Pentair Easy Touch Lost Some Functionality

[1957AJA]

Hi all,
I've been having quite a bit of difficulty with my Pentair Easy Touch 8 system. A bit of background first. I recently had an air leak at my suction side at the skimmer/main drain diverter valve and the pool pump was not working. Initially I did not realize the air leak was the problem so I swapped my SPA jets pump over to the Pool pump to see if the Pool pump was the problem. It was not and I found online to check for air leaks. I found a leak at the bottom of the diverter valve so I replaced the seals. I then swapped back the pumps and started the system. Leak fixed and the main pool pumps now works fine. In addition, I recently replaced my pool/spa return diverter valve (Pentair CVA24T) which had stopped working.
Problem 1: My Jets pump is no longer controlled by the Easy Touch system. When I press the Jets button on the Easy Touch I have to go over to the pump and manually turn it on (it's an Intelliflow 140). The Easy Touch button will, however, turn the Jets pump off. Here's a list of my other problems:
Problem 2: The return pool/spa diverter valve (Pentair CVA24T) never used to fully block the SPA since there is a waterfall from the SPA to the pool when SPA is not in use. Now it goes the full 180 and blocks the SPA when in Pool mode.
Problem 3: I can no longer turn on my lights from the main control panel or the wireless remote.

I can still turn the pool pump on and off with the Easy Touch. The Air Blower for the SPA still works as it should. Also the schedule for the pool pump and the Cleaner works fine. The Freeze function works fine. And the SPA/Heater works fine with the diverter valves moving into the correct position for the SPA.

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jimrahbe]

57,

Pump issue.. The IntelliFlo's display must say "Display Not Active" before the EasyTouch can control the pump. Tell us what your two pumps show on their displays when the pump should be running. This assumes that both of your pumps are IntelliFlo pumps and are connected to the EasyTouch with RS-485 cables.

Valve issue.. The valves come from the factory set to move a full 180 degrees. If you don't want it to move 180, you have to open the actuator and adjust the mechanical stops. See the instructions that came with your actuator.

Light issue.. The first thing to look for when the lights do not work is the GFCI for the lights. In most cases, the GFCI Outlet in the side of the main enclosure is what provides the protection for the lights. Reset it and see what happens.

Also.. Show us several pics of your equipment pad..


Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[1957AJA]

Thank you for your help Jim. Really very much appreciated. I've set the valve actuator adjustment as you suggested and it's now working great!! Also, I reset the GFCI and now the lights work!!
The Spa pump is an older Intelliflow model that does not have a display. It's also not connected via a RS-485 cable. The AC power cables are the only wires connected to it (red, blue and green).
Thanks again for your help.

 

[Jimrahbe]

57,

I honestly have no clue how an IntelliFlo VS pump, without a display, could work without an RS-485 cable..

I have to assume it is a single speed pump...

Can you show us a picture of that pump?

Assuming it is a single speed pump, then it must be controlled by an Aux relay. Is one of the Aux buttons on your main panel labeled as the Spa pump? If so, which relay?

You have the advantage of being able to look at the equipment. Several pics of your equipment pad will help us level the playing field.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[rstrouse]

The IntelliFlo 4x160 pumps did not have a display. There were buttons to select the program and UP/DOWN to set the speed.

 

[Jimrahbe]

@rstrouse,

Thanks for the heads-up. Since this is a Spa pump, with no RS-485, I still can't see how it does anything but run at one speed. And the only way to turn it on or off would be by removing or applying power via an Aux relay. Pretty much a waste of a good VS pump.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[rstrouse]

I believe the ET8 will support up to 4 IntelliFlo pumps. It should be connected into the RS485 and given a unique address. If this was originally the pool pump then I would assume that it is still address 1. Then set it up in the pumps display on the second address and assign the circuits that should trigger the speeds to it. This is the same drive as all the other VS pumps it simply does not have the LCD display on it. All of the RS485 comms are the same and can it can be assigned to addresses 1-8.

 

[Jimrahbe]

R,

I agree 110%, but that is not how the OP has it connected. He says this pump has no RS-485 cable..

He said he has to go over to the pump and manually turn it on.

Without an RS-485 cable, you would "assume" the pump is set up to run 24/7 at some speed. Then just applying power to the pump would turn it on and off.

The question is why is the pump not running.

OH!!.. This pump is normally the spa pump. As a test, the OP used this pump as the main pool pump, then he moved the pump back to the Spa pump location.. Maybe when he connected it to the EasyTouch he wiped out the programming that was originally there. Now the pump no longer has a program to run 24/7.. So when you apply power, the pump does not know it is supposed to run.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[rstrouse]

Yep that is how I read it. He may have changed the address on the pump as well. If was changed to 1 (which is likely the pool pump) then it will interfere with the pool pump.

You can run the pump at a particular speed by choosing one of the 4 program buttons on the drive. I believe that it also remembers which one was selected when you apply power.

 

[1957AJA]

Thanks for the help guys. I've attached a couple of pictures of my panel and the pumps. The pump with the display is the main pool circulation pump that I can change the speed using the wireless remote. The pump without the display is the Jets pump for the Spa. It generally runs at one speed but I can select the 4 speeds at the pump itself. but not with the wireless controller. As you can see, the Spa Jets pump is supposed to be activated with button labeled 1 ((Jets) on the Easy Touch control panel. I think Jim R. may be correct that when I swapped the pumps then swapped them back, it somehow lost its programming. Currently the pump will only run when I press the Jets button then go to the pump and press "Start". I can however, turn off the pump by pressing the Jets button.

 

[Jimrahbe]

57,

The Jets button turns on the Aux 1 relay which sends the AC power to your older IntelliFlo. When you push the button again it takes the power away from the Jets pump, so it makes perfect sense that it turns the pump off. It no longer turns the older pump on, because the pump no longer had an internal program telling it to run.

I looked at the old manual and it says "When the pump is using an adjusted speed and the pump is powered down, the next time the pump is powered up the pump will use the same speed."

It appears all you need to do is set an "adjusted speed" and you should be good to go..

Here is the manual... https://images.inyopools.com/cloud/documents/intelliflow4x160-om.pdf

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[1957AJA]

Hi Jim,
I guess I must be doing something wrong. I followed the procedure on page 6 (Assigning a pump address for remote control but to no avail. When I press the Jets button it supplies power to the Jets pump but I still have to press the start button on the pump to get it running. When I press the Jets button to shut it off it does shut off the pump but the green On and red Alarm lights flash for a minute then go out. Still cannot turn on the pump using just the remote.

 

[Jimrahbe]

57,

Since your pump is not being controlled by the RS-485 cable, there is just no reason to assign a remote address.

All you need to do is turn the pump on manually, and find a default speed close to what you want. Then change that speed to exactly what you want and press Save. You cannot use one of the four default speeds. Your "saved" speed should start as soon as the power is applied to the pump, just like it did before you screwed with it..

You might want to look at the manual link above and follow the "Reset to factory defaults" first, just to give you a good starting point.

Do not follow any of the directions for remote operation..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[1957AJA]

Hi Jim,
I did the reset and then saved a new speed but still not working. I have a spare RS-485 cable and can connect that to the Easy Touch panel. Do you think that would work?

 

[Jimrahbe]

57,

It does not make sense that your old pump will not work like it used to. Just to be clear... You need to have the old pump running and running at the special speed that you saved.. Then while running at that speed, shut the pump off by pushing the Spa Jets (aux 1) button on the EasyTouch.. Do not shut the pump off at the pump.

If that does not work, you can try using the RS-485 cable if you want. Keep in mind that the two IntelliFlo pumps cannot have the same bus address.

Read this.. "The default communications address for the IntelliFlo 4 is 1. This is the only IntelliFlo address that the EasyTouch and IntelliComm systems will communicate with. Therefore, these devices can only communicate with one IntelliFlo 4. The IntelliTouch is able to communicate with four Intelliflo 4 pumps. If more than one IntelliFlo 4 is being used with an IntelliTouch the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pumps will have to be readdressed as described below. To assign a pump an address: 1. Be sure that the pump is powered on and the green power LED is on. 2. Press the Stop buttons to stop the pump. 3. Press and hold both the Start and Stop buttons until the red LED will starts flashing, then press one of the four speed buttons to select which address to assign the pump. 4. Press and hold both the Start and Stop buttons to save the address. Repeat the process for the other pumps".

Looks like if you connect the RS-485 to your old pump, the address must be "1"
This means that your main pump cannot be "1" which it probable is right now.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[1957AJA]

If I'm interpreting this correctly, I cannot use the RS-485 cable for my JETs pump because it will displace my main Pool pump since I have the Easy Touch system, not the IntelliTouch system. Is that correct? Also, what if I programed the JETs pump as a the 2-Speed pump instead?

 

[rstrouse]

EasyTouch supports a total of 2 IntelliFlo pumps. You should be able to connect both of them but you need to change the address of the old pump to 2. Then set it up in your EasyTouch configuration.

 

[Jimrahbe]

57,

Per the manual shown above, the older IntelliFlo 4-160 can only support address #1. So, you will have to change the address of the newer IntelliFlo to #2

I agree with rstrouse that most EasyTouch systems support two IntelliFlo pumps.. I am not sure that is true for the very old EasyTouch system. Not sure how old your system is..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[1957AJA]

My system is was installed in 2007.

 

[rstrouse]

Look in your EasyTouch menus to see how many pumps your EasyTouch supports [Settings -> IntelliFlo]. If there are slots for 2 pumps on your EasyTouch then you are golden.

The limitations will be with EasyTouch not the 4x160 pump since that pump can be addressed 1-4 and likewise communicate with IntelliTouch where the protocols are identical.