Pentair Intellicenter Upgrade - worth it?

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egardiner

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Aug 3, 2021
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Austin, TX
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My existing automation setup uses a Pentair EasyTouch panel, controlled primarily through Pentair's ancient (and recently broken, at least on iOS) ScreenLogic app.

Maybe old news, but I've noticed recently that Pentair seems to be pushing upgrades from EasyTouch to Intellicenter (example). Other than being the non-legacy product, and presumably getting better app support (Pentair Home seems to be updated regularly, whereas ScreenLogic is/was basically abandoned until the recent update the partially broke it), are there any advantages to IntelliCenter?

I'm not really looking to upgrade, but I don't like the idea that my primary means of controlling my pool equipment might just stop working due to Pentair abandoning the app and/or some future version of iOS breaking it.

Definitely not a cheap upgrade. At that price, I wonder what other options should be considered? Anyone else thinking about this?
 
You get OTA updates, builtin networking, RS-485 control for MasterTemp heaters, future Intellivalve control someday, and any other new features or products Pentair comes out with in the future. And you no longer need to mess with Screenlogic and its PA.
 
e,

My EasyTouch, with ScreenLogic, does everything that I need to do with my simple pool... I suspect it will last another 10 years. And even if new parts are not made by Pentair, there will still plenty of used parts available.

My Android phones did not have any issues with the recent app update.. And... the IntelliCenter folks seem to always have some issue, or bug, in every new IntelliCenter F/W release... :(

What new features were you supposed to get with the new ScreenLogic release???

If I were to build a new pool today, it would no doubt have the new IntelliCenter. But, if it ain't broke, don't screw with it is my motto.. :mrgreen:

I do feel left behind, as I do not have the experience to answer a lot of the new IntelliCenter questions here at TFP... Time will tell if I breakdown and join the IC crowd. :)

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Appreciate the responses and multiple perspectives, thanks!

I really don't like (and have never liked) the ScreenLogic Connect user experience, as it's clunky to operate (at least for others in my family), so something more modern (and maintained) would be nice.

But the cost is high enough that it's probably not worth the effort. I would be tempted to DIY it, but even the parts are relatively expensive, from what I can tell.
 
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Ah, the PC interface is very full-featured, indeed.

I don't have a PC unfortunately (only have Macs), and the Mac version (which was basically the PC version running in a Windows emulator) hasn't worked in a couple of major OS releases, unfortunately.

But I think this thread has taught me that what I really want is just a better / working client app experience. Though it's well into the hobbyist / DIY realm, I am tempted to look at something like this.
 
2nd to what Jim said above. With the iOS app not working, I am still able to use the Windows application (old as it is). I tried to use the Mac application and it won't start - my guess is it isn't compatible with the latest Mac OS (I'm running Sonoma 14.5).
 

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e,

I had one of the designers of the nodejs controller get it set up on my machine.. I have no background in computers, so he had to break it down into very small baby steps.. Basically he set it up, and I just followed each detailed steps.. I suspect that most people that have been around computers, could have done it in an hour or so..

The point is that it worked fine.. I just wanted to see what all the hoop-law was all about.. :mrgreen: But, since my ScreenLogic and EasyTouch work fine, I could see no advantage to using it.. If I were in your shoes, I'd load it up and see how well it works for you.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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