Well my VS pump just took a Crud. 8 years seems low to me. Its the mainboard inside that is toast. Couldn't find a replacement board anywhere. Sucked it up, and purchased a new one for $1200...Just wondering if 8 years is the norm??
8 years for a VS pump???
- Thread starter suzook
- Start date
- May 23, 2015
- 24,502
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Was there any determination into why it died? Lightening? Power surge?
Is your pool pump wired to a sub-panel that has a surge protector installed? VSP drives are very susceptible to power surges and you can easily fry the electronics with a lightening storm or over-voltage. I installed a surge protector on my automation panel that feeds all my equipment for around $100. Cheap insurance against power surges and the surge protector covers up to $10,000 worth of damage if it fails to protect everything.
Sorry to hear that your pump died. 8 years is definitely on the low end.
Is your pool pump wired to a sub-panel that has a surge protector installed? VSP drives are very susceptible to power surges and you can easily fry the electronics with a lightening storm or over-voltage. I installed a surge protector on my automation panel that feeds all my equipment for around $100. Cheap insurance against power surges and the surge protector covers up to $10,000 worth of damage if it fails to protect everything.
Sorry to hear that your pump died. 8 years is definitely on the low end.
Don't think it was a surge, although who knows. There is a main big chip with a heatsink on the mainboard. It literally is separated into 2 pieces, and some charring. Pump had been running the last day and a half on full speed, since I just opened it. Maybe it just overheated something, and melted the chip. Im hoping to get a used mainboard, so I have a backup, but i see none around.
BTW, purchased a jacuzzi pump sold by Leslie's. Not much info, but Leslie's gave me free 2 year warranty. It looks exactly like the sta-rite(pentair) supermax I replaced.
Last edited:
So the IRAMS12UP60A-2 power driver chip is split/blown apart. IIm thinking of just getting a new one, soldering in, and maybe I have a backup
- May 23, 2015
- 24,502
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Can you post some pictures? Might interest others to see what you’re seeing …
Attachments
- May 23, 2015
- 24,502
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Wow. Impressive failure. I’m surprised the PCB isn’t fried.
@ogdento is our resident PCB guru … I wonder if he has any thoughts?
@ogdento is our resident PCB guru … I wonder if he has any thoughts?
Yes, a major failure. The pcb does look intact, I'm just wondering if something else failed, causing the chip to blow apart. I might be able to get a new chip for about $12. I did Google the numbers on the pcb, but nothing really comes up, which is odd.
wow that's wild... and lucky that it's not all potted in epoxy!
I took a quick look at the driver datasheet and it "looks" like the pin that vaporized may be pin10, which is the V+/Positive Bus Input Voltage (it's really 7 physical pins from the start, but the numbering includes the "empty spaces"). The datasheet has a reference design that may or may not be close to what's on your board, but check it out and at least test the caps between V+ and the Le1-3 pins (low side emitters)
good luck and keep us posted if you fix it! would also love to see a few more photos that might include the whole board.
datasheet for any others who are interested:
I took a quick look at the driver datasheet and it "looks" like the pin that vaporized may be pin10, which is the V+/Positive Bus Input Voltage (it's really 7 physical pins from the start, but the numbering includes the "empty spaces"). The datasheet has a reference design that may or may not be close to what's on your board, but check it out and at least test the caps between V+ and the Le1-3 pins (low side emitters)
good luck and keep us posted if you fix it! would also love to see a few more photos that might include the whole board.
datasheet for any others who are interested:
I will upload more pics tomorrow of the full board. Unfortunately nothing in Google came up about it. Maybe you can figure something out. So let's walk over how to test my board. If board is fine, and just chip failure, this is a $20 fix. I'm good at soldering,so shouldn't take much time either
- Jul 20, 2007
- 136
- Pool Size
- 30000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
I am surprised we can’t get replacement boards. Mosfets and in this case igbts are prone to wear over time. It’s the down side to a variable speed pump.
Ps Gotta love iPhone spell check. Mosfet got changed to midgets and igbt got changed to lgbt. Thank gosh I checked before posting.
Ps Gotta love iPhone spell check. Mosfet got changed to midgets and igbt got changed to lgbt. Thank gosh I checked before posting.
They want you to throw it away, and buy a new one. Everything today is disposable. I'm hoping a $20 chip will bring it back to life. My new jacuzzi vs pump is working nice, well it should for $1200.