Leave SWG plugged in? Not sure

[kul]

Now that my solar cover is off (and trashed) I’m seeing a rise in my FC usage. Trying to figure my happy swg %. Raised it to 80% today. Will continue testing. I’m feeling a little discouraged by the upward adjustments I’ve had to make because I felt like my calculations for chlorine loss were good. Anyhow, hopefully my latest % adjustment will work.

 

[Newdude]

The solar cover was single handedly keeping your FC loss low, probably more stable too. Don't fret too much about perfect. Shoot for 'enough FC today' and be happy when it's not 'not enough FC today'.

 

[kul]

I think you’re right about the solar cover. I’ve had it on the last few months so I had my chlorine pretty dialed in. The naked pool is an adjustment for FC usage for sure. I’ll keep checking and trying things until I figure it out. I imagine I’ll need to go through all the seasons to learn like I did when I first started. But at least this time, I have it a little easier with the SWG. I wonder when it will stop producing. That will also give me some good information.

 

[Newdude]

I’ll keep checking and trying things until I figure it out.

Remember, you're only going to figure *so* much of it out. Yesterday was blazing skies here, today was entirely overcast, tomorrow is heavy storms. The 3 days will have different loss and if I was out there matching it short term, I might as well join the jug lugging club. So match the high loss day and accept you'll pick up FC on the others. Most of it stays and doesn't go to waste. You're just pretreating Saturday today.

If it runs away high, then fine, step in and let it drift down. I often set it low production (10% or 20% depending on the season) instead of turning it off. It takes longer to drift down buying me more time before I have to turn it up again.

I imagine I’ll need to go through all the seasons to learn like I did when I first started

Exactly. WAY less stressful for the second rodeo I imagine, because this is is nothing for year 2 Kul.

2 month Kul was a little tepid. ProKul on the other hand is a BOSS.

 

[kul]

My salt remains at 3200 but my SWG is giving me a low salt red light. I don’t understand why this could be as no water has been drained. It was happy with the 3200 reading until now. Anyone know what the light could mean? Is it the current temperature change causing this effect? Is it malfunctioning?

 

[mknauss]

Colder water reduces the conductivity. It is still generating as long as the cell light is green.

 

[kul]

To be clear you are saying that because the water is colder that is why I am getting the low salt light? Yes the cell light is still green. Only the salt level light is “low”/red

 

[mknauss]

Correct. The cell does not read salinity. It reads conductivity and infers a salinity from that.

 

[kul]

Thank you so much. This is my first time heading into the colder season so I had not seen this. At what temperature does the cell usually turn off? I’m at 54 degrees

 

[Newdude]

At 50, but any cheapo thermometer may be a couple of degrees off. It checks twice a day and stays off for 12 hours at a time.

 

[mknauss]

My IC stops at 52F as read by the ET.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

My RJ45 shuts down at around 52° as well. I'm at around 60° now.

 

[kul]

Based on your responses, seems it’s just a matter of time before it shuts down for me. Bummer!

 

[kul]

Water has reached 50 degrees and SWG indicates cold water so is not producing. Do I need to unplug it from the power station? Or can I just leave it and let it be?

 

[Newdude]

I'd unplug it but leave the cord in the power center somewhat protected from the elements. Angle it downward if possible so the pin cup thingie doesn't collect water.

A power surge is minimum risk, but why leave it 'on the grid' when it's so easy to pull ?

 

[kul]

That’s a good point. I’ll go ahead and unplug it from the power center. I wasn’t sure since the clock that it’s connected to will be on but controlling nothing until the SWG is plugged in again.

 

[Newdude]

Wait !!! I fouled up again and though you had an automation panel. If you're using the Pentair power center it's an external connection and has nowhere to store the plug end. Then you either have to seal it up and allow moisture to rot the pins, or zip tie it upside down. The elements might be as much risk as a rando power surge. If it's on a dedicated breaker you can kill power to the timer and power center and mitigate most of the risks assumed with leaving it connected.

 

[kul]

So I should leave it plugged into the power center and remove the dog ear type tags from the timer and set the timer to off?
Or maybe I should do nothing and leave it as is?
@Rancho Cost-a-Lotta and @mknauss what do you typically do since your pools are also left open?

 

[proavia]

If your timer only controls the SWG, remove the timer ON/OFF cogs and set the timer switch to OFF. This will prevent the timer from powering the SWG. The timer will run but not turn on.

 

[kul]

If your timer only controls the SWG, remove the timer ON/OFF cogs and set the timer switch to OFF. This will prevent the timer from powering the SWG. The timer will run but not turn on.

Yes the timer only controls the SWG. I’ll remove the cogs and switch it to off. I’ll unplug from the SWG power center as well or do I not need to do that since the timer will be set to off?

Thank you @Newdude and @proavia for this guidance.

Also why would leaving it all connected be the wrong thing to do? Will it damage the cell? I kinda figured it would be fine since the cell is just showing the cold water light.