 4th the sale was a $4 upgrade. Then in mid-June for Flag Day I think it was a $10 upgrade.
So yes - they do run sales depending on the holiday.

I've only seen the $10 one

They are continuously running sales. Like almost 100% of the time. They are also the "manufacturer" (actually importer) of these units, and sell for less on the DSP site that as the "manufacturer" (they are both located at the same Houston address). Prices have gone up a lot since I bought mine... it's been a good unit.. but I may end up seeing if they honor their cell warranty soon..

You may or may not want to wait until the end of the season. Usually that is good but who knows with this crazy stagflation we now have? Japanese proverb states: "Best time to buy a salt generator was two years ago, second best time is now".. (ok it's really was about planting trees and 20 years ago, but...) I think maybe you would save $20 max by timing the sales correctly. It may or may not be worth it to you.

Buy the bypass and cleaning kit with the cell. The rest get at Lowes/HD/Menards/Ace.

SWCGs are great if you can't always do maintenance 7 days a week. They are well worth it even when you have issues... Even if I can only get 1/2 of the claimed life of the cell, making it more expensive than liquid chlorine, it's well worth the convenience.

Watch for them to get their next shipment from Ningbo, China.

They will probably be eager to deal with a bunch of new inventory.

Your $1150 SWCG would be $5K if it were built in the US unfortunately. (or $1900 if labelled Hayward in the case of the Universal 40). Rumor is that DSP does stand by the product, and all of them are made in a factory in China somewhere, just like everything else.

I suspect that I'll find out how good their warranty is... we will see after this weekend when I have time to "try everything else"... But I suspect my cell is failing after 2.25-2.5 years.... If I can make it limp along until next spring and 3ish, that wouldn't even bother me then...

The reason I picked the Universal 40 over the RJ or SJ is that it's likely that you can find an different brand of aftermarket cell for it if needed...I suspect that there is a Hayward cell type in the menu hidden somewhere on the control unit. It's harder to find similar units to the RJ and SJs elsewhere. The metal box and calculated salinity readout has been very useful. I really probably wouldn't buy one that didn't have some sort of salinity readout, either inferred (like on this and the Hayward unit) or actual measured like the RJs...I have found it really quite useful.

I've dug into it enough to see that the Hayward remote control stuff is just not populated on the PC board (but it shows on the software) on the unit but it might still communicate if you were to add those parts.....I had no need but it's basically the same control boards, with different orientation on their layouts, and the Circupool cell is different area than the Hayward.. I guess to be "different". This same unit is sold elsewhere as well as a house brand. Software/firmware apparently varies in these units. But they are honestly internally are built like a tank...at least on the control side...

If someone did find out how to set it for a standard Hayward cell type, then replacement cells are available everywhere for the Hayward as aftermarket. There are more cell type options than available cells from Circupool, so I suspect that it might be possible to use a Hayward cell.. maybe...... but don't quote me....

These are the same reasons I also went with the Universal 40. Also, there is a place that will rebuild the controller boards inexpensively.

poolurker5 said:

These are the same reasons I also went with the Universal 40. Also, there is a place that will rebuild the controller boards inexpensively.

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Could you send me a private message with that information? The power supply board (and not the control) could be fixed probably with hobbyist electronics skill. The other board... probably it could too as long as the display and microcontroller are still good. It's pretty old school technology. Like I said on the other thread, it wouldn't be too difficult to come up with an open source control for all of these things. It's not that much different than the electroplating and hydrogen generating experiments I did as a kid, honestly, though I didn't have the exotic metal plates that these things use...

I'm a EE, Ham and test engineer so I did a lot of analysis on these things before I bought. The newer units like the Circupool Edge look like they have switching power supplies, but they would be harder to fix because of that, but are probably more appropriate technology in 2022...

Rattus Suffocatus said:

Could you send me a private message with that information? The power supply board (and not the control) could be fixed probably with hobbyist electronics skill. The other board... probably it could too as long as the display and microcontroller are still good. It's pretty old school technology. Like I said on the other thread, it wouldn't be too difficult to come up with an open source control for all of these things. It's not that much different than the electroplating and hydrogen generating experiments I did as a kid, honestly, though I didn't have the exotic metal plates that these things use...

I'm a EE, Ham and test engineer so I did a lot of analysis on these things before I bought. The newer units like the Circupool Edge look like they have switching power supplies, but they would be harder to fix because of that, but are probably more appropriate technology in 2022...

Click to expand...

Good to know, my smart plug measures watts and mine changes with the percentage of chlorine. Low is around 50 watts and high is close to 200 but the unit stays cool.

I hope it last a long time, if not I will ship it to you to fix

Can you measure the voltage going to the cell to see if it changes based on output settings?

JamesW said:

Can you measure the voltage going to the cell to see if it changes based on output settings?

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Not without cutting into a sealed cable. I would be curious also since the input amps change.

There's no place to access wires inside the unit?

Maybe at the transformer output?

Maybe they only power one side of the cell at 50% power?

The only way to change the amperage is to change the voltage or to change how many plates get power.

Does the unit not report amps or volts?

JamesW said:

There's no place to access wires inside the unit?

Maybe at the transformer output?

Maybe they only power one side of the cell at 50% power?

The only way to change the amperage is to change the voltage or to change how many plates get power.

Does the unit not report amps or volts?

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It’s a sealed unit, I imagine I could get into it but it has no fan and auto sensing voltage so no need to.
It doesn’t really say much on the front but it’s working and what power level I use.

markayash said:

Good to know, my smart plug measures watts and mine changes with the percentage of chlorine. Low is around 50 watts and high is close to 200 but the unit stays cool.

I hope it last a long time, if not I will ship it to you to fix

Click to expand...

Definitely a variable output supply, likely a switching supply. These are inherently more efficient, but for this application, "not by much". The older design units are on 100% for the percentage of time it's set and off completely (other than idle power/current) the rest. Interesting. Fixing switchers? Maybe... Depends.... I can always fix a linear supply as long as the AC transformer is good, which is a beast on the Universal 40.) I would say mine runs a little hot, but that's hard to tell right now at 106F+ ambient... There is a fan that turns on in the unit when it's generating. The close to 200W is confirmed for a unit our size, on both units... Water temp is nearly 90F now. Bath water. No heater in my pool.

JamesW said:

There's no place to access wires inside the unit?

Maybe at the transformer output?

Maybe they only power one side of the cell at 50% power?

The only way to change the amperage is to change the voltage or to change how many plates get power.

Does the unit not report amps or volts?

Click to expand...

The cells see (rectified and probably filtered) DC so no sort of clamp meter can be used accurately or at all. The amperage is going to change due to the variable nature of the power supply on those units. If its a switcher, then it's Pulse Width Modulated likely, with something like a big inductor or capacitor to fill in. With something like an oscilloscope you could probably see that if you can get on one of the plates of the cell or a wire running up to it. But honestly, for most of us, rigging up the cell or control unit isn't worth it, especially when it's still in warranty.

The tip off of it being a switching regulator is the much smaller AC transformer (switching at a MUCH higher frequency makes it not need the iron or heavy windings). The one in the Universal is like 15-20 lbs....

At 1/8th I noticed it was jumping around between 30 and 60 and crazy stuff. Maybe the only way to make it work that low?

The switching control might only work down to a certain level and below that they go and switch it on and off like the older linear DC supply units... Most switching supplies do have a minimum draw requirement to maintain voltage regulation, so that is not surprising, though the voltage regulation on something like this doesn't have to be very good....