Has anyone used this? Seems really cool but can’t find many reviews. Similar to Sutro and Phin.
iCare Smart Water Monitor
- Thread starter Kpax755
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 63,204
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
None of the others work well and lasted so I don't see why this one will.
It will probably read pH and salt ok and have trouble with chlorine which is the chemical you care about the most. I think you will need to regularly double check its accuracy with your own testing. And if you need to do that then why bother?
It will probably read pH and salt ok and have trouble with chlorine which is the chemical you care about the most. I think you will need to regularly double check its accuracy with your own testing. And if you need to do that then why bother?
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It’s for people who like toys/ gadgets. For the price, a Roomba would be more useful. If you already have one, then by all means go for it.
dakshun
Well-known member
I am so sad they just announced PHin is discontinuing this month.
I have heard the feed back on here how "they" say gadgets are no good, NGL it is sad to hear that, PHin made it so much easier to monitor the water simply with it's ORP and PH sensor readings.
Scrambling for a replacement, PHin saved so much time instead of testing with Taylors all the time. I ran all of them waterguru, sutro, and Phin;
[I baselined all of them with my big Taylor kit and Phin was the most accurate]
Phin was far superior and but it also needed to be replaced every year[not sure if it was the sensors or non-servicable battery) with the 100$ subscription....it was so FINE, loved it, simplified things so much for a residential pool and still ran basic BBB.
I am really looking in to this;iCare water made easy,
But it would be terrible to have to replace it yearly at 500$[the sensors just go bad][I'll look into the battery it used and what....it would be great if some one had some experience to contribute(much appreciated)]
I have heard the feed back on here how "they" say gadgets are no good, NGL it is sad to hear that, PHin made it so much easier to monitor the water simply with it's ORP and PH sensor readings.
Scrambling for a replacement, PHin saved so much time instead of testing with Taylors all the time. I ran all of them waterguru, sutro, and Phin;
[I baselined all of them with my big Taylor kit and Phin was the most accurate]
Phin was far superior and but it also needed to be replaced every year[not sure if it was the sensors or non-servicable battery) with the 100$ subscription....it was so FINE, loved it, simplified things so much for a residential pool and still ran basic BBB.
I am really looking in to this;iCare water made easy,
But it would be terrible to have to replace it yearly at 500$[the sensors just go bad][I'll look into the battery it used and what....it would be great if some one had some experience to contribute(much appreciated)]
dakshun
Well-known member
Oh, Boom here they go;
Sustainable and Eco-friendly:
Unlike other devices, iCare is not a disposable product, all 3 sensors are replaceable, the battery is also rechargeable (need few times per year) and made of a UV and Sanitizer resistant plastic.
So, where are the replaceable sensors????[looking]
[I don't see anything on idealwatercare, but it looks like this is a rebrand of 'ondilo ICO'; Pages Archive - Ondilo from ~france, they have all the sensors and things there]
Sustainable and Eco-friendly:
Unlike other devices, iCare is not a disposable product, all 3 sensors are replaceable, the battery is also rechargeable (need few times per year) and made of a UV and Sanitizer resistant plastic.
So, where are the replaceable sensors????[looking]
[I don't see anything on idealwatercare, but it looks like this is a rebrand of 'ondilo ICO'; Pages Archive - Ondilo from ~france, they have all the sensors and things there]
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From the research I’ve done you just recharge the Battery a few times a year and the sensors can be replaced if needed. It’s meant to be a long term device and not disposable. Also curious if anyone can attest to it.
dakshun
Well-known member
Talked to the folks at soft water or what ever on their facebook page, they said the sensors are warrantied for 2 years.
and so far they have only replaced under warrantee if anything...they have only been in the US with that company for 2 years.
They said next year they will be listing the sensors and what not.
They said prior to that the DBA Ondilo ICO has been running in France and Europe for the past 5 years;
you can see all kinds of pieces and replacement parts on the Ondilo site. Pages Archive - Ondilo
and so far they have only replaced under warrantee if anything...they have only been in the US with that company for 2 years.
They said next year they will be listing the sensors and what not.
They said prior to that the DBA Ondilo ICO has been running in France and Europe for the past 5 years;
you can see all kinds of pieces and replacement parts on the Ondilo site. Pages Archive - Ondilo
So did I. Until week 3 when the puppy fought back the only way he knew how, by dropping a bomb in its path.
Chlorine is measure via ORP. ORP is only useful if your stabilizer level is below 30 ppm.
dakshun
Well-known member
How so?
ORP is a measure of quality(oxidation potential) not quantity(ppm), so the sanitization quality is built in to ORP you don't have to look at some slide-rule type tables trying to figure out if your PPM FC brings enough sanitization to the table for your given CYA[You can even watch ORP flux during daylight UVs and adjust your sanitizer feed-rate if wanted(and during higher pathogen loads near-real-time), if night-time dwell is not enough for your anticipated pathogen load...not to mention more precision with what CYA you want to run].
Sure, ORP is affected by both pH and cyanuric acid (CYA). But that is exactly why ORP is a better choice.
ORP is already a quality factorization of the affects that reduce the given sanitizer effects(kill potentials and resulting ~time needed for the kill).
.....approach your 650mV(s) and be good, or better than trying to slide rule your PPMs; FC against CYA;
We are talking about a manual float monitor to reduce operator time on vs. operator manual titration tests all the time and more so focus on sanitizer feed rates; not automation or trying to maxout(minimize) duty cycle on a SWCG according to certain cell specs or efficacy degredation over time.
[Plenty of samples showing possibly favorable kill rate yields according to ORP even mystically trending accurate above your proposed 30-50PPM CYA limit]
I once tested a hand held ORP meter. If the CYA was over 30~40 ppm, varying the FC from 1 to 6 ppm changed the ORP reading by 50mv. It was not a reliable indication.
FWIW, I got one and will be testing it, I will post my results in a few weeks.
dakshun
Well-known member
I feel the same way about PHin. I am also looking at the iCare system. It looks like this is supposed to last awhile. I am wondering where you get the sensors when they need to be replaced and how you would know when to do so.
Here is my chemistry monitoring over the last 12 hours. I do not use PHin but you can see the trends for ORP. The cell isn't generating right now but during the summer the ORP line begins to rise after the sun goes down. I only test my chlorine levels on occasion since I know that when my ORP is over 620 I am pretty much guaranteed that it is fine. Not sure if that translates to every pool but it does to mine.
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dakshun
Well-known member
A few posts back there is a link in #7 to the french company Ondilo that has the sensors and replacement parts live now.
The US company iCare said they plan to carry sensors ~next year and they have only replaced them under 2 year warranty so far(only in business 2 years). Ondilo has been at it for 5 years.
How has iCare held up? Are you finding it useful and/or accurate?
Hi there, unfortunately I have been out of town and yet to install it. Hoping to do it soon and will report back.
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