Jandy Aquapure 1400 sensor lead is severed

[wayner]

My pool was just opened up a few days ago. After a few days I went to plug in the SWG and I got an error message - it turns out that the Flow/Temp/Salinity sensor wire has somehow been cut, pretty much in the centre of the wire. The wire/sensor assembly looks like this:

I am guessing that the unit will not operate without the sensor wires connected, is that correct?

Should I get a new sensor wire or is it possible to repair the existing wire (I have lots of slack in the wire)? It looks like the sensor units cost about $150-$200. Can you buy just the wire but not the sensor?

This looks kind of like your phone wire, but there are 8 (or so) wires inside of a flat grey sheath. The internal wires are all colour coded so it should be no issue to determine which is which. Should I just strip back the existing insulation, twist together the wires, and tape it all up with tape? Is it necessary to solder the wires together or is twisting good enough?

 

[Richard320]

I would repair it if I had enough length. You will need to solder. The control unit senses millivolt differences and resistance from a bad connection will cause false readings.

 

[wayner]

I have plenty of length, so should I strip, twist the wires together and then solder each one?

 

[Richard320]

I have plenty of length, so should I strip, twist the wires together and then solder each one?

Yep. And insulate each wire with heat shrink tubing that you slid up the wire before soldering.

 

[wayner]

Thanks, will do. I have some sitting around. What should I do with the bundle of wires, just tape the whole thing up with electrical tape?

 

[Richard320]

Thanks, will do. I have some sitting around. What should I do with the bundle of wires, just tape the whole thing up with electrical tape?

Pretty much.

If you're OCD and have a lot of excess cord, you could cut the wires staggered so the joints are not all in one spot, which makes a skinnier bundle when you're done. Otherwise, yeah, just heat shrink each solder joint then tape up the whole wad. It'll look like a snake that just ate a rat.

 

[wayner]

So on Sunday I repaired the cable by twisting together all leads and then soldering them. I applied the solder by heating up the wires with the soldering iron and then melting the solder on the wires to prevent a cold joint (although I haven't really done any soldering since my EE university days 25 years ago - you never forget the smell of molten solder). I then put shrink wrap, shrunk it with a hair dryer and then taped everything up with electrical tape. It didn't end up looking like a python that swallowed a rat as I have the two cables inline rather than end to end. To have the cables inline I would have had to fold back the wires on one end and I didn't want to do that as I thought that this could cause some of the copper strands to break.

Everything seemed fine on Sunday and Monday. We got an electrical storm on Monday night and during Tuesday. When I checked it out on Tuesday night I get the Service light lit and the codes 172 and 186. This seems to indicate an issue with the sensor.

Could the rain have caused an issue - it doesn't seem to me that any moisture could have gotten inside the taped bundle as it seems quite tight. Or is my repair method insufficient for keeping moisture out?

Any suggestions other than untaping and checking things out? Any idea what color wire to concentrate on given those error codes? And any other suggestions to ensure that I have a good connection?

edit - There are some other threads here talking about the fact that the sensor life is only a couple of years. My system is 5 years old. Last year I replaced the salt cell - the original square unit was replaced with a round unit. I don't know (but I don't think) that the sensor was replaced at that time. I know that prior to that the sensor was not replaced.

Is it really true that you need to replace these every couple of years?