"easy" touch system has me stumped... pool/spa valve logic?

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whackit

Member
May 25, 2019
14
Los Angeles
Hello all.

First post from a long time lurker. I have been programming my easy touch system which has been anything but easy. I have computer and automation programming experience and this system is beyond illogical.

I am trying to use 'features' to drive a low speed spa cleaning schedule. We have a completely separate spa with no spillway and it needs to run for an hour or so a day. I have figured out how to program most things except for the life of me I cannot determine what drives the valve logic to switch between pool and spa. Its it tied to the names? EG "Spa Low" or "Spa High" etc?

Also what is the route to getting firmware updated? It seems like I am running an old system even though it is a new unit (2.40).

Thank YOU!
 
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Welcome to the forum!
I take it you do not have Screenlogic. I don't either and am made fun of all the time ........

Spillway is the mode to pull water from the pool and send it to the spa.

Your firmware cannot be updated without a special interface. That is a downside of the ET. The new Intellicenter can be updated over the internet.

I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.
 
I assume you have the proper valve actuators to switch between Pool and Spa modes.

What you need is not a "Feature," it's a "Schedule."

Menu > Schedules > Spa. Create a schedule which doesn't conflict with your Pool schedule.
 
Rocket J Squirrel said:
Menu > Schedules > Spa. Create a schedule which doesn't conflict with your Pool schedule.
Click to expand...
Problem with that it will also start the heater and only circulate the water in the spa. Spillway does not start the heater and pulls from the pool to the spa.
 
W,

F/W can't be updated by the normal person... Takes a Pentair Tech or at least the right hardware...

If your spa uses the same pump and filter, then the EasyTouch has two pre-programmed valves that do the switching.. The Intake valve and the Return valve..

In the Pool mode, water moves from the the Pool through the pump and filter and back to your Pool... In the Spa mode, water moves from the Spa through the pump and filter and back to your Spa...

This of course depends on if you have the Pool and Spa unit or if you have the Pool or Spa unit.. What Specific P/N EasyTouch do you have ???

If you have a separate plumbing for the spa, then you bought the wrong system..

If your spa does NOT spillover into your pool, you never want to use the Spillway function... otherwise things are going to get wet.

Tell us more... If you are trying to use a Feature circuit to control speed, you need to have either a 2-speed pump or a VS pump... Tell us specifically what pump you have.

And... anyone that does not have ScreenLogic has serious mental issues... :stirpot: :mrgreen:

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Wow. Thanks for all the fast responses.

1. We will have screen logic. This is a renovation that won't be complete for a few more months and for various reasons it's not practical to install the screen logic right now. We would like to have the pool equipment running properly and thought that this was not a big ask from the system! I guess I can get this in early if need be but there is not proper networking in yet.

2. I don't have the specific pump model number with me now but it is new. VSF model 3hp.

3. I can figure out how to schedule the basics... my main problem is that I want to run a low speed clean cycle in the spa only with no heat. The Easy touch unit I have is set up with valve actuators on intake and return and functions correctly so I'm assuming I have the correct easy touch panel (it came as a package with the valves).

4. It seems as though using 'features' is the correct way to set up various different speed settings for the pump. I just cant figure what defines the valve logic. EG I can figure out how to create a feature that sets the pump to 1200rpm and then schedule that feature... what I cannot figure out is how to define WHERE the feature is occurring - pool or spa - and how to make actuators change accordingly.
 
Go to Circuit Names. Select one of them for Spillway.
Go to Schedule. Schedule that circuit, now named Spillway.
Go to Pump, Speeds, and select the Speed you want for Spillway.

Hope that works --
 
To be clear... I do not have a spillway. The spa is isolated from the pool. So the valve logic for the spillway will just dump a lot of water on the ground ; ). What I want is the spa circuit to run at low speed with no heat on a schedule...
 

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And if you use the SPA mode, the heater will run. Unless you run the speed low enough that the heater pressure switch will not let it run.
 
Pool and spa water don't mix... It's an old setup. Thus I need to run a low speed cleaning cycle in the spa! Soooo.... I guess I could define the SPA setting as low speed and then have a feature which will bump the speed and crank the heat?

It is inconceivable to me how this system was defined... In even the simplest control systems you just need to define the state logic of all the components and schedule... eg - Heat ON. Valves OPEN. Pump ON. I have designed complex automation systems with multiple sensors and parameters that anyone could program in the first 10 minutes... I have no idea how they arrived at the insanity that is easy touch.
 
Wackit..

Do NOT do what Marty has suggested.. His post would be exactly what you need to do IF your spa had a spillover into the pool.. If you use the spillway function, it will take water from your pool and return it to your spa... this will result in the spa filling up and spilling over into whatever is around your non-spillover spa.....

You just need to set up two feature circuits... call them Spa Low and Spa High.. Here is why ScreenLogic is so great.. You would set the speed the same way I have Skim High and Skim low set up in the following ScreenLogic set up page..

Heater Speed.PNG

Heater Speed.PNG


Then set up a schedule for Spa Low and Spa High and as part of the schedule you can tell the system if you want the heat on or not... and at what temperature,,

Schedules.PNG

Schedules.PNG


Please let me know if this does not make sense.. If not, I'll walk you through it..

Jim R.
 
No.. The Intake and Return valves have a fixed setting.. When in the Pool mode, the valves are set to suck water from the pool and return water to the pool... When in the Spa mode the valves rotate 180 degrees and suck water from the spa and return the water to the Spa..

You can schedule Spa to run from 7 pm until 9 pm and set the heat off or on and can set the set point to whatever you want. You can also set the pump to run at whatever speed you want when in the Spa mode... Let's say 2500 RPM. Then you could have a Feature circuit that you call whatever you want but say you call it Spa high.. And set the pump to run that circuit at 3000.

When you go to the Spa mode, the valve would rotate and the pump would run at 2500 RPM.. if you then selected the "Spa high" feature circuit, the pump would speed up to 3000..

Keep in mind the pump will use the highest of any inputs.. so if Spa is on at 2500 and the Spa high is on at 3000 it will always go to 3000, if you shut off Spa high it will go back to 2500..

Circuit "Names" are just that.. names that you call something.. You can call a circuit "Go fly a kite"... it does not care it is just a name that you can remember.

Circuit "Function" will cause circuits to do certain things.. but most of the time leaving them at Generic is the best option..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
I don/t want to confuse things but you said you're running 2.40... did you mean 2.140? (2.40 doesn't exist yet afaik)... go to menu > diagnostics > software rev. 2.160 is the latest, so if you're at 2.140 you're not that far off.
-Tom
 
Okay.. So just so I understand the overall logic (or lack thereof)... I cannot call a feature directly (via schedule or a button)? So I need to set the pool to switch to spa (or pool) and then apply the feature to that to make any changes?
 
W,

Kind of... The system was designed around the idea that you would always be in either the pool mode or the spa mode.. If you think about it why would you not???

You can if you want, just schedule a Feature circuit... You basically have a set of Circuits... Pool, Spa, Aux 1, 2, 3 (and 4 thru 7 if you have an ET8), plus Feature circuits 1 thru 8... The way the system works is that you schedule, or turn on "circuits"... As an example you can turn on Aux 1 by schedule or by pushing the button on the panel or by pushing an icon in ScreenLogic.. You can name it "Aux 1" or you can name it "Pool Lights" or whatever you want.. You can turn a circuit on all by itself if you want, but generally it makes sense to take advantage of how the system works.. Another example.. You schedule the Pool mode to run from 7 am until 7 pm.. You set the pump speed in the pump speed menu at 1000 RPM... then at say at 10 am until 11 am you want to run the waterfall.. You would set up a circuit (any circuit) but let's use Feature #1 and we are going to call it "Waterfall" so we can remember it.. We then set up the Waterfall circuit to turn on valve A and we set the pump speed page to 2800 RPM when the waterfall circuit is turned on.. At this point, if you turn on Feature # 1 (now named "waterfall", valve A will turn to allow water to flow to the waterfall, and the pump will increase speed to 2800.. At 11 am the circuit will turn off and the valve will rotate back to home and the pump will drop back to a 1000 RPM...

You can have a total of 12 schedules

Look at this ScreenLogic page and see if you can understand how the Circuit is related to the Circuit Name, which is related to the Circuit Function..

View media item 1964
Please let me know if that does not make sense..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
W,

Sounds like a plan to me... Using ScreenLogic makes programming much easier and operation more like fun.. I only use my PC to program as it shows better pages and you can see more on the same page.. Phones are ok for control, but suck for programming..

Jim R.
 

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