Does anyone have an iCHLOR Pentair SWG? Pool guy seemed confused - I need to cut power daily to the pump and SWG?

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Skenn81

Skenn81

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2018
372
Florida
I am getting work done on my pool and one of the guys out with the iCHLOR system doing the install says there is no flow senor on this unit and if there is power going to it then it will run 24/7 and never shut off and burn itself out. He packed up and said he is going to talk to the pool company and say I need to hardwire my Pentair Intelliflow to a old fashioned on/off timer and it will shut off and cut all power to keep the iCHLOR from breaking.

Does this seem right? If I have to shut all power off I am going to be losing my time settings on the pump daily and having the variable speed pump shut down doesn't make any sense to me. I thought these SWG things are supposed to sense water flowing through them and if it's empty it wont be trying to make salt out of thin air.

Is something wrong here or does this SWG really need power to be cut off daily?

I see this right in the manual "The Power Center is connected with the pool circulation pump electrical source so that the electrocyclic cell only operates when the pool primp is on" I never turn my pump "off", if this doesnt have a flow sensor this sounds like I made a terrible and expensive mistake.
 
You are fine. See page 18 in the iChlor manual. Have them connect the iChlor with your IntelliFlo using a RS-485 cable...


SmartSense Flow Detection: Connecting the iChlor SCG to an IntelliFlo pump (stand-alone mode only)

SmartSense™ Flow Detection technology allows the connection of an IntelliFlo® Variable Speed Pump via RS-485
communication, to an iChlor® SCG power center while in stand-alone mode, by simply attaching the RS-485 cable
from the pump, to the RS-485 connector located in the iChlor Power Center (see iChlor Power Center Wiring Diagram
at the bottom of the next page).

SmartSense is a safety feature that will continually monitor the status of the IntelliFlo pump before generating chlorine.

Note: Flow detection is only available when the iChlor is installed alongside a PC100 Power Center (P/N 520556).
 
Yes, you should have been given the black cable that plugs into the pump. It came with the pump.
 
Ah, then I have no idea where that is as the pump was installed a handful of years ago and I must have lost that cord as I didn't kno what I would ever use it for.

Any options to getting a new one?
 
Okay, is that cable a dual or quad threaded cable? On the Power Center the control board says (in the picture) black, green, yellow red. On the pictures for the 350122 cable, it looks like there are only two different colored wires? I just see yellow and green, if thats all that's needed I am all good.
 
Examine the connector on the side of the pump. While you only need to connect to two pins you need the 350122 cable to plug into the pump socket.
 
Well look at this..

PXL_20210921_161555696.jpg

PXL_20210921_161600995.jpg

I have no idea how I suddenly remembered this, just came to me in a moment of clarity. This is the cable, right? Same part number and everything. It's been sitting on the top shelf of a closer in the garage for years and I forgot it existed until about 15 minutes ago when the thought of a wrapped up cable that I had no idea what it was for popped into my mind.

If this really is it I am highly amused that I pulled this from the back of my mind just now.
 
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Skenn81 said:
one of the guys out with the iCHLOR system doing the install says there is no flow sensor on this unit and if there is power going to it then it will run 24/7 and never shut off and burn itself out.
Click to expand...
1632250737302.png

It has a flow switch.

The smart sense will coordinate with an Intelliflo pump to avoid running when the pump is off.

I think that you only need to connect the green and yellow wires and not the red and black.

1632250958856.png

If there was no smartsense, you would put the SWG on a timer and the pump would still receive power all the time.

You would just set the timer for the SWG to run only during the scheduled run time of the pump.
 
Also, even if the pump runs 24/7 and the unit is powered 24/7, it does not produce chlorine the entire time.

It run on a percentage.

For example, at 20%, it will run for 20 minutes per 100 minutes and it will be off for 80 minutes per 100 minutes.

So, it would not "run 24/7 and never shut off and burn itself out."
 
Okay thanks for those videos, the first one is great!

So with the communications set up, do I need a timer for the salt system like the setup has? If my pump is on 24/7, not running but never powered down, do I ever need to fully turn the salt system off? If the flow detection is working correctly and its flickering red and green as indicated, then do I need the salt system to be powered down?
 
The SWG has a flow switch.

You need two safeties.

The smartsense is the second safety, so you do not need a timer.

Just power the SWG and Intelliflo all the time and it will be fine.

You can put the pump on any schedule you want.
 
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