Intellichem thinks its in SPA mode? There is no SPA

[scottts]

Have an Intellichem dosing pH and chlorine using an IC-40. Intellichem is connected to an Intellicenter.

This is a single body - pool only. The only automated valve is for turning the waterfall on and off. This is setup as Valve A in the intellicenter configuration. There is a Valve B shown but no circuit is selected for it. I think valve A and B are always there in the intellicenter config.

I've recent;y switched the ORP dosing mode on the intellichem from timed, to dose to setpoint. The setpoint is set way above the ORP reading so in effect this should turn the IC-40 on 100% continuously. We've had high temps and lots of tree pollen and detritus in the pool the past 10 days or so. I'm struggling to keep FC above 3.5PPM. CC is 0. IC-40 cell is clean as a whistle. The pool is about 7 months old.

I was looking at the intellichem front panel this morning and the ORP dosing (the IC-40) indicator read sDosing. The little s according to the manual indicates that the intellichem thinks its in SPA mode and therefore throttling its chlorine output to 25%.

The intellichem firmware is 1.080. I did update the firmware myself from 1.060 a few months back. Perhaps I need to do a factory reset and reconfigure?

My basic question though is what tells the intellichem that the intellicenter is in spa mode? The only thing I can figure is Valve As position? Is valve A supposed to be used when there's a spa only? Should the waterfall be on valve B instead?

Thanks for any insight.

 

[ajw22]

@bdavis466 you have ideas on what is going on?

 

[bdavis466]

The valve position shouldn't matter. There's a setting that's wrong in the Intellicenter.

The only way the IntelliChem would think it's in spa mode is if the Intellicenter is telling it that.

Pentair tech support is probably your best bet

 

[scottts]

Thanks. I've emailed Pentair but no response yet. I've searched around and there is some info here where a factory reset solved a different problem (default pump GPM) so I'll probably try that on the intellichem as well as looking at the config of the intellicenter.

 

[scottts]

I noticed that under Chemistry Control on the intellicenter, both the intellichem and the intellichlor are installed.

Is this right? If the intellichem is controlling the intellichlor, shoud the intellichlor controller be installed on the intellicenter at all, or just the intellichem controller? i.e. is the system confused by having both installed?

I guess I cold answer this for myself by removing the intellichlor from the intellicenter setup and see what happens.

 

[beingboard247]

I noticed that under Chemistry Control on the intellicenter, both the intellichem and the intellichlor are installed.

Is this right? If the intellichem is controlling the intellichlor, shoud the intellichlor controller be installed on the intellicenter at all, or just the intellichem controller? i.e. is the system confused by having both installed?

I guess I cold answer this for myself by removing the intellichlor from the intellicenter setup and see what happens.

Did you ever find the answer to your question? I also have the IntelliCenter with the IntelliChlor and Intellichem. Both of the Intellichem and IntelliCenter are on the latest firmware. My Intellichem is in spa mode when dosing happens. My IntelliCenter is i5P model so no spa control. I’ve tried to search the forums for an answer but coming up short.

 

[scottts]

No I haven't. I did email Pentair and they told me to check the configuration in the intellicenter to make sure only one body was defined (yes, only one). Then they asked what firmware (1.040) which they said was the latest). Then they said to go to Settings>Advanced>Installation>Chemistry>Intellichem>Body Assignmentool, then go all the way back to the main screen. Nothing changed anything.

I've decided to wait for the next intellicenter update that is supposed to be coming out within a couple weeks I hear? Maybe the upgrade and reboot will solve it. Doubtful, but one can hope.

All this said, I seem to be able to keep up with FC production just fine even now in the 110+ temps we have had so I'm wondering if the errant sDosing is just a display mistake. I am back to running 45 minute dosing, 15 minute mixing time rather than dosing to setpoint. We'll see when the big dust storms hit. I really need to park myself in front of the IC-40 for an hour and watch what the dosing really does. I will the history showed the actual cell run time and acid dispense time. I know the data is there on the main panel, BUT I can't for the life of me read those small charts. Would seem to be easy to bring that data into the app.

 

[beingboard247]

No I haven't. I did email Pentair and they told me to check the configuration in the intellicenter to make sure only one body was defined (yes, only one). Then they asked what firmware (1.040) which they said was the latest). Then they said to go to Settings>Advanced>Installation>Chemistry>Intellichem>Body Assignmentool, then go all the way back to the main screen. Nothing changed anything.

I've decided to wait for the next intellicenter update that is supposed to be coming out within a couple weeks I hear? Maybe the upgrade and reboot will solve it. Doubtful, but one can hope.

All this said, I seem to be able to keep up with FC production just fine even now in the 110+ temps we have had so I'm wondering if the errant sDosing is just a display mistake. I am back to running 45 minute dosing, 15 minute mixing time rather than dosing to setpoint. We'll see when the big dust storms hit. I really need to park myself in front of the IC-40 for an hour and watch what the dosing really does. I will the history showed the actual cell run time and acid dispense time. I know the data is there on the main panel, BUT I can't for the life of me read those small charts. Would seem to be easy to bring that data into the app.

I am fairly confident my system is only dosing just a portion of the set point. I have my dosing for acid set to 5oz but is only dosing 1.2oz so again fairly confident it is only dosing a portion of the set point. I am going to attempt to disconnect the communication between the IntelliChem and IntelliCenter and see if this makes a difference. Hopefully it will and I will attempt to set the SWG thru the IntelliCenter and set the ORP hardware on the intellichem to “off” or “none”. Hopefully I can just monitor the ORP and have the intellichem monitor the dosing of the acid without being in spa mode. Hopefully like you said that Pentair will have a firmware update soon. I also hope the update will take care of an annoying bug. If you try to adjust ORP in the IntelliCenter app or the IntelliCenter panel the acid tank goes to zero then throws an alarm. Do you by chance have the same issue?

 

[scottts]

Yes, I have the same issue with acid tank level, except that mine always goes to 3/6, not 0.

I've also noticed the acid dosing reduction, but I assumed that was because my actual was near to the setpoint. If you're sensitivity is not set to OFF, the acid dosing will be reduced when near setpoint.

 

[beingboard247]

Yes, I have the same issue with acid tank level, except that mine always goes to 3/6, not 0.

I've also noticed the acid dosing reduction, but I assumed that was because my actual was near to the setpoint. If you're sensitivity is not set to OFF, the acid dosing will be reduced when near setpoint.

I have mine set to off also. The acid shows a “sDosing” on my display

 

[scottts]

Definitely some bugs in the intellichem/intellicenter integration it seems.

 

[beingboard247]

Has anyone found a way around this? So far I have disconnected the RS485 cable from intellichem to the IntelliCenter. In doing so allows me to full dose with acid and have the ORP just set to monitor. So far that works but doesn’t give me any control from the intellicenter or app.

 

[scottts]

An update to this issue. So I recently updated my intellicenter to firmware to the latest release, 1.047. I went and checked my FC about a week after and it was off the charts high. I had been running the intellichem ORP dosing time at 4x times what I needed because the intellichem was sDosing as though the body of water was a spa instead of a pool as identified above in this thread.

I went and checked my intellichem and the sDosing (spa mode) indication for the ORP is no longer showing sDosing. Its just plain Dosing when the intellichlor is on. I'm thinking maybe Pentair fixed something in the 1.047 firmware so the intellicenter is now correctly identifying the body as a pool rather than a spa to the intellichem?

Anybody else seen this?