CoverStar Sensor with IntelliCenter?

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That might work if I was inclined to do the extra work. With the Intellicentr I can control the pump, lights, bubblers and Luminars, with my phone. We'll visit this maybe next summer or later.


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ImpalaSS said:
You can run your low voltage wiring in the same conduit as long as it has the same 600v insulation as the 120v wiring.
Click to expand...
Only thing to consider is that there is a good chance of EMI on the signal wire, which could make your controls work intermittently.
 
@wgipe, did you get a chance to install the expansion card and switch?

I'll update my build thread with pictures as soon as I get a chance, but did get my system setup yesterday and wanted to see if you had any success because the process for me was NOT how the instructions showed for the switch itself.

So it was actually my PB and me doing the work. They could not get their electrician out for some time so we decided to take this on. They have had a few of these installed, just never did it themselves.

I ran the conduit from the cover box back to the pad. Probably a 50 foot run total. The switch only comes with 30' of wire attached, so we did need to use some new wire to extend that. I soldered the wire and heat sealed it, and ran it up in the box where my ethernet cable comes into the Intellicenter.

First, installing the switch on the non-motor side was super easy. Two bolts on a supplied bracket and it was in place. The instructions on the switch itself tell you to set a home position
1624020434392.png
My unit does NOT have a button. This is what mine looks like....

Actual Switch.JPG

OK, so we went to the instructions from the Pentair side, to get this in the Intellicenter..

Those instructions also show how to use the button to set to home.....
button for switch.JPG
Not that we could not find the button, we called their Pentair rep to walk us through the rest of the steps for our setup.

First we installed the expansion board, and then went to set the "home". On my switch, you need to take off the top cover of the switch and use the screws to set the home position, similar to the instructions, juts without a button.

Once we did that, the Intellicenter recognized the cover as open or closed and we were able to continue through the setup and tell it what to do depending on the status. No slide or bubblers for example when the cover is closed, and the SWCG down to say 25%. Will need to tweak the SWCG settings for sure, but at least it is all installed and working well. When we try to close the cover with the slide on for example, the slide valve does close and shuts it down.

I'll update my thread as soon as I have more pictures, but figured I wanted to at least update this thread and see how your progress was going.
 

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gingrbredman said:
@wgipe, did you get a chance to install the expansion card and switch?

I'll update my build thread with pictures as soon as I get a chance, but did get my system setup yesterday and wanted to see if you had any success because the process for me was NOT how the instructions showed for the switch itself.

So it was actually my PB and me doing the work. They could not get their electrician out for some time so we decided to take this on. They have had a few of these installed, just never did it themselves.

I ran the conduit from the cover box back to the pad. Probably a 50 foot run total. The switch only comes with 30' of wire attached, so we did need to use some new wire to extend that. I soldered the wire and heat sealed it, and ran it up in the box where my ethernet cable comes into the Intellicenter.

First, installing the switch on the non-motor side was super easy. Two bolts on a supplied bracket and it was in place. The instructions on the switch itself tell you to set a home position
View attachment 346882
My unit does NOT have a button. This is what mine looks like....

View attachment 346883

OK, so we went to the instructions from the Pentair side, to get this in the Intellicenter..

Those instructions also show how to use the button to set to home.....
View attachment 346876
Not that we could not find the button, we called their Pentair rep to walk us through the rest of the steps for our setup.

First we installed the expansion board, and then went to set the "home". On my switch, you need to take off the top cover of the switch and use the screws to set the home position, similar to the instructions, juts without a button.

Once we did that, the Intellicenter recognized the cover as open or closed and we were able to continue through the setup and tell it what to do depending on the status. No slide or bubblers for example when the cover is closed, and the SWCG down to say 25%. Will need to tweak the SWCG settings for sure, but at least it is all installed and working well. When we try to close the cover with the slide on for example, the slide valve does close and shuts it down.

I'll update my thread as soon as I have more pictures, but figured I wanted to at least update this thread and see how your progress was going.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. You beat me to it. Our cover was installed last Thursday, and CoverStar didn't even try to assist.

Frankly, I've been completely unimpressed with CoverStar Central. The techs are in a chronic hurry, do not communicate, and the last one that was out to troubleshoot an overcurrent warning was downright rude and demeaning to my wife. She called me after he left and I had to call and confront him about his demeanor. To his credit, he admitted to treating her poorly and apologized, but I made it clear that if he treated my wife that way again I'd drive straight to Indianapolis and have a face-to-face with him and his boss. Takes a lot to get me to that place, but he was very efficient at it....

The cover and sensor are in and operational - I found my way through the same process by experimentation. It does work as advertised, but we still have the overcurrent warnings, which they have no idea how to resolve... Hopefully you have a better experience with them - I'm feeling like we may have made a mistake in choosing them.

-Wes
 
Wow, really hate to hear about the experiences with Coverstar! I have not had any luck with them either, wonder even what their "experts" are for. I had limited experiences with them, and I say limited because that is the level of help they were looking to give. When I was looking for options on how to finish the edge of the FG pool and the cover, they told me "just don't close it all the way". Really!?! That is your technical expertise? Geez!

Lucky for me, my PB has a really good expert they have on speed dial from Pentair and he's really knowledgeable on all things Pentair and even Coverstar. He was the resource we used to work through the installation, I know for sure if it was Coverstar we still would not have this done. Most PBs who install a lot of Pentair equipment have this resource, may be worth trying that route. Our guy covers a big territory, he might even be the guy assigned to your PB.

Wish I could help you with the over current issues, not even sure where to start but will ask my PB to reach out when they speak next in case he has some insight.
 
Do you guys know if that rotary limit switch just opens/closes a circuit? As best I can tell from this wiring diagram, that is the case...but the IntelliCenter diagram calls it "digital input".

I have the Pentair IntelliCenter and my CoverPools cover will be installed this week. I spent some time today on the phone with both companies, and if the Latham Rotary Switch truly just opens/closes a circuit, the integration should be straightforward. The CoverPools board sends 5V on one wire when closed, 5V on the other when open.
 
For anyone interested, I've confirmed the above to be the case. The IntelliCenter pool cover module will work with any cover that can open/close a circuit (which should virtually be any cover). In fact, there's a setting in the panel for this circuit to be normally open or closed...which should have been a big clue. Anyways, not sure why Pentair doesn't advertise this comparability, but I'm happy that I can connect it to my CoverPools cover.
 
wgipe said:
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. You beat me to it. Our cover was installed last Thursday, and CoverStar didn't even try to assist.

Frankly, I've been completely unimpressed with CoverStar Central. The techs are in a chronic hurry, do not communicate, and the last one that was out to troubleshoot an overcurrent warning was downright rude and demeaning to my wife. She called me after he left and I had to call and confront him about his demeanor. To his credit, he admitted to treating her poorly and apologized, but I made it clear that if he treated my wife that way again I'd drive straight to Indianapolis and have a face-to-face with him and his boss. Takes a lot to get me to that place, but he was very efficient at it....

The cover and sensor are in and operational - I found my way through the same process by experimentation. It does work as advertised, but we still have the overcurrent warnings, which they have no idea how to resolve... Hopefully you have a better experience with them - I'm feeling like we may have made a mistake in choosing them.

-Wes
Click to expand...
Your posts have been very helpful to read. I am a first time pool owner and the pool was already present when we moved. We have an auto cover, and the salt cell has a "C" whether it is open or closed, and I am unable to adjust the amount higher than 50%. Is this a simple fix? setting the open and close again maybe?
 

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wgipe said:
It does work as advertised, but we still have the overcurrent warnings, which they have no idea how to resolve.
Click to expand...
Check the voltage and current to see what they are.

Overcurrent indicates that the cover is not running smoothly and it might be binding or otherwise overstressed.

Check the motor label current rating to see what the maximum current should be.

Does the overcurrent happen on opening or closing or both.

Measure the current for the full opening and the full closing to see what the amps are the entire way and if they are higher at a specific point.

Does the cover have an autostop at full open and full closed?
 
JamesW said:
Check the voltage and current to see what they are.

Overcurrent indicates that the cover is not running smoothly and it might be binding or otherwise overstressed.

Check the motor label current rating to see what the maximum current should be.

Does the overcurrent happen on opening or closing or both.

Measure the current for the full opening and the full closing to see what the amps are the entire way and if they are higher at a specific point.

Does the cover have an autostop at full open and full closed?
Click to expand...

This was finally resolved when they shipped me the new version of their touch pad early this spring. It will still go to overcurrent if you hold the open or close button too long - which makes sense to me as there are no limit switches. Full open and full close are calculated by the controller with time and current draw through a calibration process. The new cover controller has a proper screen which displays current draw in service mode where I can see that it draws around 10-12 amps max, which according to the install manual is normal for my size cover.
 
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jewel2515 said:
Your posts have been very helpful to read. I am a first time pool owner and the pool was already present when we moved. We have an auto cover, and the salt cell has a "C" whether it is open or closed, and I am unable to adjust the amount higher than 50%. Is this a simple fix? setting the open and close again maybe?
Click to expand...
Glad they helped you! I have an IC-40, which is a completely different control system, so I don't know for sure. All of my lockout and cover closed/open functions are controlled at the IntelliCenter thorugh a cover interface board. Sorry I can't be more help on this one. I can tell you that I resolved my own issues just through pure determination in talking to the Pentair support line and not taking no for an answer when they tried to tell me they didn't know - I just kept asking for someone who did and telling them I would hold until they put them on the phone....eventually I got to someone who knew what the heck they were doing. Sorry you're going through this!!
 
wgipe said:
Glad they helped you! I have an IC-40, which is a completely different control system, so I don't know for sure. All of my lockout and cover closed/open functions are controlled at the IntelliCenter thorugh a cover interface board. Sorry I can't be more help on this one. I can tell you that I resolved my own issues just through pure determination in talking to the Pentair support line and not taking no for an answer when they tried to tell me they didn't know - I just kept asking for someone who did and telling them I would hold until they put them on the phone....eventually I got to someone who knew what the heck they were doing. Sorry you're going through this!!
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
wgipe said:
Glad they helped you! I have an IC-40, which is a completely different control system, so I don't know for sure. All of my lockout and cover closed/open functions are controlled at the IntelliCenter thorugh a cover interface board. Sorry I can't be more help on this one. I can tell you that I resolved my own issues just through pure determination in talking to the Pentair support line and not taking no for an answer when they tried to tell me they didn't know - I just kept asking for someone who did and telling them I would hold until they put them on the phone....eventually I got to someone who knew what the heck they were doing. Sorry you're going through this!!
Click to expand...
Can you post a photo of your control board and the sensor?
 

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