Screenlogic app iphone - blinking Solar Only indicator

[DougS]

Hi all,

Screenlogic app for iphone. In the pool section, at the bottom, there are four tiles indicating the heater settings.

Off Heater Solar Pref Solar Only

I have mine on Solar Only. However, it blinks red when the pool filter is running, in the middle of a hot day. That is of course the time that you would expect the solar to be active.

What does it mean when it's blinking? It may mean it's "running normally" or maybe it means there is a problem. I cannot find anything about it in the docs.

When I feel the solar plumbing pipes, I cannot tell for sure if water is flowing through them. The filter RPM is 1800, so I thought perhaps I needed to move it higher to get enough flow to the solar. However, after moving it to 2500, the Solar Only tile is still blinking and I cannot tell if water is running through the solar system.

How can I know for sure the solar is working?

 

[bdavis466]

Can't you tell by the valve positions? What about the check valve on the solar return line? Is it open?

 

[DougS]

Oh, forgot to say that. Yes, the valve positions are showing the Solar is on.

But I don't feel water rushing through the solar plumbing, and I don't feel any warm temps on the "from solar" tubing.

So, I'm thinking it may be that I don't have enough pump pressure. Not really sure, so that's why I was thinking perhaps the blinking on the Screenlogic iPhone app means something is wrong.

 

[bdavis466]

The water has to be going somewhere. The return pipes aren't going to be hot but should be a couple degrees warmer than the pool temperature and I doubt you'd be able to feel the water going through the pipes.

Try increasing the speed. The greater the flow through the panels, the greater the heat gain you will see.

 

[DougS]

Thanks all,

Confirmed that the valves are open and warm water is flowing into the pool so the solar is working. Yay for that.

However, I still don't know why the tiles on the bottom of the iPhone app blink when active. Just seems weird to me.

The red blinking makes you think something's wrong.
And when the system is OFF, the tiles are solid Red.

View attachment 51240
Why not just turn each tile green when ON, and gray when OFF?
Why not turn the Solar Pref, and Solar Only green when selected?
Why not use the red color to indicate some type of problem for that tile/function.?
If they did the above, there would be no need for the "off" tile at all.

I probably should send my input to Pentair, but before I did, I wanted to know if others had the full explanation of the meaning of the colors and blinking.

 

[bdavis466]

Perhaps their intention was to show that solar heating was available and indicate when it was active?

It's anyone's guess but at least your system seems to be working correctly.