Pentair Intellicenter keeps dying

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Killer Squirrel said:
What if I got something like this and put in inline between the breaker and transformer? I could set it to overvolt protect at 140v, which would still be plenty below any dangerous levels post transformer on either 18v or 24v circuits correct? I could get rid of the UPS altogether at that point since it wouldn't be doing anything for me.
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I think you are taking shots in the dark at this point.

You need to find an electrician who has a voltage recording monitor like below , or you need to rent one, or buy one, and see what events it captures when a board blows.

www.fluke.com

Voltage Recorder | Fluke VR1710 Voltage Quality Recorder

Detect and record parameters including RMS average, transients, flicker, and harmonics with the Fluke VR1710, a single phase voltage recorder.
www.fluke.com www.fluke.com
 
While I do appreciate the advice on the subject, it sounds counterintuitive to purchase a device for $1600 to then wait for a $1200 Intellicenter to blow up to hopefully find some answers. I am on my last Intellicenter from Pentair, they will not warranty another. So, if I do nothing but wait for it to blow, I'm done. I would much rather try and find some sort of solution that could prevent it from blowing up at all. I do not have unlimited funds unfortunately.
 
Killer Squirrel said:
While I do appreciate the advice on the subject, it sounds counterintuitive to purchase a device for $1600 to then wait for a $1200 Intellicenter to blow up to hopefully find some answers. I am on my last Intellicenter from Pentair, they will not warranty another. So, if I do nothing but wait for it to blow, I'm done. I would much rather try and find some sort of solution that could prevent it from blowing up at all. I do not have unlimited funds unfortunately.
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If you want to take one more shot then wiring it for 240V is the best bet.

Let's review your devices that have RS-485 connections - Intelliflo pump and IntelliChlor cell. Anything else?

Confirm that your pump RS-485 connection is only yellow and green 2 wires.
 
How about showing us a good large pic of the lower high voltage wiring section of your IntelliCenter?
 
I was finally able to go get one, this one was taken before I wired in the new voltage monitor, that's what that coil of black is for. It's messy, so prepare yourself. Most of the runs were there already when I bought the house, I just changed out the old simple breaker box for the EasyTouch load center shortly after then started upgrading the equipment to what you see now using the existing runs. I was just able to install the voltage monitor/overvoltage device and it hooks up via wifi so I can monitor it on a phone app.
 

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Who did the high voltage wiring on the Load Center?

You should have GFCI breakers for your pumps and gas heater.

Breakers should only have one wire connection, not 2 or 3. There are better techniques for connecting multiple circuits to one breaker then double stabbing it.
 
yes, per Allen, at least use a pigtail to connect multiple wires to your breaker. Some breakers allow 2 connections but it would be explicitly stated in the specifications... I think Square D makes one that allows 2 wires, but you'll have to look up what you've got. I've never heard of a breaker that allow 3.
 
The breakers were all there when I bought the place (except the one gfci you see, I added that for the pool lights) I just moved them from old breaker box to load center. Yes, I am aware of the doubles on some of them, that I did. That top 20A breaker is really a double, not a triple (the reds are soldered where they enter the breaker) and the other is for the SPD so it's not carrying a load. Those Square D breakers do have 2 v slots per connection for a wire to be held in place with. The only one I need to 'fix' is the twin single 15 with a double stab, that one only has a single wire channel. I always do the pull test on every lead I bolt in and I'm not gentle when I test that. Is it by code? No. But I'm confident it is safe.
 
Which breaker feeds the IntelliCenter transformer?
 

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(edit): Was having another conversation with killer squirrel about his service entrance voltage... I Posted my reply on the wrong page, but it's worth sharing here.

Some context: He's now got an over-voltage device installed at his system transformer which is now set up for 240v, and he's regularly going over the 250v limit he set

...

Wow, 252 is the max you should ever get if the Poco is following the ANSI standard of +/-5%... I'd call them!

But I would think you could get away with 255. The system transformer should convert 240vac to 18vac ... So 240/18=13.3 so we have about a 13 to 1 step down transformer... And 255/13 = 19.6 (higher with no load). You get about 24vdc from the 18vac coming from the system transformer output (you have to calculate the peak to peak voltage, which is higher than the rms, and then subtract 1.2 or so volts for the voltage drop from the rectifiers), so I'd expect 26-28vdc if the system transformer input was 250-255. Would be nice to log that!
 
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What size breaker and wire comes from the main panel to the pentair load center. As it sits, it looks overloaded/undersized. Any possibility the problem is the opposite, a brown out situation caused by excessive load?
In addition, i assume your new backup battery is only on the control panel transformer? The one you linked is only rated to ~3 amps. The transformer for the control board, wired 120v, as I recall has a 2.5amp draw.
 
The transformer was on a single 15A in the beginning, then I bought the GFCI/AFCI you see in there for the transformer. You guys suggested that really wouldn't help my issue so I used that GCFI for the pool lights to give them their own GFCI breaker instead of feeding through the GFCI receptacle on the side of the load center (that is how they had it wired before). The transformer is now wired 240v and the UPS removed since it did nothing to help the issue either, but yes it was only for powering the transformer and on its own breaker. The main panel breaker for the load center is only 40A and the wire feeding it can only support that, so if each breaker in the load center was pulling its full potential amps then yes it would be overloaded, but there's no way the equipment I have running pulls that much amperage. I would love to make new homeruns with a larger wire to the load center but that is just not in the cards anytime soon.

The overvoltage device has hit my new threshold of 252v twice now, so I will ask the poco about it and see if anything can be looked at. So far though, the device is doing what it is supposed to and keeping it from getting overpowered. Should I set it to 255v as the max and see if that ever gets hit? I was being cautious about how much I allowed to power the transformer.
 
Well.. even with that overvoltage device in place, the board is dead again. Totally unresponsive. I know it was working as of 3am. After that something happened. I can't afford to buy more boards so it looks like I am done with Intellicenter.
 
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