What's the state of the world for swimming pool automation in 2023? And how is C4 integration?

[zaphod]

I have a swimming pool but have never really integrated it into C4.  I have a Jandy Aquapure 1400 SWCG, a Raypak heater and a pump.  I believe that both Pentair and Jandy have various "smart" controllers.  Anyone have a recommendation on these and whether they are worthwhile?  I have looked at these in the past and they have seemed very expensive and kind of limited in functionality.  And what I have read on here seems to show that the integration into C4 isn't always very good.

[penn65000]

58 minutes ago, zaphod said:

I have a swimming pool but have never really integrated it into C4.  I have a Jandy Aquapure 1400 SWCG, a Raypak heater and a pump.  I believe that both Pentair and Jandy have various "smart" controllers.  Anyone have a recommendation on these and whether they are worthwhile?  I have looked at these in the past and they have seemed very expensive and kind of limited in functionality.  And what I have read on here seems to show that the integration into C4 isn't always very good.

IAqualink works pretty well with control4. That said, pool automation is 1980s technology at best. Very expensive and firmware not upgradable OTA. So C4 with iAqualink fairly good (can manage heat and pump and temp and other basic functions) but the rate limiting step is iAqualink which is boxy and clunky and temperamental (can lock up and only response from Jandy is “power cycle”). 

[SpencerT]

I'm on Jandy iaqualink 2.0. everything in my Jandy app shows up in c4. Control is instant. My wife likes not having to use the jandy app. Jandy overall has made lots of improvements to the app (and Alexa skill) in the last 24 months. 

We use Alexa (the iaqualink skill) most of the time. I try to use native skills for the rare ones that are actually good. 

One thing I dislike is that the toggle buttons in c4 don't seem to correctly reflect state consistently (but they do always work). I do get some LUA errors on the Jandy driver so I would assume it's due for an update but not sure when that will happen - it's pretty old.

One touch (a Jandy feature) has never worked for me in c4 which is kind of a bummer as we have a few things programmed into one touch but overall I'm happy with the integration. 

I cannot speak for Pentair. We looked at intellicenter when we were on Elan only because iaqualink was so dated before the updates. After all of the updates and modernization of the app (and API's) I haven't taken another look. 

Overall, integrated or not, I would highly recommend some form of pool automation or "smart" control. I honestly would hate my pool and spa without it. 

[Olichops]

I have the Pentair system and it works well. Basic controls of spa and pool pumps, heating and lighting all in C4. Anything more advanced you need to use the app which is easy to use as I need to adjust the Chemlink from there.  Adapter is expensive as with all of them.

[ekohn00]

I just updated my pentair controller to the new intellicenter. On its own it is far better than prior controlling, pentair now added a better iphone app and web connectivity.

And with it now being on the network, it also intigrates into C4 much better. My only pet peeve is the pool temperature screen and the alarm look the same.

expensive protocol converter no longer needed.

[South Africa C4 user]

I have a Pentair IntelliCenter and an IntelliTouch (2 different houses).  The (older) IntelliTouch is very stable and has by far the best pool driver for Control4 in the bNet Solutions Pentair IntelliTouch driver. It integrates pretty much everything (for instance, I even graph my power usage for each of 8 pumps based on the C4 integration) and works flawlessly.  Protocol adapter not needed for C4 integration via this driver. 

The native C4 Pentair IntelliCenter driver is the second best pool driver I have seen.  90% of the functionality of the bNet solutions IntelliTouch driver.  A few small bugs but easy to work around them once you understand them.  The IntelliCenter itself is more advanced than the IntelliTouch and as others have commented, it is more modern and has a great app.  Someone commented above that pool controllers don’t allow OTA updates.  That is not 100% accurate as the IntelliCenter caters for OTA updates.  Admittedly, this works for the main panel only at this stage and if you have slave panels, these need to be updated separately by USB.

Edited May 8, 2023 by South Africa C4 user

[Rob21]

I will be getting Hayward Omnilogic soon. I know they have a driver but I believe it is only cloud based. DOes anyone have any experience with Hayward Omnilogic integration?

[Dueport]

14 minutes ago, Rob21 said:

I will be getting Hayward Omnilogic soon. I know they have a driver but I believe it is only cloud based. DOes anyone have any experience with Hayward Omnilogic integration?

Works great! We’ve had it for a few years now. Rock solid!

[Anks329]

On 5/8/2023 at 10:48 AM, South Africa C4 user said:

The native C4 Pentair IntelliCenter driver is the second best pool driver I have seen.

I'm thinking of upgrading my pool to add the Pentair IntelliCenter. Could you share some screenshots of how it integrates into Control4?

 

Thanks!

[South Africa C4 user]

The pictures below will give you a good feel for how things look on navigators.  They are a mix between my IntelliCenter setup and my IntelliTouch setup based on the drivers I mentioned in an earlier post (as I don’t have heating turned on at my beach house - IntelliCenter at present - and thought it was worth showing this).  
 

A few comments to be aware of:

1. The IntelliCenter won’t show the pump speeds that you see on these screenshots (that is limited to the bNet IntelliTouch driver).

2. Both drivers also bring in salt, ORP and pH levels where relevant / available.  This can be displayed separately via various drivers (e.g. bIcons).  However, one bug on the IntelliCenter driver for certain setups (including mine) is that these additional variables (non-standard from the proxy) are lost at some point (probably after the first reboot following the driver installation) and can then no longer be accessed for programming against or viewing (after that) without a reinstall of the driver (which has the same end result).

[Anks329]

Thanks for the screenshots!

[Kahn]

Recently had the Hayward Omnilogic driver installed. It works fine, just very minimal interface. I like using the Hayward Omnilogic app for the iphone more. Very slick and responsive. 

[Rob21]

3 hours ago, Kahn said:

Recently had the Hayward Omnilogic driver installed. It works fine, just very minimal interface. I like using the Hayward Omnilogic app for the iphone more. Very slick and responsive. 

What features are missing in the driver? 

[ILoveC4]

I have the Intellicenter and it’s great. I just use the native driver. 

[KWD]

Just installed and Intellicenter today and the driver seems to be pretty straight forward. Going to hook up the NodeJS-Pool to it tomorrow to see what else it can do. 

[JackD]

Anyone have the documentation for the C4 - Hayward Omnilogic driver.  Just about to get a home delivered with both and I'd really like to understand what functions on pool control and the color logic lighting will be available in C4 programming.

[Captain2107]

I had Jandi years years ago and it worked just fine and was as easy as using it on the C4 side. The last two pools have both been Hayward OmniLogic, and the interface works great but the one issue is that it does not have the timers like on the Hayward app. For instance, my fountains , the cleaner, waterfalls bubblers and fire bowls are just an on off and not able to set a timer for 20 minutes or an hour or whatever I want. So generally, I just use the Hayward app for control, but I can see everything in Control4 as well. The Alexa integration with Hayward is pretty decent as well but she does get confused sometimes and turn on the wrong things. So again, I keep defaulting back to their app.


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