Hi, I just stumbled on this forum, so this is my first post...hoping someone can give me some direction here. So, here's the situation. I have an iAqualink 2.0 system, and I've had no problems with it for the last six years. A few weeks ago we had a pretty bad thunder storm, and I'm assuming my equipment got hit by lightening, or at least a close strike, as the next morning I noticed my pump wasn't running any more, and of course my iAqualink wouldn't connect. I did replace my pump motor, but everything seemed to be in working order. My main iAqualink panel is still working, as it's still running the equipment, I can switch between modes, and run the pool from the panel, etc. The actual pump part seems to be working fine now, but my issue is I'm getting the dreaded "Connection Error, Could not connect to device." I've been through dozens of forums and videos and tried just about all the troubleshooting options I can find, but still no luck. Here's why I'm confused as to what the actual issue could be. Like I said, the panel seems fine, I've checked the wire connections, power cycled many times, done a reset. So for the Antenna, the previous owner actually ran a wire into the house, so the antenna is only a few feet from my router, but I've also tried running a network cable directly to it as well. If it's on wifi, I can connect no problem. It brings up the network login and seems to connect fine. I get all three lights. When I try switching to a hardwired connection, I flip the wifi switch a few times, and again, get all three lights. I have tried deleting the app on my phone, tried deleting the location and re-adding, tried doing it all on my computer, but again, no luck. The other weird thing is, if I go through the browser on my PC, it says it's connected, but when I open the window, it just says waiting for connection. I guess my question is, do you think it's a hardware issue? If so, any idea which part I should switch out? Or could it still be something with the software? I know you've all seen plenty of the iAqualink connection errors, but this one seems to be different. Thanks for your help.
Another iAqualink 2.0 connection error thread
- Thread starter skiime
- Start date
MSchutzer
Silver Supporter
It's hard to understand what your message is saying? Are you saying that the system works fine when you have the iAqualink antenna unit connected via wiFi, but not when you connect it via a hard wire Ethernet connection?
No, sorry if that was confusing. I was just saying that I have tried connecting the antenna to wifi and directly with a network cable, just to rule out a bad connection. With either option, I get all three lights on the antenna, but still get the connection error no matter what.
Have you tried to reset the whole system. Turn on the main power to the complete Aqualink panel. Wait a minute and turn back on.
I would leave the hardwire connection to the antenna if that is inside.
I would leave the hardwire connection to the antenna if that is inside.
MSchutzer
Silver Supporter
I think the three LED's on the side of the iAqualink 2.0 transceiver unit are related to the unit having Power and network connectivity, and don't necessarily indicate that you have a good RS-485 link communication between the Aqualink RS panel and the transceiver unit.
The red LED is power and the yellow and green LED's are the LAN and WAN connections respectively. I think you might be able to have all three LED's on even if there is a problem with RS-485 connection to the main panel.
As a test you can remove the cover on the main panel, locate the connection to the iAqualink panel (usually the top left red 4 pin connector) and then disconnect the wires going to pins 2 and 3 (the center two) of that connector. Pins 1 and 4 supply the power to the iAqualink transceiver, and pins 2 and 3 are the RS-485 data connections. With pins 2 and 3 disconnected see if you still get the three LED's on the transceiver unit?
Your close lightening strike might have taken out the RS-485 data link as the data lines have surge protector devices on them and when overloaded the surge protection devices short to ground if the surge is larger than they can handle. The main panel is working so the power supply lines feeding the iAqualink transceiver survived, but you may have lost the RS-485 data lines.
It sounds like your iAqualink transceiver unit is able to connect to the LAN and internet, but that the data link (RS-485) to the main panel is bad.
Try the test of disconnecting pins 2 and 3 on that red connector and lets see if you still get the three LED's and the same symptoms of not being able to connect. If it acts the same and all three LED's are on then I'm afraid you may have some damaged hardware associated with the RS-485 link, either on the main board, or on the transceiver unit.
Do you have anything else hooked up via the RS-485 connections like a VSP pump or a Jandy heater? And if so are those devices talking to the main panel okay?
The red LED is power and the yellow and green LED's are the LAN and WAN connections respectively. I think you might be able to have all three LED's on even if there is a problem with RS-485 connection to the main panel.
As a test you can remove the cover on the main panel, locate the connection to the iAqualink panel (usually the top left red 4 pin connector) and then disconnect the wires going to pins 2 and 3 (the center two) of that connector. Pins 1 and 4 supply the power to the iAqualink transceiver, and pins 2 and 3 are the RS-485 data connections. With pins 2 and 3 disconnected see if you still get the three LED's on the transceiver unit?
Your close lightening strike might have taken out the RS-485 data link as the data lines have surge protector devices on them and when overloaded the surge protection devices short to ground if the surge is larger than they can handle. The main panel is working so the power supply lines feeding the iAqualink transceiver survived, but you may have lost the RS-485 data lines.
It sounds like your iAqualink transceiver unit is able to connect to the LAN and internet, but that the data link (RS-485) to the main panel is bad.
Try the test of disconnecting pins 2 and 3 on that red connector and lets see if you still get the three LED's and the same symptoms of not being able to connect. If it acts the same and all three LED's are on then I'm afraid you may have some damaged hardware associated with the RS-485 link, either on the main board, or on the transceiver unit.
Do you have anything else hooked up via the RS-485 connections like a VSP pump or a Jandy heater? And if so are those devices talking to the main panel okay?
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Just FYI, it looks like it was the Antenna that got fried. Replaced it and all is well now.