New Solar-Breeze questions

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I finally received my Solar Breeze last week and used it over the weekend. We had plenty of sun to give it a good charge and it worked well picking up bugs and light debris on the water's surface. Unfortunately it did get caught up in the skimmer openings so I ordered a couple of covers to try out.

Doesn't look so great but much cheaper: Amazon.com : Hydro Tools 8959 Pool Skimmer Screen : Swimming Pool Skimmers : Patio, Lawn Garden

Looks better but more expensive: Amazon.com : Skimmer Grill for In-Ground Widemouth Gunite with openings of 18 1/4 Garden

It also gets stuck if we have the ledge loungers and drink table on the tanning ledge. It tries to back itself out but I guess there's not enough room to maneuver out of the tanning ledge area with the furniture in place. We've also noticed it works best when the pump is on the lower speeds. If I turn up the pump then the Solar Breeze struggles to swim against the pool's water circulation. Overall we're happy with the cleaner and it's a great supplement to the pool skimmers.
 
To correct the "stuck in the skimmer problem" in my pool I ordered two suction cups and strung clear fishing line between the cups. What you see is a horizontal line across the skimmer. The solar breeze bounces into the line and either moves left or right or reverses in 4 mins. It works and does not inhibit the skimmers from doing their job.
Solar Breeze is ok, it does not get those leaves against the tile so manual skimming is still necessary but overall the unit is ok.
 
ap3004 said:
Solar Breeze is ok, it does not get those leaves against the tile so manual skimming is still necessary but overall the unit is ok.
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It's saved me a lot of time. I'm not lazy and still manually skim the surface after a wind event if people are coming over, but when the afternoon breezes ease during the night and the solar breeze continues to skim the surface well into the evening, I wake up to a clean pool most mornings where as before , pool skimming was a daily morning chore for me. The only thing that would make it better is some kind of wireless remotely controlled navigational control :D for the time I just sitting around the patio and wanting to turn it towards particular debris immediately or just getting it off someplace where its temporarily hung up around our pool (waterfall rock area).
 
textommyboy said:
How long of run times do you'll get with the Solar-Breeze? It looks like we're getting a little bit more than 12 hours of run time with our Solar-Breeze starting at about 7:30 in the morning and ending around 8 to 8:30 at night. This is based on a full day of sun.
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What I've been doing most mornings is to get the unit out of the pool , turning it off and cleaning the debris tray out then I let it sit on end in direct sunlight on the patio til about 9:30 or so. Then I put it back into the pool and its good to go until it dies. I'm usually in bed before it stops so I dont know exactly when it quits, but one morning I woke up about 1 AM, went to get a glass of water and peeked out back and it was still running (had full sun all day). I really dont know if letting it start its charge at sunrise on the patio helps or not, but if it stays in the pool in the "hunt for sun" mode, it generally starts to fully run around 9 I think. I'm not sure how long it would take to get the batteries at a full charge if left out in off mode in the sun, but when I first got it , I had it out from sunrise until about 11:30am and the charge light was still blinking.
 
gvc said:
What I've been doing most mornings is to get the unit out of the pool , turning it off and cleaning the debris tray out then I let it sit on end in direct sunlight on the patio til about 9:30 or so. Then I put it back into the pool and its good to go until it dies. I'm usually in bed before it stops so I dont know exactly when it quits, but one morning I woke up about 1 AM, went to get a glass of water and peeked out back and it was still running (had full sun all day). I really dont know if letting it start its charge at sunrise on the patio helps or not, but if it stays in the pool in the "hunt for sun" mode, it generally starts to fully run around 9 I think. I'm not sure how long it would take to get the batteries at a full charge if left out in off mode in the sun, but when I first got it , I had it out from sunrise until about 11:30am and the charge light was still blinking.
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Thanks gvc for your response and experience with your Solar-Breeze. I'll have to monitor it next time we use it. I'll probably let it charge throughout the day while turned off and throw it in at night and see how long it runs.
 
Cross-posted from another thread about this device:

Mine was delivered earlier this week. I have a 16x32 kidney-shaped pool. It has been working well for me so far, though it spends an inordinate amount of time in the shallow end because of my drop-in stairs where it can get into a "back and forth" loop from time to time. Eventually it drifts out of that, though. The ladder, returns and skimmer are not causing any problems.

A stiff breeze will keep it at one end of the pool most of the time as well, but then most of the debris will also be driven in that direction, so not a real problem.

The only real drawbacks due to the solar-power design are rain, heavy cloud cover or shade -- but that's obvious, eh?

I like that I can leave it in when I do use my Navigator and not completely forego skimming. I occasionally can get interfered with by the Navigator hose (especially nearest the skimmer where the hose hooks up), but most of the time it just floats right over it.

The way the sun comes up over our house, the Solar-Breeze usually starts up between 9:30am and 10am, and runs until shortly after 8ish in the evening. I expect these times will change over the course of the season somewhat, but we usually close in late September anyway.
 
Thinking about buying one of these. I have 4 oaks shading 50% of the pool. The other half gets about 4 hrs. from 11 to 3. I pull out about 10 gallons of oak tassels a week at peak season (this week).

1. How many breeze dumps would that be?
2. How many hours does it run if charged in the sun on the patio, then started in pool?
3. How easy is it too put in and out? (Weight).

I have an Aquabot 4wd and poolskim, which do a pretty good job, but the solar breeze sounds promising if shade isn't an issue.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
tcat said:
Thinking about buying one of these. I have 4 oaks shading 50% of the pool. The other half gets about 4 hrs. from 11 to 3. I pull out about 10 gallons of oak tassels a week at peak season (this week).

1. How many breeze dumps would that be? A lot! :)
2. How many hours does it run if charged in the sun on the patio, then started in pool? Mine usually runs about 12 hours a day during the winter.
3. How easy is it too put in and out? (Weight). About 8-10 lbs.

I have an Aquabot 4wd and poolskim, which do a pretty good job, but the solar breeze sounds promising if shade isn't an issue.
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I have a similar problem, oak trees, 50% shade until noonish. But I can guarantee you it won't pickup 10 gallons of oak debris per week. Inevitably a lot will sink and will still need to removed via a good old fashioned net for a few months during the fall. But before and after the peak leaf drop period, both Solar breeze and my Polaris robot can keep up with the load most of the time. And the robot's remote allows me get those stragglers that get missed. Picture below is a days work back in October, more like a quart of leaves, if that. No regrets for me, yet (9 months). Anything that saves me work is time I can spend doing something else.

IMG_1223.jpg
 

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tcat:

It would probably be best to call customer service at the manufacturer to double check some of this. They were really helpful to me when I first got the Breeze.

I would think that 10 gallons would be about 10 Breeze dumps. The Breeze will stop running if it is overfull if the turbines get caught up with stuff. Mine stops when long pine branches get picked up for example, but it will often keep running noisily for a while even then. It doesn't seem to get harmed by any of this. The good news is that, if you are away and your leaves are dropping, you don't have to worry about the Breeze--it will just stop when it's had enough! In the winter, I have days I could probably empty it 2x per day but I'm not always up to getting drenched to do that. It does just fine not running ALL the time.

The best part is that the Breeze not only picks up large debris but small pollen as well. I was not expecting this. Normally at this time of year, I have a heavy yellow pollen scum accumulate on the downwind side of my pool and along the tile line. No more!

I think it runs about 2-3x the amount of sun it gets exposed to. I never take mine out to charge in the sun. (I only took it out one time when we had a hard frost for a few days and plopped it down inside my garage for safety.) It runs even in rainstorms in the middle of the California winters. It ran like a champ this winter and I have the cleanest pool around to show for it! We had torrential rain and wind most of the winter here this year, so that's a pretty good test. The run time is also affected by the time of year. In the summer, the sun angle is not as low and so the solar energy produced by the PV cells is much greater. In the winter, the angle is more oblique and the energy is weaker. My pool is half in the shade for half of the day. The Breeze runs in the summer from sunup until after midnight. In the winter, it runs from around 11AM-4, but it depends on weather.

It is incredibly easy to pull in and out. I think it weighs a couple of pounds. It obviously weighs a bit more loaded with wet debris. I just let it come over to the side, reach down and turn off the switch and pull it out with the front slightly tipped up. I slide the tray out over a receptacle of some sort and just kind of swipe at it with my fingers. I don't make it super clean--just empty. It runs fine after I slide the tray back in, float it back in the pool, slide the switch to on, and let it go! This week, I even emptied it myself on one of my first ventures out into the yard after significant knee surgery. I didn't even have to kneel down to empty it.
 
Thanks guys, you convinced me! My pollen is greenish yellow and turns my DE filters green. If this thing can skim that off​ before it gets to the filters it will be worth it. When my solar cover is on, I don't mind scooping off what's on top (a wide leaf net with flat edge on front works well). Decided to leave cover off for rest of season, so will be ordering one of these today. Looks to be cheapest from the manufacturer.

Edit, from SB:
"The answer to your question partly depends on where you are located.* The operating time will be longer the further south you are, even with a shaded pool.

The Solar-Breeze NX does not require direct sunlight to operate.* The unit will run and the battery will charge with indirect sunlight.

The unit has a Hunt-For-Sun feature that kicks in when the battery is below normal operating level:
- *It will run for 2 minutes looking for a sunny spot in the pool
- *When it finds the sunny spot it will stop and charge to normal operating levels, and then take off again.
- *If it does not find a sunny spot, it will rest for 8 minutes and then Hunt-for-Sun again.

My expectation is that you would get 12 to 15 hours of operation in the pool you describe, however, it is hard to know for certain.* My recommendation would be to try it and, if it doesn't work to your satisfaction, take advantage of our 30-Day Money Back guarantee.

A new battery costs $55.00"

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I have the solar breeze nx, I would rate it fair. I live in Austin Texas, lots of sun, but it does not run 12-15 hours even with direct sun. It does a fair job of picking up stuff, better than nothing but not perfect. I still have to skim manually along the tile line, the solar breeze does not get debris off the tile line.
This unit does not run in overcast weather because the sun is blocked and that is a problem because it is during inclement weather that trees usually dump a load into your pool. An engineering plus would have been the capability of charging the batteries via a corded plug for those times when clouds are forecast.
You have to have almost perfect pool conditions for this thing to run flawlessly, water level just right or its wheels will not adequately move the robot along your tile line. Too much suction from your skimmers and the poor thing gets caught inside and does not have enough power to back out (both of these issues I was able to correct somewhat).
There is another solar robot out there called the skim devil (way more expensive by about 200). Its sensor program is said to be more advanced than the solar breeze allowing it to move away from obstacles and it advertises a smarter program to advance and clean your pool. It has solar charging and plug in charging. It is Bluetooth enabled so you could control it manually from your phone or tablet if you wanted to.
At least you have options based on your budget. Good luck!
 
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ap3004 said:
I have the solar breeze nx, I would rate it fair. I live in Austin Texas, lots of sun, but it does not run 12-15 hours even with direct sun. It does a fair job of picking up stuff, better than nothing but not perfect. I still have to skim manually along the tile line, the solar breeze does not get debris off the tile line.
This unit does not run in overcast weather because the sun is blocked and that is a problem because it is during inclement weather that trees usually dump a load into your pool. An engineering plus would have been the capability of charging the batteries via a corded plug for those times when clouds are forecast.
You have to have almost perfect pool conditions for this thing to run flawlessly, water level just right or its wheels will not adequately move the robot along your tile line. Too much suction from your skimmers and the poor thing gets caught inside and does not have enough power to back out (both of these issues I was able to correct somewhat).
There is another solar robot out there called the skim devil (way more expensive by about 200). Its sensor program is said to be more advanced than the solar breeze allowing it to move away from obstacles and it advertises a smarter program to advance and clean your pool. It has solar charging and plug in charging. It is Bluetooth enabled so you could control it manually from your phone or tablet if you wanted to.
At least you have options based on your budget. Good luck!
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I had issues with the SolarBreeze not running for very long when I first got it last spring. I called tech support and they had me run some simple diagnostics and had me send some videos of the unit in action and they were able to determine that I had a faulty unit which wasn't charging properly AND had some programming issues (reversing WAY too much). The replacement does run past midnight in the middle of the summer. It also runs a little on most overcast days. The issues you have with the level are very real. When my pool filled from rains, the Breeze would get stuck on the coping of my pool. I drained it down and it ran fine. My normal level has about 3/4 of the tile line exposed in my pool and is about 1/3 up the skimmer opening. I keep my autofill adjusted to this and it's fine. If I overdrain the pool, the Breeze might get caught on the top step or swimouts but otherwise it chugs along just fine until it gets full. It has saved us a lot of time and definitely keeps our pool much cleaner.
 
I just ordered one from Robotshop free shipping (SB was $11 more and wanted $35 for shipping). I'm taking the word of the SB guy who thinks it will run 12 hrs. in a 50% shaded pool. Hopefully I'll get it before the season ends ??️

Edit:. Wow! Two days later and I got shipping confirmation. Looks like SB is a month early on their estimated ship date.

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Got it today! Pretty nifty. Only issue so far, is in the first 5 minutes it drove straight into the wall, so gets stuck there. It does back out, but seems odd, 3 times in 5 minutes. I figure I'll strap on a stick protruding maybe 10" on one side, so when it drives to a wall, it will automatically rotate.

Here's a video, backing up from stuck at wall, then driving into wall again in less than a minute. Seems to like going straight into a wall.
Solar Breeze - YouTube

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Great video! It looks as though it's trying to turn (it does turn at walls automatically in my pool) but the geometry of the curve on that corner is confusing it. Call company and send video to them. They'll give a suggestion. Don't attach anything to the Breeze itself before contacting them. They're in AZ, so still at work if you want to try now. They may have a much better suggestion or modification for you to try.
tcat said:
Got it today! Pretty nifty. Only issue so far, is in the first 5 minutes it drove straight into the wall, so gets stuck there. It does back out, but seems odd, 3 times in 5 minutes. I figure I'll strap on a stick protruding maybe 10" on one side, so when it drives to a wall, it will automatically rotate.

Here's a video, backing up from stuck at wall, then driving into wall again in less than a minute. Seems to like going straight into a wall.
Solar Breeze - YouTube

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
I sent them an email with video. They said I might need a "turn assist attachment". Waiting for someone else at SB to review it.

Edit: Turns out it was getting stuck on the pool lip. Dropping water 1" solved this. Hopefully I can maintain this level, since it's close to being too low for the main skimmer.

It's doing a great job even with 50% shade. I removed my poolskim (that did a great job), but the solar breeze seems to get to more stuff, especially if the wind is blowing the wrong direction. Hoping it lasts a few years! Poolskim would never die, this has a lot that could go wrong, and at the price it better last!

Edit2: this is not a great thing to invest in if you have a pool lip and it rains a lot. Fortunately it doesn't rain much here, but having to keep water level at 4" below lip is a pain. If it rains you either need to drain a couple hundred gallons of water, or wait a week for it evaporate. I wait and just scoop with net until water drops. Does a good job keeping pollen, cottonwood, bugs, and leaves off of your not home. But at $500, is really priced to high for what it does. If the front wheels were adjustable (up & down), and protruded from the top (no housing above), it would be a much better design. That way you could compensate for any lip or water level. This needs to last 5-10 years with no maintenance to really be with it.
 
New addition.
fd2d27e8bdd6f23951b268b884f1470d.jpg


15k IG - Pentair 48de - Stenner Pump
Solar Breeze - Aquabot 4WD - TFP
 
New to this thread, and hoping to get some help with my 1-year old Solar Breeze...
I’ve been using my robot for almost a year now – performs flawlessly. When out of town, I always remove the unit from the pool and clean it thoroughly. On my most recent visit to my Florida home, I’m getting a flashing red light (one per second), indicating the rear paddle is jammed – but it is not, it is completely clear and free to rotate in either direction. It is also fully charged. The unit operates for a few seconds, then the right light begins to flash. The rear paddle gears seem to be meshing just fine - but I can’t seem to get rid of the red light. Any help? Thanks.
 

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