Compatibility with an old IntelliTouch i7+3 from 2004/5

[danj18]

Hello,

I have a Pentair IntelliTouch i7+3 system from approximately 2005. It is a very early generation — the wall panel is the original gray UIC with 4 buttons on each side and 4 on the bottom.
I have not been able to confirm the firmware version yet — the UIC menu does not appear to surface it, and I understand the main board firmware on this vintage may be v1.x or v2.x. Pentair has confirmed the system is too old for any OEM support or ScreenLogic compatibility.

My goals are modest:

Connect to Home Assistant (running on a Pi 4)
Remotely set and adjust pump speeds and schedules
Monitor whether the pump is running

The pool is in hibernation/low-use mode so I don't need advanced features

My planned hardware is:

• Raspberry Pi 4 (already running Home Assistant OS)
• FTDI-based USB RS485 adapter
• njsPC as a Home Assistant add-on

Specific questions:

• Is a 2005 i7+3 known to work with njsPC, even in a limited capacity?
• Is basic pump scheduling supported on very old firmware?
• Any known gotchas with this vintage of IntelliTouch?

Thanks in advance — the project looks fantastic!

[tagyoureit]

Afaik, Pentair did not change the messages on the comms bus due to hardware models but rather just the firmware versions. I don't have exact answers on what your hardware/firmware may not support, but I'd assume basic schedules, pump controls, etc should all be present. Many people have older hardware or firmware and the app runs great.

The Pentair board should have a model number on it (usually a sticker on the back of the board itself). You should also be able to see the FW version by digging through the menu on the OCP (outdoor control panel) itself.

My only suggestion is to start with this app and dashPanel as the front end so you can more easily see any error messages. Once it's up and running and you can see if there are any gotchas, then proceed to adding HA into the mix.

You're on the right track and I don't foresee any issues, but lmk.