Hayward Turbocell

[celestinjr]

Will this project support Hayward salt cells? I see reference to “Intellichlor, Aqua-Rite and OEM brands.”

My particular model is a Hayward Turbocell TCELL940.

[tagyoureit]

Yes, we support it. Aqua Rite is a Hayward product. TurboCell is the name for the chlorine generation cell specifically.

[celestinjr]

Here you go!

od.log

replay.zip

Adding a longer od log:
od2.log

[tagyoureit]

This data is funky. It's close, but not exactly, what you need. Normal Hayward & Aquarite protocols start with [16,2] (0x10,0x02 hex) and end with [16,3] (0x10,0x03 hex). This as an example packet to a pump:
0x10, 0x02, 0x0C, 0x01, 0x00, 0x2D, 0x00, 0x4C, 0x10, 0x03 -- Command to pump

In some places the header and termination bytes appear to be reversed. EG 0210 0101 1400 0310. Other places, the bytes start to look good (the header seems ok) 10 02 01 80 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 b5 00 03 10 02 10 03 but the termination ends with [10,2,10,3] which is wrong.

However, one thing that seems suspicious is that the RS-485 rarely sends text strings. With Pentair, you can use custom names for the circuits and chlorinator, etc. But works like "Temp" and "Salt Level" will never appear in the bus. It almost looks like you are snooping on communications between the board and an LCD that would display this information, and not the RS-485.

[celestinjr]

That’s correct. I’m tied into the RS485 remote display port.

There are three other ports on this board that I see. One is for the wireless antenna for a wireless display/remote. The second is for the local display. I doubt either of these two would show different data than I sent. The third is labeled J13, but I’m not positive it’s purpose.

The AquaLogic manual briefly addresses installation of a VS pump or separate AquaRite chlorination panels. All of those connections are supposed to be made into the remote display port that I’m snooping.

Regarding the ascii messages, I’ve gathered the display text commands have a payload prefix of either [01,03], [01,04], [02,03], or [03,03].

[tagyoureit]

It looks like we support AquaLink today, not Aqualogic. That's something that would need to be added.

HomeAssistant has Aqualogic support built in already. (coming from the Aqualogic github project).
Long thread with more explanation: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/hayward-aqualogic-prologic-automation/52340

We could certainly add this. It seems to be a limited set of commands/controls. But I'd suggest starting with one of these and seeing if you can get the panel talking and we can discuss further.

[celestinjr]

Roger that. I appreciate your help. Currently, I have control implemented in HomeAssistant via the other device that I built, which simply emulates a remote display. It works fine, but it's a bit laggy and is limited by the AquaLogic functionality of course. Njspc is appealing in terms of added schedule flexibility, better direct control, and expanded compatibility with non-Hayward equipment options.

I'm working to decide what direction I'm going long term with my equipment, which is aging. I plan to replace my main pump this summer, so currently working through which automation system I plan to use long term.

I'm happy to contribute back to the project if I go any further down this route.

Thanks again