I've recently added an Ecostar 3400 VSP to my Hayward Goldline Aqualogic PS-4 control. I'm using the VSP timers to ramp the pump speed up and down according to what's on/off. I've figured out the following: Pump only (1250 RPM), pump & cleaner (1700 rpm), pump & solar (2100 RPM), pump & cleaner & solar (2450 rpm), pump & waterfall (w or w/o solar/cleaner) (3000 rpm). My board is below the 2.66 software version, so I want to control the VSP using the external relays but I don't have enough aux relays for everything. (Four relays on the PS-4, Pool, Light, Cleaner, spare). Only the cleaner uses one of the aux relays that I can tap into, so I want to use the Value 3 and Value 4 to trigger an external relay. The aux relay is triggered by the control w/24 VDC, so I can use a 24VDC relay for this function, but I can't figure out how to trigger a relay from the 24VAC that goes to the valve actuators. So my question is how have others overcome this problem? Has anyone figured out how to trigger a relay from the 24 VAC that goes to the valve actuators? I'm concerned about using a 24VAC relay and putting to much load on the valve actuator circuit. I can rectify the 24 VAC to DC but this gives me about 36 VDC. I don't believe that upgrading to a higher firmware (2.66?) on the aqualogic board would accomplish what I want because I don't think I can set the individual power levels based on what's running, but I may wrong. Right now, it all works fine with the individual run times programmed into the VSP to match the run times in the control, until I turn on the waterfall, then I have to manually ramp up the VSP. I'm open to suggestions.
VSP Control thru external relays
- Thread starter harmonr1
- Start date
I have not clue as I turn my pump on/off by hand LOL but here is a bump to help others see this.
Kim
Kim
CJadamec
TFP Expert
When you rectify the circuit you will see higher than normal voltage with no load on the circuit. With a load applied the voltage will drop down to roughly equal to the A/C voltage being supplied to it.
A valve circuit is 3 wires. One common wire. One wire to open, and one wire to close. When voltage is supplied to the open wire it energizes the valve motor. When the valve gets to its open position a cam on the valve motor opens the motor circuit stopping the motor. The open wire from your panel will still have voltage applied to it. When the command to close the valve is given the automation panel turns off the open wire and energizes the close wire this makes the valve motor operate in the opposite direction until the cam on the motor opens the motor circuit again. The close wire will stay energized.
So to make a long story short the valve circuit acts as a SPDT relay (single pole dual throw). One set of contacts is Normally Closed, the other set is Normally Open. When rely is energized the condition of the contacts is reversed.
Hopefully that will help you get the results you are looking for.
A valve circuit is 3 wires. One common wire. One wire to open, and one wire to close. When voltage is supplied to the open wire it energizes the valve motor. When the valve gets to its open position a cam on the valve motor opens the motor circuit stopping the motor. The open wire from your panel will still have voltage applied to it. When the command to close the valve is given the automation panel turns off the open wire and energizes the close wire this makes the valve motor operate in the opposite direction until the cam on the motor opens the motor circuit again. The close wire will stay energized.
So to make a long story short the valve circuit acts as a SPDT relay (single pole dual throw). One set of contacts is Normally Closed, the other set is Normally Open. When rely is energized the condition of the contacts is reversed.
Hopefully that will help you get the results you are looking for.
I don't have a PS-4, so I may be way off here.
I don't understand what rectifying the 24VAC will buy you? 24VAC is coming from a transformer somewhere in your PS-4 system. They must be feeding 240 or 120VAC into a transformer to generate 24VAC. So rectifying it and using the DC output puts the same load on the transformer, maybe even a little more because there will be some loss when you rectify (nothing comes for free). If you can turn off/on the 24VAC, then there is likely a relay (solid state or mechanical) somewhere doing this.
However, since 24VAC comes from a transformer, I would hope that is a little oversized, and can handle another relay.
I'm having trouble picturing what you're trying to do, like how are you actually controlling the 24VAC to control the relay, or I might have some other suggestions.
But I'm not sure that your scheme will work in the first place.
You really need three relays to control the pump. Three relays will give you 8 states. Using one state for off, you really get 7 speeds you can set with three relays.
With two relays, you get 4 states, really three speeds.
I've been researching how to control a Hayward VSP as it's part of a project I've started, to be able to control my pool remotely.
This page helped me figure this out.
https://github.com/Here-Be-Dragons/Pool-Controller
Randy
Randy
I don't understand what rectifying the 24VAC will buy you? 24VAC is coming from a transformer somewhere in your PS-4 system. They must be feeding 240 or 120VAC into a transformer to generate 24VAC. So rectifying it and using the DC output puts the same load on the transformer, maybe even a little more because there will be some loss when you rectify (nothing comes for free). If you can turn off/on the 24VAC, then there is likely a relay (solid state or mechanical) somewhere doing this.
However, since 24VAC comes from a transformer, I would hope that is a little oversized, and can handle another relay.
I'm having trouble picturing what you're trying to do, like how are you actually controlling the 24VAC to control the relay, or I might have some other suggestions.
But I'm not sure that your scheme will work in the first place.
You really need three relays to control the pump. Three relays will give you 8 states. Using one state for off, you really get 7 speeds you can set with three relays.
With two relays, you get 4 states, really three speeds.
I've been researching how to control a Hayward VSP as it's part of a project I've started, to be able to control my pool remotely.
This page helped me figure this out.
https://github.com/Here-Be-Dragons/Pool-Controller
Randy
Randy
Thanks for the postings. Here's my solution, but probably not for everyone. I ended up using a "[FONT="]HiLetgo 24V 4 Channel Relay Module With OPTO-Isolated Support High and Low Level Trigger" from Amazon. The relay is powered from the 24VDC that powers the pump relay (NOT the AC side of the relay). When the pump is running, the relay is powered. I needed three triggers: I used the negative side of the 24VDC that powers the pool cleaner relay (Aux 1 in my case). It provides a low trigger.
Upon closer inspection of the main circuit board, the valves, which are 24VAC, are controlled by small 24VDC relays on the MB. I soldered two wires onto the negative side of each relay on the back of the circuit board. (The negative side is switched, the positive side is always on) This give me two negative triggers that are fired when value 3 (solar value) and value 4 (water feature value) are activated. These stay powered until switched off. I wired the three negative (or low) triggers to the 24VDC relay triggers connections and then used the Common and "NO" sides of each relay.to switch the 12VAC provided by the pump per the VSP instruction manual. This combination seems to work perfectly.
[/FONT]I drilled four small holes into the inside of the control panel (low-voltage side) and using 4 nylon stand-offs (ebay), I mounted the relay in the control panel. I believe that since the I'm only using the voltage as a trigger for the 4-channel relay, I'm not adding much load to the control. BTW-I'm only using 3 of the 4 channels on the relay board which provides the 8 different pump speeds.
If you aren't comfortable soldering on the MB, then this solution probably isn't four you, but it's fairly easy. I siliconed the wire to the MB for stability. Total cost about $12. (Relay $8, nylon PCB spacers, $3.10)
The most confusing part was determining where to program the pump speed. The directions aren't real clear. You program the pump speeds in the Timers menu. Ignore the Name and Timer settings and just set the pump speed for each of the 8 possible combinations of relay actions. See the manual for the matrix.
-Rob
Upon closer inspection of the main circuit board, the valves, which are 24VAC, are controlled by small 24VDC relays on the MB. I soldered two wires onto the negative side of each relay on the back of the circuit board. (The negative side is switched, the positive side is always on) This give me two negative triggers that are fired when value 3 (solar value) and value 4 (water feature value) are activated. These stay powered until switched off. I wired the three negative (or low) triggers to the 24VDC relay triggers connections and then used the Common and "NO" sides of each relay.to switch the 12VAC provided by the pump per the VSP instruction manual. This combination seems to work perfectly.
[/FONT]I drilled four small holes into the inside of the control panel (low-voltage side) and using 4 nylon stand-offs (ebay), I mounted the relay in the control panel. I believe that since the I'm only using the voltage as a trigger for the 4-channel relay, I'm not adding much load to the control. BTW-I'm only using 3 of the 4 channels on the relay board which provides the 8 different pump speeds.
If you aren't comfortable soldering on the MB, then this solution probably isn't four you, but it's fairly easy. I siliconed the wire to the MB for stability. Total cost about $12. (Relay $8, nylon PCB spacers, $3.10)
The most confusing part was determining where to program the pump speed. The directions aren't real clear. You program the pump speeds in the Timers menu. Ignore the Name and Timer settings and just set the pump speed for each of the 8 possible combinations of relay actions. See the manual for the matrix.
-Rob