Automation: Zodiac TRi-Ph to PC

[rthorntn]

Hi,

Hope one of you extremely helpful people can assist.

I read the Jandy $15 linking to PC thread and posted there but I think it might be better to start another thread.

I have a ftdi rs485 to USB adapter that I want to link to a Zodiac TRi-PH chlorinator, I don't have any controllers or panels. And the chlorinator is the only "smart" piece of pool equipment I have.

So is it trivial for me to monitor and control the SWG from a Linux PC, I am more than happy in Linux?

The instructions seem to suggest that if you add a controller the panel becomes dumb which means the software and PC would need to be feature complete and reliable, any thoughts?

To start off with it would be good to know if there was an error, I had "pH low" a couple of days ago and because the panel is under the house I had no way of finding that out immediately.

If PC monitoring and control reliably is not feasible I was thinking of having some kind of light sensor linked to a microcontroller that watched for the panel status light flashing and then alerted me, thoughts?

Thanks.

Richard

 

[pwrstrk]

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but somebody will be along to give you help.

 

[JasonLion]

Some work has been done on reverse engineering their automation system, but no one has attempted to hook up directly to their tri-ph system that I know of. Doing so might be possible, or it might not. I haven't seen anything about how it might be done. Given the kinds of questions you are asking, the reverse engineering required to get such a project going does not sound like something you are equipped to take on.

Perhaps a simple web-cam system to show you the panel remotely would be a simpler approach to solving your current problems.