Intelliflo 3 VSF - Touchscreen Unboxing

[bradgray]

Pentair sent some touchscreens for us to try on the new IF3s and I feel a bit like a child again.

Of all their new products, this is the one I've been waiting for. We've been sorely missing them on the new pumps and our rep is a rockstar to send them to us as quick as he did. Build dates are from 6 days ago.

I'm unjustifiably excited for the improvement over the anti-climactic experience of "upgrading" the older but very capable controller to an ugly 3 button blank with rainbow-light riddles.

Tomorrow I'll have an example of the display connected and running.

 

[ajw22]

Nice, I have been saying folks should get the control panels with the IntelliFlo3 so they are not dependent on their phone and app when working at their equipment pad. And for others who don't have the app to control the pump.

It would be great to see what the actual screens look like on the display.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Ugh. Touchscreens. Not trying to poo-poo the enthusiasms but I really think touchscreens are a bad idea. These pumps sit outside all day/everyday in most areas. They sit out in the sun and the heat. In my setup, the equipment is in full sun starting at 10am and will be brutally heated all day long by the unforgiving Arizona sunshine. I think a touchscreen will likely last a season before it’s shot.

I have an original IntelliFlo VS pump (circa 2012/13) and it has real buttons and a standard black & white segmented LCD. I’d be willing to bet a box of Dunkin Donuts that no touchscreen will go the distance my current pump screen has gone.

 

[ajw22]

Ugh. Touchscreens. Not trying to poo-poo the enthusiasms but I really think touchscreens are a bad idea.

I agree with you but I choose not to dump on Pentair for their product decisions. The market will speak if they were wise choices.

Making a control panel optional is a hidden price increase compared to a 011056 pump. Jandy had already lead the way with headless pumps requiring automation to control it. At least Pentair built WiFi/BT and app control standard into the pump while Jandy charges extra for their IQ app control.

Touchcreeens are value engineering that will allow that hardware to be used across multiple pumps in the future. Much less cost then manufacturing hard button control panels for their pumps.

Like many modern devices I think pool pumps costs are rising and their average lifespan will decrease. Along with less being repairable when it breaks. Such is modern consumer products.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Ugh. Touchscreens.

Matt,

That was my initial thought also.. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

I don't go to Dunkin anymore since they did away with my favorite Apple and Spice donuts..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JamesW]

You should be able to talk to the pump in normal language and tell it what you want it to do.

No need for apps, screens, programming or any confusion.

 

[Jimrahbe]

You should be able to talk to the pump in normal language and tell it what you want it to do.

That would make the pump smarter than many pool owners...

Jim R.

 

[bradgray]

I don't disagree about the life cycle of a typical capacitive screen. Heat is going to be an issue for us in So Utah as well. This is part and parcel of the testing we're excited to do.

For what it's worth, the touchscreen was probably justified as an option due to the I/O board features also available for the pump. Running a small single-body automation system directly from the pump allows you to forego a wall mounted system. And a touchscreen permits far more control and customization of said mini-automation.

For those with the ET or IC, it's not needed and you don't  have to buy the model versions with the screen or the I/O. Whereas the 011056 was same across the board and some never used the native pump controls. If the screen went bad, your pump was dead. And unless you had donor parts, you couldn't easily test if it was the screen or the drive itself. At which point you needed a new pump entirely.

All that said, in our case, we want automation panels  and our pump controls back! It's been a hassle having to port into them using BT at our clients homes when we need or want to change settings. Wifi is unreliable at most equip pads so the Pro app wasn't useful in most cases.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

“Value Engineering” Scene in a product planning meeting -

Marketing Guy - “Hey let’s add an awesome touchscreen to the pump so we can use emojis and make little spinning icons and stuff …”

Engineering Guy - “But that will make the pump less reliable and more prone to failure!?”

Programming Engineer - “I’ll need a $1M budget annually so I can hire 4 Eastern European contractors to do the dev work ..”

Engineering Guy - “But no one speaks Ukrainian ??”

Marketing Guy - “We can make the screen OPTIONAL!! It’ll be great…”

Engineering Guy - “ But not everyone has a smartphone … that will cost people more”

Marketing Guy - “I’m really getting great vibe with all this synergy we are leveraging …”

Engineering Guy - “What the heck is synergy??”

Guy from Corporate Legal - “We’ll modify the warranty terms so that we can limit our exposure … 2 years still good for everyone?”

Engineering Guy - “But … wait … it just doesn’t make …… “

Executive Guy - “DONE! Let’s go for it. Okay everyone, great meeting!! Are we doing sandwiches or Mexican for lunch??”

 

[Jimrahbe]

Matt,

You left out the part where the manufacturing team, who are all in a different county than the rest of them, was supposed to be part of the discussion, but after an hour and a half still could not get the video and audio to work between the PC and the 60 inch wall display in their conference room.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[mknauss]

Wow, Matt and Jim just described some of my meetings before I said you know what and retired!

 

[JamesW]

Use GPT- 4 and the pump will figure it out by itself.

 

[bradgray]

Time got away from me today for posting. Spring break is rough on us.

Here is a photo of it installed.

FWIW, we put together private videos for our clients; I can link to it here if the interest is sufficient.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I’m always one to leave the protective plastic film on stuff if it’s not too ugly. I wonder if leaving it on the display will keep if functional longer.

Does the cover make a water tight / dust proof seal or it just a friction fit?