New Solar-Breeze questions

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salinda

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Bronze Supporter
LifeTime Supporter
Feb 25, 2008
162
Los Gatos, CA
Pool Size
37000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I got my new Solar-Breeze off the Kickstarter today. I popped it into the pool, switched it to on and off it went! It looks very well-built. It must have great battery storage because it is running into the night. However, I'm not sure it's working right. Reverse doesn't really work. The turbines do reverse but the cleaner just stops moving forwards. It doesn't visibly backup. The cleaner is getting caught on the hose of my PoolCleaner suction cleaner and can't get unstuck because it doesn't reverse. Also, it seems to go in reverse a lot even when it is NOT stuck on anything.

The SolarPool recommend either taking the suction cleaner out or putting weights on the hose. I don't think it's advisable to put weights on the hose. The PoolCleaner is designed to work best with a floating hose I thought.

The Solar-Breeze manufacturer has a blog and it indicates that the pool will be clean without the suction cleaner in it all the time but I don't quite get that because I have heavy debris around the pool as well as the stuff that floats. It would be great if I could do that because I could decrease the speed of the pump and save electricity but it doesn't sit right with me.

I'm not sure what to do. Waiting on customer service to get back to me. Maybe if the reverse issue gets sorted out, the cleaner will be able to unstick itself from the hose.
 
I see a test coming :)

Your debris on the bottom is mostly from debris on the top falling and waterlogging..

Take your suction cleaner out for 1 week and see just how much your new solar breeze does

You have to report back what happens... :)
 
It seems to be avoiding the hose today. It seems to maybe only be an issue when the pump is off at night as the hose floats more then. I am willing to try the hose weights! The debris I get many times of the year are redwood tree cones which sink almost immediately and also sand and fine grains from peoples' feet and the nearby composition roofing material. The gardener goes on the roof and blows off my solar pool heater mats for me but some debris does land in the pool in the process. I just don't think any of that will float long enough for the Solar-Breeze. I should run a test though!

I called SolarPool today and spoke to a very knowledgeable person/engineer about what is going on in my pool. The frequency of reverse cycles along with the ineffectiveness of the reverse concerns them. It might be break-in issues but they haven't written off a bad unit yet. The service was very good. He clearly explained the expected behavior of the unit and then helped me troubleshoot what might be going on with mine. Finally, he welcomed videos of the Solar-breeze in action in my pool and asked me to call him back tomorrow. I'm heartened by the service.
 
Hey, I just got the new NX, had it for a week. This is what I have seen. The upper white plastic had some mis-alignment with the grey lower pontoon, looked a little ill fitting. Sent an e-mail to solar breeze and I gotta say I was not impressed with the response. It took a week and I provided photos of the alignment problem.
It does reverse every 4 mins according to the manual. It does this to change directions and to provide better coverage (so they say). In back up mode it does look sluggish but with what you described it appears that is the normal reverse speed.
It was getting caught between the waterline and my pool coping and the wheels and the reverse were not working. I put some rocks in the 3 slots for tri-chlor pucks and that lowered the rear and raised the front so it can free it self better.
Overall it does keep the surface cleaner than If I only skimmed when I returned home from work! Its still a work in progress, sun has not been out much and the charge does not build up as it should but that's expected with a week of cloudy days!

Let us know how your experience continues or if you notice any other attributes of the device!
 
Sorry! I'm not getting email notices of replies even though that's what I've selected. It's been sunny here. My NX is not working that well. It's not really building charge as it should among other things. On sunny days, it doesn't get out of hunt until high noon (sun out for 5 hours already) and then quits by 6, when there's still plenty of light. They're sending me a replacement unit right now. The idea for weights of some sort in lieu of pucks is a good one. I don't like the idea of rocks because of the minerals, but I'll figure out something. I may even throw in a couple of pucks because my CYA is on the low side it won't hurt anything.

- - - Updated - - -

I also want to say the pool does look cleaner on the surface despite the bugaboos. We get a ton of pollen this time of year…
 
salinda said:
...They're sending me a replacement unit right now. The idea for weights of some sort in lieu of pucks is a good one. I don't like the idea of rocks because of the minerals, but I'll figure out something.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear they're sending you a new replacement unit. Let us know if it works correctly this time. At least their customer service sounds good and at least it has been doing its job (although not long enough).

I'm curious what you end up using as weights (in addition to the pucks).
 
The sun has not been out long enough for my solar breeze to build up a full charge. It would be nice if the engineers made another way to charge the batteries for those times when the sun is not available. Once the Texas sun comes out I can give a better review of this thing!
 
I have had the replacement Solar Breeze NX for a few days now. It is a huge improvement. My first machine did not build or hold charge and also didn't cycle forward/reverse properly. It worked well the first day and that's it. It should work when overcast. The new one does all that and works better than I had anticipated.

Wow! The new one is amazing. Works until early, weak, first light and keeps going late into the night. Yesterday we had a wind storm and I got a lot of debris on the pool. During the wind storm, the Breeze had a little problem fighting the prevailing winds as expected. After the storm, I had a TON of leaves and flower petals on the pool. Normally, it would be 2-3 full scoops with the hand skimmer. Not yesterday! I looked out about an hour later and the pool surface was completely clean! I emptied it this morning and it was chock full.

The Breeze is not quite a miracle worker but very close. You still have to rinse debris off the tiles at the very edge of your pool. Light debris will always stick there around the perimeter, like seeds, pollen, and such. The Breeze does hang up on my PoolCleaner hose but quickly frees itself with its programmed reverse mode. I don't thinks I will add weights to the vacuum hose now.
 

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I took the rocks out of the puck tray. They were in there to weigh down the device because the pool had filled up due to excessive rain. Once the rocks were out the solar breeze reversed better. The rocks were blocking the flow of water thru the robot. It still gets stuck from time to time between the coping and the top of the device but its performance is better. The longer sunshine also allows it to run longer. Overall pretty happy!
 
salinda said:
Also, it seems to go in reverse a lot even when it is NOT stuck on anything.
Click to expand...


Just got mine yesterday and still getting to know it, but the manual says:

"the Solar-Breeze will also reverse automatically every four minutes, even if it does not encounter an obstruction. It will normally move in a different direction
after each reverse, improving its overall coverage of the pool...."
 
The solar breeze gets stuck many times in one of my skimmers. The reverse action is not strong enough to get it out. If I don't remove it from the skimmer it just stays there until the battery runs down. That's some powerful skimmer! Still working better now that the suns out and rocks are removed from puck tray. Cant quite figure out how to fix this problem. Don't want to turn off the suction to the skimmer while the solar breeze is in the pool as its in there all day and night except when swimming. Any ideas? How bout a string on two suction cups with a string between them to block off the entrance to the skimmer?
 
My original machine was going into reverse every 20 seconds or so and didn't hold charge. It was defective. The new one is great. It runs from about 7AM until well past midnight. It even runs on overcast days. Some of the floating debris in my pool (neighbor's locust tree flowers?) does clog the turbines but it still runs and gets packed full. I just pull out the debris with a plastic knife.
 
Mine gets stuck there too sometimes but always works free. You may have a defective solar-breeze, especially if it won't run on an overcast day. I had a defective one and the replacement is much better. That being said, I'm not sure if the Breeze is working free due to reverse action or if my floating suction cleaner hose eventually nudges it away from the skimmer.
 
salinda said:
. It runs from about 7AM until well past midnight. It even runs on overcast days. Some of the floating debris in my pool (neighbor's locust tree flowers?) does clog the turbines but it still runs and gets packed full. I just pull out the debris with a plastic knife.
Click to expand...

I've only had it a day and half so I'm still learning it but it stayed in "hunt for sun" mode until about 9:30am yesterday morning and then ran continuously until about 8pm which I thought was too early since it was in full sun most of the day. I was expecting it to run late into the night. I'll observe a few more days before calling to see if that shut down behavior is considered abnormal. this morning I turned it off, took it out and cleaned the debris tray. letting it charge in the off state standing up to see how long it takes for a full charge. We're supposed to get extreme temps early next week. The manual states to leave it in the pool to charge in extreme heat days.
 
That's similar to what my first defective Breeze did. It didn't get out of hunt for sun until late morning and was done by 6 with sun still shining obliquely on the pool. You could call them. They had me run through some troubleshooting steps and I also sent videos. In Vegas it should be running well into the night if your pool is in the sun. Call them.
 
salinda said:
That's similar to what my first defective Breeze did. It didn't get out of hunt for sun until late morning and was done by 6 with sun still shining obliquely on the pool. You could call them. They had me run through some troubleshooting steps and I also sent videos. In Vegas it should be running well into the night if your pool is in the sun. Call them.
Click to expand...

I had it standing up in the off position from 7-9:30am( more direct sun contact) and then laid it down flat until 11:30 am. the charge light was still blinking (fast blink, which is normal for charging). so after 4 and a half hours , still no full charge. I called and left message..they must not work on saturday. I have no problems with the software and the advertised behavior of the unit, I just dont think I am getting the full capacity out of the solar lithium batteries. Have it in the pool now and will keep a eye on it to see what time it goes into sleep mode. Probably will talk to them Monday to see if I need a new battery pack.
 

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