How does SWG get salt level reading?

[uxbridgechris]

Taylor drop test says I have 2000ppm of salt in pool. Just plugged in swg for the first time this season and it says 3600ppm. I kinda think that was the reading last fall before I drained half the pool.
To give me a better understanding of how things work, does it take a certain amount of time (like 1 hour) for the SWG to sense correct salt level? Also, what part of the SWG takes the actual reading? Something built into the flow switch it the salt cell itself? Thanks.

 

[Jimrahbe]

U,

Most SWCG's run a small electrical current through the water and measure the amount of current flow. The more salt in the water the more the current will be. They use that info to calculate the salt level.. Some manufactures do a better job on this than others.. I would never, ever trust the salt level that the SWCG shows.. It may be correct, but I always confirm with a salt test kit..

Jim R.

 

[JamesW]

The Aquarite has an average salinity reading and an instant salinity reading.

The first number in the display is the average salinity and it will be the same as the previous average salinity reading.

The instant salinity reading is in the diagnostic readings and it has a - in front of the number.

What are all of the diagnostic readings?

The aquarite uses the power usage of the cell to determine the salinity.

The software knows how much power the cell uses at different combinations of temperature and salinity.

So, if it knows the temperature and power usage, it can calculate the salinity.

 

[uxbridgechris]

Today I added 80 pounds of salt The pool Calculator told me that’s how much I needed to reach 3500ppm. The secondary readout on the aqua rite says 3700ppm. The first readout still says 3600 but from my research today I learned that is a 24 hour average. Thanks you.

 

[JamesW]

The display readings should look something like this:

Average Salt Level- 2600
Temperature- 80
Cell Voltage- 26.3
Cell Amperage- 5.30
Desired Output- 100P
Instant Salt Level- -2500
Program Code- AL-0
Main Board Revision- r 1.59
Cell Size- t-15

Check the instant salinity for the current reading.

 

[uxbridgechris]

Yes, So in my case the "Average Salt Level" of 3600 was the average over the last 24 hours of run time (Fall of 2018)
My salt was 2000 ppm according to Taylor drop test this morning then I added 80 pounds. Now it is 3700 according to instant salt level on AquaRite and 3200 according to Taylor drop test.

Average Salt Level- 3600
Temperature- 65
Cell Voltage- 27.00
Cell Amperage- 4.44
Desired Output- 70P
Instant Salt Level- -3700
Program Code- AL-0
Main Board Revision- r 1.59
Cell Size- t-9

 

[JamesW]

Ok, it looks like things are stabilizing.

The salt might not be fully mixed in yet.

 

[Jbrillo]

I'm a newbie, so correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it just make sense to go by whatever your SWG says even if it may not be accurate? After all, the SWG is using it's calculated value to operate. Please feel free to enlighten me.

 

[mknauss]

The issue is the salinity the SWCG reports starts to get really incorrect when the cell, or in some cases another component, start to go bad. If you did not test the real salinity, you would start adding salt. And you did not need to.

 

[uxbridgechris]

I will give it a day or so then calibrate my Aquarite to match actual salt readings. Here is a video showing how. (Hayward only)

 

[JamesW]

For your situation, there's no reason to update the average salinity unless it was way off.

The average salinity is a rolling average of the last few instant salinity readings.

 

[uxbridgechris]

Ok thanks james

 

[Jbrillo]

The issue is the salinity the SWCG reports starts to get really incorrect when the cell, or in some cases another component, start to go bad. If you did not test the real salinity, you would start adding salt. And you did not need to.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense.