AquaPure PLC 1400 - faulty board or salt cell?

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@jpn311 I see all those reviews now, but it's too late. Hope it doesn't turn into buyer's remorse as new cell is already installed. I actually FOUND the cell from a different TFP thread so I didn't do a bunch of back checking. But if I'm out $400, oh well. Live & learn.

@JamesW Crazy busy weekend with quite a bit of rain, including again today. I at least got power connections reversed but haven't been able to see all the various modes yet. Also owe you a pic of the BACK of the control panel, but will probably be next weekend before I can get that deep back into it.

For now, just checked a few minutes ago and it showed "Cell On" with no errors. What's odd is the unit is visibly producing chlorine. Is that the correct behavior with reversed power? Maybe both Cell On and Reversing are chlorine generating cycles? It was reversing mode throwing error 123 when correctly wired. I honestly thought Cell On status would now technically denote Reversing cycle since wires are swapped. I'm getting myself way confused now. :)
 
JamesW said:
Correct.

If "Reversing" is still bad, then the problem is probably with the board.

If the problem switches to 123 on the Forward direction (Cell On), it is probably a bad cell.
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EDITED: It's in forward Cell On with no errors right now & producing chlorine. I haven't caught it yet with screen showing Reversing Mode while wired backwards . . .
 
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Vol4Ever said:
EDITED: It's in forward Cell On with no errors right now & producing chlorine. I haven't caught it yet with screen showing Reversing Mode while wired backwards . . .
Click to expand...
JamesW said:
Correct.

If "Reversing" is still bad, then the problem is probably with the board.

If the problem switches to 123 on the Forward direction (Cell On), it is probably a bad cell.
Click to expand...
Well fudge. Controller shows Cell On / Flow / and Reversing all lit . . . . with error 123. Cell is not visibly producing chlorine & it's still backwards wired.

Does this point back to the relay we discussed above? Trying to decide if it's worth trying to (CAREFULLY) change that out or just bite bullet and buy a dang board. Small company corporate buyout caused me to get laid off after 18.5 years (loyalty?? Nah!) a couple years ago. Started my own business but it's keeping budgets a little tighter than normal while it gets off the ground. That's why I'm doing all these attempts to repair and chose to go the cheapo aftermarket route on the cell itself.
 
JamesW said:
Pull the board and look for any damage.

Try replacing the relay.
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Had a few minutes to tinker. How the heck does the board come out? I got the 4 corner screws but something is still holding. It looks like there are 2 screws under the board still accessible thru holes in the board, but I can't figure out what fits them. Even zooming in tight with phone camera they have really strange looking heads. Are those what's left or am I just overlooking a standard screw?
 
Good tip on the Torx. Those 2 back screws were what was holding it. Got it out and removed L-shaped heat sink. Trying to attach board front and back pictures using only the phone. Visibly, everything looks perfectly fine. Looks like this board isn't as expensive as I thought. May be worth just replacing it and moving on but sure would like to give this thing one more "ol college try" now that I know how to get it apart.
 

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Yeah. I had checked all fuses at the beginning but checked again to be safe. "Touched" the relay solder points with an iron, just in case of a hairline crack. All reassembled and booted back up now, along with switching back to correct DC cell wiring. Will continue to keep eye, but I'm guessing I'll be seeing 123 again. Good news is it's making chlorine and pool has finally cleared back to crystal from pond green. Still want to fix the 123 though so new cell isn't damaged or prematurely toast by not self-cleaning.
 
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FYI, I have a Jandy PLC1400 that recently started through a 123 code intermittently too. I don't know if its always showing on forward, reverse, or both, but maybe I'll try to note that moving forward I actually just bought a new Cell (and Power Cord/combo) and plan on putting it in on Thursday sometime. I'll report back with my findings as well and if the cell replacement helped or not. I don't think I have a way to measure current...

I have another Jandy PLC1400 (I have 2 for my pool) that is giving me random 171/189 errors too, so on that one I replaced the back PCB board earlier today (it just showed up on Saturday). So i'll monitor that one too to see if the errors disappear over the next day or two.
 
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Well, FWIW.. the one SWG i have that is showing intermittent 123 codes, only in Reverse Flow (though sometimes Reverse Flow doesn't show a 123 code), I tried replacing both the power cord and the cell (based on the troubleshooting codes for 123) , but neither solved my problem. I'm going to try the back PCB board next and give that a try... ah well, looks like I have a spare cell now!

My other SWG that was throwing intermittent 171/189 codes, seems to be fixed by replacing the back PCB board. It's not thrown an error in 5 days now.

Just sharing...
 
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Not forgetting my new TFP friends. Family beach vacation this week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed the fact that it makes chlorine in most modes will limp it by until I get home & can play some more. Can't imagine a couple weeks with no reversing could really hurt anything on the new cell.

@generessler What brown bit are you talking about? Looks like you tried to post photo but link broke.

Thanks everyone.
 
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jesse-99 said:
Well, FWIW.. the one SWG i have that is showing intermittent 123 codes, only in Reverse Flow (though sometimes Reverse Flow doesn't show a 123 code), I tried replacing both the power cord and the cell (based on the troubleshooting codes for 123) , but neither solved my problem. I'm going to try the back PCB board next and give that a try... ah well, looks like I have a spare cell now!

My other SWG that was throwing intermittent 171/189 codes, seems to be fixed by replacing the back PCB board. It's not thrown an error in 5 days now.
Click to expand...

So the SWCG that was showing intermittent 123 codes, and wasn't fixed by replacing the power cord -or- the cell itself... I replaced the back PCB today (just like I did in my other SWCG) so I should know in the next 24-48 hours if the intermittent 123 codes still come back or not. Once it's conclusive, I'll reply back.
 
jesse-99 said:
So the SWCG that was showing intermittent 123 codes, and wasn't fixed by replacing the power cord -or- the cell itself... I replaced the back PCB today (just like I did in my other SWCG) so I should know in the next 24-48 hours if the intermittent 123 codes still come back or not. Once it's conclusive, I'll reply back.
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Did repl board solve it? If you don't mind my asking, where did you buy & how much (feel free to PM)? I've poked around and it looks $200ish if I'm looking at correct part.
 
That's about the correct price, yes. The back PCB solved both of my SWCG issues, yes, even though both were reporting different problems. I bought one off Amazon $209 i think, and another locally for $179 at a pool store (I was shocked they had it and had it for so cheap). Now I just have to make sure they are generating FC, even with both on (70% and 90%) I'm not getting the FC I think I should be getting, but it is mid June and sun is 100% every single day the last two weeks and the days start earlier and go later this time of year so... I think I'm going to measure FC at around 9pm (sunset) and then at 6am, and leave both SWCGs on overnight and measure at 6am tomorrow. I'd expect, based on Pool Math app, to see around a 2FC increase overnight, so we'll see. But yes, NO MORE ERRORS!
 
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