Very Low Salt and Burnt Power Relay

[Shredderr]

I have a five year old Aqua Logic AQL-P-4 that has a one year old Hayward cell. I noticed the Check System light was on and the display had a message that read "Salt Generator Off Very Low Salt". I had the water tested and it was within range (3000) and the cell tested (it passed). Since I had the Cell Power issue two years ago and had to fix the cold solder joint, I decided to look at the PCB next. I noticed a slight dark streak near what I believe is a Power Relay and on the back side one of the solder joints for the Power Relay (top one) looks scorched.

I found some posts referncing the OMRON G8P-1C4P 24 VDC power relay needing to be replaced, but they referenced the Cell Power issue. Has anyone had the Very Low Salt message and a problem with the relay? Any guesses as to whether this may be just another bad solder joint, or does the relay definitely need to be replaced? One more question: the copper pathway near the bad/scorched joint is now exposed- probably about .25 inches. Assuming I replace the relay, how do I fix the exposed pathway, or is it even necessary? Sure hope I can fix this and save the $$$ that a new board will cost.

Thanks for the help!
Shredderr

 

[mas985]

Sometimes it is just the solder joint but others have had relay issues. Try fixing the solder joint first and see if that fixes the problem.

www.nocellpower.com

 

[Shredderr]

I resoldered the power relay joint and reinstalled the board and then turned power back on. I noticed a little bit of smoke rise up from back of the board which I attributed to my poor soldering. After the chlorinator power on delay, my cell powered up and began chlorinating, reading 3100 PPM of salt (awesome!). After a short period of time, I heard an audible click and then the display showed the same message- "Chlorinator Off Check System Very Low Salt" (Crud).

I figured my poor soldering let go so I pulled everything back off (a visible reinspection of the soldering didn't look that good) and resoldered the joint. I powered the system back up and did not see any smoke, but got similar results- it worked for awhile and then stopped with the same message. I pulled the board back off to check my soldering and it looked ok, but I went ahead and resoldered again to doublecheck. I powered back up and this time I timed how long the chlorinator remained operating. It ran for 101 seconds before I heard the audible click and got the same message. I was curious about this so I turned off all power to the system for a few minutes and then powered back up. I received the exact same results at 101 seconds.

So, I'm assuming that the system attempts to operate the relay at 101 seconds and either the relay is bad or something else in the system is bad associated with that timing mark. Any thoughts? I ordered a replacement power relay tonight and will install it when I receive it next week.

 

[mas985]

That could be the relay. While it is running, do you see 0 amps in the cell diagnostics display?

 

[Shredderr]

While the chlorinator is running it shows approximately 5.9 Amps. Once it stops it goes down to zero. I'm bewildered now though because something strange just happened. My wife mentioned that the landscape lights were not on. This is not surprising since I was flipping the breakers off while performing my repairs earlier in the day. I assumed I had left one of the breakers (which is in the Aqua Logic panel) for this circuit off. I went and checked it and the breaker was on, but I happened to look at my Aqua Logic panel display (pool pump had been off for about two hours) and it had a message "Low Salt". This was different than the previous messages of "Very Low Salt". So, I scrolled through the display and it showed a salt reading of 2500 PPM. Puzzled even more, I went ahead and tunred the pump on and after the regular delay the chlorinator turned on and ultimately gave a salt reading of 3000 PPM. Just for the heck of it I decided to let it run and see it click off after the previoulsy observed 101 seconds. But it never did- it kept running.

I turned the pump off and on two additional times and each time the chlroinator came on after the delay and never turned off. I just turned the pump off after leaving it on for 2.5 hours and the chlorinator was still on, reading 3000 PPM, and with no error messages. So, it appears my problem may be intermittent. From when I was working on the repairs earlier in the day to when I "found it working" this evening the air temperature had dropped from 78 degrees to 64 degrees. Maybe it's thermal related?

 

[mas985]

There is probably still a problem either in the solder joint or in the K1 relay. Both have similar symptoms. Either it stops working or low salt.

 

[Shredderr]

I ordered the new relay last night and it will not get here for several days, so I'll see how it runs until then. I ran it for 10 hours today without a problem and it reading 3100 PPM.