This page is part of archived documentation for openHAB 3.1. Go to the current stable version
# Pentair Pool
This is an openHAB binding for a Pentair Pool System. It is based on combined efforts of many on the internet in reverse-engineering the proprietary Pentair protocol (see References section). The binding was developed and tested on a system with a Pentair EasyTouch controller, but should operate with other Pentair systems.
# Hardware Setup
REQUISITE DISCLAIMER: CONNECTING 3RD PARTY DEVICES TO THE PENTAIR SYSTEM BUS COULD CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THE SYSTEM SHOULD SOMETHING MALFUNCTION. IT IS NOT ENDORSED BY PENTAIR AND COULD VOID WARRENTY. IF YOU DECIDE TO USE THIS BINDING TO INTERFACE TO A PENTAIR CONTROLLER, THE AUTHOR(S) CAN NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.
This binding requires an adapter to interface to the Pentair system bus. This bus/wire runs between the Pentair control system, indoor control panels, IntelliFlo pumps, etc. It is a standard RS-485 bus running at 9600,8N1 so any RS-485 adapter should work and you should be able to buy one for under $30. Pentair does not publish any information on the protocol so this binding was developed using the great reverse-engineering efforts of others made available on the internet. I have cited several of those in the References section below.
# Connecting adapter to your system
A USB or serial RS-485 interface or IP based interface can be used to interface to the Pentair system bus. The binding includes 2 different bridge Things depending on which type of interface you use, serial_bridge or ip_bridge.
If your openHAB system is physically located far from your Pentair equipment or indoor control panel, you can use a Raspberry Pi or other computer to redirect USB/serial port traffic over the internet using a program called ser2sock (see Reference section). An example setup would run the following command: "ser2sock -p 10000 -s /dev/ttyUSB1 -b 9600 -d". Note: This is the setup utlized for the majority of my testing of this binding.
Note: If you are on a Linux system, the framework may not see a symbolically linked device (i.e. /dev/ttyRS485).
To use a symbolically linked device, add the following line to /etc/default/openhab EXTRA_JAVA_OPTS="-Dgnu.io.rxtx.SerialPorts=/dev/ttyRS485"
Once you have the interface connected to your system, it is best to test basic connectivity. Note the protocol is a binary protocol (not ASCII text based) and in order to view the communication packets, one must use a program capable of a binary/HEX mode. If connected properly, you will see a periodic traffic with packets staring with FF00FFA5. This is the preamble for Pentairs communication packet. After you see this traffic, you can proceed to configuring the Pentair binding in openHAB.
# USB/Serial interface
For a USB/Serial interface, you can use most terminal emulators. For Linux, you can use minicom with the following options: minicom -H -D /dev/ttyUSB1 -b 9600
# IP interface
For an IP based interface (or utilizing ser2sock) on a Linux system, you can use nc command with the following options: nc localhost 10000 | xxd
# Pentair Controller panel configuration
In order for the Pentair EasyTouch controller to receive commands from this binding, you may need to enable "Spa-side" remote on the controller itself.
# Supported Things
This binding supports the following thing types:
| Thing | Thing Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ip_bridge | Bridge | A TCP network RS-485 bridge device. |
| serial_bridge | Bridge | A USB or serial RS-485 device. |
| EasyTouch | Thing | Pentiar EasyTouch pool controller. |
| Intelliflo Pump | Thing | Pentair Intelliflo variable speed pump. |
| Intellichlor | Thing | Pentair Intellichlor chlorinator. |
# Binding Configuration
There are no overall binding configurations that need to be set up as all configuration is done at the "Thing" level.
# Thing Configuration
The following table shows the available configuration parameters for each thing.
| Thing | Configuration Parameters |
|---|---|
| ip_bridge | address - IP address for the RS-485 adapter - Required. |
| port - TCP port for the RS-485 adapter - Not Required - default = 10000. | |
| id - ID to use when communicating on Pentair control bus - default = 34. | |
| serial_bridge | serialPort - Serial port for the IT-100s bridge - Required. |
| baud - Baud rate of the IT-100 bridge - Not Required - default = 9600. | |
| pollPeriod - Period of time in minutes between the poll command being sent to the IT-100 bridge - Not Required - default=1. | |
| id - ID to use when communciating on Pentair control bus - default = 34. |
Currently automatic discovery is not supported. Here is an example of a thing configuration file called 'pentair.things':
Bridge pentair:ip_bridge:1 [ address="192.168.1.202", port=10001 ] {
easytouch main [ id=16 ]
intelliflo pump1 [ id=96 ]
intellichlor ic40
}
For a serial bridge you would use a configuration similar to this, again saved as 'pentair.things':
Bridge pentair:serial_bridge:1 [ serialPort="/dev/ttyUSB0" ] {
easytouch main [ id=16 ]
intelliflo pump1 [ id=96 ]
intellichlor ic40
}
# Channels
Pentair things support a variety of channels as seen below in the following table:
| Channel | Item Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| EasyTouch Controller | ||
| pooltemp | Number | Current pool temperature (readonly) |
| spatemp | Number | Current spa temperature (readonly) |
| airtemp | Number | Current air temperature (readonly) |
| solartemp | Number | Current solar temperature (readonly) |
| poolheatmode | Number | Current heat mode setting for pool (readonly): 0=Off, 1=Heater, 2=Solar Preferred, 3=Solar |
| poolheatmodestr | String | Current heat mode setting for pool in string form (readonly) |
| spaheatmode | Number | Current heat mode setting for spa (readonly): 0=Off, 1=Heater, 2=Solar Preferred, 3=Solar |
| spaheatmodestr | String | Current heat mode setting for spa in string form (readonly)> |
| poolsetpoint | Number | Current pool temperature set point |
| spasetpoint | Number | Current spa temperature set point |
| heatactive | Number | Heater mode is active |
| pool | Switch | Primary pool mode |
| spa | Switch | Spa mode |
| aux1 | Switch | Aux1 mode |
| aux2 | Switch | Aux2 mode |
| aux3 | Switch | Aux3 mode |
| aux4 | Switch | Aux4 mode |
| aux5 | Switch | Aux5 mode |
| aux6 | Switch | Aux6 mode |
| aux7 | Switch | Aux7 mode |
| feature1 | Switch | Feature1 mode |
| feature2 | Switch | Feature2 mode |
| feature3 | Switch | Feature3 mode |
| feature4 | Switch | Feature4 mode |
| feature5 | Switch | Feature5 mode |
| feature6 | Switch | Feature6 mode |
| feature7 | Switch | Feature7 mode |
| feature8 | Switch | Feature8 mode |
| IntelliChlor | ||
| saltoutput | Number | Current salt output % (readonly) |
| salinity | Number | Salinity (ppm) (readonly) |
| IntelliFlo Pump | ||
| run | Number | Pump running (readonly) |
| drivestate | Number | Pump drivestate (readonly) |
| mode | Number | Pump mode (readonly) |
| rpm | Number | Pump RPM (readonly) |
| power | Number | Pump power in Watts (readonly) |
| error | Number | Pump error (readonly) |
| ppc | Number | Pump PPC? (readonly) |
# Full Example
The following is an example of an item file (pentair.items), you can change the °F to °C if you are using metric temperature units:
Group gPool "Pool"
Number Pool_Temp "Pool Temp [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:pooltemp" }
Number Spa_Temp "Spa Temp [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:spatemp" }
Number Air_Temp "Air Temp [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:airtemp" }
Number Solar_Temp "Solar Temp [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:solartemp" }
Number PoolHeatMode "Pool Heat Mode [%d]" (gPool) { channel="pentair:easytouch:1:main:poolheatmode" }
String PoolHeatModeStr "Pool Heat Mode [%s]" (gPool) { channel="pentair:easytouch:1:main:poolheatmodestr" }
Number SpaHeatMode "Spa Heat Mode [%d]" (gPool) { channel="pentair:easytouch:1:main:spaheatmode" }
String SpaHeatModeStr "Spa Heat Mode [%s]" (gPool) { channel="pentair:easytouch:1:main:spaheatmodestr" }
Number PoolSetPoint "Pool Set Point [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (gPool) { channel="pentair:easytouch:1:main:poolsetpoint" }
Number SpaSetPoint "Spa Set Point [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (gPool) { channel="pentair:easytouch:1:main:spasetpoint" }
Number HeatActive "Heat Active [%d]" (gPool) { channel="pentair:easytouch:1:main:heatactive" }
Switch Mode_Spa "Spa Mode" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:spa" }
Switch Mode_Pool "Pool Mode" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:pool" }
Switch Mode_PoolLight "Pool Light" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:aux1" }
Switch Mode_SpaLight "Spa Light" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:aux2" }
Switch Mode_Jets "Jets" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:aux3" }
Switch Mode_Boost "Boost Mode" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:aux4" }
Switch Mode_Aux5 "Aux5 Mode" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:aux5" }
Switch Mode_Aux6 "Aux6 Mode" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:aux6" }
Switch Mode_Aux7 "Aux7 Mode" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:aux7" }
Switch Mode_Spillway "Spillway Mode" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:easytouch:1:main:feature1" }
Number SaltOutput "Salt Output [%d%%]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intellichlor:1:ic40:saltoutput" }
Number Salinity "Salinity [%d ppm]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intellichlor:1:ic40:salinity" }
Switch Pump_Run "Pump running [%d]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intelliflo:1:pump1:run" }
Number Pump_DriveState "Pump drivestate [%d]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intelliflo:1:pump1:drivestate" }
Number Pump_Mode "Pump Mode [%d]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intelliflo:1:pump1:mode" }
Number Pump_RPM "Pump RPM [%d]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intelliflo:1:pump1:rpm" }
Number Pump_Power "Pump Power [%d W]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intelliflo:1:pump1:power" }
Number Pump_Error "Pump Error [%d]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intelliflo:1:pump1:error" }
Number Pump_PPC "Pump PPC [%d]" (gPool) { channel = "pentair:intelliflo:1:pump1:ppc" }
Here is an example of a complete sitemap, saved as pentair.sitemap. Adjust the temperature values for metric if so desired.
sitemap pool label="Pool stuff" {
Frame label="Pool" {
Switch item=Mode_Pool
Switch item=Mode_PoolLight
Text item=Pool_Temp valuecolor=[>82="red",>77="orange",<=77="blue"]
Setpoint item=PoolSetPoint minValue=85 maxValue=103 step=1.0
Group item=gPool label="Advanced"
}
Frame label="Spa" {
Switch item=Mode_Spa
Switch item=Mode_SpaLight
Switch item=Mode_Jets
Text item=Pool_Temp valuecolor=[>82="red",>77="orange",<=77="blue"]
Setpoint item=SpaSetPoint minValue=85 maxValue=103 step=1.0
}
}
# References
Setting up RS485 and basic protocol - https://www.sdyoung.com/home/decoding-the-pentair-easytouch-rs-485-protocol/ (opens new window) ser2sock GitHub - https://github.com/nutechsoftware/ser2sock (opens new window)
# Future Enhancements
- Add automatic discovery of devices on RS-485
- Add in IntelliBrite light color selection (need to capture protocol on system that has this)
- Add direct control of pump (non read-only channels)
- Fix heat active - not working on my system.