How does Aqualink RS Manage Solar and Gas Heating

[hjd11]

BACKGROUND
I installed a new solar temperature sensor on my roof and I wanted to check if it is working properly on my Aqualink RS 2 system. There is no direct method to display Solar Temp but there is an indirected method using a DIP Switch that can be used as I describe below. It took me quite a while to figure this out, so I hope this procure will be helpful to other fellow pool maintainers.
PROCEDURE

• Start the Aqualink Phone App and record the Air Temp setting.
• Turn off power to the Aqualink controller. This is required because DIP switches are only sampled during initialization.
• Turn on S1 Dip Switch #5 which turns on the Factory Adjustment mode as described on Page 45 of the Aqualink RS Installation Manual. This disables any Temperature Delays and Displays Solar Temperature.
• Turn on power to the controller and wait a few minutes while the system initializes.
• From the Aqualink Phone App select the WEB page and then select the Status icon on the bottom of the Home Page.
• The last line on the Status Page should read “Status: 0B”. This indicates the system is in the Factory Adjustment Mode and Solar Temp is now displayed instead of Air Temp on both the App and Web Home Pages.
• Compare the Solar Temp reading with the Air Temp reading you previously recorded. They should be within a couple of degrees if they are both in direct sunlight. If one of them is in the shade then there will be a larger difference but the two values should be in the same ball park if the Solar Sensor is working properly.
• After you have checked the Solar Sensor you need to put the Aqualink system back into the normal configuration mode by reversing the previous steps: Turn off power, turn off the S1 Dip Switch #5, and turn power back on.
• You can check that you are back into normal mode by verifying that the “Status: 0B” is not present in the WEB page Status display.

RECOMMENDATION
I recommend that the Aqualink manufacturer modify the Firmware and Phone App software to always display Solar Temp along with Air and Water Temperature.
If this is too big of an interface and/or display change, then I recommend that they make the modification to display Solar Temp in the place of Water Temp whenever the Pump is off.

 

[hjd11]

BACKGROUND
I just had a new In-ground Pool installed (no Spa) with the Aqualink RS 2 System that I control with my iPhone App. I also installed a Solar Heating system with a Solar Temp sensor on my roof including a Natural Gas Heater. I am trying to figure out how the controller manages pool heating using my Solar and Gas heater with Solar Priority selected and both Temp1 and Temp2 set to valid values.

When I select Temp1 or Temp2, I expected Aqualink to select solar heating first (if Solar Temp is 5 deg greater than water temp) and then Gas heating if Solar Temp cannot bring water temperature to the respective set point. However, this is not the case, the user MUST select Solar Heat to start solar heating.

QUESTIONS

• This implies that Solar Priority only comes into play if the user selects both Solar Heating AND either Temp1 or Temp2 (which control the Gas Heater). Otherwise, the Solar and Gas heater work independently as long as the pump is on. Is that correct?
• If the user selects Solar Heating only, then the controller will only heat the pool using the Solar Panels. So, what temperature Set Point does the controller use since neither Temp1 nor Temp2 were selected?

 

[Rinzai]

I have a similar question, would love to know the answer to these questions.

 

[MSchutzer]

I'll take a shot at this with the caveat that I have Aqualink RS P&S version so the temperature labels on my system are different.

The solar heat and the gas heater (in my system labeled as Pool heat) are treated as two different heaters that need to be enabled separately. In my system the temperatures are labeled Pool temp and Spa temp, in your system the temps are labeled temp1 and temp2 where temp1 must be greater than temp2.

Let me start by talking about how the solar heat works. When Solar heat is enabled the Jandy diverter valve assigned to the solar heater will activate when the following conditions are met; 1) The filter/pump is active, 2) The solar temp sensor is at least 5 degrees above the current water temperature, and 3) The current water temperature is less than the set point temperature (Pool temp / Spa temp, or in your case temp1 / temp2).

I run my system with Solar heat on all the time the pump is filtering. When there is sufficient sun on the panels the Jandy valve activates (and the VSP pump changes to the solar speed setting) and the pool or spa heats via the panels. If the sun goes down, it gets windy, cloudy, or anything else that causes the solar temp sensor not to be 5 degrees warmer than the water the Jandy diverter valve will close (and the VSP pump speed drops back to the filter speed). The Jandy valve will cycle on and off during the day when the conditions for solar heating are met.

There should be two temperature settings on your system (temp1 and temp2) and a separate enable for Solar heat and gas heat. On your RS panel the service button is labeled Heater, in the web interface I think (?) this button should be called Pool heat, but it might be labeled temp1(?). Maybe @PoolGate can clarify what the default label for heater is called on the web interface of the pool or Spa only system. Even if the gas heater enable is also labeled temp1, there are two separate things here, the heater enable, and the temperature set point.

When you activate the Gas heater it will heat the pool to the setpoint, either temp1 or temp2 depending on which one is set.

Now to your actual question, what is solar priority? First I'll say that this is my understanding of how it works as I just run solar for the pool and only use the gas heater for the Spa.

So here goes, if you have activated BOTH Solar heat and Pool heat (or in your case Heater) then the Solar heat will be given priority and will activate as long as the three conditions for activation are met. If the Solar heat cannot meet the demand (Solar temp sensor too cold) then the gas heater will take over to bring the pool to temperature.

In the case of a Pool/Spa combo system such as mine the Solar priority function is only available when Pool heat is selected, and not available for Spa heat. On the Pool / Spa combo systems there are two buttons Pool heat and Spa heat that activate the heater to the pool temp and spa temp settings respectively. I don't know if the pool or spa only systems have the corresponding two heat enable settings? I also don't know if your system has a similar restriction that Solar Priority is only valid for one of the temp settings. I would guess that it would be valid for temp1 as that is the higher temp who's default is 80 degrees.

As a side note while the solar priority function isn't support with the SPA heat setting, if it happens to be a hot summer day I can run the Solar heat and set the temp to Spa temp and heat the spa to temp with just the Solar heat. I just leave the Spa heat (gas heater) function off.

The various one touch macro settings in the web interface allow you to configure various combinations of Solar heat, regular heater, or both and assign the functions to a one touch button. These buttons can also be added to a schedule if you want to turn on multiple things at once.

Jandy's documentation is not the greatest at explaining this stuff and you just have to experiment with your system to verify how it works.

I hope this helps.

 

[hjd11]

MSchutzer above did a good job of describing how Aqualink System controls the Solar and Gas temperature heating funtions. I did some more testing and research also (including talking to Jandy) and came up with the following rules how Aqualink RS 2.0 System controls the pool Solar and Natural Gas heaters (Solar is controlled via a Jandy Valve Actuator (JVA)). My Aqualink RS 2.0 “System” includes both the Aqualink RS Controller and Phone App. The rules can be summarized based on the following assumptions:

• The Air, Water and Solar sensors are connected and produce valid temperature readings.
• The Temp1 and Temp2 (or Pool Temp and Spa Temp if you have a Pool/Spa combination) are set to valid temperature settings.
• The Pool Pump is on. When Solar is selected, the System defaults the Variable Speed Pump to Speed 7.

SOLAR/GAS RULES

• If Temp1 or Temp2 is selected and Solar Heat is NOT selected, then the System uses the Gas Heater to reach the respective temperature set point.
• If Temp1 and Temp2 are NOT selected and Solar Heating is selected, then the System uses Solar to reach the Temp1 set point. Solar is only invoked if the Solar Temp is 5 deg above the water temperature. If not, no heating will take place.
• If Temp1 or Temp2 is selected AND Solar Heating is also selected, then the Solar Priority setting comes into play as described below:
• If Solar Priority is set, then the System will first use Solar to reach the respective temperature set point as long as solar temp is 5 deg higher than water temp. If not, the System will use the Gas heater instead.
• If Solar Priority is NOT set, then the System will use both the Solar AND Gas heater simultaneously to reach the respective temperature set point. If solar temp is not 5 deg above water temp, then the System will only use the Gas Heater (this is how my System operated). The System is plumbed so that the Solar JVA is always ahead of the Gas Heater. If the System activates both the Solar and Gas Heaters, the Gas Heater may be delayed for a short period of time while the air is getting purged from the Solar collectors and piping. The Gas Heater only fires up if there is sufficient water flow.

 

[MSchutzer]

I will add that if you use a floating bubble cover you will likely find that Solar alone will heat your pool from the April to mid-October time frame. My solar system is about 75% of the square footage of the pool and with solar alone my pool will exceed 90 degrees from mid April to the beginning of October. You're in southern California in a warmer climate than I am so your system should do at least as good if not better.

A bubble cover really is a must to keep the day's solar heat gain in at nights.

With Solar heat alone the pool will be a few degrees cooler in the morning (I loose 2 to 3 degrees overnight with the cover on) and then the temperature will recover by mid day or so. Earlier and later in the season the Solar will have to be actively heating longer to maintain the temp.

If you plan to use both Solar and Gas heat you may want to consider the timing that you plan to use the pool. If you generally use the pool later in the afternoon you may want schedule your Gas heat to be active an hour or two before you use the pool. Leave Solar heat active all the time as there's no downside to doing that. If you schedule your gas heater later in the day you give the Solar Heat a chance to recover the pool back to temperature before you spend money for the gas heater.

This falls apart when early and late in the season, but in our climate you shouldn't need the gas heater much from April to October.

I hope this helps,

Mark

 

[videowaffle]

Thanks Both for the info on this,
It is a bit of a shame that they don't let people program some kind of logic based on their solar sensor readings,
seems like such an easy thing to do.