Doheny's Discovery, S200, Active20, Triton owners club

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S/w Maytronics yesterday. They stated they require refurbished models to be sent back to them. This rep said they don't authorize repairs at local dealers.

Got c/b from Marina Pool Spa & Patio. Carry new S200 for $659 2 yr warranty. No shipping handling fees or tax. Margaret, rep., stated in her many years of experience they units can be have warranty work handled by sending back to Maytronics, and local shops. She stated she is a local shop and she stated Maytronics states that shops are to work on units whether purchased there or nor.

Decided to get the S200 from Marina. Paying $60 more for a 2nd yr of warranty vs. $599 at Pool Partz for a refurbished A20 w/ a 1 yr warranty was worth it.

Can't wait to receive it.
 
Today I should be getting my S200. I know I should probably read the owner's manual, but I am short on patience and usually don't make the time to read manuals, hence I really just want to plop it in the water and let it go. But, I did take a sec. to read the warnings and cautions here (warnings and cautions

Warnings
Use the originally supplied power supply only
Ensure the electrical outlet is protected by a Residual Current Device (RCD/GFI) with a fixed rated residual current not exceeding 30mA.
Keep the power supply out of standing water
Position the power supply at least 3.5m/12ft away from the edge of the pool
Do not enter the pool while the Pool Cleaner is working
Unplug the power supply before servicing

Cautions
When not in use store the Pool Cleaner on the Caddy in a shaded area.

Use the Pool Cleaner in the following water conditions only:

Chlorine Max 4 ppm
pH 7.0 - 7.8
Temperature 6 – 34°C (43-93°F)
NaCl Maximum = 5000 ppm


Well, do you Maytronics owners strictly adhere to this? My chemistry is currently pH 7.8-7.9 (just added MA to bring down to 7.4-7.5), FC 9.5 (a little on the high side when my FC goal is 4-6; generally I shoot for a goal of FC 7 to be on the safer side; during the week I do daily chlorine additions which varies from 20-40 oz. and test weekly), CYA 30 (which dictates a target FC 4-6 for a non-salt water pool), CH 675, and a temp that usually ranges from 80-93 degrees at this time of year).

Any other key elements so I can just put it in pool and let it free?
 
My CYA is 80 and my FC is 12 right now and Gilligan is working away. If my FC drops below 6 I add bleach immediately. Ph was 8.0 but lowered it. Amd my water was 94. So, nope. :)
 
Wow. Ran a cycle. This thing is awesome. After the cycle checked the basket/filters. Really picks up a lot of the fine stuff that the Polaris couldn't. With the Polaris, sometimes I'd swim down to the bottom and move my hand/arm to create some movement to assess for leftover debris. I definitely saw a lot more residual w/ the Polaris versus now after one cycle of the S 200. Lastly, we are throwing around some names with our boys. Hopefully going to settle on something soon. I got to say, they were so excited/amazed. One of them just did not want to go to bed because he was enjoying watching it too much (glad I was not the only one deriving so much pleasure from watching it in action).

Read mixed comments on which filters to use. What's the general consensus? Our pool is generally pretty clean. Is one better for all around usage, versus another one for seasonal usage? Mine just came with the fine/non-pleated ones already installed, and a set of four pleated ones. I just ran the non-pleated so far and seem happy enough. Just want to use the filter that cleans well enough and needs less frequent maintenance.
 
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Yes, best pool helper ever. I use the mesh filters and it is plenty good. I did use the pleated filters for a week at the encouragement of members of the pleated filter club. They do catch more stuff. But, they are also more difficult to clean. Mine grabs little cedar elm leaves and I have to hose out each pleat. Which takes away many minutes of swim time!
 
Use Pleated or Mesh filter.

pooldv said:
Yes, best pool helper ever. I use the mesh filters and it is plenty good. I did use the pleated filters for a week at the encouragement of members of the pleated filter club. They do catch more stuff. But, they are also more difficult to clean. Mine grabs little cedar elm leaves and I have to hose out each pleat. Which takes away many minutes of swim time!
Click to expand...

My dolphin arrives today. One thought came to mind, seems to be a tradeoff here. Lets see what the dolphin users think.

1. Use the pleated filter and spend a few more minutes cleaning. And have a cleaner pool.
2. Or just use the mesh filter, and pool is less clean all the time. I would guess that much of the extra dirt would eventually end up in the filter, and cause you more filter cleanings, thus taking away from swim time.

Thoughts? Mesh or Pleated?
 
I have the integrated filter basket on my S300i that has the mesh screen as an insert so you get both. If your robot doesn't have that, then it is suggested you only use the pleated filter when there's no large debris in the water or else the pleated filter will get too easily clogged up.
 
My pool is much cleaner with the bot and the mesh filters than it ever was with the Pentair Legend II pressure cleaner. With the old pressure cleaner I could always brush up a little dust off the bottom of the pool. Now there is nothing on the bottom with just the mesh filters. Whatever fine particles are getting past the mesh filters probably end up in the filter but I doubt it is much.

Now that I think about it I have only cleaned the cartridges once this spring and it really didn't need it. I often need to clean them twice in the spring. And this was a messy spring with lots of rain. So, clearly Gilligan is adding serious value! I love him even more now. :)

This is Gilligan, my little buddy.
dbtgallery.php
 
Re: Use Pleated or Mesh filter.

The S300 and S300i (Active 30, Active30i), have both filtration options that work together. The fine and coarse can both be used together. Thats how I use mine and it works fantastic. Best of both worlds actually.
I think you purchased a 30i ? If so , you should be getting the dual filtration system.

The 200 (20) and under has both filter options, but they must be used either one or the other , not together like the 300 (30) and above .

BTW, you would NOT believe how much "algae" those pleated fine filters can trap .
We had a mild algae outbreak this summer while I was still dialing in my Stenner system (didnt full grasp how the "on", "off", and "auto" switch setting worked and accidentally switched the Stenner EconT to "off" instead of "auto" right before we went away for a long weekend.) :pale: :oops:Needless to say , our FC dropped to O, and we had some algae, and had to do a quick SLAM .
Those pleated fine filters picked up and held that algae until I washed them down. I could not believe how much "green" was washing out of those pleated filters ! :crazy: I am sure it helped considerably ridding most of the algae and speeding up the SLAM process !
 

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Pooldv, pool amateur, thanks for that info/input regarding your experiences with the water chemistry. Also, thanks to everyone and this "club." I am happy to now be an "official member" with our S200. These things are awesome. I'm like a kid with a new toy... it's great.

I agree with pooldv on the filters. I am not looking to spend more time cleaning the robot's pleated filters when the mesh filters (in just 2 runs) have cleaned more thoroughly than my Polaris 280 every could. The main reason is b/c the robot directly filters the water where as the Polaris 280 only vaccums. If it doesn't filter 100% of the stuff (pleated filters) but rather 99% of the stuff (mesh/non-pleated filters), that is still good enough b/c my pool water was already clean enough. When is clean enough, clean enough? I wash my pool cartridge filters 2x/yr.; spring and fall. Even if I use the mesh filters, I still imagine that my cartridges will be cleaner this fall vs. when I was using the Polaris 280. And, personally, I'd rather spend the time cleaning the pool filters thoroughly vs. having to spend extra time each week (or couple times per week) cleaning pleated filters for the S200. I will go off your experience pooldv and your 1 week trial w/ the pleated filters.

Also, Joyfulnoise/Matt, are these comments from the club owners or from Maytronics: "If your robot doesn't have that [mesh screen insert], then it is suggested you only use the pleated filter when there's no large debris in the water or else the pleated filter will get too easily clogged up"? I did not know the 300/300i series came with the mesh screen insert until yesterday when watching videos. That dual level filtration is cool, but I don't believe I need one.

And, after throwing many names around, our twins ultimately decided on Ghostlight. If you know Mater, then you know the Ghostlight. They saw the S200 work last night under the pool cover, and it was cool seeing the intermittent blue light. Instantly, the S200 became Ghostlight. Cheers to Ghostlight!
 
+1 to the pleated filters.

It's in my S300i thread but I had a self-inflicted DE filter burp into my pool. DE shot out of the returns for about 2-3secs but it was enough to turn perfectly clear water into ever-so-slightly hazy water. Dropped in Mr T and off he went. I ran two 2-1/2 hour cycles back to back in floor-only mode. When I pulled the filter baskets to rinse it out, grey water was pouring off the pleated filter. I went back to the spot on my rocks where I wash them off and sure enough, there's was dried DE all over them. Those filters are amazing at what they capture.
 
bbrock said:
Pooldv, pool amateur, thanks for that info/input regarding your experiences with the water chemistry. Also, thanks to everyone and this "club." I am happy to now be an "official member" with our S200. These things are awesome. I'm like a kid with a new toy... it's great.

I agree with pooldv on the filters. I am not looking to spend more time cleaning the robot's pleated filters when the mesh filters (in just 2 runs) have cleaned more thoroughly than my Polaris 280 every could. The main reason is b/c the robot directly filters the water where as the Polaris 280 only vaccums. If it doesn't filter 100% of the stuff (pleated filters) but rather 99% of the stuff (mesh/non-pleated filters), that is still good enough b/c my pool water was already clean enough. When is clean enough, clean enough? I wash my pool cartridge filters 2x/yr.; spring and fall. Even if I use the mesh filters, I still imagine that my cartridges will be cleaner this fall vs. when I was using the Polaris 280. And, personally, I'd rather spend the time cleaning the pool filters thoroughly vs. having to spend extra time each week (or couple times per week) cleaning pleated filters for the S200. I will go off your experience pooldv and your 1 week trial w/ the pleated filters.

Also, Joyfulnoise/Matt, are these comments from the club owners or from Maytronics: "If your robot doesn't have that [mesh screen insert], then it is suggested you only use the pleated filter when there's no large debris in the water or else the pleated filter will get too easily clogged up"? I did not know the 300/300i series came with the mesh screen insert until yesterday when watching videos. That dual level filtration is cool, but I don't believe I need one.

And, after throwing many names around, our twins ultimately decided on Ghostlight. If you know Mater, then you know the Ghostlight. They saw the S200 work last night under the pool cover, and it was cool seeing the intermittent blue light. Instantly, the S200 became Ghostlight. Cheers to Ghostlight!
Click to expand...

That a recommendation from the S200/S300 club. If you have lots of little leaves and visible debris, it will get jammed into the pleats and cut down the surface area enough to affect the flow of water into the robot.

As for Ghostlight, that's cool. Cool/Dumb feature on the S300i - you can use the phone app to select the color of the LED from blue, red or green. You can also change it from blinking to constant. Not sure why Maytronics felt that was a necessary feature, but it exists....
 
Now with the help of your Maytronics and the extra filtering of your pool water, have any of you dialed back how long you run your pool pump? Also, if you had a PB4-60 booster pump, what did you do with it? I replaced my impeller last week b/c even when the booster pump was off, I had a small drip/leak from it with just the pool pump running. After the impeller replacement, no more leak when the booster pump was off. I know water still runs through the dedicated pool return for the Polaris even when it is off, and this is fine so I don't have any stagnant water in that line. I have thought I could connect the impeller inlet hose directly to the booster pump return and that would solve it. I will post some pics later if it is not clear.
 
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Yup, I scaled my pump RPMs and run times A LOT! But I was using a suction cleaner prior to this and I left it in the pool all the time. So, in order to get it to move at all, I needed my VSP RPMs set above 2200rpm. Because of laziness, I just left that as my default POOL mode speed because I hated seeing the thing just jitter around on the bottom not doing anything useful if I lowered the RPMs. Nowadays, my POOL mode speed is set to 1700 RPM for chlorine production and then I use some very slow speeds for "slow skim" mode.

Switching to my robot has saved me a lot on electricity costs. I calculated it out in a post once but forgot where I put it....it was a substantial net savings in electrical costs.

As for the booster pump, I say ditch it and connect the two ends of the pressure return line with a valve. You can then unscrew all the pressure cleaner hardware at the pool return and maybe rig up some kind of simple fountain water feature or put a hose barb on it that's the right size for a pool noodle to connect to and let the kids have fun using a pool noodle as a flexible hose....my kids do that with our waterfall wall return.
 
I am like JoyfullNoise I leave the mesh in and the pleated filters, the mesh catches the big stuff the pleats catch all the little stuff. I can not believe the amount of dirt that gets through the mesh, I clean every few days except when on vacation then use timer so 7-8 days where I do not clean and it seems ok when I get back, biggest problem is twists in the line after 7 runs. I am going to try some of JoyfullNoises and thebombardier's suggestions as well as take back to store again, maybe I have a defective one. It seems to me I have been the most critical and think with a few tweaks this could be a fantastic piece but it does clean the pool and it does not take me that long to clean the pleated filters, but not quite as easy as on the Maytronics video. All in all if I had to make a decision again I would probably choose the Active 200 vs Active 300i that I have, but would also buy the screen insert maybe some of JoyfullNoise suggestions will sway me (I still have not had the time to try them). I wish a could demo other units to compare. Also someone said it hung up on shelf, I think that is common, I loaned this to a friend who has a few shelves and we found it on it's back several times, I believe it was because at it gets to the top it can't make the turn and has no floats to upright it when falling down. He eventually bought a model with floats and does not have this problem. This is a great thread with lots of info thanks everyone for your input.
 
Pleated only for me. We get a lot of fine dirt from the backside of the pool as the lawn goes right up to the coping. Heavy rain = lots of fine earth in the pool (white plaster super easy to see it all). Mesh wont catch it but the pleated gets it all. Takes me about 2 minutes to clean the basket and filters. I dont take the filters out of the basket. Just hose them down like you would a cartridge filter. Literally takes no time at all. I leave mine in the pool and let it run 3X a week. White plaster pool sparkles 24/7 thanks to TFP chemistry, the fine folks on this forum and the doheney discovery/S200/etc/etc/etc! Unbeatable combination hands down.
 
bmoreswim, I like the idea of listing the pb4-60 and Polaris 280 on Craigslist. I don't expect much, and if anything, may just have to give the booster away for nothing since I put back I returned the good/working impeller and put back the old one. So, I am selling it w/ a known leak and if anything I believe that the motor probably needs to be replaced. So, maybe list for $5-10; or free. It may just need to go into the landfill, but I wish I get pass it on to be reused/restored.

The Polaris 280 I maybe able to get a little more, but not expecting much. It does function properly although it need a top (Polaris K5) ~$38 and the screw to secure it (Polaris C40) ~$3-4. Never bother replacing these parts b/c they are cosmetic. It doesn't need a top to function properly.

Maybe I could list all, as is, starting at $100 on ebay. Or, perhaps that is optimistic. Even if sold at $100, shipping alone for all would be hefty.

Here is my system now. What do others do w/ their connections from the pump return and the pool cleaner return? Hard plumb it in? I think what I did and connecting one of the Polaris tube to the other works good enough/no leaks, and adequate pressure out of the cleaner return jet.

Untitled by B Brockman, on Flickr
 
I just recently bought a Triton PS Plus. I wish that I could say that this vacuum was working like the rest of yours posted on here. My issue is that when cleaning the pool that has dirt/dead algae, it will pick up the material and instead of collecting in the filter basket it will blow right out of the top jet/power stream. Has anyone had this problem???
It seems to me that maybe a seal is missing somewhere. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

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