Going from Intelliflo VSP w/ Solartouch, to intelliflo3 with Solartouch

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J

jbarrington

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Jun 15, 2016
14
South Chesterfield, Virginia
Backstory:
I had a Pentair Intelliflo VSP that ran good. Then I had a roof-mount solar pool heater installed, that came with a Pentair Solartouch controller. A month ago, my pump stopped working, and this meant I had to purchase a new pump. There was a communication cable that ran from the Solartouch, to the Intelliflo, and connected to an external plug. The cable only uses the green and yellow wires to make the communication happen. Then you perpormed all of your programming changes to enable the Solartouch to talk with the Intelliflo pump. Unfortunately, it appears that Pentair has stopped making the Intelliflo, and gone with a newer model called the Intelliflow3, and that newer version doesn't not come with the simple external plug.

Inside the cover, of course there is the 240v power hook-up, but on the opposite side there looks to be 4 low-voltage electrical connections, along with the area to install the optional I/O board. I went ahead and purchased the I/O board and installed it.

My question/problem:
I know that I will probably need to use those same green and yellow wires that run from the solartouch controller, but which 2 posts of the low voltage side of the I/O board, for the Intelliflo3, would I use? Pentair instructions appear to be very sparse, when it comes to the low voltage side of the I/O board, and I have yet to be able to find any decent hints towards how to do this. Thanks!
 
After a month of internet searching, and as soon as I posted my question on here, I finally located where I'm suppose to connect both the green wire, and the yellow wire, onto the Intelliflo3. BTW, it turns out that I really don't need the optional I/O board. There's already a small, 4 connection point that's at the same area beside where the I/O board pushes in and connects to the pump.

The Solartouch controller, and the Intelliflo3 now appear to be communicating. However, I now have to figure out the correct settings that allow the solartouch to control the pump. Evidentially, the old solartouch settings do not play well with the new pump. It starts up the new pump, runs for a few seconds, and then turns the pump back off.
 
When my Pentair Intelliflo unfortunately stopped working, I went to try to purchase another one, only to find out that it was upgraded to the Intelliflow3, along with controlling it by a phone app. Initially, I thought that was pretty cool. After I unpacked it and was making the electrical connections, I noticed there was no longer an external port to connect the Solartouch, and it seemed to be implied that I might need the optional I/O board. However, I later realized that the I/O board is not needed, and you connect the green wire, and the yellow wire, the comes from the Solartouch, and connect them on the low voltage 4 post connectors, using the two center ones. I hooked those two wires in the same manner as described within the installation manual.

I strongly feel that there is some sort of communication going on between the Intelliflo3 and the solartouch, but there must be some wrong setting either within the Solartouch, or the Intelliflo3.

Right now, within the Pentair app that controls and sets the pump, there are 4 address settings for the pump, located within the advance settings. When I have the address set on any number between 2-4, the Intelliflo3 pump runs with no issues. But, when I change the address setting to 1, the pump stops running and continuously proceeds to try and start the pump for a second, and then stops. I allowed this to happen for a short bit, before I switch the address setting, back to 2-4. I also have to switch my Solartouch back into manual, so that I can open back up my actuator, so that I can heat my pool.

Currently, I feel that I might be running out of options, so my current list of thoughts are possibly:
1. There's still some sort of setting(s) that's still set incorrectly, either in the Solartouch, or Intelliflo3
2. The positions of both the green wire and yellow wire could be shown incorrectly and need to be switched.
3. I have the settings and wires correctly, but there's actually something wrong with either my Intelliflo3, or the Solartouch.

I did attempt to reach out to the solar company that installed my roof panels, but as soon as they heard that I have the Intelliflo3 pump, they indicated that they don't know anything about this new line of Pentair pumps, so I'm on my own with trying to figure this out.

I have no issues sharing any info towards solving this (if I do), and I hope there are others that will share anything they learn.
 
The intelliFlo3 has the same RS485 connections. See page 4 of your installation manual.
For your set up, you did not need the i/o add on. See if you can return it.
 
I've double checked both the green wire, and the yellow wire, within both the Intelliflo3 pump, and the Solartouch controller. Both wires, at each location end, are secured down correctly, so unless one wire or the other wire is broken, that shouldn't be the issue. Also, whenever I select address #1, within the advanced menu of the Pentair phone app, the pump shuts down, and the solartouch shows a communication loss on the solartouch display. Then, every 10 seconds or so, the solartouch display clears it's error, and then it tries to re-start the pump for a fraction of a second, but throws up the same communication lost display.

Tomorrow, I will directly watch the LED indicator buttons on the pump, so see how it lights up during "Automation," when I set the address back down to one.

I'm also strongly considering reaching out to Pentair. tomorrow.
 
Ok, after a few days of waiting, I finally heard from a Pentair tech this afternoon. He states,

"...At this point in time, the IF3 is not yet compatible with the solar touch panel. The IF3 currently doesn't know what to do with the external control programs sent by the Solartouch. We are still working on the firmware update to get the IF3 to accept input from the solartouch. No ETA is available "

So, I'll just run my Solartouch in manual, until a firmware update can be generated. I have no choice.

I did sent the rep a reply email. I asked if any potential firmware updates were going to be pushed through our wifi's, or whether the owners would need to install the updates, themselves. Since I can't recall seeing a firmware update option (or I probably missed it), I get the sense that any update(s) will be pushed. However, I would hope that Pentair will have a way to notified owners that their Intelliflo3 can now talk to Solartouch.

Also, if I do get some sort of installed update (pushed, or self installed), I'll be sire to let everyone know. In case I never receive an upgrade notice, I hope someone will post that an upgrade does exist, and a link.
 
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I just received the secondary response from Pentair tech support. The follow-up question that I had was about how any future firmware updates would be delivered, whether they would be pushed to the pumps over wifi, or if the user/owner would need to install it manually. They replied, "The update will be sent to the pump itself and will update on its own."

Again, I would hope that someone who reads these posts would state that they have noticed any pump firmware updates, in case others might have missed any update notification, so that they can get their solartouch's back into automation mode.
 
jbarrington said:
I just received the secondary response from Pentair tech support. The follow-up question that I had was about how any future firmware updates would be delivered, whether they would be pushed to the pumps over wifi, or if the user/owner would need to install it manually. They replied, "The update will be sent to the pump itself and will update on its own."

Again, I would hope that someone who reads these posts would state that they have noticed any pump firmware updates, in case others might have missed any update notification, so that they can get their solartouch's back into automation mode.
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Has this been resolved?
 
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