Guys - not trolling for anyone, just frustrated. Sorry to come off so strong on the first post.
Sticking strictly to the facts - as I said in the original post - the Pentair product works reliably with an all-Pentair solution, or with HA partners that work with Pentair. As long as you want what they are selling, the solution is reliable. Pentair and Crestron are good companies, selling good products at premium prices.
The SPECIFIC criticisms that I have, as the owner of a high-end rental property, is that for the custom solution that I want it is hard to get there with Pentair, and Pentair has not been nearly as supportive as other vendors. With 25 years of software development experience under my belt, and knowing what I want to accomplish, my goal is to have a very customized and customizable system based on OPEN, INDUSTRY ACCEPTED standards. I can accomplish this with my selected vendors for lighting, HVAC and irrigation control, but CANNOT GET THERE with Pentair pool products, for the reasons given in the prior post. I would love to be corrected on the specific points raised.
What do I want? An Ap that works with iPhone and Android phones, freely distributed (so anyone at my house can load it - not so that I don't have to buy it) that allows me as the administrator to control everything (lights, HVAC, irrigation, Sonos music system, pool, spa) and lets my guests/renters have a completely intuitive interface to USE these same systems WITHOUT the ability to screw something up. All the products selected for this project work GREAT (Sonos music player, SimpleHomeNet Irrigation, Universal Devices Controller, Smarthome Lighting) with PUBLISHED AND EASILY USED Web Apis for those willing to write code, and packaged Aps for those that want functionality out of the box. I only wish that Pentair would adopt an open interface like these others so that their quality products (and I do respect them) can be EASILY integrated without requiring a standalone computer system.
Very specific, factual issues:
- Remote Access via ScreenLogic Connect or iPhone Ap is a CLOSED, PROPRIETARY system running through Pentair servers. This makes it IMPOSSIBLE to change the user interface to either restrict or simplify functionality for guests. Pentair's Indoor Control Panel also lacks any ability to restrict functionality. Guests have the ability to cost me LOTS of money by inadvertently changing heat and pump settings. This is real pain I have felt to the tune of over $1500 in propane and electrical costs. I have had to relocate and lock the control panel and disable iPhone access for guests as a result.
- Programming landscape lighting and watering schedules with Pentair is painful because there is no programming language. With my other controllers the built-in scripting capabilities include concepts like "sunrise" and "sunset" as well as conditional logic (if-then) for defining when to turn on lights. Pentair lacks any sort of scripting or programming language and has very primitive timers.
- Pentair cannot differentiate between a button being pressed and a button being held down - these are very useful for doing things like opening and closing a pool cover. Legally a pool cover switch must stop when released - you can't get there with any Pentair control and must have a separate switch. I've passed code with my solution only after convincing the inspector that my implementation of the cover control was at least as good as that provided by the cover vendor. With the camera on the pool I can retract or close the cover from my remote location, which is VERY HANDY when the renters don't do it.