Is RS485 for a chlorinator even worth it?

[jamestalmage]

Reading the Intellichlor install manual, it seems choosing chlorinator levels would be pretty simple with just a relay:

• 0% - No LEDs lit - No chlorine produced - IntelliChlor Electronic Chlorine Generator is off.
• 20% - 1 LED lit - Produces chlorine 20% of each hour of pump run time, 12 minutes on, 48 minutes off.
• 40% - 2 LEDs lit - Produces chlorine 40% of each hour of pump run time, 24 minutes on, 36 minutes off.
• 60% - 3 LEDs lit - Produces chlorine 60% of each hour of pump run time, 36 minutes on, 24 minutes off.
• 80% - 4 LEDs lit - Produces chlorine 80% of each hour of pump run time, 48 minutes on, 12 minutes off.
• 100% - 5 LEDs lit - Produces chlorine almost 100% of each the hour of pump run time, 59 minutes on, 1 minute off.

Seems like this would be simple to implement with any chlorinator and a relay... Just cycle power as described above. Is this implemented already? (If not, would a PR be welcome?)

Looking at the chlorinator protocol, it does seem like salt PPM is returned by some units... Is that information returned by all of them? I'm assuming it's well integrated into the dashPanel at this point?

[rstrouse]

It is nice to have the ability to adjust it as needed. The other thing that these controllers do is reverse the polarity to reduce buildup so switching it off in a cycle will interfere with this function. You are limited to Aquarite and Pentair. However I do recommend Pentair. There was a period of time when everyone was carrying a flag for Circupool but that has waned due to issues with them.

[jamestalmage]

Getting further in the manual... It also talks about a mode to check the hours on the cell from the controller... Is that available over RS485?

Also, do you know... Is salt PPM returned by all intellichlor units?

[rstrouse]

Getting further in the manual... It also talks about a mode to check the hours on the cell from the controller... Is that available over RS485?

This is not available on the RS485 comms. The chlorinator controller only outputs the current setpoint, salt level, and status. The status includes some things that are not indicated on the cell display or shown in a Pentair OCP.

• Low Flow
• Very Low Salt
• Low Salt
• Low Voltage
• High Current
• Low Water Temp
• Clean Cell

Also, do you know... Is salt PPM returned by all intellichlor units?

Yes

[zombielinux]

@rstrouse could you clarify how to extract those additional values from an intellichlor's status message?

I could certainly use "Low Flow" in some of my automation logic.

[tagyoureit]

The byte map is here:

nodejs-poolController/controller/boards/SystemBoard.ts

Lines 522 to 532 in a595fe0

	public chlorinatorStatus: byteValueMap = new byteValueMap([
	[0, { name: 'ok', desc: 'Ok' }],
	[1, { name: 'lowflow', desc: 'Low Flow' }],
	[2, { name: 'lowsalt', desc: 'Low Salt' }],
	[3, { name: 'verylowsalt', desc: 'Very Low Salt' }],
	[4, { name: 'highcurrent', desc: 'High Current' }],
	[5, { name: 'clean', desc: 'Clean Cell' }],
	[6, { name: 'lowvoltage', desc: 'Low Voltage' }],
	[7, { name: 'lowtemp', desc: 'Water Temp Low' }],
	[8, { name: 'commlost', desc: 'Communication Lost' }]
	]);

And the byte itself is part of the Action: 18 message.

nodejs-poolController/controller/comms/messages/status/ChlorinatorStateMessage.ts

Line 120 in a595fe0

cstate.status = (msg.extractPayloadByte(1) & 0x007F); // Strip off the high bit. The chlorinator does not actually report this.