Remote control options for Pentair Easytouch 8

[sfawley]

Hey guys,

I am wondering what options I have for remote control of our Pentair Easytouch 8. We originally had the Easytouch remote but the receiver died. Then we bought the Screenlogic2 and now that appears to have also died. I am very tired of throwing money at these overpriced Pentair systems that seem to die at the blink of an eye. I would be fine with going with a hardwired system but would prefer to go with a manufacturer that is reliable and that will stand behind their product.

Thanks for any information that you may have to share.

Scott

 

[rphpool]

As far as I know you only have 2 options. Handheld remote and the Screenlogic2. I had my receiver board replaced under warranty and that fixed my handheld remote. If you are out of warranty you can purchase a new board and at least get that working again. Have you called Pentair about the Screenlogic2? Is it still under warranty? And I totally agree with you, WAY OVER PRICED for what you get. I am really surprised no one has come with a "app " for it.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

If you are able to run a 4-conductor cable from the outdoor control panel into your house, the hard-wired wall-mounted ET8 controller is more reliable and responsive than the hand-held wireless one. I have both wired and wireless, and the wired one works great, while the wireless one often times out before it can sync with the main panel.

 

[sfawley]

As far as I know you only have 2 options. Handheld remote and the Screenlogic2. I had my receiver board replaced under warranty and that fixed my handheld remote. If you are out of warranty you can purchase a new board and at least get that working again. Have you called Pentair about the Screenlogic2? Is it still under warranty? And I totally agree with you, WAY OVER PRICED for what you get. I am really surprised no one has come with a "app " for it.

The handheld remote came with the pool that we built in 2013. That stopped working in 2017 after an electrical storm so at that time we went with the Screenlogic2. Needless to say, everything is out of warranty. I spoke with Pentair yesterday and they said the "firmware is corrupt" in the protocol adapter. This really makes no sense since this all started after I changed out my network router. Unfortunately, the previous one died so I am unable to use it to test.

 

[sfawley]

If you are able to run a 4-conductor cable from the outdoor control panel into your house, the hard-wired wall-mounted ET8 controller is more reliable and responsive than the hand-held wireless one. I have both wired and wireless, and the wired one works great, while the wireless one often times out before it can sync with the main panel.

Thanks. I am probably going to go this route since it seems like it will be much more reliable.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

this all started after I changed out my network router.

This is significant. Are you network-literate? Things to consider....

• Does the new router have the same LAN address as the old router? Typically 192.168.1.1 or similar.
• Did you change the network name or password? If so, try changing them back.
• How is the protocol adapter getting its LAN address? Router-assigned DHCP, user-reserved DHCP, or static? Maybe you can make sure the adapter is getting the same LAN address it was previously.

In other words, make your LAN as identical as possible to what it was with the old router and maybe you'll get lucky.

 

[sfawley]

This is significant. Are you network-literate? Things to consider....

• Does the new router have the same LAN address as the old router? Typically 192.168.1.1 or similar.
• Did you change the network name or password? If so, try changing them back.
• How is the protocol adapter getting its LAN address? Router-assigned DHCP, user-reserved DHCP, or static? Maybe you can make sure the adapter is getting the same LAN address it was previously.

In other words, make your LAN as identical as possible to what it was with the old router and maybe you'll get lucky.

Unfortunately, the old router died without me having its settings recorded so I am not positive that the LAN ip range is the same since all our devices get their ip addresses from the router. I am unable to get into the Screenlogic settings to make any changes to the network settings since I only get a black screen when I launch the application. I opened the adapter up and removed the battery and then let it sit with hopes that it would clear out any settings that may be conflicting. Unfortunately, that did not help.

 

[sfawley]

Good news. I found that my old ip range was 192.168.0.x but the new router automatically set the range to 10.x.x.x. After changing this, the Screenlogic started working again. So much for it clearing out its old settings and picking up a new ip address. Thanks for the input that all provided.

 

[ogdento]

Glad to hear you got it working... +1 for the comment from @Rocket J Squirrel about hard-wiring the indoor panel (mine is also hard wired, but I don't have screenlogic installed). These low voltage cables do seem to be lightning magnets, so that's something to consider in Texas.

Just wanted to comment about your lost (and then found) IP address... this seems to come up a fair amount with Screenlogics and I just had the same situation while testing an unknown-to-me protocol adapter. If anybody runs into this, you can use an network sniffer program to find the ip (i use a free one called Wireshark). If you set it to log your laptop's ethernet traffic and then plug in the screenlogic, you should see a discovery request from it which should have the ip address in it. (Note - I'm lazy and don't set any filters, but I also wire only the laptop and the protocol adapter to an isolated/internet-less router. If you do this on your home router you will see lots of noise/useless packets)