Easytouch Communication Failure

[gunbunny2]

I purchased and installed an EasyTouch 4 about 6 months ago. Shortly after completing install, while I was on vacation, I looked and saw an Alert that it had lost communication with my pump. When I got home, I troubleshot the system and ended up frying the RS-485 port on the motherboard, because like an amateur I didn’t flip the breakers off first. Expensive lesson to learn.

So, recently bought. Anew EasyTocuh 8 motherboard off of EBay and all was working great again. Until, this afternoon. Out of nowhere the EasyTouch stopped communicating with the SCG and the Pump, but I can still use the ScreenLogic monitor and control everything else.

The SCG and ScreenLogic are connected to separate RS-485 ports on the expansion board. The pump, an Intelliflo VSF, is connect to a 2-Pin VSF Pump port on the expansion board. Seems like it is the same problem o encountered before I fried the last RS-485 Port on the old motherboard. Any ideas what could be causing the issue? Appreciate any help anyone has to offer. I used this site a lot when we installed our pool last year to learn about ins and outs of equipment and maintenance, so I am sure someone on here will ah e a solution for me.

 

[Jimrahbe]

gb2,

It does not matter how many expansion ports you have, there is still only one com port on an EasyTouch.

The first step in troubleshooting the problem is to go look at the pump's display when the system is in AUTO mode.. The pump should say "Display not Active".. What does your pump's display show??

The second step is to check the F/W on your VSF pump. Place the system into the SERVICE mode and then use the pump's control panel and find the F/W version. Post the F/W version here... There is an known issue the some VSF pumps that have intermittent RS-485 connections.

If you pump has the good F/W and the pump's display does NOT show "Display not active", then the next step is to disconnect or unplug EVERYTHING on the RS-485 bus, except the main ET board (J20) and just the pump.. With just the pump connected to the ET, see what you pump's display shows. Must be in AUTO..

If the pump's display shows "Display not active", then that means the main card and the pump's com chips are working... It also means that one of the other RS-485 devices is most likely bad. The main problem with the RX-485 com port is that if ANY of the devices are bad, it can load the whole bus down.

And... as you have found out already.. When removing or installing any RS-485 connection, the power should be off..

What did you do with your old ET main card???

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[gunbunny2]

Jim,

So, after posting this I flipped the breakers to the ET and all equipment at the load center. Blew out the RS-485 connector pins at the pump and reconnected. When I powered everything back up, everything went back to normal.

I need to check the firmware, because I suspect based on you post, this is the likely culprit.

I kept the old motherboard and plan to repair the RS-485 chip and keep it as back up in the event I ever take a lightning strike or more likely screw up again when I am in a rush and forget to flip the breaker off.