ScreenLogic's Email Alerts

[Dirk]

I just realized my system has not been sending me by email the alerts reported by ScreenLogic for my faulty SWG. The alerts appeared within the ScreenLogic interface, but I received no emails. It appears I have ScreenLogic configured correctly for that feature, except for maybe the remote access password. I think I know what that is, and where it is configured, but I've never been sure exactly how that password works, what it protects, and if it's used for just WAN access or LAN access, too. Confused.

But my actual question, does anyone know how to generate an error that would throw an alert? I replaced my SWG, so it's working now. How can I manually, artificially, make ScreenLogic think something is wrong, so that I can test the email alert settings?

 

[bizzle]

I don't know if there are specific errors that trigger email notifications, but I was hoping it would alert me when the flow is too low and the SWG isn't functioning. If you want to test that, simply reduce the RPMs of your pump until it's below the SWG's flow meter threshold...or just drop it all the way down to 850rpm.

The password should be for WAN access.

 

[Dirk]

I don't know if there are specific errors that trigger email notifications, but I was hoping it would alert me when the flow is too low and the SWG isn't functioning. If you want to test that, simply reduce the RPMs of your pump until it's below the SWG's flow meter threshold...or just drop it all the way down to 850rpm.

The password should be for WAN access.

I'll try that, that's easy enough. I was getting an alert for low salt. I don't think it errors for low flow though. I was fooling with how low I could run my pump and still get the SWG to fire. I adjusted the pump the night before, and the next morning I checked the Chlorinator page and it reported 0 salt, but no alert. When I ran out to the SWG, the low flow light was on. But that was my faulty SWG, I'll see if my new one will generate a low flow alert.

Any other ideas, anyone?

 

[Dirk]

Well, that didn't work. I configured my pump to start up today at 1000RPM. As expected the IC40 reported Low Flow and couldn't or wouldn't test for salt. So it didn't fire up. After about 10 minutes I restored the pump speed to 1500 RPM. The IC40 finally reported the salt level in the green. But still didn't indicate it was producing chlorine: no green Cell light. I used ET to set IC Enable to "No" then a minute later back to "Yes." That got me a green Cell light.

So if all that was done correctly, it revealed some interesting things about the system, unfortunate things.

The IC40 and/or the ET and/or ScreenLogic are not capable of reporting No Flow back to the ScreenLogic interface. Nor whether the Cell light is on or off (whether the unit is producing chlorine or not). Only what the salt level is, and not that it hasn't or can't test for salt, but only what the salt level LAST WAS, until it can test for a current number. And none of what I tried fired off an email. And, it seems, correcting flow and the subsequent test, or retest, for salt, even if both green, doesn't fire up the cell. It must be reset for that. I wish all that worked better.

So while an ET is virtually mandatory to run all of the IC40's features (like dialing in Output in 1% increments), the IC40's physical interface is still the only place you can get decent status readings. Bummer.

Still doesn't solve my alert email issue. So, again, does anybody know of a way to force ScreenLogic to throw an alert, so I can configure and test its email sending feature?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dirk,

There may be a simple answer but I have no idea what it is...

I have never used the e-mail alerts, but I saw your post so I thought I'd try... I have a CB for the SWCG's transformer so I just shut it off. It took several minutes for ScreenLogic to throw a "Lost Communications" alert.. But even though I had set up the alert e-mail... it never sent one. I waited for over an hour and no e-mail.. Also.. with no power to the cell (all the lights out) ScreenLogic still showed my cell set to 18% and a 3150 salt level. It even allowed me to adjust the % up or down... The chlorinator page stayed that way for over an hour and never updated to show loss of com. The Delays and Alerts showed the failure , but not the Chlorinator page... How odd???

Something I'll play with later...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Dirk]

Thanks, Jim. Keep me posted. What is "CB?"

Does this email alert feature even work? Does anybody have it working?

There's a little lag between pump and ScreenLogic, sometimes 10 or 15 seconds, but they generally tend to "know" about each other. I don't think there's anything like that for the SWG. They talk to each other, so to speak, but not very often, it seems, and it's not clear to me when that is, or what initiates the "conversation." It'd be great if the IC shared more info, and more often, but that doesn't seem to be the case, does it. And I saw the same thing, the Chlorinator page gives you "last known data" but doesn't update, or indicated no com's. Just waits for the IC to push it new data and only updates then. Unfortunate.

I just checked and might have a clue, though not sure how to follow up on it. My email archive has emails from "[email protected]." The subject line is "Pentair System Alarm Notification" and the email is full of the same personal data I set up in the ScreenLogic email alert dialog box, like my address. So this looks to be an email alert from my system. The alert/alarm reads "Freeze Mode - Air Temperature at or below 36F."

I have a dozen of these emails, the last one dated December 5, 2017.

The clue is the line in the email that states "Adapter Version POOL: 5.2 Build 733"

December might have been right around the time I updated my Adaptor and software to 736. I wonder if the email alert component is now broken in the latest software/firmware...

 

[Melnic]

Do you have to do anything other than enter your email address?
That is all I did and I have yet to have an alert sent to me.
Since adding my email address I have had several alerts
Low temp on Chlorinator
Low salt on Chlorinator.

I have looked into my spam folder. Nothing.

I have 736 firmware in mine

 

[jimim]

i get alerts in screen logic each day that my salt cell lost communication with screen logic. thats cause I have that breaker off cause i'm not yet using my salt cell.

i get them in screen logic. not my email (personal). i didn't set that up though I assume yet.

jim

 

[Dirk]

i get alerts in screen logic each day that my salt cell lost communication with screen logic. thats cause I have that breaker off cause i'm not yet using my salt cell.

i get them in screen logic. not my email (personal). i didn't set that up though I assume yet.

jim

So if ScreenLogic thinks you have a SWG (from the little check box for that in ScreenLogic Configurator, I presume), but if the cell is powered down, you get an alert? That might be what I need.

If you get bored... and want to configure your email settings to get those alerts, I'd be real curious if you have better luck getting that working. What version of ScreenLogic are you running? 736?

Oh, other Jim, CB = circuit breaker? Sounds like you both are doing the same thing to get those alerts. Unfortunately, my SWG is wired to something else, with no dedicated CB, but I can pull the cable.

Thanks!

 

[bizzle]

If your Screenlogic isn't reporting low flow errors in the interface then your system is not operating correctly. In fact, the entire paragraph you wrote about the operation of the salt cell is indicative that it's not operating correctly.

When mine (also brand new, only been installed for a little under a month) does not have adequate flow, a low flow error displays in the UI within Delays & Alerts: System Alerts. Before the iOS update, there was no place for that error to display but now the newest iOS app does show the error, as well.

The salt cell tests the salinity when it first turns on and becomes active. It will not re-test the salinity until it turns off and then turns back on. I figured this out while I was adding salt to my pool and the SWG wouldn't change it's measurement until I power cycled it (this was before I read I was supposed to have waited 24 hours before turning it on...although only had it on at a low flow setting just so it could read the salt not to actually generate any chlorine).

Also, when my the cell is off screenlogic shows 0 ppm for salt so if yours is still displaying last known data then that is also misconfigured or non-operational.

Here are the steps to reproduce what I'm suggesting so you can try it right now and report back to the thread rather than waiting until your schedule changes tomorrow (I'll be out of town from tomorrow until Monday night and won't be able to do any cross-testing with you until after then):

Walk out to your pool with your device in hand
Verify pump is running at 1500 rpm
Verify all lights on cell are green
Go into Screenlogic and adjust pump down to 1490 (assuming you are certain 1500 is the minimum you need for flow, otherwise just take it down all the way to 850)
Flow warning should display on cell
Flow warning should display in app

If those last steps don't work, then I think you need to talk with your pool builder again. That said, I installed this system myself and maybe I did something wrong whereas he did it correctly...but mine is functioning in a way I'd prefer over yours

If you do that test and it doesn't operate as expected and you need a short video to show your pool builder, let me know in the next hour or two.

I believe a CB refers to a circuit breaker.

 

[Dirk]

Wow, thanks for the info. I kinda did that test. I set my pump speed for 1000 the night before. The new cell powered up the next morning and indicated low flow. But that never got reported as an alert to ScreenLogic.

With my old cell, you're right, when that cell was started up with low flow, it showed zero salt. But still no low flow alert in SL.

I did see an alert for low salt with the old cell, which did show up in SL. But no email!

I can't test for the low salt alert, because the new cell is testing salt as normal. I'll try your test idea more closely tomorrow, if I can.

I (we) shouldn't have to fight with the dern thing. It should just work, and it should report everything back to ScreenLogic (all its indicator lights). Frustrating...

But back to my question: do you have email alerts working for v736? Did you ever have them working, and then did they stop working in 736?

If your Screenlogic isn't reporting low flow errors in the interface then your system is not operating correctly. In fact, the entire paragraph you wrote about the operation of the salt cell is indicative that it's not operating correctly.

When mine (also brand new, only been installed for a little under a month) does not have adequate flow, a low flow error displays in the UI within Delays & Alerts: System Alerts. Before the iOS update, there was no place for that error to display but now the newest iOS app does show the error, as well.

The salt cell tests the salinity when it first turns on and becomes active. It will not re-test the salinity until it turns off and then turns back on. I figured this out while I was adding salt to my pool and the SWG wouldn't change it's measurement until I power cycled it (this was before I read I was supposed to have waited 24 hours before turning it on...although only had it on at a low flow setting just so it could read the salt not to actually generate any chlorine).

Also, when my the cell is off screenlogic shows 0 ppm for salt so if yours is still displaying last known data then that is also misconfigured or non-operational.

Here are the steps to reproduce what I'm suggesting so you can try it right now and report back to the thread rather than waiting until your schedule changes tomorrow (I'll be out of town from tomorrow until Monday night and won't be able to do any cross-testing with you until after then):

Walk out to your pool with your device in hand
Verify pump is running at 1500 rpm
Verify all lights on cell are green
Go into Screenlogic and adjust pump down to 1490 (assuming you are certain 1500 is the minimum you need for flow, otherwise just take it down all the way to 850)
Flow warning should display on cell
Flow warning should display in app

If those last steps don't work, then I think you need to talk with your pool builder again. That said, I installed this system myself and maybe I did something wrong whereas he did it correctly...but mine is functioning in a way I'd prefer over yours

If you do that test and it doesn't operate as expected and you need a short video to show your pool builder, let me know in the next hour or two.

I believe a CB refers to a circuit breaker.

 

[bizzle]

You should already know I don't receive email alerts working because, I believe, it was our earlier discussion about them that prompted this thread I am on 736 and they've never worked. I updated my firmware as soon as I set everything up so I can't say one way or the other in regards to whether the feature would have worked in an earlier version.

I understand you kinda did the same test as me but I'm asking you to do it identically to me. You know testing procedures matter I have experienced enough quirkiness with this whole system that makes it unsurprising that you didn't get a low flow error upon startup but that you might get a low flow error during normal operation if the flow drops.

The only time I never received a low flow error was when it wasn't flowing properly when my timer shifted from pool low to pool on schedule. It was like my cell never even started up and I didn't notice it until around 2 in the afternoon. That didn't send me an alert in the app, the Windows app, or the Mac app. It was actually that incident that was fresh on my mind when I wrote my post in your other thread about wishing for in-device notification. If I wasn't in the early stages of my equipment build and still dialing in the SWG, I wouldn't have caught the issue at all for I don't know how long...maybe when my pool water turned green!

So that's my working theory: when the SWG is not "on" it won't send errors until it has already been on. I have received some lost communication errors (I can't explain their source, though) and those seem like they can happen during a cell's pre-operational startup, but I'm not certain.

 

[Dirk]

I'm in the throws of just getting my SWG settings right, so for the sake of both "projects" I should concentrate on just that one. But I'll pick this one up at a later date, once I know my SWG is taking care of chlorine, and keep you posted.

 

[bizzle]

I see. OK, well to be clear it's a simple 30 second test. It shouldn't impact your chlorine generation calculations...unless you played with it all day long

In any case, I was suggesting to check that functionality sooner rather than later because if your IC and ET are not communicating properly that's an issue I suspect you'd want to take up with your pool builder regardless of the email notifications working.

 

[jimim]

So if ScreenLogic thinks you have a SWG (from the little check box for that in ScreenLogic Configurator, I presume), but if the cell is powered down, you get an alert? That might be what I need.

If you get bored... and want to configure your email settings to get those alerts, I'd be real curious if you have better luck getting that working. What version of ScreenLogic are you running? 736?

Oh, other Jim, CB = circuit breaker? Sounds like you both are doing the same thing to get those alerts. Unfortunately, my SWG is wired to something else, with no dedicated CB, but I can pull the cable.

Thanks!

sorry man. I just saw it. I’ll set it up when I get home. Right now I have it I plucked from panel bit also had circuit breaker off when plugged in and got alerts each time.

 

[Dirk]

Cool, thanks. No hurry, I'm working on another aspect of the SWG just now anyway...

 

[dmmincrjr]

Just curious if you ever got your email alerts working? I was getting them up till about the beginning of May and then they stopped. It took me awhile to realize and have contacted Pentair support a couple times but they are unable to fix. They originally thought problem was old adapter version and upgraded from 733 to 736 but still does not work. Last time I called where going to send a message to reboot the server as sometimes that fixes the issue. Hard to know if that has been done but my Intelliflo Pump Drive failed recently and it was probably a few days before I realized I had a problem without the email notification.

 

[Dirk]

I haven't worked on this at all since my last post here! Kinda forgot about it. It's a low priority item on my long list of things to take care of! My suspicion is that this feature was broken in a software or firmware update, and Pentair hasn't fixed it yet (though I suspect they are well aware of it). We should probably keep bugging them about it. It's not our job to troubleshoot it for them. But if I do ever get it working, I'll report back. Please do the same...

 

[dmmincrjr]

Thanks for the update. I was pretty sure this was on the Pentair side but thought if you were receiving emails again it might be a configuration issue on my end. I'll try calling Pentair again and see if we can't bump the issue up the list. Also will report back if emails start flowing again.

 

[dmmincrjr]

Just wanted to update you that I began receiving emails yesterday. Have received 3 so far. I haven't made any changes so I guess Pentair finally fixed the problem with the mail server.