Last summer, everything worked fine. The filter ran throughout the winter - it was a mild one here in VA. Again, everything was fine. I've been prepping the pool for summer usage, and now have gotten the ominous "Chlorinator Off / No Cell Power" message on our controls.
I came here, searched some things, found the No Cell Power website, and have been doing what I can for maintenance on my own. Here's what I've done:
Pulled apart box, pulled circuit board. K1 relay solder point definitely burned out. Minor burn damage to the surrounding plastic, but nothing major, and I read that wouldn't be a big deal. Resoldered - at least 10 times, if not more, because various comments on the No Cell Power site said to stick with it, it doesn't always work on the first try. The re-soldering actually got me to a new message: "Chlorinator Off / Low Volts". It still, obviously, hasn't fixed the problem entirely. The voltage readings I'm getting are: +13-25 V, +0.02 A. Occasionally, when I flip the breaker, it will reverse polarity and give me the same range of volts, just negative.
What else I've checked - with no change:
20 Amp fuse. Pulled it, tested it - came up good, but I changed it out anyway. I re-crimped the fuse support posts to make sure it wasn't a bad connection there.
Black & Red power connections - came up aces. No nicks, no signs of arcing or burning, cords are great, connections were solid. Pulled the connections and re-tightened them anyway.
Sensor connections to the board - everything's tightly connected.
Sensor wires and other wires going from the board to the cell and pumps - no nicks, no damage, no nothing.
All other solder points on the circuit board - all pretty and shiny.
Inspected the cell - clean as a whistle.
I do not have, but can get, a multimeter to check voltage being delivered across the board if that seems necessary.
My concern here is that it's affecting the filter as well - the pump will turn on and run (everything sounds fine and normal) for a bit, but then shortly after the chlorinator decides to not turn on because of low volts? The filter shuts off. We're in pollen season and it's all collecting at the top of my now stagnant water, and I'm trying to fix this quickly so I don't also have to salvage the water in addition to the system.
I went ahead and ordered the K1 relay since that was another cheap option as a fix attempt, but I'm considering also ordering a new cell & control box to have on hand just in case the relay doesn't fix the problem, we'll at least have the new cell and box on hand to swap out, and if that fails to fix the problem or the relay does work, well, we can return the cell & box to get our money back.
Does this sound like something the relay would fix? Should I maybe continue with further attempts at resoldering since the initial resolder work got the error message to change? Or is the whole board dead/dying/done for? Is there anything else I haven't thought out?
Thanks in advance!!
I came here, searched some things, found the No Cell Power website, and have been doing what I can for maintenance on my own. Here's what I've done:
Pulled apart box, pulled circuit board. K1 relay solder point definitely burned out. Minor burn damage to the surrounding plastic, but nothing major, and I read that wouldn't be a big deal. Resoldered - at least 10 times, if not more, because various comments on the No Cell Power site said to stick with it, it doesn't always work on the first try. The re-soldering actually got me to a new message: "Chlorinator Off / Low Volts". It still, obviously, hasn't fixed the problem entirely. The voltage readings I'm getting are: +13-25 V, +0.02 A. Occasionally, when I flip the breaker, it will reverse polarity and give me the same range of volts, just negative.
What else I've checked - with no change:
20 Amp fuse. Pulled it, tested it - came up good, but I changed it out anyway. I re-crimped the fuse support posts to make sure it wasn't a bad connection there.
Black & Red power connections - came up aces. No nicks, no signs of arcing or burning, cords are great, connections were solid. Pulled the connections and re-tightened them anyway.
Sensor connections to the board - everything's tightly connected.
Sensor wires and other wires going from the board to the cell and pumps - no nicks, no damage, no nothing.
All other solder points on the circuit board - all pretty and shiny.
Inspected the cell - clean as a whistle.
I do not have, but can get, a multimeter to check voltage being delivered across the board if that seems necessary.
My concern here is that it's affecting the filter as well - the pump will turn on and run (everything sounds fine and normal) for a bit, but then shortly after the chlorinator decides to not turn on because of low volts? The filter shuts off. We're in pollen season and it's all collecting at the top of my now stagnant water, and I'm trying to fix this quickly so I don't also have to salvage the water in addition to the system.
I went ahead and ordered the K1 relay since that was another cheap option as a fix attempt, but I'm considering also ordering a new cell & control box to have on hand just in case the relay doesn't fix the problem, we'll at least have the new cell and box on hand to swap out, and if that fails to fix the problem or the relay does work, well, we can return the cell & box to get our money back.
Does this sound like something the relay would fix? Should I maybe continue with further attempts at resoldering since the initial resolder work got the error message to change? Or is the whole board dead/dying/done for? Is there anything else I haven't thought out?
Thanks in advance!!
