Automation limitations

[TopJimmy]

The past week I spent figuring out the ins/outs of Intellicenter. What I would like to do is have my pump be at a steady state of 450 rpm and the heater set at 70 deg. When heat is called for I’d like the pump to speed up to 1600 rpm.
Intellicenter doesn’t seem capable of doing this. Is that correct?
Is nodejs capable of doing this?

 

[HermanTX]

The IC is most certainly capable of doing what you want.
You have to have the pump speeds set for certain functions (or circuits) and then schedule them to run.
I think either @ajw22 or @Jimrahbe can ask you the right questions or show screen shots.

 

[TopJimmy]

I know I can schedule it, but I’d like for the heater when it comes on to command the pump to increase its speed.

 

[HermanTX]

I know I can schedule it, but I’d like for the heater when it comes on to command the pump to increase its speed.

What speed do you have your pump to run for the Heater circuit?
show a screen shot of your pump speed settings and also of your schedule.

Also - is 1600rpm enough to activate the flow sensor in the heater to turn on? A heater normally needs a minimum amount of gpm so ensure 1600rpm provides that.

 

[Jimrahbe]

TJ,

The EasyTouch has three circuits that you can use to increase the pump's speed when the heater calls for heat.. They are Pool heater, Spa heater, Either heater.

I am sure the IntelliCenter does the same thing.. Here is the page out of the EasyTouch set up.. just for reference...

Heater Speed.PNG

• Jimrahbe
• Jan 3, 2019

What does running your pump at 450 RPM do for you?? Just seems awful slow to accomplish anything to me..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

I know I can schedule it, but I’d like for the heater when it comes on to command the pump to increase its speed.

Set the pump speed you want for the HEATER on the PUMPS page....

 

[TopJimmy]

I’m on a work trip right now, so can’t really deal with it in person. I think my pb must have set up my mastertemps wrong then bc I don’t have that function available (or at least it didn’t work when I was trying to figure it out). When I get home I’ll try deleting the heaters and setting them up correctly. Pb put them as “gas heater” even though they’re (supposedly) connected on rs485.

 

[ajw22]

MasterTemp controlled by Firemans Switch 2 wire control is setup as “Gas Heater”

MasterTemp controlled by RS-485 is setup as “MasterTemp”

 

[wireform]

In each of the auxiliaries, pool, heater and cleaner and whatever else is on your system can have a custom rpm speed set so when the timer for that function calls it'll automatically goes at the new speed for the duration of the time setting it's set for. For instance if the cleaner has a schedule to run I have the rpm ramped up for the given time frame and when it times out it'll revert to the pool rpm setting. I have only worked with Easytouch but I'm sure the newer IC should be the same.

 

[MyAZPool]

The past week I spent figuring out the ins/outs of Intellicenter. What I would like to do is have my pump be at a steady state of 450 rpm and the heater set at 70 deg. When heat is called for I’d like the pump to speed up to 1600 rpm.
Intellicenter doesn’t seem capable of doing this. Is that correct?

1. Per @Jimrahbe ... Why run your pump at 450rpm? We have the same filter pump. A couple of years ago , I did a power/flow comparison of rpm's in 100 rpm increments starting at 500rpm up to 3200rpm while using an actual watt meter connected to the pump power conductors.
I know this won't make much sense, but at 500 rpm, I was pulling 53 watts and at 700 rpm, 6 watts less at 47 watts. It was explained to me why that was the case but I forgot now and I'd have to dig around for that thread.
I run my pump nearly 24x7 and mostly at 700 rpm unless I'm chlorinating, running water features, heating etc. etc... Anyway, just thought I would pass along my findings for your consideration.

2. Having a pump speed designated for heating when heat is called for has already been well explained.

Is nodejs capable of doing this?

nodejs-poolController (nodejspC) will not give you any additional IntelliCenter feature capabilities then what you already have (not withstanding being paired up with REM).
In it's simplest explanation, njspC is no more than another user interface/controller for your IntelliCenter panel. Albeit, a highly superior, more user-friendly and more responsive one, then any of the Pentair interfaces can ever hope for.
However, for those without an existing automation controller, then the njspC NIXIE Controller comes into play and completely eliminates the need for an expensive controller such as ours.
Hope that's somewhat helpful.
r.

 

[TopJimmy]

Fixed it. Thanks to ajw22 for the answer on how to do it in IC software.
Answer to "why the low speed?": For winter spa operation. I can't let my spa go below 68 deg per Pentair due to condensate issues, but I don't need to run it at 1800 rpm more than 12 hours/day for filtration/chlorination. Actual speed isn't really important as I'd rather have the pump off at night, but since I need flow for the temp sensor, I figured to have it at lowest speed allowable until heat is called for. At present I have it set to 1200 rpm for night operation. I want the speed low at night because the equipment pad is 2 feet from my bed and I like it quiet (preferably silent). I must have a suction leak because I tried running it at 450 rpm one night and in the morning I found the basket basically empty. It seems 1200 rpm is the lowest I can run it to prevent this cavitation.

More to the story:
I found that I was on the Fireman's switch for both my heaters on a i10D (dual bodies) setup. I wanted RS-485 but ran into issues which I was able to figure out:
- I used the existing 2-wire cable...didn't need the black wire for RS-485.
- I connected the heaters to J4 and J5 on the IC, doubling up some existing connections there. It doesn't matter which heater goes to which.
- I needed to set the 2nd heater to address 2 and left the pool heater on its default address 1. You can only do this at the heater panel and when the heater is not under IC control (eg use service mode, turn off IC, or otherwise disconnect it from RS-485).
- It was misleading in the manual to not clearly differentiate between 3-wire and RS-485. So I was confused since the RS-485 in the manual uses "3 wires". So I had the jumper on the heater's PCB on "3 wire". This is incorrect. That jumper should remain undisturbed and set on 2-wire. There are the 3 ways to set up a mastertemp in plain language:
a. 2-wire
b. 3-wire
c. RS-485
- Luckily my PB left the fireman's switch jumper wire in the box so I connected that, too.
- Had to delete both heaters in software because once established, they cannot be edited. Then I added both mastertemps using address 1 and 2 on "Other Equipment" page.
- on "pumps" page I then added "pool heater" to pool pump and "spa heater" to spa pump.
- in "general settings" I had to check "manual heat" to be able to alter heater temp during the schedule. I also checked "pumps on during heater cool-down delay" but I haven't verified if this actually works or not.
- on "schedules" I assigned heat source as mastertemp for spa and pool

 

[TopJimmy]

I had to switch it back to 2-wire. On the RS-485 it was too buggy. Sometims it would come on per temp or schedule, sometimes not. Manual control didn’t work either. I had to go into schedules to effect a manual change. At least the 2-wire is reliable. Only thing I lose is error reporting.