tenax
06-05-2007, 09:17 PM
last year, i set it up first time and at some point changed the cell power level from default of 2 to 1, thinking may as well save the life of the cell, if i can still produce enough chlorine..can't remember where i ran the output level but i know it wasn't as high as 100%..say 50%. this year, it inadvertently when the temp rose over a few days ran at 100%. (i had been only able to get 3 diodes high on my softtouch due to the cooler starting temp of pool at 55 but i had pressed it to the full 3 diodes level. then when the water got to about 67 i came home one day and it was at 100%..plus i still had a bunch of residual chlorine in the pool from shocking..about 15ppm. so, i decided to turn off the autopilot for a couple of days to let the chlorine level go down and 3 days ago it was down to 3ppm so i turned the autopilot back on and set it at about 30% output (it was quite hot but the pool had a solar cover, i had a 60ppm cya level so i thought i would monitor it) left things as they were for 2 days running 1 -4 hour and 1-6 hour cycle on my 12,000 gallon pool. the chlorine level yesterday had gone down to 1ppm..no algae or anything...i can smell a bit of chlorine when i'm in the pool..so, i thought i should raise the output level so i did to the 50% mark with the maximum brightness on that diode (the 3rd click at 50%) came home today expecting the chlorine level to be higher and it is up maybe to about 2ppm. now i've pushed the output level to about 75%. so, the question is:
better to run cell at power 1 for 75% of the time of level 2 at 50% of the time, or does it basically equate to the same wear and tell on the cell. i ran the self diagnostic and output current is bang on 5 amps for the sc36 cell..or, given my pool size, is the power level 1 "underproducing and i have to run it at power level 2 regardless? i just don't want to run it continually at a high level..potentially as high as 100% on power level 1 if it's better to run it on a lower level at power level 2. (i don't know if that has any impact either way on the lifespan of the control box by the way)
2nd question- salt strips..i've assumed you take the reading at the highest point where the strip goes yellow..i.e. the top of the "spear" point as it kind of fades into a spear point at the top versus solid yellow all the way. on that basis, my salt reads as 3200ppm. but the autopilot reads it at 2900. if i read the strip to where it's competely solid, it's about 2950. thoughts?
and thanks!
better to run cell at power 1 for 75% of the time of level 2 at 50% of the time, or does it basically equate to the same wear and tell on the cell. i ran the self diagnostic and output current is bang on 5 amps for the sc36 cell..or, given my pool size, is the power level 1 "underproducing and i have to run it at power level 2 regardless? i just don't want to run it continually at a high level..potentially as high as 100% on power level 1 if it's better to run it on a lower level at power level 2. (i don't know if that has any impact either way on the lifespan of the control box by the way)
2nd question- salt strips..i've assumed you take the reading at the highest point where the strip goes yellow..i.e. the top of the "spear" point as it kind of fades into a spear point at the top versus solid yellow all the way. on that basis, my salt reads as 3200ppm. but the autopilot reads it at 2900. if i read the strip to where it's competely solid, it's about 2950. thoughts?
and thanks!