Hey all,
I have a Pentair EasyTouch system with an 8 channel wireless remote. For almost 3 years now the remote has worked great. Never had any troubles with it. Now for the last 6 months or so, I'm having serious connection troubles.
99% of the time now the remote will just say "No Comm". While saying "No Comm" it'll periodically cycle with "sync". If I keep hitting the power button, eventually after a couple of minutes I'll achieve sync and give me the normal display with the pool temp and time (which will be correct). Unfortunately that appears to be just a brief connection to enable that screen as hitting any of the channel buttons such as the pool light or spa light (or even trying to go into the settings menu just pauses for a second and then says "communications timeout" without enabling the circuit. If I press the button maybe 50-100 times, It'll usually work and trigger that circuit. It's as if the wireless connection is having VERY intermittent connections.
The base station operates normally, still controlling my pump and other circuits and running my schedule normally. The trouble is limited to the remote. I've called Pentair tech support who have been really helpful, but they say it must be an RF interference issue. They said it's really common and their only advice is to try moving the transciever antenna unit to different locations. I've tried that with no success, but I need to try with a longer cable so I have more options. I'll just use some bulk ethernet cable I have laying around.
I borrowed a friends easytouch wireless remote and it had identical symptoms, pretty much crossing the remote off the list of possible causes.
I've also tried replacing the transciever antenna board (bought one off e-bay for ~$300) and it had the exact same performance. So I'm pretty convinced that it is a RF interference issue, but I'm at a loss for how to deal with it. Pentair said the common source is baby monitors. I suppose a neighbor somewhere likely had a baby recently.
Has anybody else had this trouble and does anybody have any ideas on how to better troubleshoot? It's really frustrating not being able to use my remote, especially when I'm in the spa!
Thanks!
And BTW, if anybody is in the market for a slightly used wireless transciever board, I'm selling one!
I have a Pentair EasyTouch system with an 8 channel wireless remote. For almost 3 years now the remote has worked great. Never had any troubles with it. Now for the last 6 months or so, I'm having serious connection troubles.
99% of the time now the remote will just say "No Comm". While saying "No Comm" it'll periodically cycle with "sync". If I keep hitting the power button, eventually after a couple of minutes I'll achieve sync and give me the normal display with the pool temp and time (which will be correct). Unfortunately that appears to be just a brief connection to enable that screen as hitting any of the channel buttons such as the pool light or spa light (or even trying to go into the settings menu just pauses for a second and then says "communications timeout" without enabling the circuit. If I press the button maybe 50-100 times, It'll usually work and trigger that circuit. It's as if the wireless connection is having VERY intermittent connections.
The base station operates normally, still controlling my pump and other circuits and running my schedule normally. The trouble is limited to the remote. I've called Pentair tech support who have been really helpful, but they say it must be an RF interference issue. They said it's really common and their only advice is to try moving the transciever antenna unit to different locations. I've tried that with no success, but I need to try with a longer cable so I have more options. I'll just use some bulk ethernet cable I have laying around.
I borrowed a friends easytouch wireless remote and it had identical symptoms, pretty much crossing the remote off the list of possible causes.
I've also tried replacing the transciever antenna board (bought one off e-bay for ~$300) and it had the exact same performance. So I'm pretty convinced that it is a RF interference issue, but I'm at a loss for how to deal with it. Pentair said the common source is baby monitors. I suppose a neighbor somewhere likely had a baby recently.
Has anybody else had this trouble and does anybody have any ideas on how to better troubleshoot? It's really frustrating not being able to use my remote, especially when I'm in the spa!
Thanks!
And BTW, if anybody is in the market for a slightly used wireless transciever board, I'm selling one!