Autopilot DIG220 Fried Board

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That pretty much answered my questions and made my decision for me.

I just ordered the CircuPool system for $849 with a 7 year warranty. No reason to spend money on a board and cell when the cost of both will exceed a new system with a better warranty.

If anyone would like to buy my Pool Pilot system for parts, I will be happy to make you a great deal on it. The cell still looks good, although it is right at five years old. There still should be some life left to it. The board may have other parts that could be of use now or later.
 
The repair might be a good option if you are going to spend maybe 2 hours labor (190.00) plus parts, who nows, you might end up spending maybe from 300 to 400 dls. Who in their right mind will spend 941 dls for just a board. When I can by a complete system from goldline between 800 to 900 dls.
 
Sonnie said:
I just ordered the CircuPool system for $849 with a 7 year warranty. No reason to spend money on a board and cell when the cost of both will exceed a new system with a better warranty.
Click to expand...

Make sure you read warranty T&C though, cause there might be some surprises there ;)

They are very unclear on how the 7 years is achieved.

The only references to warranty breakdown I could find say it's 2 years on power supply, 1 year on cell, and then 4 years pro-rata on cell.

By my count that makes it 5 year warranty on a cell at the very most. 1 year of full warranty on cell is nothing extraordinary, I think even Intex does that. 2 years on power supply is also the industry standard pretty much.
 
I replaced the capacitors on my board today and it seems to be working. The unit is not displaying clean/check cell. I would recommend anybody that is getting this error and that the unit is out of warranty like mine to check those caps to see if they are burned or bulging. Bulging caps start leaking current and then they dont do what they are supposed to do.
 
Strannik said:
Sonnie said:
I just ordered the CircuPool system for $849 with a 7 year warranty. No reason to spend money on a board and cell when the cost of both will exceed a new system with a better warranty.
Click to expand...

Make sure you read warranty T&C though, cause there might be some surprises there ;)

They are very unclear on how the 7 years is achieved.

The only references to warranty breakdown I could find say it's 2 years on power supply, 1 year on cell, and then 4 years pro-rata on cell.

By my count that makes it 5 year warranty on a cell at the very most. 1 year of full warranty on cell is nothing extraordinary, I think even Intex does that. 2 years on power supply is also the industry standard pretty much.
Click to expand...

The warranty is on the entire system and is pro-rated down to 20% years 5-7. While it is only 20% those last few years, their replacement equipment is much less expensive and years 3-4 have 60-40% respective warranty, while most have zilch. Only having to pay 40-60% of $300-400 is much better than having to pay 100% of $900.
 

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Re: Autopilot DIG220 Fried Board ST-220

That saved me $500. Thanks.
I have the ST-220 Autopilot running the SC-36 cell which stopped working with the double flashing red light. I was at low voltage and low amperage. I went ahead and ordered a new cell and cable, but I was still broken with the double red flashing light.

I was just about to order a new power unit (since I bought the cell) when I came across this posting. I had 4 leaking capacitors with bulging tops so I replaced all 4. The old cell still did not work, but the new cell is rocking along and the pool is stabilized again.

For those that see they may have the same problem and are about to go about replacing your capacitors...
Make sure you are not under warranty... let someone else do it.
Electric off and disabled... or you find your friendly electrician.
Take the cover off..
Take the metal cage off (2 top screws out and loosen the bottom two)
At this step you can see your capacitors... you are are going to take them out...
Unplug the cable from the panel in the lid
Remove the other next plug on that same cable that is on the internal circuit board (this cable goes through the metal cage... so slip it through the cage opening)
Remove the fan cable and feed it through the metal cover... you can now set the metal cover down.
Remove the Red/Black cables in the upper left
Remove the Brown/Blue cables in the lower left (that is it on the ST-220)
Next, locate the aluminum metal plate that the circuit port is mounted on... it is an upsidedown L. It is held on by 4 screws... remove the 4 screws in the corners of the plat.
The circuit assembly should now come off in your hand. Its heavy... don't drop it. You can now take it in and work on your bench.

I did not take photos of the board when I had it out...
You have to pull the 8 colored cables that go to the large bowl
There where screws in on the corners of the board
There is one large screw in the area of the 3 capacitors that you have to remove
Then remove the 10 or so screws around the transistor bar and the board should come free.

Remember that capacitors (as stated above) have a + and a minus. The board is clearly labeled on the top and the bottom of my board had the + as a square... always double check.

Digkey is where I ordered from.
1000µf 50V 105°C
16mm dia, 25mm tall, 7.5mm lead spacing

Good luck... thanks to the first person with the good eyes on those bad caps. This is electrical...
In 4 years I will find out if it is the direct sun that over-heats it... or it was just a bad set of caps. Mine where from 3/2006.
 
> I think that these units are not designed to be totally outdoors. My plastic enclosure started to crack this year and I can hardly see the display.

this is the reason I built a custom protective enclosure for my IntelliChlor IC40 cell, partially to protect it against hurricanes but also UV radiation and any other outdoor c r a p.
 
with SWGs it's same deal as with a car

you can leave it outdoors, but don't complain if your paint has faded after a while.
or you can keep it garaged and it will look new

we normally advise our customers to install units out of direct sun light
 
Here is a picture of my fried autopilot board. Is this board repairable?

photo1-L.jpg
 
This is one reason why I hate proprietary boards in pool control systems. I have had a similar problem with my Jandy setup this year. In the course of one month, I have had two board relays and one or two control circuits stop working. I designed a system on paper that will utilize a PLC for pool control the other week. I am going to nurse this system for one more year, then I will replace with this setup.

Doug
 
I was able to find a btand new replacement control box for $580, so I'm going to replace the entire unit. Everything else is in good working order so I thought this was the best way to go. I Thanks for all your insight. The TFP forum is great!
 
I'm back. I received my new control box and wired it all up. Everything seems to be the same, but when I turn the breaker back on the display does not light up. The red light flashes but nothing shows on the screen. This terminal strip below has 4 wires that go to a plug for the display, but they terminate here. I think this needs to be powered, but there is nothing unplugged from the old box, so I'm not sure what to do. Any ideas? I can take more pictures if needed. Is it possible the display on th box box doesn't work? Thanks again.


smugshot7583720-M.jpg
 
Ok, disregard the post above. As a troubleshooting step I put the old cover on the new control box and it works fine (except half my buttons don't work, it is 7 years old and in direct Florida sun.) So now my question is this, my old box is version 4.2, the new one is version 4.4 Does it need to be wired differently? Or is it just a bad display out of the box?

On a side note I think the wires and plug I was referring to above are for a remote control. Is this true? What type of remote can I connect? Thanks again.

smugshot1360125-L.jpg
 

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