If I have a circulation pump, seperate waterfall pump, intellichlor and pentair LED light, will the suntouch be able to control all of that? Could I turn on the waterfall pump from the remote? If I went to the Intelliflo VS would the suntouch be able to program this to up the speed for cleaning at a specific time and set period like the interface on the VF? I would like simple automation with suntouch being the max due to cost. Is there a cheaper way to have a remote to turn on the waterfall pump with that being the only item to control? Thanks in advance.
Cheap waterfall automation -Suntouch?
- Thread starter kamoo
- Start date
The simplest thing is a single hard wired switch. The Sun Touch is pretty much the next thing up from that. It should do everything you mentioned.
I have a SunTouch. The biggest drawback is it cannot handle more than 4 "circuits" and only has capacity for two pool/ spa actuators and one "extra" actuator for controlling a water feature. We don't have a spa, so we tricked it into thinking the waterfall and grotto are a spa. Thus when we hit the spa button, it switches a 3 way valve to divert most of the water from pool circulation to the water features. We used the spare actuator to drive water to the slide so we can turn that on/ off separately. So, our 4 "circuits" are set up as follows:
1- turns water features on, ramps pump up to speed 4
2- pump speed 1 (pool filtration cycle)
3- pump speed 2, booster pump comes on (cleaner cycle)
4- pump speed 4, slide valve opens
Each of the above circuits can be programmed to run up to 4 times daily.
The SunTouch has a built-in program for the cleaning cycle that starts up the booster pump, so the only way I can think of that you could run a waterfall pump is to trick it into thinking you're running a cleaning cycle (this is assuming you don't have a pressure-side cleaner).
EDIT- some additional clarifications- if you want to turn the lights on/ off from a remote then that will take up one of the four available circuits. Same thing if you want to control the Intellichlor. The SunTouch can control all these things, it just can't handle more than 4 circuits which is why it's so cheap.
Also, SunTouch doesn't come with a remote in it's base form. We added a QuickTouch remote setup to ours which allows simple on/ off control of each circuit.
1- turns water features on, ramps pump up to speed 4
2- pump speed 1 (pool filtration cycle)
3- pump speed 2, booster pump comes on (cleaner cycle)
4- pump speed 4, slide valve opens
Each of the above circuits can be programmed to run up to 4 times daily.
The SunTouch has a built-in program for the cleaning cycle that starts up the booster pump, so the only way I can think of that you could run a waterfall pump is to trick it into thinking you're running a cleaning cycle (this is assuming you don't have a pressure-side cleaner).
EDIT- some additional clarifications- if you want to turn the lights on/ off from a remote then that will take up one of the four available circuits. Same thing if you want to control the Intellichlor. The SunTouch can control all these things, it just can't handle more than 4 circuits which is why it's so cheap.
Also, SunTouch doesn't come with a remote in it's base form. We added a QuickTouch remote setup to ours which allows simple on/ off control of each circuit.
Good Info TresW,
I'm actually considering the SunTouch too and was looking for someone that had one. I don't have a spa, just one set of waterfalls, booster pump, and 2 lighting circuits. I'll let the PoolPilot control itself for the SWCG.
Thanks...
Jim
I'm actually considering the SunTouch too and was looking for someone that had one. I don't have a spa, just one set of waterfalls, booster pump, and 2 lighting circuits. I'll let the PoolPilot control itself for the SWCG.
Thanks...
Jim
No problem Jim! Sounds like it would work fine for your setup.
An added bonus of the SunTouch- the PB mentioned to me that it is possible for the mother board in any controller to get fried in a lightning storm. He said the SunTouch replacement board is around 150 bucks whereas the IntelliTouch board is over a grand!
An added bonus of the SunTouch- the PB mentioned to me that it is possible for the mother board in any controller to get fried in a lightning storm. He said the SunTouch replacement board is around 150 bucks whereas the IntelliTouch board is over a grand!
Will the SunTouch control an Intelliflo VF too? Or better to just save a few bucks and go with the VS?
Thanks...
kamoo, sorry to hijack your thread. I hope some of this helps you too...
Thanks...
kamoo, sorry to hijack your thread. I hope some of this helps you too...
The manual says that the Sun Touch will not work with the IntelliFlo VF. My guess is that it probably will work but only allow control of features shared with the VS, but they might have actually disabled it completely. The Sun Touch is their low end automation system and they need to reserve some features to motivate people to get one of the fancier systems.
Belldiver,
Hijack away, others question help to make sense of it all. I read somewhere in the gardenweb forum that (repair_guy said I think) the VF morphs into the VS with the suntouch installed. Search for it there, he will make more sense then me.
Hijack away, others question help to make sense of it all. I read somewhere in the gardenweb forum that (repair_guy said I think) the VF morphs into the VS with the suntouch installed. Search for it there, he will make more sense then me.