BubbaDuck Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 I am working on a pool controller integration. Sadly, the pool guy I am partnering with doesn't know the tech at all. Currently there is an i5+3S controller and it appears there is a serial connector. I have read a few threads and it appears one doesn't get "good" full bore awesome control in C4 until the unit is at least an i7. Is that true? What limitations does the serial control have compared to newer IP control? How much of this do I have sideways and what do I need to know? Needless to say, the Pentair site isn't terribly useful. Links to photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 A few things to note (from my experience): 1. Most variables don’t populate (e.g. you cannot program against whether or not the lights are on although you can see them in the pool extras section on a T3 / the app). Variables that populate properly include temperatures, pool on/off, spa on/off and (I think) heaters on/off. 2. Sending a single command has been rock solid for me. However, sending multiple commands (even with 5 or 10 second pauses inbetween is problematic). I worked around this using a 2 second repeating timer which repeats 5 times after the last command is set and it sends all of the commands each time the timer expires. This has proven rock solid for me. 3. if you are below OS3.2, the HasSpa variable will default to False after a reboot and needs to be changed to true in Composer if there is a jacuzzi in the system. This variable (and a few others)cannot be set from programming. Or at least the programming does nothing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubbaDuck Posted November 22, 2020 Author Share Posted November 22, 2020 This is in reference to serial control? And then should I infer IP control doesn’t have these issues? It appears then an i8 is the level at which IP control is included? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 6 hours ago, BubbaDuck said: This is in reference to serial control? And then should I infer IP control doesn’t have these issues? It appears then an i8 is the level at which IP control is included? Thanks! Yes, this is in reference to Serial Control. I must admit that as far as I know, all of the Pentair IntelliTouch systems are serial controlled (my home system is an i10 if I am not mistaken and is serial controlled). The newer Intellicenter (which I have at my Beach House) is IP controlled and is much better although the Intellicenter driver also has bugs (which I understand C4 is working on). BubbaDuck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubbaDuck Posted November 22, 2020 Author Share Posted November 22, 2020 Ahhhhh! Intellitouch vs Intellicenter! I missed that nuance. Ok, this is very helpful. Thank you. South Africa C4 user 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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