Advice for using aqualogic ps-8

[waste]

Induce, the ps-8 is one of the units my company installs. What you need to ask yourself is whether you need or want the 'bells and whistles' enough to pay the extra. The menues are not very linear (IMO), which makes progamming it a bit of a pain at first until you get used to it. The actuator valves are not as high tech as you may think, they can only move to 2 positions (ie open/ closed), though this can be bypassed by manually activating the actuator. The real reason that we've had problems with the actuators is that we didn't plumb the systems to accomidate them (4 of 5 were done as an 'add-on after the pool was plumbed and running), had we known about the upgrade, we could have changed the valve configuration to synch with them. I can go into further detail if you'd like, but just be sure that the unit will be able to do what you want and that the plumbers know what you want so they can incorporate your needs into the design.

[induce]

Waste,

I don't think i really need the electronic valves. no spa or water feature. I just want to be able to run the pool functions inside the house.
heat settings, polaris run times, salt settings, pump times and lights. I guess i'm a bit lazy. Last time we had to go to the side of the house, track grass and mulch back to the pool area just to raise the heat a couple of degrees or kick the polaris on for a non-cycled cleaning. I was hoping to be able to do this all from inside the back door. will the aqualogic do these things?

[INLANDSMOG]

Waste,

I don't think i really need the electronic valves. no spa or water feature. I just want to be able to run the pool functions inside the house.
heat settings, polaris run times, salt settings, pump times and lights. I guess i'm a bit lazy. Last time we had to go to the side of the house, track grass and mulch back to the pool area just to raise the heat a couple of degrees or kick the polaris on for a non-cycled cleaning. I was hoping to be able to do this all from inside the back door. will the aqualogic do these things?

As waste said, yes the menus are kind of confusing at first but once you get the hang of it it will do what you want. As far as the actuators, yea they only go from 1 position to the other but what you can do is change the internal cam position to stop the actuator in any position, for example, when I turn on my water feature, I only want about 60% flow to the feature so I adjusted the internals to that setting.
HTH

[waste]

The ps-8 should do what you want, I'd call Goldline and be sure that it will do the specific things you want it to do without having to have one of their 'traveling techs' come out and add a $ extra part to the system. Also, get the poolside remote, not the inside one. If you've any more ?s, please feel free to ask.
HTH, welcome to the forum! I've played with the cams, I had to to get improperly (for the purpose) plumbed pools to do what they should with the press of a button (ours actually require the press of 2 buttons to do what one should ), but it cuts down on the 'usefulness' of our pools - we had to sacrifice control of all of the 3 suction ports to allow for the spa . As I said earlier, it's because we didn't know about the upgrade when the pools were plumbed, which s*cks for us and the customer. Glad you found the forum and hope you use it to keep a crystal clear and trouble free pool and, of course, if anything ever goes wrong.

[induce]

Waste,

Thanks for the info. What do you think about using the ps4? I need relays for 2 speed pump (2 relays), polaris (1) and lights (1). I think the heater control is just a 24 volt circuit/therm. This would use all the relays on the ps4 but save some bucks.......or think ahead for future uses and get the ps8?

Thanks

[INLANDSMOG]

I have the ps-4 and have maxed it out, I wish my pb would have given me the option to go with the 8.
IMHO go with the 8 so you do have the option later down the road.

[South_Texas_Sun]

Waste,

Thanks for the info. What do you think about using the ps4? I need relays for 2 speed pump (2 relays), polaris (1) and lights (1). I think the heater control is just a 24 volt circuit/therm. This would use all the relays on the ps4 but save some bucks.......or think ahead for future uses and get the ps8?

Thanks

Hi induce,

As you deduced, the 2 speed pumps need 2 relays, and I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't have opted for the PS-16 instead of the PS-8 we got.

The PS-8 programming ability doesn't seem very end-user friendly out of the box (until you get used to it) , but there are utilities built into the software, most notably "groups" which allow macro functions from a single control button.

I would echo Waste's suggestion to get the poolside remote (hockey puck). It 's really useful beyond just inside remote control. I use it when priming pumps, backwashing, and to turn on and off the waterfeatures when the phone rings......lol. It's kind of like the home version of "parting the red sea".

The SWG has a flow probe (if that's what you call it) and won't let the SWG work unless there's water flow, but it doesn't take any of your relays, just a terminal strip location on the side of the circuit board.

I believe the PS-8 is a 100 amp subpanel, but my electrician used a box below for the PS-8 breaker, and we ran the 60 amp heat pump from the lower box in order to avoid having all that current running through the PS-8 panel box.

The only thing I sort of regret about the Goldline setup ? I've been reading about the intelliflo/Ikeric pool pumps (Mark/Mas985...if you read this, great job on explaining these pumps and sizing on another thread...Thanks!) and I might have gone with the intelliflo pumps and electronics had I known about the various advantages. Not necessary for a basic pool, unless you have "biblical" plans for your backyard.

Hth,

STS

P.S. Not sure why, but our PS-8 does allow a 3 position valve to operate under automation. Someone mentioned it was only 2 positions, but one of ours has operated on 3 since we had it installed.