Hayward OmniLogic Install

[kernst]

I'm starting a thread to document the installation of a Hayward OmniLogic automation system. Hopefully someone will get some useful information out of this, as well as I'll get plenty of feedback on any issues or questions that arise. PLEASE, post any questions or suggestions you may have, as well as call out anything you see that I'm doing wrong. I'm a computer programmer by day, and a general trouble maker by night, so I'm in no way an expert on anything that may follow.

We moved into our current house almost one year ago to the day. The house has a gorgeous 44,000 gallon salt water pool/spa as well as an outdoor kitchen area, which are the main reasons we purchased the house. Aside from an Intermatic dial timer for the main pump, the pool controls are relatively manual. This manual nature of the setup as well as being first time in-ground pool owners makes it difficult for my wife and kids to remember how to turn features on and off, and is particularly difficult from them to switch over to spa mode. From the very beginning I have had my eye on a Hayward OmniLogic system, primarily because the majority of the existing equipment is Hayward. After moving expenses, and a nasty time cutting through the pool decking to repair not one but two almost severed plumbing leaks that were conveniently not disclosed by the sellers, my pool budget left me with the option of either a nice robotic pool cleaner or the OmniLogic system. I opted for the cleaner with the idea that it would save me more time over the summer, and it did. And now after saving my lunch money for the better part of the year it's time for the automation system so I can switch over to spa mode and kick on the heater before I get home, not WHEN I get home and after I've waited 20-30 minutes for it to heat up. Total mood killer. ;-)

Trying to keep the project budget as low as possible, and because I'm a gadget guy at heart, I decided to do the install myself. I have quite a bit of experience with construction projects, electrical work, computer programming, etc., so none of the install worries me, in fact I'm quite excited to do it. I ordered the OmniLogic base unit, two valve actuators, and a 100W transformer (I'll explain this in a bit) last week, and they all arrived this past Tuesday. Wednesday evening I installed some of the breakers and wired them up to the relays. I purchased new 240v double-pole breakers to replace the current functional, yet questionable, way the breakers are coupled in the current setup, obviously done to save space in the sub-panel vs installing a properly sized sub panel box. I'll be re-using what breakers I can as well as as much wire/conduit as I can, but I'm sure I will need some new wire and conduit due to the wire lengths and layout of the current setup.

The reason for the additional 100w transformer is so I can separate the pool lights from the spa lights. Currently they are both on the same switch. Both lights are color changing lights (change color with each flip of the switch), but have never been in sync. I'm not even sure what brand they are, or if they are the same brand. I'm pretty sure they are not Hayward ColorLogic lights. My initial guess is they are Pentair lights based on the design of the bezel around the lights, but until it warms up and I can get into the pool to get a closer look I'm just going to use them in standalone mode.

I have already pulled two cat5e cables to the location of the new unit, one for network and the other for a future wired remote near the back door. Assuming weather holds out I will be installing the new system tomorrow (Saturday). I have secured the assistance from a couple friends to help hold the unit on the wall while I mount it, and for general accompaniment and BS'ing while I pull and attach wires to various terminals. I will update this thread with pictures and info as I progress. Thanks for reading.

 

[kernst]

For reference, here are pictures of the pool and equipment prior to the OmniLogic install.

Pool

All the things

Controls to be replaced by OmniLogic

 

[kernst]

Pool be automated. It took the majority of the day Saturday, and a few hours Sunday to finish the install. Mostly because we did our fair share of screwing around during the day and I stopped early Saturday so my wife and I could go out that evening. All total I’d guess that it was roughly a 6 to 8 hour job. It was a relatively straight forward install, no real hiccups to speak of. I made sure to take pics of wiring for reference before removing the old controls, but everything was pretty simple to hook up to the new OmniLogic unit.

I’m very pleased with the final result. After completing the configuration wizard, everything work as I expected. Hayward did a great job with the configuration wizard, making the system easy to get up and running. There were a few options I had to reference in the manual because I wasn’t sure what they were, but for the most part each question of the wizard was easy to understand.

Once I got a couple themes set up, and added what I think will be the most used options as favorites, the system is working great. Without using themes and favorites, some of the options are buried a few menus deep and kind of hard to get to if you’re not a daily user. I needed the system to be as easy as possible for my wife and kids, and once I got things on the favorites menu then everything fell into place for them. It’s now as simple as clicking favorites and then “Hot Tub”. That’s it, everyone is happy, including me.


So far I’ve ran into just a few minor issues. I’ll list them here and would welcome any feedback from readers.

1) Spillover. My spa overflows into the pool and I have the spillover feature configured. All is working as it should there until I turn off the spillover. That action not only throws the valve actuator back to a pool-only configuration, but it also turns off the filter pump. I’m not sure why it would turn the pump off. I primarily run with spillover turned on, and have the schedules set up that way, so it’s rare that I would run in pool mode without spillover, but it’s still an odd quirk of the system.

2) Daylight Saving Time. I installed and ran the config wizard on Saturday. Sunday morning the time changed. There are no options in the OmniLogic to automatically adjust for DST. That seemed odd to me that as powerful as the system is, it can’t auto adjust for DST twice a year. No option for the system to sync time with an internet time server either. Toasters and microwaves can do that these days. ;-)

3) Remote configuration. Any config changes I make must be done at the OmniLogic unit itself. Other than schedule changes, I can’t update the configuration via the iOS app or the website interface. Maybe this is for security reasons, but it sure would be nice when first setting this up to be able to remotely update the config. Then again, theoretically I should only need to update the configuration once.

4) Website. I do not have a Sense and Dispense module installed. I’d be nice to turn off the display of non-functional “Pool Water Quality” items on the website home page, as they take up a lot of space on the page.

5) Feature vs Accessory. I’m not sure I understand the difference here. I have waterfalls on the back side of the pool, controlled by their own pump on a high-voltage relay. That is a feature of the Pool body of water. The spa has a blower, again controlled via a high voltage relay, and that is an accessory of the Spa body of water. Why the difference in category? Thankfully I can add them both to the favorites menu, making their icons easy to find, but that would be very confusing for non-daily users of the system to find those options if they were not familiar with the configuration.

6) Alerts. I get an email when the system generates an alert. So far I’ve received numerous alerts for low salt. I haven’t had a chance to research this, but I suspect I get an alert for this each time I rebooted the system while making changes to the configuration. Or am I getting an alert each time the chlorinator is turned on? I currently have it off as the pool temp is too cold to generate chlorine anyway, but I have turned the chlorinator on and off a few times to verify that it’s working. Also this morning I received 2 alerts for chlorinator cell temperature too low. Why did I receive 2 alerts? One from the pool and one from the spa (shared equipment)? And why did I get a report at 5:30am when the system was not running? I verified and Chlorinator function is currently off and the filter pump does not run at night. Water temp was reported at 53 degrees, so it was not in freeze protection mode. And finally I noticed that the Low Salt alert is red, whereas the low cell temp is yellow. I assume that’s more of an alert vs a warning. It would be nice to be able to filter info/warning messages from being sent as an email, and have only major errors/issues going to email.



That’s really all I can think of this morning. Again, just minor gripes here, nothing major and nothing that would make me question buying and installing the OmniLogic. So far I’m very impressed. Attaches are a few pics during the install and the final product. Nothing really that impressive to see, in fact most people that stopped by to see it after I installed were completely underwhelmed. As a computer guy myself I understand what a “big deal” the system really is, but most people are just, “Yeah, that’s cute, you got any more beer in the fridge?” ;-)

 

[kernst]

I have no intention of ever automating the dispensing of acid into the pool to control pH. It's fairly easy to pour in, ever so carefully, muriatic acid once a week as part of my regular pool maintenance schedule. However, i have the opportunity to buy a slightly used Sense and Dispense unit at a decent price. I'm interested only for the pH readings. Can a sense and dispense until be installed on an OmniLogic only to take readings and never dispense chemicals or control the chlorination? I'd want the S&D in a strictly read-only mode if possible.

Along those lines, does Hayward have an pH only option for the OmniLogic? I've never read anything good about using ORP to control chlorination, so I have no intention of using that meter for anything other than some fun data to log.

 

[Jimrahbe]

kernst,

Thanks for documenting your installation. Looks like you did a pretty good job to me.

As a Pentair EasyTouch guy, what I found most interesting was the configuration Wizard. Pentair has nothing to help with installation. In fact, you have to be a Wizard just to read one of their manuals..

Jim R.

 

[kernst]

Funny enough, a neighbor behind me had a new Pentair system wired up early last week. Not sure which model, it might be an EasyTouch system as well... maybe. We had both been talking about automation for a few weeks now and I offered to install an OmniLogic for him as well, but the majority of his equipment is Pentair, so it didn't make sense to install a Hayward system for him. The rep came out to program it Saturday and was there half the day programming and explaining the system to my neighbor. I overheard a lot of it while I was out back doing my install. They ran into some issues, wifi connectivity issues I believe it was, and the rep has to come back sometime this week to complete the programming. Jokingly I mentioned, part of the aforementioned screwing around we did most of the day Saturday, how easy it was to program my OmniLogic system, and how much money I saved installing it myself. The installer guy was not amused.

 

[DukeBray]

I just had a new salt water pool built and opened on Memorial Day this year. It is automated with OmniLogic with Sense and Dispense and Muriatic dispenser. Other than having to change the Turbo Cell it has worked great over the last two months. Thought since this thread was talking about installation that you might have some insight on the addition of low voltage lights. Just yesterday the contractor that put in the pool and OmniLogic connected my low voltage light transformer to a relay in the OmniLogic. What he didn't do was program it (at least not so that I can turn them on). After reading the installation and operation manual I can not surmise exactly how they should be programmed into the system. The lights are around the outside of the pool and light my grill run. I note that there is Accessory, etc. Also, a way to program in other Color Logic lights (UCL, etc.). Any thoughts or experience for this new pool owner?

 

[Davidpsalt]

Kernst - are you available to discuss some questions I have around the installation of my Omnilogic? I am upgrading from my ProLogic as I am tired of the board issues that continue to plague my salt readings - replaced 3 boards over 8 years. My questions are around the electrical (not my strong suit). The easy part was wiring up my Ecostar - it gets its power directly from the 220 Breaker and is controlled via the low voltage comm. My heater is currently out of play since I removed it due to it being rusted out. My landscape lighting appears to connect directly to one of the HVR's - the two terminals on the left side of the HVR. I now have to connect my Polaris pool cleaner pump - I believe I connect one red wire from the breaker to the relay - then the relay to the pump, then the pump to the common bonding strip. Green to ground. Does this sound right? If so, then I have to figure out the best way to use the GFIC on the underwater pool lights - my previous Prologic install ulilized a GFIC outlet in the side of the panel for the fault protection of the pool lights. Not sure how to wire this on the new Omni Logic - or should I just buy a new 20amp GFIC circuit breaker? Would love to chat by phone if you are able! Thanks - Dave

 

[brk]

Install looks pretty good. We also have an OmniLogic (installed by pool builder). So far, I have been very underwhelmed with it. No digital control of the 4 Hayward LED lights attached, it has to clunk a relay on and off to cycle through the options. It's handling of DST is a massive design oversight, IMO. The handling of scenes is also less than ideal, as you noted where it turned your pump off.

I've decompiled the firmware for mine, and have been reverse engineering some of the communications protocol. My plan right now is to move all the "automation" stuff to a system of my own design and just use the OmniLogic as a basic controller. Less than ideal, especially for the price, but at least then it will hopefully do what I want.