Aqualink RS Solar Heater wont come on except if i schedule it along with filter schedule, but also shuts off filter pump after reaching set temp

[willymec]

Aqualink RS Solar Heater wont come on except if i schedule it along with filter schedule, but also shuts off filter pump after reaching set temp

I have a pool/spa combo with gas heater and solar
When the pool temp hits the set temp it turns the 3 way valve to bypass the solar heater, but it shuts off the filter pump. I then have to turn on the filter pump manually. It should keep running tell 10pm.

I tried no solar heat schedule but solar heater wont trigger the 3way valve unless i schedule it or manually trigger solar heater on.

I do have solar heater enabled and temp sensor at panels.

I have one pentair Intelliflo VS 3050
Runs all 3 perfectly pool, spa and solar panels

Schedule
Filter pump 6am - 10pm
Solar Heat 8am - 5pm

 

[PoolGate]

Can you post a pic of your schedule?

 

[willymec]

Here you go

 

[willymec]

If i take the Solar Heater off the schedule it wont come on at all. I have to manually turn it on

 

[MSchutzer]

Two suggestions, just run the solar heat on the same schedule as the filter pump. The solar valve will only activate if the panels are at least 5 degrees above the pool temp, and when the pool is below the set point. There is no reason not to run the Solar the same duration as the pump. The solar temp sensor will turn the Jandy valve on and off during the day when the panels are warm enough to heat the pool.

Secondly I would turn off the pump lock out feature that stops the pump any time a Jandy valve moves. That might be the cause of the pump shutting off when your solar heat schedule ends, but it really shouldn’t do that.

The easy fix is just to schedule the solar heat for the same duration of the filter pump.

 

[willymec]

Two suggestions, just run the solar heat on the same schedule as the filter pump. The solar valve will only activate if the panels are at least 5 degrees above the pool temp, and when the pool is below the set point. There is no reason not to run the Solar the same duration as the pump. The solar temp sensor will turn the Jandy valve on and off during the day when the panels are warm enough to heat the pool.

Secondly I would turn off the pump lock out feature that stops the pump any time a Jandy valve moves. That might be the cause of the pump shutting off when your solar heat schedule ends, but it really shouldn’t do that.

The easy fix is just to schedule the solar heat for the same duration of the filter pump.

Ok, Ive tried setting the solar heat same time as filter pump in the schedule, Makes no difference, still when temp reaches set temp the valve turns but shuts the filter pump off.

How do i turn pump lockout off just for the solar heat? The spa needs time for valves to change.
Or is that what the delay is used for?
What is the purpose of enable or disable pump lockout? Vs Delay enable or disable?

Thank you

 

[MSchutzer]

That is very strange. Pump lock out is set up in the the setup menu, see this screen shot.

Also take a look at the one-touch setup screen, make sure none of the one-touch names are exactly “solar heater” as the one-touch name can get confused with the solar heater function name.

And then let’s see how your auxiliaries are assigned.


And lastly what are the DIP switch settings on the side of the Aqualink RS’s main board.

The pump should not stop when the pool reaches temp, all that should happen is that the Jandy valve should turn. It’s like the solar relay output is somehow wired to the main pump as the solar relay turns on and off with the solar heat demand.

Can you also take a picture of the pump wire connections in the RS panel? Nothing should be connected to the solar relay, as the AC wiring for the pump should be going to the filter pump relay.

 

[willymec]

That is very strange. Pump lock out is set up in the the setup menu, see this screen shot.
View attachment 583901
Also take a look at the one-touch setup screen, make sure none of the one-touch names are exactly “solar heater” as the one-touch name can get confused with the solar heater function name.
View attachment 583902
And then let’s see how your auxiliaries are assigned.

View attachment 583904
And lastly what are the DIP switch settings on the side of the Aqualink RS’s main board.

The pump should not stop when the pool reaches temp, all that should happen is that the Jandy valve should turn. It’s like the solar relay output is somehow wired to the main pump as the solar relay turns on and off with the solar heat demand.

Can you also take a picture of the pump wire connections in the RS panel? Nothing should be connected to the solar relay, as the AC wiring for the pump should be going to the filter pump relay.

Ok I disabled the plockout, so far that has fixed it.
What is plockout for? I haven't tried the spa mode yet.

 

[MSchutzer]

Pump lock out causes the pump motor to stop any time a Jandy valve is in motion. In theory, the motor should restart after the valve finishes it's travel. I don't know why it's not in the case of your solar valve moving.

So when you change from pool to spa mode the pump motor (if running) would stop (when pump lock out is not disabled) while the valves move and then start up again after the valves finish moving to spa mode. You need this if either of your valves dead heads the pump (i.e. suction blocked, or outlet blocked) while they are moving. In most cases this is not the case as the pump sits on the middle piping of the Tee valve so the pump can stay running while the valves are moving. When the pump shuts off and restarts it is going to want to do the whole priming sequence again.

Pump lock out being set to disable allows the pump to continue running any time a Jandy valve changes positions.

 

[willymec]

Ok thank you. I will check the valves on spa mode to see if there is any that would deadhead. Too bad you cant pick which pump applies.
Weird it seams the pump is turning off to allow valve movement but not turning back on after valve stops. I haven't used the spa in a while, now I'm wondering if it is working correctly.
Will check tomorrow, cant tonight.

 

[MSchutzer]

At some point you might want to take a picture of the inside of the RS box showing the relay connections to the main board, and where the Jandy valve actuators are plugged in.

Maybe something is plugged in where it shouldn’t be.

 

[willymec]

Will do tomorrow.

 

[willymec]

Sorry was busy with another problem. Here are some pics. The relays are all connected correctly. The filter pump was wired directly from the breaker and the filter relay unused. I wired it up to the filter pump relay and still it turns filter pump off when solar heat goes to standby.
I disabled all lockouts and still turns off the filter pump
The only thing that works kind of is the way I do it here, but not always. Then when it doesn't work and the filter pump is off, I have to disable this to turn the filter pump on manually. So this really doesn't work.

 

[MSchutzer]

Okay, I see a problem. You didn't say before that you had a separate pump for your solar system, but one of the poles on your top left breaker is labeled solar pump. If you have a solar pump the relay controlling it needs to be plugged into the solar pump relay control socket which is third white connector from the right where all the JVA and relay connectors are.

Can you trace those AC wires on the breaker that says Solar pump and identify which relay they are currently going to, and then trace which relay auxiliary socket it is connected to? That relay should be connected to the solar pump relay socket.

Please also show me your auxiliary assignments screen (see example earlier in this thread) as you likely have the solar relay assigned somewhere where it shouldn't be.

The top left relay is usually the filter pump relay by default but you said your main pump is wired directly to the breaker as a VSP pump should be wired. What is connected to the top left relay, do you have a salt water generator?, or is that perhaps your solar pump relay?

You have a relay connected to the filter pump auxiliary output and that would be correct if you have a SWG but if not I wouldn't expect to see the contacts on that relay connected as your main pump is connected directly to the breaker.

Please show your auxiliary assignments page and trace out which relay your solar pump is connected to. Please also trace out where that relay is plugged into?

Right now it is not correct as there's nothing plugged into the solar pump socket.

 

[willymec]

Ok wait sorry the panel labels showing the old system. I now have the solar panels directly plumbed into the main system using the main filter pump. I forgot to change the cover breaker labels.
Originally the filter pump (VS pump) was hard wired from the breaker. I just rewired it to the top left relay, which is the filter pump.
Either way it had no effect. Still the filter pump shut off.
So you say the filter pump (VS Pump) should be hard wired to the breaker and not use the relay? I can put it back.
The pump is a Pentair Intelliflo VS 3050
The old solar pump is now my cleaning pump with its own filter
Will look at the rest of your post
Thank you

 

[willymec]

Here is what is currently set. Just to clarify I used to have the solar on its own pump and plumbing to the solar panels and to the pool, separate from the main system, except the aqualink rs solar relay was used, I just set the solar pump schedule to run 8am to 3pm.
But now (2 weeks ago) the solar panels are plumbed into the main plumbing with Jandy 3 way diverter valve controlled by Aqualink rs.
So now the old solar pump is my new pool cleaning pump with its own separate plumbing and filter using the pool cleaning relay on the Aqualink rs. So I turn on the cleaning pump with my iPhone using the app or the cleaning button on the panel.
Sorry I thought I posted that I swapped it over. It was not too bad to replumb but was hot out! Been busy with multiple projects, and trying to get the solar system running on its own.

 

[MSchutzer]

Okay. Yes your VSP main pump should receive constant AC power and should not be switched through the filter pump relay.

Please show me your VSP setup page showing which pump is assigned to the filtration task, and then also show me the VSP speed setup page for that pump. If you have relabeled some of the key words in the speed table that can cause a problem as the functions are hard coded for most of those speeds regardless of what you name the speeds.

The only other thing that looks weird is that you have the Air Temp Disabled but it appears to be showing anyway on the app display. I don't know if that display being disabled has anything to do with how the solar works.

I'm guessing that you may have one of the speeds in the speed table relabeled so that its doing something its not supposed to, but I want to review those screens to see.

 

[willymec]

Okay. Yes your VSP main pump should receive constant AC power and should not be switched through the filter pump relay.

Please show me your VSP setup page showing which pump is assigned to the filtration task, and then also show me the VSP speed setup page for that pump. If you have relabeled some of the key words in the speed table that can cause a problem as the functions are hard coded for most of those speeds regardless of what you name the speeds.

The only other thing that looks weird is that you have the Air Temp Disabled but it appears to be showing anyway on the app display. I don't know if that display being disabled has anything to do with how the solar works.

I'm guessing that you may have one of the speeds in the speed table relabeled so that its doing something its not supposed to, but I want to review those screens to see.

 

[willymec]

Not sure how the air temp got disabled but i enabled it again.
Messing with settings and forgetting to put back or accidentally push it??
All the speed changes work as set.
Everything works perfect except it turns filter pump off when temp is reached.
Sorry i keep saying this but thats the only thing not working right.
In the morning i will wire the pump back to the breaker. I think if i remember write it was just hard wired at the relay bypassing the switched part of the relay, i just connected it properly to make the switched part of the relay work.
Either way it still shut off after set temp. Ugg
I cant wait to get this resolved! What a pain!
Thank you for your continued help and patience with me!

 

[MSchutzer]

Okay, there are some issues with your speed settings as they aren’t doing what you think they are.


The keywords for speed settings 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 MUST be as labeled above. The label Pool on speed step 1 is associated with the filter/pump function. I don’t know how the filter/pump speed works when it doesn’t see the pool speed keyword. Speed 2 MUST be labeled Spa as that is the speed the motor runs in spa mode regardless of what the label says. Speeds 3 and 4 are also predefined as Cleaner and Spillover, but these can be reassigned depending on whether the cleaner and spillover functions are enabled via the DIP switches. Your cleaner isn’t enabled as it shows your Cleaner JVA is available for reassignment, and this is correct for an in floor cleaner system.

You will have to check to see if you have the spillover dip switch enabled.

The way speeds work is that the fastest speed always wins. With that in mind the pool speed should be the lowest speed you ever want to run. That would be 1250 rpm by your speed table. When you schedule other things that overlap the filter pump in the schedule the pump will increase to the fastest speed set. So the filter pump will run the pool speed, and when the solar heat is running it will increase to the solar heat speed and when the heat demand is met it will drop back to the pool speed.

Your issue may be that it’s not finding the Pool label in the speed setting so it doesn’t know what to do when dropping out of solar heat.

The speed labels are a bit strange, the functions seem to be hard coded for some aspects of the software and not for other parts.

The system really, really wants to see the default keywords for the speeds that aren’t available for reassignment. If you are not using the cleaner JVA, spillover function those names can be reassigned along with speed 8. All the rest need to remain at the default keyword name settings.

Try renaming speeds 1 and 2 back to Pool and Spa and see if that helps. The pool speed should be the slowest speed you ever want to run. By the way 3300 will really move a lot of water when your solar heat is running, that’s probably more than you need, but I’ll leave that to you.