Com link error between IC20 and Easytouch After Intelliph dispenses acid

Jump to latest Follow Reply
bakrsdzn said:
I do have a Mac so if Pentair isn’t updating their software to 64 bit that’s a bummer. Can I go purely with iOS? Do I need a computer?
Click to expand...
No, all you need is iOS. There are two apps, one for running things, and one for set up. Or you should be able to run the desktop version in virtual PC on a new Mac. That's where I'm headed, but I haven't tried that yet. I can't keep the computer it's on now on the old OS much longer.

Most shops are trying to get $600 for ScreenLogic. That includes the two wireless units that bridge comms between the ET and your network. If you have a way to go with hardwiring (that's what I did), I just saw this, which is way too good to be true. It doesn't include the wireless units. I've never seen a price like that. But if they offer a return policy, I'd snatch this up. You can download the software for free. Caution: the text says ScreenLogic2, but the images are mixed, some showing "2" and others showing the older non-2 version. Buyer beware, as I have no experience with this vendor.

ikaad.com

Pentair 520500 ScreenLogic2 Interface Kit

Pentair 520500 ScreenLogic2 Interface Kit
ikaad.com

@Jimrahbe will caution you about hardwiring the ScreenLogic protocol adapter. May I speak for you Jim? Hardwiring will be a four-wire copper path between your EasyTouch and the protocol adapter (the ScreenLogic hardware component), which you need to then hardwire to your ethernet network (router, modem, computers, etc). If you get a lightning strike that affects the EasyTouch outside, it could blow up the rest of your gear inside, too. Hard to say what the chances of that are, or if it wouldn't happen anyway through some other wire, depends on your weather and your karma, I suppose, but just making you aware. I've hardwired everything in my house, because I don't like anything wireless. I only use WiFi for my iOS devices. But I'm a maverick. And if lightning takes it all out, oh well...
 
Whoa -- that price is crazy low. Never heard of them. I would do some deep due diligence first ---
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dirk
Note about that $85 deal. A few minutes ago, when I first saw it, the quantity left was in the mid 40s. Now down to 40, with apparently several people looking at the same page. Could be "hoaxie" or it could be a deal that'll be gone in a short while. No way to tell...

Edit: down to 38 and falling fast. It's fishy, for sure.

Edit: yah, google "ikaad.com review" and you'll see all sorts of "scam or legit" articles. Probably not worth the risk.
 
Last edited:
Success! I inserted a tee and moved acid injection downstream of cell. Put the acid pump in the empty relay and piggy backed off of intellichlor power center to bring 24 vdc to the relay. Reassigned the water feature button to the acid pump and set it to run 1 min each day, just for now. I still might want to solder in that resistor to convert to ET8 and get the water feature back in there. For now it works perfectly and is exactly what I need. You can see where that crappy IPh used to be :)

Thanks guys for helping me on this!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1597.jpeg
    IMG_1597.jpeg
    542 KB · Views: 7
  • IMG_1598.jpeg
    IMG_1598.jpeg
    824.9 KB · Views: 7
  • Love
Reactions: Dirk
bakrsdzn said:
Thanks guys for helping me on this!
Click to expand...
Looks good!
We are glad you have found our information helpful. Please, if you can, consider making a donation to TFP. We are staffed by volunteers and are registered as an IRS 501 (c) (3) charity and donations are what keeps the forum operating without advertisements.

Support TFP!
 
Wow, you move fast! Nice job!

If you haven't already, you might double-check your wiring: with the filter pump off, try the reassigned "acid" button. You should hear the relay click, and see the button's LED illuminate, but the acid pump should not engage. This would confirm you correctly powered the new acid pump relay via the filter pump pool circuit.
 
Dirk said:
...the saddle clamp relies on a chunk of rubber, if I remember correctly...
Click to expand...
Minor detail but the saddle clamp on my IntelliPH came with an o-ring that seats into a groove. Not as secure as a tee for sure but not too bad.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Dirk said:
Wow, you move fast! Nice job!

If you haven't already, you might double-check your wiring: with the filter pump off, try the reassigned "acid" button. You should hear the relay click, and see the button's LED illuminate, but the acid pump should not engage. This would confirm you correctly powered the new acid pump relay via the filter pump pool circuit.
Click to expand...
Yep just tried it and the safety works. Won’t run without the filter pump on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dirk and bertschb
Thinking about the logic of the intelliph and it makes more sense to me now. Even though I put the acid injection downstream I am still having a situation where acid and hyper chlorinated water are mixing. It’s just now I’m adding acid to chlorine rather than the other way around. With the IPH being upstream and the chlorinator being off while injecting, the slug of acid never encounters the hyper chlorinated water.
 
The water out of a swcg is not ‘hyper’ chlorinated. It might be 1 or 2 ppm fc above the bulk water.
 
mknauss said:
The water out of a swcg is not ‘hyper’ chlorinated. It might be 1 or 2 ppm fc above the bulk water.
Click to expand...
I don’t know about that because I can get my pool well above 20 ppm by running the cell around the clock yet I maintain pool around 3 ppm so it’s not just 1 or 2. Plus there are bubbles that come out in the return jets in the pool which makes me think chlorine levels are very high in water entering the pool. High enough to where not all chlorine dissolves in the water.

Edit but guess maybe I get up to 20 ppm by adding 2 above at a time. I see that possibility.
 
The bubbles are hydrogen gas. No chlorine gas escapes the swcg. It instantly combines into the water stream.
 
mknauss said:
Whoa -- that price is crazy low. Never heard of them. I would do some deep due diligence first ---
Click to expand...
There is no 757 Market street in SF. 731 is a 90K SqFt. office space, next address is 765 and is the four seasons.

Domain is registered to mailing address in Iceland, all other registration info is redacted. Domain was created 7/22/22

SCAM.
 
  • Wow
  • Like
Reactions: Dirk and bertschb
bakrsdzn said:
Thinking about the logic of the intelliph and it makes more sense to me now. Even though I put the acid injection downstream I am still having a situation where acid and hyper chlorinated water are mixing. It’s just now I’m adding acid to chlorine rather than the other way around. With the IPH being upstream and the chlorinator being off while injecting, the slug of acid never encounters the hyper chlorinated water.
Click to expand...
Another way around this that I don't think I mentioned, that would eliminate the need to put the IC on a separate schedule and relay:

Schedule the acid injection one minute after the pool circuit goes on. The IC takes about 5 minutes to run its startup and diagnostics rountine. It's not producing chlorine during that period. So the sequence would fire like this:
- Pool circuit goes on and IC powers up, IC goes into "startup" mode
- One minute later, after the flow is well established, the acid pump injects
- One minute later, after the acid is dispensed, the acid pump turns off
- Three minutes later (give or take) the IC starts making chlorine

You could probably dispense acid for up to three minutes, but you'd have to confirm that to make sure it finishes before your IC's "Cell" LED comes on. This is assuming your filter pump is primed and reliably stays that way. Or doesn't take longer than a minute to prime if it happens to lose prime. Injecting the acid one minute after filter pump startup might have its own possible risks. Which is why I included a separate flow switch in my setup.

As Marty points out, this is likely not an issue anyway, but if you're concerned about it, this MO might put your mind at ease. Not to belabor, but this is one of the reasons I went through the lengths I have to keep my IpH/IC combo running as intended, because I didn't want this concern.

I didn't mention this before because you had not yet decided to locate the injector after the IC. You wouldn't want acid injecting in front of the IC during its startup sequence, because one of the things it's doing is measuring salinity. I don't expect a slug of acid passing through during that test would be a good idea.
 
Last edited:
Here's another MO you might consider that I haven't yet mentioned. It's only slightly related to the acid/chlorine issue. If your ET has any available schedules left. you can add one more. Remember, I mentioned that the IpH, as a safety precaution, only dispenses a small amount of acid per cycle. This is to minimize the possibility of dispensing too much acid at once. Without the IpH, there's nothing to keep the acid pump from emptying the tank except the "off" component of your one-minute acid schedule. If someone inadvertently uses your ET's newly programmed acid button, and leaves it on, the acid pump will drain your tank into the pool.

So with an available schedule, you can create an egg timer schedule for your new acid circuit, with a setting of one minute. Or two, or three, whatever. Some short duration. With that in place, if you push the acid button, accidentally or intentionally, the pump will dispense acid for only that duration. The egg timer will turn off that circuit after the assigned duration. This will serve as a safety cap, but also could be used for manual injection, similar to the way the IpH had a manual injection function: press the acid button and you'll get a minute "squirt." Of course, if you use it for that purpose while the IC is producing, then you're back to wondering if that matters or not...

If I remember correctly, a timer schedule overrides an egg timer assigned to the same circuit. You could test this to confirm. So say you have a timer schedule to inject acid for two minutes. But you have an egg timer schedule that only allows one minute. When you turn on the acid button manually, the egg timer will turn it off one minute later. But if the ET schedule turns on the acid pump, it'll run for two minutes. I didn't test that, because my egg timer duration is the same as my scheduled duration.

Keep in mind that if you want to schedule your acid to inject more than once a day, only that first shot will be in the IC's startup sequence window. Any others will go off while the IC is active. Depending on your IC's output setting, there's still the chance that the acid will inject while the IC is in standby mode, but I can't think of a way to take advantage of the IC's periodic "off" cycle to solve for the acid/chlorine dilemma.

So between the scheduling just after pool circuit startup, and an egg timer, you can mimic to some extent some of the IpH's safety functions.
 
Last edited:

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply