Intellicenter Valve Delay Feature Pump

[treyrich]

Hi, I tried searching around but couldn't find any information about this, but I have a hard time believing I'm the first one with this problem so I probably missed something.

I have a feature pump that runs a slide and a 10' wide sheer decent. I just put an actuator on the valve that controls the output to the slide and the waterfall in hopes that I could run the slide on its own without all the noise associated with the waterfall. It works great! Only issue is... The slide's pump speed is set to 1100 RPM and the sheer decent is set to 3200 RPM, so when switching from one to the other the pump ramps up much faster than the valve moves and for a brief moment the slide sprays water across the yard like a fire hose. What I'd like is to have a delay or a slower ramp time on the pump so that the slide doesn't shoot water across the yard every time we turn on the waterfall. I tried the 'Valve Delay' setting in the intellicenter, but it seems that's only related to Pool/Spa circuits and doesn't affect the valves A & B.

Hopefully this makes sense, but let me know if I can clarify at all.

 

[Ahultin]

I had a similar situation, my feature pump has deck jets, waterside and waterfall. Deck jets are the lowest speed usage so I set them as the default. I then have a circuit group for waterfall/slide (builder ran 1 pipe to both with a jandy on the feature) that switches the valve and increases the speed . I have one more feature group that ramps speed more and opens 2 valves to operate the deck jets with the waterfall and slide.

 

[wireform]

There must be a way as when you go from pool mode to spa mode the pump shuts off for a preset amount of time for the valves to be at the new position the it comes back on.

 

[Ahultin]

There must be a way as when you go from pool mode to spa mode the pump shuts off for a preset amount of time for the valves to be at the new position the it comes back on.

Intellicenter allows valve delay between pool/spa but not on the additional auxiliary valve actuators thay I have found

 

[treyrich]

There must be a way as when you go from pool mode to spa mode the pump shuts off for a preset amount of time for the valves to be at the new position the it comes back on.

This is what I was thinking, it seems like an obvious need, but I’m definitely drawing a blank as @Ahultin mentioned, it doesn’t seem to be possible, but I’m hoping to be proven wrong!

 

[Ahultin]

@MyAZPool , suggestions?

 

[MyAZPool]

@treyrich
First, @Ahultin is right on. The "Delay" feature ONLY works for the Pool/Spa Suction & Return valve actuators. Why Pentair didn't extend this feature to any of the other valve actuators is beyond me.

This is the only thing I can think of at the moment to alleviate the issue.
Create two circuit groups. One for the Sheer Descent and the other for the slide. Something like this. But it really doesn't matter if the Sheer Descent is at the Valve Home Position or the 2nd position.



Once you tap the Sheer Descent Circuit Group, then wait a few seconds and then go to Feature Circuits and tap the "Pump Speed - 3200" Feature Circuit.

Should you need any assistance in creating and manipulating Aux Circuits, Feature Circuits and Circuit Groups (macros), maybe check out the video below.
Thanks...
r.

 

[treyrich]

@MyAZPool thanks for the reply. Out of curiosity, what would be the reason to have a circuit group in this case vs just 2 circuits (one for sheer decent, one for slide) each with a pump speed of 1100, then a 3rd circuit for the high speed? Is the benefit just that you can keep the pump speeds as separate circuits from the features themselves?

 

[MyAZPool]

@MyAZPool thanks for the reply. Out of curiosity, what would be the reason to have a circuit group in this case vs just 2 circuits (one for sheer decent, one for slide) each with a pump speed of 1100, then a 3rd circuit for the high speed? Is the benefit just that you can keep the pump speeds as separate circuits from the features themselves?

Exactly

 

[treyrich]

Where there's a will there's a way. I set things up roughly how @MyAZPool suggested (two circuit groups with a separate feature circuit for ramping up the pump speed). Then I used nodejs-poolController and Home Assistant to build out a series of automations:

1. After waterfall turns on for 20 seconds enable feature circuit to ramp up pump speed
2. After waterfall turns off disable feature circuit to ramp up pump speed (slow down pump speed)
3. When slide turns on turn off waterfall
4. When waterfall turns on turn off slide

#3 and #4 are mostly to satisfy my OCD of not wanting the two circuits to be on at the same time. But long-story-short while it seems fairly conclusive that what I was hoping to do is not possible within intellicenter itself, I was able to achieve the desired effect with the help of nodejs-poolController and Home Assistant