SuperFlo VST and Hayward GL-235 solar controller

[glbski]

I'm a new owner of new Pentair Superflo VST and also recently had a Hayward GL-235 solar controller installed. I "hear" they can be made to talk with the black (RS-485?) communication cable. But the pool guy who installed the VST today, was not sure they could be made to work together. The desired state would be to have the pump work at a lower speed as the default and then when the solar is switched on from the GL-235, run the pump at a higher speed. And then of course, when solar is not longer operating, to return the pump to the default lower speed. Is this possible? I need more info that what I am able to decipher from their respective manuals. Thanks in advance

 

[chiefwej]

That works well with my Pentair Intelliflo pump and Pentair SolarTouch controller. But I’m not sure you can get the same results with Hayward and Pentair. Different brands don’t generally communicate well.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jerry,

Does your solar controller have an RS-485 output?

The manual I was looking at did not show one, but maybe it is an older manual?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JamesW]

They won't communicate, but you can use the relay to trigger a pump speed.

The relay contacts are at the red dots.

https://www.pentair.com/content/dam/extranet/nam/pentair-pool/residential/manuals/pumps/superflovs/supervs-install-english.pdf

https://www.hayward-pool.com/assets/documents/pools/pdf/manuals/AquaSolarGL-235.pdf

 

[JamesW]

When ready to start the pump, place the pump into External Control Only mode.

External Control Only mode will only allow the pump to run from external controls/inputs.

When this mode is active the programmed pump schedule is deactivated, and user speed requests from the keypad will not be accepted.

If the pump is stopped a user can still program the speeds for all four Speed buttons.

Ideally, you want the speeds to work on the timers until the relay activates the speed for solar and then the timers should resume once the relay opens, but it is not really clear if the timers will work when in External Control Only mode or if the relay will activate a speed when External Control Only mode is off.

You probably need to check with Pentair to be sure.