IntelliCenter Programming Confusion

[SurpriseAdam]

I know I am a bit late to the party and I have read some other posts including the YouTube video and post found here: Intellicenter Feature Circuits v Pump Speed [solved] but configuring this system is still confusing using the web app and the mobile app.

Now, I am a 20 year IT Professional, everything from building large scale network infrastructure to software engineering and I have to say, the user interface is confusing as heck. Here's what I want to do. If someone can tell me if it is possible and how to go about it, I would appreciate it. As mentioned in my introduction post, my brother is a 20 year pool service and repair technician with his own business and he installed the panel for me but I want to learn on my own and not have to rely on him because he is very busy so any help is appreciated.

Design: Rectangle
Age: 2 Years
Surface: Mini Pebble
Pump: Pentair IntelliFlo Pro3 VSF 3hp (no relay board)
Filter: Pentair 420 Cartridge
Size: 76' Perimiter (approximately 10,000 gallons)
Light: Pentair IntelliBrite 5G Color Changing LED
Num. Returns: 4
In-Floor Cleaning: None
In-Floor Drains: 1
Automation: IntelliCenter
Features: 2 Simple Deck Jets
Relays: 2 (one for deck jets using an automated valve and another for an external receptacle which will control yard lighting)
Valves: 1 (deck jets)

I would like to run the pump on a schedule from 7PM to 7AM, every day of the week at full flow / rpm (3450 rpm). During this same time period, I would like the deck jet vavle to open half way to cool down the water (we live in Arizona, if that was not mentioned previously). So that is program / schedule one.

The second program / schedule, I would like to run the pump at low flow / rpm (1150 rpm) during which I would like the deck jet vavle to be open full. This would run from 7AM to 7PM.

Yes, I plan to run the pump 24 hours per day, 7 days per week during the summer months (May through October). During the winter months (November through April) I plan to run the pump only at night (same as the first program / schedule but with the deck jets valve closed).

Next, I would like to turn the pool light on from 7PM to 12AM, every day of the week on white (with the option to manually change it).

If you're still with me, that is four programs / schedules in total.

TL;DR (Too Long, Didn't Read)

Program / Schedule 1:
Start: 7PM
Stop: 7AM
Pump Speed: 3450RPM
Deck Jets Valve: Half Open
Pool Light: OFF (manually controller)
Days of Week: All
Months of Year: May - October

Program / Schedule 2:
Start: 7AM
Stop: 7PM
Pump Speed: 1150RPM
Deck Jets Valve: Full Open
Pool Light: OFF (manually controller)
Yard Lighting: NA
Days of Week: All
Months of Year: May - October

Program / Schedule 3:
Start: 7PM
Stop: 7AM
Pump Speed: 3450RPM
Deck Jets Valve: Closed
Pool Light: OFF (manually controller)
Yard Lighting: NA
Days of Week: All
Months of Year: November - April

Program / Schedule 4:
Start: 7PM
Stop: 12AM
Pump Speed: NA
Deck Jets Valve: NA
Pool Light: ON - White
Yard Lighting: NA
Days of Week: All
Months of Year: All

Program / Schedule 5:
Start: 7PM
Stop: 12AM
Pump Speed: NA
Deck Jets Valve: NA
Pool Light: NA
Yard Lighting: ON
Days of Week: All
Months of Year: All

Any help is greatly appreciated. I shouldn't need a full walk-through for all of them, just the first one should be enough to get me started. I am OCD so I like to keep things nice and tidy.

Also, are there any devices available that will report the chemical levels to IntelliCenter so I can check them (maybe get notifications?) and just handle them manually? I am not looking to automate adding chlorine or anything, I just want to see the chemical levels without having to manually check them with my test kit.

And lastly, I have seen some skimmer lids with manual thermometers on them. Does one exist that is WiFi connected (preferably that can report to IntelliCenter to keep everything in one place)? If not, would this be something of interest to anyone? My brother did install two thermostats for me in my equipment but I wanted to see if there was one for a skimmer lid as well.

Thank you and sorry for the long post.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Adam,

The first issue is that you can't open the deck jets valve "half" way.. It will be full on or full off.. You can manually adjust the valve so that it stops at half way, but then it will always stop at half way.

Second possible issue.. Have you used the deck jets yet? Do you know that they will work at 1150 RPM? Depending on the plumbing they may not.

Third issue is that no one in their right mind would run a VS pump at 3450 for 12 hours..

Other than the valve positions, everything you want to do should be pretty easy.. I have an EasyTouch, and it can do it, so the new IntelliCenter can do it.

Let's see if we can get one of our IntelliCenter guys to chime in..

Calling @ajw22

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

Let's deal with your basic programming first.

A few tips on how the IntelliCenter works:

• Multiple schedules can be run at one time.
• When multiple schedules are running with different pump speeds the highest speed takes precedence

Schedule your POOL circuit to run from 7AM to 7AM at 1150 RPM. This is the way my basic POOL schedule looks...



Create a Feature Circuit for your high speed running. As Jim said, there is no reason to run your pump at 3450 RPM. A high speed of 2400 or 2800 RPM is likely to work just as well and use less electricity.


Here is my Feature Circuit for 2400 RPM...




Now you can create a schedule for 7PM to 7AM for PUMP 2400 to run.

In PUMPS you assign the pump speeds to circuits...





So now we have your pump running 24/7 and the speeds changing.

Set up a schedule for the light to be on. That should be straight forward. If you need help with that let me know.

In the next post we will discuss your deck jets.

 

[ajw22]

Your deck jets can be ON or OFF. There is no half open setting on an actuator.

If you want less flow out of the deck jet you can set the pump speed. With one pump you cannot have high pump speed and flow through the pool and less pump speed and flow through the deck jets.

Create a feature circuit called Deck Jets.

Assign the valve socket the deck jet actuator is plugged into to the Deck Jet feature circuit...



Now when you select the Deck Jets circuit or schedule it to run the actuator will open.

Let's pause for questions and discussion on pump speeds and valve positions.

 

[ajw22]

Months of Year: May - October

Months of Year: May - October

Months of Year: November - April

You can set Days to Run in the IntelliCenter.

The Intellicenter does not know about months in the main schedules.

There is Vacation Mode and it looks like you can put in an alternate set of schedules to be run in the winter. I have not used it to say if it has any quirks.

It looks like when you enable Vacation Mode you can then enter a different set of schedules to be run.

 

[ajw22]

For your other questions...

Also, are there any devices available that will report the chemical levels to IntelliCenter so I can check them (maybe get notifications?) and just handle them manually? I am not looking to automate adding chlorine or anything, I just want to see the chemical levels without having to manually check them with my test kit.

Nope.

Pentair has the IntelliChem system that we do not recommend that would show you pH and ORP.

Pentair IntelliChem - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Some people have tried the WaterGuru which reports its tests to a separate app...

Automated Smart Pool Water Monitor | WaterGuru

WaterGuru’s automated daily measurements and expert in-app advice gives pool owners total control while saving big on energy and chemical costs.

waterguru.com

And lastly, I have seen some skimmer lids with manual thermometers on them. Does one exist that is WiFi connected (preferably that can report to IntelliCenter to keep everything in one place)? If not, would this be something of interest to anyone? My brother did install two thermostats for me in my equipment but I wanted to see if there was one for a skimmer lid as well.

Why? The IntelliCenter shows you your pool water temperature.

 

[SurpriseAdam]

@ajw22 thank you so much for taking the time to reply and explain all this, I greatly appreciate it and I will get to work programming everything as you have recommended. This makes a lot more sense now than last night while I was trying to program it and could not figure out how RPM/GPM flow made sense with a valve that would essentially be open a certain percentage. It's ashame that you cannot set the percentage open of the valve itself and honestly, I find it a bit weird. Before we put the automation valve on, when I turned it on manually I could open it as much or as little as I wanted to do so I expected the automation valve to work the same way. Sounds like I will have to ensure my brother sets the valve stopping point correctly so when my pump is up in the higher RPMs the deck jets do not hit my house and while at lower RPMs the deck jets aren't just bubbling water onto my deck causing problems.

Using the Vacation Mode for winter schedules sounds like a great option though yeah, it would have been better if the IntelliCenter was away of months considering it does know the date and time. As a softawre engineer, this seems trivial. As I understand it, the IntelliCenter is on its way out the door so they probably will not update it anymore. Hopefully they keep it running for us though because being able to control everything remotely was what I wanted.

Thank you again for the great information and I will report back in with any other questions and or once I have everything working as intended.

 

[ajw22]

It's ashame that you cannot set the percentage open of the valve itself and honestly, I find it a bit weird. Before we put the automation valve on, when I turned it on manually I could open it as much or as little as I wanted to do so I expected the automation valve to work the same way.

Pentair came out with the IntelliValve a few years ago with the promise that it could be incrementally adjusted by automation. The IntelliValve has RS-485 wires for "Future Use".

We are still waiting for that feature to be enabled on the IntelliCenter. Rumor has it that Pentair is working on it and the firmware in all Intellivalves in the field will need to be updated for it to work. I see that being a big logistical and cost headache for Pentair. Every IntelliCenter Pool/Spa bundle comes with two Intellivalves.

IntelliValve Valve Actuator

IntelliValve valve actuators have 13 LEDs to give precise, easy-to-read indication of valve position. A built-in, push-button interface allows quick and simple setup of water flow.

www.pentair.com

As a softawre engineer, this seems trivial.

Between us software engineers Pentair is challenged changing a company that knows how to move water into a tech company. They are tech enabling many of their pool products and are leading Hayward and Jandy. They appear to have limited resources spread among different teams organized along product lines. So you see bugs/quirks in the way the IntelliCenter works with the Pentair HOME app and IntelliCenter2 web site developed by different teams. Then you have firmware developed by different teams in their pumps, heaters, valves that need to communicate by RS-485 with the IntelliCenter software.

It also looks like Pentair outsourced various software and firmware development to contractors. There are indications Pentair recently reorganized and pulled more development in-house. The developers are now challenged with dealing with all the problems they inherited, such as the Intellivalves, and putting resources on new features to not let their products get stale.

As I understand it, the IntelliCenter is on its way out the door so they probably will not update it anymore. Hopefully they keep it running for us though because being able to control everything remotely was what I wanted.

The IntelliCenter is Pentair flagship automation product for the foreseeable future. It was released in late 2018, so is about 5 years old and on Release 2 of its software.

Pentair Automation Systems - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

In April 2023 Pentair said:

Pentair is discontinuing the IntelliTouch, EasyTouch, and EasyTouch PL4/PSL4 Pool Control Systems. These products will no longer be available to order starting:

• July 31, 2023 for all IntelliTouch Systems
• September 29, 2023 for all EasyTouch Systems

We recognize these products have been in high demand for many years. However, given advancements in Pentair innovation and evolving industry demands, we are transitioning focus to the latest technology standards included with the IntelliCenter Pool Control System.

The IntelliCenter has lots of potential. The question is how much investment Pentair will make in it and if they can transform into a software tech company.

 

[SurpriseAdam]

@ajw22 here's where I am at. While following your instructions, I noticed we did not set any time frames on when each virtual circuit should run so how does the IntelliCenter know when to change the speed of the pump? Also, how would I tell it whether or not I want the deck jets on based on the pump speed / virtual circuit that is running the pump speed?

What I did was created the necessary virtual circuits then created a group circuit and then used the group circuits on the pumps. After that, I created schedules using the group circuits. What's weird, is one of them should be on right now but it says inactive. If I turn on a circuit manually, nothing happens. Did I do something wrong?

Edit: I added the pool light to the group circuits and then turn them both on manually, one at a time. The light came on, but the pump did not and thus the deck jets didn't either. I found another forum post where someone said they had the same issue back in 2021 and @MyAZPool tried to help but the OP never replied whether or not he got it working (IntelliCenter - Circuit Group & Schedule Issue). This has been extremely frustrating thus far so any additional help is appreciated. Edit by Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Adam,

The whole system is built on what Pentair calls a "Circuit"

You assign speeds to the circuit, so when the circuit turns on it knows to run at x speed

You assign Circuits to valves, so that when a circuit turns on it will move the valve.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

While following your instructions, I noticed we did not set any time frames on when each virtual circuit should run so how does the IntelliCenter know when to change the speed of the pump?

Let's try and use Pentair IntelliCenter terminology instead of describing the way you wish it would work.

The IntelliCenter has two types of circuits - AUX circuits associated with high voltage controlled devices and Feature Circuits. It does not have virtual circuits.

Every circuit has one speed, set in the PUMPS page, that is used when the circut is active.

When multiple circuits are active with different speeds the highest speed runs.

Also, how would I tell it whether or not I want the deck jets on based on the pump speed / virtual circuit that is running the pump speed?

You can only tell the IntelliCenter you want the deck jets feature circuit on at a specific time using the schedule. The deck jets feature circuit can have a pump speed assigned to it. The pump will run at the deck jets feature circuit pump speed or a higher pump speed if other circuits with a higher speed are active.

What I did was created the necessary virtual circuits then created a group circuit and then used the group circuits on the pumps. After that, I created schedules using the group circuits. What's weird, is one of them should be on right now but it says inactive. If I turn on a circuit manually, nothing happens. Did I do something wrong?

I have not played around with Circuit Groups. I suggest you keep the IntelliCenter programming as simple as possible or you start running into its quirks/bugs.

Rather then using a Circuit Group to then have one schedule, create a schedule at the same times for each Aux Circuit/Feature Circuit you would have in the group.

Edit: I added the pool light to the group circuits and then turn them both on manually, one at a time. The light came on, but the pump did not and thus the deck jets didn't either. I found another forum post where someone said they had the same issue back in 2021 and @MyAZPool tried to help but the OP never replied whether or not he got it working (IntelliCenter - Circuit Group & Schedule Issue). This has been extremely frustrating thus far so any additional help is appreciated. Edit by Jim R.

You say the pump did not come on. I thought you setup POOL mode schedule to run 7AM to 7AM. The pump should always be running at 1400 RPM. Various circuits that become active from schedules during the day will then vary the pump speed but the pump is always running.

 

[SurpriseAdam]

@ajw22 thank you so much for your help, it's actually working now. Not sure if it's just a quirk with IntelliCenter but when I woke up this morning, everything was running as I had set it. I had to make a few adjustments since then but everything is running well with the circuit groups.

Just so you're aware, I used "virtual circuits" because the video from Pentair that I watched (found on the previous forum post that I linked) referred to "Feature Circuits" as "virtual circuits" so while the IntelliCenter UI does not refer to them as "virtual circuits", their video did. I apologize for any confusion caused.

I think I am finally understanding how it works though I would never have personally written the software how they did, haha! I am sure I will make other changes, maybe add other schedules, find new features, etc. who knows but for now, it seems to be working well.

Thank you again!

 

[ajw22]

Glad you got it running.

Now you see why I describe the IntelliCenter as quirky. Some things don’t seem to work initially then they do work.

You may want to look at NodeJS Pool Controller on GitHub which is a different software control system that can control the IntelliCenter.