Sanity check before installing Pentair IntelliCenter on my own

[iPenguin]

@ajw22 the leads are tiny lol

Is there any instance where I would connect to the SPA connector on the expansion board? Maybe spa pump? Just trying to find an alternative to soldering. I'm worried I'm going to screw it up

 

[ajw22]

@ajw22 the leads are tiny lol

Is there any instance where I would connect to the SPA connector on the expansion board?

The SPA connector should energize a relay when you change to SPA mode. Depends what you plug in there and how it will work for you.

Do you have a spa?

 

[iPenguin]

The SPA connector should energize a relay when you change to SPA mode. Depends what you plug in there and how it will work for you.

Do you have a spa?

I have a spa pump and blower. I assume I wouldn't be able to run both the pool and spa at the same time if I use this config because it's on or the other?

On a side note, if I try soldering, do you know the size of the led that goes above the connector and what color it is?

Edit: just finished. Decent, but Dang that was tough.

 

[ajw22]

You can never run the POOL and SPA at the same time with a shared equipment setup.

The IntelliCenter is either in POOL mode or SPA mode.

 

[iPenguin]

You can never run the POOL and SPA at the same time with a shared equipment setup.

The IntelliCenter is either in POOL mode or SPA mode.

I see, I haven't researched programming yet. It sounds like I should plug the spa pump into the SPA connector and I didn't really need to solder. I just needed an extra relay.

If that's the case, I'll report back anyways to let others know if soldering is the solution and would save a lot of money.

If you happen to know the LED size for the board let me know. Otherwise, I don't think I need them as they'll never be seen.

 

[mas985]

Sorry, I guess I missed these questions.

The spa water is about 1 foot above the ground +/- a little bit with the eyelets 7 inches below the water line. Distance from the spa to the pump and blower are 50 feet.

Is there any slope to the ground from the spa to the pump? That needs to be taken into account as well.

There are no check valves for the spa equipment. I know the equipment uses 2 inch piping. The blower is 32 inches off the ground.

This would indicated that the pump level is probably above the water level of the spa which means that you might be able to get away without a blower. Is the blower air line 2" as well?

How do I find out the nozzle diameter?

To work easier, you can drain the spa into the pool by switching the equipment to pool mode and manually switching the suction side valve actuator (switch on bottom of actuator) to draw from the spa and return to the pool. Running the pump in this configuration will move the water from the spa into the pool.

Once the spa is drained, if you remove the outer jet fitting, you can then look into the jet tube and see the nozzle there.

A 9/16" socket wrench can be used to remove the jet nozzle for measurement.

The most common size is 3/8" and if you have a long 3/8" drill bit, dowel rod or anything else, you can see if it is a tight or loose fit inside the nozzle without removal.

If that is too much work or you don't have the proper tools, another option would be to get a pressure measurement on the return side drain plug of the spa pump. I can probably figure it out from that. Smaller nozzles have higher pump pressure.

 

[iPenguin]

You can never run the POOL and SPA at the same time with a shared equipment setup.

The IntelliCenter is either in POOL mode or SPA mode.

I don't think the solder on aux connectors work. The system detects ip5. I've tried to manually change the system to show the ip10s aux's and tried using them, no luck

 

[iPenguin]

Ok I got most of it working at this point. The only issue I'm running into is trying to GFCI protect the pool lights. The GFCI outlet trips whenever I turn on the lights using the relay. The Load side power of the outlet goes to the relay line. Load of the relay goes to the light and neutral comes back to the outlet.

If I bypass the relay by going directly to the light, it works. I can hit test to trip on the outlet to turn off the lights.

I even tried connecting a switch in between to further test and that works without issue.

I'm stuck at this point HELP PLEASE!

 

[ajw22]

Ok I got most of it working at this point. The only issue I'm running into is trying to GFCI protect the pool lights. The GFCI outlet trips whenever I turn on the lights using the relay. The Load side power of the outlet goes to the relay line. Load of the relay goes to the light and neutral comes back to the outlet.

If I bypass the relay by going directly to the light, it works. I can hit test to trip on the outlet to turn off the lights.

I even tried connecting a switch in between to further test and that works without issue.

I'm stuck at this point HELP PLEASE!

Anything else wired to that relay?

Show us pictures of the wiring.

 

[iPenguin]

Anything else wired to that relay?

Show us pictures of the wiring.

Nothing else on the relay other than the 2 wires that go to the intellicenter. With the relay off the GFCI does not trip. When it turns on it does

I did try using a diff relay and it still trips.

Edit: I figured it out. I left a cable connected to the relay and that was tripping the relay. I'm dumb

 

[ajw22]

Edit: I figured it out. I left a cable connected to the relay and that was tripping the relay. I'm dumb

Anything else wired to that relay?

Yup, that will do it.

 

[iPenguin]

Now that I have everything wired correctly, hoping to have some best practices for setting up automation. Looking for critiques, advice, anything at all since this is my first time managing a pool in general.

My pool is shaped like to beans with the spa in the middle and a water feature above the spa. I live next to the freeway with dry brush so my pool gets pretty filthy throughout the day. My pool is estimated 15k gal and I left my spa at the default 1k gal. My water feature is pretty small

My filter pump is assigned to both the Pool and Spa. I added my single speed pump to the spa as well. And the gas heater added to both Pool and Spa.

Has anyone found a creative way to be able to heat both the Pool and Spa so you can use both? I was thinking maybe a group, but I don't see a way to turn on the heater.

Can someone explain Pump During Valve Action and Manual OP Priority? I see the latter in the users guide, but I'm still not clear how it works.

My normal schedule consists of the following. I'm going to continue to play with the speeds to see what provides the best results with keeping the pool clean. I'm running it 12 hours a day with a focus of running it during the times we'll likely use it.

1. 9am-9pm filter pump @ 2200 RPM
2. 9am-9:15am & 8pm-8:15pm water feature pump
3. 9am-10am & 8pm-8:30pm spillway @ 2200 RPM

Group for adding chemicals

1. Lights - On
2. Filter Pump RPM 3000

Group for vacuuming

1. Lights - On
2. Filter Pump RPM 3000
3. Spillway

Yup, that will do it.

Thank you for all your help. I had my doubts about trying to complete the setup myself, your input was extremely helpful.

 

[ajw22]

Has anyone found a creative way to be able to heat both the Pool and Spa so you can use both? I was thinking maybe a group, but I don't see a way to turn on the heater.

See if the heater will run while SPILLWAY is on. If so then heated water will be returned to spa and spill into the pool heating it also.

Can someone explain Pump During Valve Action

Where do you see that?

and Manual OP Priority?

If a device is ON due to a schedule and you turn it OFF then ON the schedule will continue to apply to that device for when it turns OFF.

If you want to be able to override the schedule for that device and have it stay ON after the schedule this setting says that manual operation takes priority over a schedule.

 

[iPenguin]

Where do you see that?

In the App > Settings > General Settings > Other Settings

If a device is ON due to a schedule and you turn it OFF then ON the schedule will continue to apply to that device for when it turns OFF.

If you want to be able to override the schedule for that device and have it stay ON after the schedule this setting says that manual operation takes priority over a schedule.

Thank you. I guess I'm not sure whenever I'd use that

See if the heater will run while SPILLWAY is on. If so then heated water will be returned to spa and spill into the pool heating it also.

Not sure how to do this since I can only turn on the header when I turn on Pool or Spa modes.

Just thinking out loud, if I activate Pool mode, turn on heat, and activate SPILLWAY by making it a displayed feature. Maybe this will work.

Additionally, what speeds should I have my pump run when I run the Pool and Spa modes? I have it at 2500 RPM

 

[ajw22]

In the App > Settings > General Settings > Other Settings

My system is shutdown for the winter so I cannot take a look.

Post a picture of the screen.

Just thinking out loud, if I activate Pool mode, turn on heat, and activate SPILLWAY by making it a displayed feature. Maybe this will work.

Yup, try that.

Additionally, what speeds should I have my pump run when I run the Pool and Spa modes? I have it at 2500 RPM

Here are my speed settings. I have a separate Spa Jet Pump. If your pump services your spa jests then you want a speed as high as necessary for good jet massage.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Just thinking out loud, if I activate Pool mode, turn on heat, and activate SPILLWAY by making it a displayed feature. Maybe this will work.

This should work. Activating spillway should not turn off POOL mode.

Can someone explain Pump During Valve Action

This is Pentair screwing up their app. It should say Pump Off During Valve Action. I see they screwed up and it should say Pump On During Heater Cool-down Delay also. See below screenshot of the web server version.



The installation and/or user guide says nothing about this other than it indicates there is a valve delay under the Delay Settings heading in the Settings section. Presumably it means the pump will turn off whenever a circuit is selected with a valve actuator that needs to change. I have never had this on so can't advise what it actually does.

--Jeff