pentair screenlogic searching for system controller

What I came up with is a Raspberry Pi-based air gap from Pentair controller to the RS485 interface of the Elan controller by way of serial over IP with the Pi on wifi.

I decided to look for an option two to eliminate future risk to my replacement Elan G! controller. This sounds like not too big a deal, I mean it’s just your pool, but what if they turn your heater and pump to max in the winter you’ll only know when you get next month’s $1500 power bill. if you were to use it from any network where anywhere along the path someone is capturing packets, they would have what they need to control your pool equipment remotely, including the optional “code” to “secure” it. It communicates with their cloud service entirely in plain text. Its unique identification of your install is simply based on the last six digits of the device’s MAC address. There are a two characteristics of ScreenLogic that aren’t nice. It connects to the same RS485 bus described above +/-/+15vdc/ground. It allows remote control from mobile devices. Option one would be the optional Pentair add-on for this equipment management system, their ScreenLogic cloud management product. This is of course bad for RS485 because it uses voltage differential for signaling, and over long distances like these, it expects twisted pair to preserve the signal, cable shielding, and a ground of that shielding at just one end.Īfter my destroyed equipment and the associated costs, I decided to see if I could come up with a better solution. Given it already went from home automation area to pool controller, he decided to wire up the +/-/ground across this non-twisted speaker cable to the Pentair bus. In any case, what my installer did was steal a four conductor speaker wire that was in the vicinity for some yet to be installed speakers. Low voltage installers have no formal training on electrical codes and concepts, they just know hey + to +, – to -, we got us some serialz woohoo. It doesn’t mention that RS485 could present a very serious issue with ground differential if it’s being wired to a device with both grounds connected together, or between devices with a dissimilar ground, which is very possible given the use case would often involve pool and/or sprinkler equipment, which could be in an adjacent building. It’s just like hey, plug your serial crap in using our pin-outs and you’re good to go. combined with the lack of meaningful guidance from the home automation vendor Elan Nortek Security & Control LLC, maker of the Elan G! system my home uses. This was likely the fault of my A/V installer having no clue about electricity, serial comms, etc. I recently had a power surge come through my Pentair IntelliTouch-based pool control system, destroying its control board, and unfortunately destroying the control module of my home automation system on the other side of a serial connection into it.

Pentair screenlogic searching for system controller