IntelliTouch/EasyTouch to IntelliCenter Upgrade Kit

[ajw22]

I was searching for something and came across the 522045 - IntelliTouch/EasyTouch to Next Gen Upgrade Kit - i1P0, for LC/PC on Pentair's web site

sku-page

Pentair delivers smart, sustainable solutions that empower our customers to make the most of life's essential resource. At Pentair, we believe the health of our world depends on reliable access to clean water.

www.pentair.com

Polytecpools lists it with call for price...

IntelliCenter Upgrade Kits

It looks like this kit replaces the upper low voltage panel and board. It is not clear if it is available yet or to come someday. It looks preferable to replacing the entire Load Center to upgrade.

 

[setsailsoon]

Very cool Allen, fingers crossed that it gives a lot of people a reasonable upgrade path! @MyAZPool do you know anything about this?

 

[GDN]

Google the part number - I found one site that has 522048 listed for $929. I've got a 5 year old ET8 which still meets all of my needs, but good to know there will be an upgrade path some day, if needed.

 

[Jimrahbe]

My guess is that 95% of the users with an EasyTouch, or an IntelliTouch, will gain nothing by upgrading to the new IntelliCenter. That said, it would be stupid for anyone building a new pool today to go with the older EasyTouch/IntelliTouch systems.

Also keep in mind there is a lot of difference between "needing" to upgrade and just "wanting" to upgrade...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[MyAZPool]

Sure,
I posted this info a little while back in the following thread -

IntelliCenter Quick Reference/Information Guide

Preface - As the new Pentair IntelliCenter Automation Control System moves further into the mainstream of pool automation, there appears to be an increase in the amount of just basic questions recently regarding IntelliCenter installation, configurations and standard operation. Most of these...

www.troublefreepool.com

Scroll down about half way to Paragraph 9. EasyTouch / IntelliTouch Upgrade to IntelliCenter Information –
There you will find related info and part numbers for kits to convert ET/IT legacy (2003-2012) and (2012 and newer).

There are also links at the bottom of that paragraph for actually converting the IntelliTouch/EasyTouch Load or Power Center for the IntelliCenter as well as installation guides for:

EasyTouch / IntelliTouch Control System Upgrade to IntelliCenter Control System (for legacy systems 2003-2012) Installation Guide​

EasyTouch / IntelliTouch Control System Upgrade to IntelliCenter Control System (for systems 2012 or newer) Installation Guide​

These kits were supposed to be released in late 2018 but it took Pentair a year later to finally get them released.
It was nice to see them finally released for anyone who like Jim says "wants" to upgrade.
r.

 

[mknauss]

For us Dinosaurs that never installed Screenlogic to our ET this might make some sense. More expensive than the Screenlogic but you get a system that can have the firmware upgraded, etc.

Will ponder that --

 

[GDN]

For us Dinosaurs that never installed Screenlogic to our ET this might make some sense. More expensive than the Screenlogic but you get a system that can have the firmware upgraded, etc.

Will ponder that --

I have not dug deep in to the details, but Screenlogic gave you the remote access to the Easytouch systems. It sounds as though the Intellicenter upgrade would negate the need for Screenlogic then, correct? The remote access is built in to the Intellicenter? Does it have wired ethernet and Wifi capabilities without something like the Screenlogic?

 

[mknauss]

The Intellicenter comes with wireless capabilities. I do not think it uses wired ethernet.

 

[ajw22]

The Intellicenter comes with wireless capabilities. I do not think it uses wired ethernet.

The IntelliCenter bundles come with the 522475Z WiFi Link Kit (Primary Client Bridge). If you are ordering the upgrade kit or creating your own configuration from the various modules then it must be ordered separately for WiFi connection.

A wired Cat5 connection is standard.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

There's not a whole lot of info out there about this hardware upgrade. I'm guessing it would render wired & wireless EasyTouch remotes inoperable.

 

[MyAZPool]

The biggest (and in my opinion, the most controversial at this point in time), difference between the IntelliCenter and ScreenLogic platforms (EasyTouch and IntelliTouch) is the way in which the user communicates from their PC/laptop to the actual control panel for programming/configuration changes.

When using an on-LAN device (PC/laptop), the ScreenLogic based platforms communicates from the computer directly to the ET/IT controller. This is accomplished through the use of a "protocol adapter". The protocol adapter connects to the user's router via a LAN port (Cat5/6) and then connects to the ET/IT RS-485 bus using a 4-wire conductor cable. This protocol adapter converts ET/IT machine language to computer machine language and vice versa.

Since this is essentially a "direct" or "local" connection. This method of connection has one huge advantage. It does NOT rely on the internet or the currently, poorly configured/maintained Pentair web servers to establish a connection between the user's PC/Laptop and the ET/IT control panel.

The IntelliCenter conversely uses the internet and the Pentair IntelliCenter web servers to establish this communications link.

In other words, the EasyTouch and IntelliTouch systems uses a desktop client and the IntelliCenter relies on a Web Client. The code and scripts for the ET/IT reside on the users PC/laptop. The code and scripts for the IntelliCenter reside on the Pentair servers.

While it may be a true statement that the IntelliCenter is much easier to receive and install firmware updates verses downloading and installing firmware for the ET/IT (not too easy), the biggest advantage to ScreenLogic is that it resides on the user's machine and not distant web servers. This disadvantage with regards to the IntelliCenter is further magnified greatly, due to the current inability of the Pentair Software Engineering and Development teams to respond to user's complaints regarding major problems with the IntelliCenter web scripts and coding and well as functionality for various mobile device apps.

Personally, I can find little wrong with the IntelliCenter firmware that resides on the actual IntelliCenter hardware at the control panel. All of the issues encountered by me are with the web client and the scripts and code (software) that reside on the Pentair Web Servers.

The best of both worlds would be to download the entire IntelliCenter web client scripts and code to a local machine (PC) and run them locally and cut out the web servers which would have the positive effect of emulating the principles of ScreenLogic. I have been able to see how the entire web assembly communicates between my control panel and the web servers using the Chrome developer tools but I cannot figure out yet how to download and run the package from my PC using my IntelliCenter's IP address. I'll continue to see if I can stumble on to something there.

Lastly, when it comes to using a mobile device such as iPhone/Android phone/tablet/Amazon Alexa/Apple Watch etc, then the ET/IT systems and the IntelliCenter are on equal footing. Both systems use the Internet and web servers, but with the exception of using the "local" feature on iPhone and Android apps.

NOTE: Currently the IntelliCenter Amazon Alexa and Apple Watch apps are inoperative. The software development team reported to tech support that they are aware of the issues and that was over a month and a half ago. I can only assume that these same apps for the ET/IT systems are functioning properly.
r.

 

[ajw22]

This recent post says there may be problems with the Alexa skill with ScreenLogic...

Pentair ScreenLogic Alexa Skill GONE

Went to hook up my Pentair screen logic 2 controller to Amazon Alexa The Pentair skill is not there can someone confirm this for me? Hayward and other pool automation skills are there but not pentair thanks Brad

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[MyAZPool]

This recent post says there may be problems with the Alexa skill with ScreenLogic...

Pentair ScreenLogic Alexa Skill GONE

Went to hook up my Pentair screen logic 2 controller to Amazon Alexa The Pentair skill is not there can someone confirm this for me? Hayward and other pool automation skills are there but not pentair thanks Brad

www.troublefreepool.com

Allen,
Yep, you're right. I saw that but forgot all about it while posting here. Thanks!
I guess the "Pentair Love" is being spread around fairly evenly when it comes to web server issues. ☹
Thanks again,
r.

 

[GDN]

The biggest (and in my opinion, the most controversial at this point in time), difference between the IntelliCenter and ScreenLogic platforms (EasyTouch and IntelliTouch) is the way in which the user communicates from their PC/laptop to the actual control panel for programming/configuration changes.

When using an on-LAN device (PC/laptop), the ScreenLogic based platforms communicates from the computer directly to the ET/IT controller. This is accomplished through the use of a "protocol adapter". The protocol adapter connects to the user's router via a LAN port (Cat5/6) and then connects to the ET/IT RS-485 bus using a 4-wire conductor cable. This protocol adapter converts ET/IT machine language to computer machine language and vice versa.

Since this is essentially a "direct" or "local" connection. This method of connection has one huge advantage. It does NOT rely on the internet or the currently, poorly configured/maintained Pentair web servers to establish a connection between the user's PC/Laptop and the ET/IT control panel.

The IntelliCenter conversely uses the internet and the Pentair IntelliCenter web servers to establish this communications link.

In other words, the EasyTouch and IntelliTouch systems uses a desktop client and the IntelliCenter relies on a Web Client. The code and scripts for the ET/IT reside on the users PC/laptop. The code and scripts for the IntelliCenter reside on the Pentair servers.

While it may be a true statement that the IntelliCenter is much easier to receive and install firmware updates verses downloading and installing firmware for the ET/IT (not too easy), the biggest advantage to ScreenLogic is that it resides on the user's machine and not distant web servers. This disadvantage with regards to the IntelliCenter is further magnified greatly, due to the current inability of the Pentair Software Engineering and Development teams to respond to user's complaints regarding major problems with the IntelliCenter web scripts and coding and well as functionality for various mobile device apps.

Personally, I can find little wrong with the IntelliCenter firmware that resides on the actual IntelliCenter hardware at the control panel. All of the issues encountered by me are with the web client and the scripts and code (software) that reside on the Pentair Web Servers.

The best of both worlds would be to download the entire IntelliCenter web client scripts and code to a local machine (PC) and run them locally and cut out the web servers which would have the positive effect of emulating the principles of ScreenLogic. I have been able to see how the entire web assembly communicates between my control panel and the web servers using the Chrome developer tools but I cannot figure out yet how to download and run the package from my PC using my IntelliCenter's IP address. I'll continue to see if I can stumble on to something there.

Lastly, when it comes to using a mobile device such as iPhone/Android phone/tablet/Amazon Alexa/Apple Watch etc, then the ET/IT systems and the IntelliCenter are on equal footing. Both systems use the Internet and web servers, but with the exception of using the "local" feature on iPhone and Android apps.

NOTE: Currently the IntelliCenter Amazon Alexa and Apple Watch apps are inoperative. The software development team reported to tech support that they are aware of the issues and that was over a month and a half ago. I can only assume that these same apps for the ET/IT systems are functioning properly.
r.

Very disappointed that Pentair would go this route. Love the Easytouch because when I'm at home my traffic never leaves my local network as you note.

It is way beyond easy to bundle a web engine these days. Even the simplest of $80 home printers have one built in so that you can connect to get printer and ink status.

Hopefully they'll see the error of their ways and update it to have one and change the way it works. Small motherboards and memory are so cheap these days I'm hopeful they've built enough in to this base product they could include one or update it to have one. Even the $55 Raspberry Pi 4 has 4 GB RAM and HDMI output on it and is likely more than powerful enough to run this whole system.

 

[ajw22]

IntelliCenter is modular that Pentair could offer an add on board with a web engine. Hopefully at a reasonable price. But the engineering of that may be beyond the capabilities they have demonstrated so far.

 

[MyAZPool]

Very disappointed that Pentair would go this route. Love the Easytouch because when I'm at home my traffic never leaves my local network as you note.

It is way beyond easy to bundle a web engine these days. Even the simplest of $80 home printers have one built in so that you can connect to get printer and ink status.

Hopefully they'll see the error of their ways and update it to have one and change the way it works. Small motherboards and memory are so cheap these days I'm hopeful they've built enough in to this base product they could include one or update it to have one. Even the $55 Raspberry Pi 4 has 4 GB RAM and HDMI output on it and is likely more than powerful enough to run this whole system.

Greg,
I couldn't agree more and yes the RP would certainly do the trick.
There are about a dozen concurrent efforts to get past Pentair's IntelliCenter web servers. Some ongoing efforts are documented here on TFP and others on GitHub.

At the moment, I'm trying to lay my hands on an RS485 to Ethernet Protocol Adapter and see if I can communicate to the 485 bus on the IntelliCenter using that method.
BTW, the IntelliCenter Motherboard features the Texas Instruments AM3354 1-GHz Sitara™ ARM® Cortex-A8 32‑Bit RISC processor which is a pretty healthy board, so that's a plus.
r.