question about flow sensor in my salt water generator

[Zindar]

Hello, I was just reading the owners manual on my Intex SWG to for tips on why it might not be generating enough chlorine, and assuming the water is balanced correctly, and the settings are right, they suggest these two things to look for:

1) debris on the flow sensor
2) minerals on the titanium plates.

To be honest, I think #2 is the culprit, because I can see whitish deposits on it, and I'm soaking it in vinegar as we speak, but I was just curious (for my education) if anybody knows how the flow sensor works. I'm guessing its function is to tell the unit if water is flowing or not. It looks just like a small piece of plastic hanging by a small meter hinge, so my guess is that when the water flows, the plastic moves sideways into the water current. But I don't see any wires or other electronics connected. Just a simple piece of plastic with a thin metal pin running through its edge to act as a hinge. So I don't see how the plastic's orientation could ever get communicated to the CPU of the unit. I was just curious if people here might have a better understanding of this than I.

 

[pooldv]

The flow sensor is on or off, if there is enough flow it will turn on if not it won't. Can you see white scale on the plates? If yes, clean it if not don't clean it.

10 times out of 9 when people think their swg isn't producing enough chlorine it is because there is algae growing in the pool consuming the FC faster than the SWG can produce it.

You can perform the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if there is algae growing in the pool. Add bleach to raise FC up to target for your CYA, [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA].

 

[Zindar]

As I mentioned, yes I could see white deposits, in fact one of the plates was entirely white, and anyway at the time of my original post (as I also mentioned) cleaning was already in progress. The white is all gone now; the vinegar took care of it, and I've hooked it all back up again, so soon I'll see what difference my cleaning made.

But really, the question I asked was about the flow sensor. I was just curious if anybody knows how a little piece of plastic hanging by a thin metal rod could communicate flow data to the unit. I'd think there'd have to be wire or something like that to carry the info. Or maybe as the plastic moves into the current it presses against a button. I see no buttons in there, though I do see a smooth plastic surface near it, but no buttons, so I'm just mystified how the thing works.

 

[pooldv]

It is wired to a contact switch.