Ok - So today I played around with connecting a data cable from my Viron XT320 pump to my eQuilibrium chlorinator both Astralpool products. Info below might be handy for others with the same equipment who do not have a data connection between their Astralpool pump and chlorinator but would like to select their pump speeds directly from the chlorinator's programming.
From what I could deduce off the net, the data cable is a simple RJ12 (6-wire). This is available from Astralpool but seems expensive for what it is (10m cable is around $30).
I had a couple of RJ12 cables lying around so I managed to find one that was about 2m long - perfect to try it out and see if it works.
From what I could tell, the RJ12 cable is a straight through pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2 etc and
not a crossover type, so if you end up purchasing an aftermarket cable or making one yourself you need to ensure that the cable is terminated as shown in the pic below.
The cable plugs into the rear of the Viron pump after you unscrew two screws to remove the rear black plastic cover assembly which provides for a weatherproof seal. Plug the cable in and then route it through the cable channel provided and out to the rear of the pump - refer to pic. Replace the cover carefully ensuring that the seal on the cover plate is seated correctly which provides weatherproof protection.
The other end of the cable simply plugs into the bottom of the chlorinator. Here you will find two RJ12 sockets, any one of the two can be used.
Before you can select the pump speeds from your chlorinator, you need to setup the pump as follows. Note pump must be powered up for the following steps:
First you need to disable any timers that you may have set in the pump:
- Select 'CONF' (Configure) option by stepping through the menu with the menu button
- Hold the 'ENTER' key for 3 secs (menu will change)
- Step through menu with menu button until you reach 'TMR' (Timers)
- Press Up/Down arrow keys to switch timer OFF - you will see 'TMR OFF' on the display
- Press 'ENTER' to save the setting
- Ensure all 4 timers are disabled just in case you had more than one enabled
We also need to enable a menu option in the pump which enables comms from the pump via the RJ12 data cable:
- Press menu button to select the 'SYS' (System) option
- Press Up/Down arrow keys and select 'ON' to enable comms
- Press 'Enter' to save or press the On/Off button to exit and save.
Now you should be able to select any one of the three speeds within the chlorinator's timer programs. Step through the timers in the chlorinator and you will see where you can select from Low/Med or High which now will correspond to the RPM settings already programmed/saved in your Viron pump.
Note that the pump will always switch on to Prime speed for the first five minutes before the chlorinator will select what speed to run the pump at.
The pump's speed can always be manually temporarily overridden by simply selecting any one of the three speeds on the pump's control panel. It will run at the manually overidden setting until the chlorinator turns the pump off and switches in the timer again or when the next timer starts.
The above configuration is handy if you want to say run at low speeds for the majority of time but you also want to run a session at a higher speed to say better stir the water up a tad etc.
You can use up to 4 timers in the chlorinator and these can be sequential - which gives some flexibility if you want to run say the first hour at med or fast speed but then drop back to low for the remaining hours etc.
