I just replaced my T-cell 15 Turbo cell with a new T-cell 15. When the system begins to run I get this message, "Chlorinator Off High Salt/Amps." Then later in the messages I get, "Check System High Salt/Amps." I checked the instant salt reading and it is 4800, which I know is way too high. I took a water sample to the local pool store and they said my salt is 2800.

I already drained a foot off my pool and added fresh water.

is the system reading the slat level correctly? Should I add more fresh water?

Welcome to TFP!

It is common for old cells that are just starting to fail to read low salt, when the salt level is actually fine. Adding salt allows the older cell to continue working for a while longer. By the time the old cell fails, your salt level can be quite high. The new cell will suddenly read the salt level correctly, and show it as being very high. I suspect that this is what happened to you. If so, the only alternative is to replace water until the salt level comes down to something more reasonable.

Pool store salt tests are very unreliable. While almost anything is possible, it is more likely that the pool store salt test is wrong than that a new cell salt reading will be wrong. One good double check is to see if the SWG responds to the water replacement and lowers it's salt reading. Remember that the SWG averages over 24 hours, so the reading will drift down over 24 hours until it settles at a new reading. If the SWG reading doesn't go down, then I would suspect a problem with the SWG. But if it goes down as you would expect, then the salt level probably really is too high.

Check under the diagnostics menu for the correct cell size.
If you select the cell size to t-3, t-5 or t-9 instead of the correct t-15 then the salt readout from the controller will be high salt.

PSG

Hello!

I have a slightly different problem: I recently purchased online a new Heyward/Goldline T-cell-15 chlorinator. This was a direct replacement for the 6 yr. old original cell which had finally failed. I have an Aqua Logic controller and I checked all the settings and they are per the instructions which came with the unit – same as the old unit so no settings were changed. This was a direct like-for-like replacement, but when I plugged it in and turned it on, it keeps tripping off on high salt/amps. On the diagnostic menu, the readings show 42V, 10.02A amps and salt at 1800 ppm. Th salt is low and the amps are high but no settings were changed – on the old unit, amps would be around 5A.

I should mention that the old unit failed sometime over a two week period while I was out of town - given how cloudy my pool was, I am asumming it was early in the first week. When I realized that it would take several days to get the new chlorinator unit, I threw chlorine pellets in both skimmers and als added some non-chlorine shock treatment. The pool is now clear and the chlorine is OK.

So my question is: is this new unit defective, is the additional chlorine or shock treatment causing the high amps or am I missing something else? Thanks in advance.

Bill

I'm having the exact same problem as billds208. Can anyone offer suggestions?

Anyone?

I am having the same problem too! I received the "No Cell Power" error. Figuring that my cell had just worn out after three years, I purchased a new cell. After installing the new cell, on the Diagnostic Menu, I am receiving the "Chlorinator Off - High Salt/Amps" error message. On the default menu, I am receiving the "Check System - High Salt/Amps.

If I force the cell to start, it gives me the following for about 10 seconds: 40.62V; 10.04A; 79F; 2100ppm - just before the cell shuts off and reverts back to the "Chlorinator off...." error message. So my salt level is not too high (I always keep it low) but the Amps seem high?

I have a Aqua logic PS-8 with a T-15 cell. No solar panels.

Help!

Is it a Hayward cell or a generic Hayward equivalent cell?

The first cell was a Hayward cell. The second cell (the one plugged in now) is a generic cell from Compupool.

Thx

PROBLEM RESOLVED!

The issue was caused by a broken/weak solder point on the K1 relay. I learned from some other discussion boards that this is common problem with the Aqua Logic/Hayward boards. The K1 relay did not need to be replaced. It only needed to be re-soldered. I will attempt to attach a picture. To check if this might be your problem, unscrew the mother board and turn it over, if there is black smoke/burn marks at the K1 relay solder point, this is likely your problem. It was an easy soldering job to heat up the soldering joint and add a little solder. Very simple and it saved me $600+ to replace the mother board.

I am shocked at how common this problem is but did not find any info on this board, so am passing it along. I also learned a couple other things from the other boards. 1st: high amps can "blow" the solder joint and that high amps are most often caused by salt levels being too high. For me, it was my practice to add salt directly to the skimmer boxes. This would certainly cause an extremely high salinity level as the salt was being dissolved and pulled through the system. In the future, I will turn off my turbocell before adding salt. 2nd: the motherboard has a 20 amp fuse on it. Unfortunately it seems the Amp limit on the relay is 20 amps too. It has been strongly recommended to replace the 20 amp fuse with a 15 Amp fuse to thus protect the relay and the K1 solder point. I intend to do this tomorrow.

I hope others find this info useful.

Fixed mine as well!!!! Thanks DJConn you saved me a lot of money!

Super! Glad I could pass on the help I received.

This fix worked for my unit as well. My new generic salt cell seems to be running fine now. Thanks!

I cannot thank you enough for this forum. You just saved me hundreds of dollars as I was at a loss what to do and my pool guy said the whole board needed to be replaced. instead, I bought a $15 soldering gun and some solder and fixed it in 10 minutes!

Thank You!!

Steve

This absolutely true. I had same experience. Just keep draining and adding water until it equalizes

I too just fixed this problem by re-soldering that one joint in less than 10 minutes. My pool builder was going to charge me $800 to replace the board and I did it for nothing.

Is that the before or after picture? I've got this same issue. thanks

I had the same issue and it fixed mine too.

Super Big Thank You!!

Tejay