Another one bites the dust. No power to IC40...burned out pins

[Stoots]

Hi all,

I have an IC40 that has no lights. Upon opening up the IntellipH controller, the power pins and a resistor are burned out. The IntellipH board seems fine but the SWG is not functioning. By looking at this board, is it repairable or will I need to replace.

 

[ajw22]

That seems to be a common failure mode of the IntellipH with the Intellichlor.

@Dirk can point you to his posting on how he bypassed the connector and hard wired the connection.

I don't know about the other problem on the board if it is salvageable.

Pentair Intelliph - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Dirk]

@ogdento, before I describe the fix for the burned connector, and how to prevent that from happening again, are those other burned components user-replaceable?

@Stoots, once I get that answer I'll give you the appropriate solution for the connector issue.

An alternate solution, that some here use, is to bypass the IntellipH controller altogether and run the IntellipH pump directly with your IntelliCenter. One way or another, we'll get you the right solution.

 

[ogdento]

Yeah, those parts can certainly be replaced... "user replaceable" depends on the user - you'd of course need some soldering skills. But that's not a guarantee that the board will still work after. If the micro-controller is fried (which frequently isn't visible damage) then the whole thing is scrap because we don't have the code to re-flash a replacement micro-controller.

The relay (white box, Takamisawa NA5W-K) is likely dead too... or at least should be tested. The energy that blew the two protection diodes and the comm chip came through that relay.

 

[Dirk]

Thanks Tom! So @Stoots, what are up for? Do you want to try replacing some of those IC components? Or do you want to just replace the board?

If you replace the board, I can walk you through the fix that will keep the burned connector from happening again. It's a similar method that will fix the current burned connector. So either way, that part of the problem is fixable/preventable. It's as simple as installing a few wire nuts. If you want to fix the current connector, it's a few wire nuts and soldering two wires to two pins.

If you've given up on the controller altogether, I can walk you through how to eliminate it and use your IntelliCenter to control the IntellipH pump, but there are several safeties that the IpH controller provides that you will either have to recreate or decide to do without (either is possible). This option is a little more involved and would also require some wiring skills.

 

[wireform]

Following
TAKAMISAWA NA-5W-K NA5WK Power Signal Miniature Relay 2 Poles **NEW** Qty.1 | eBay

 

[ogdento]

The two protection (TVS) diodes are MCC-WG (it's obsolete, I've replaced them with SMAJ6.0CAe3/TR13)... you can test the board without these two parts, but I would eventually add them.

For the comm chip I mostly see MAX1483ESA, Intersil ISL81483IBZ parts but there are other drop-in replacements (XR3085X, ST485C, SP485EEN etc)

If you ordered it all from Mouser or Digikey, you might as well just get a substitute relay from there too since you'll have to pay shipping anyway

 

[Stoots]

Thank you @ogdento and @Dirk! I am submitting to have this replaced under warranty. If we get this replaced, I will likely rewire to avoid this happening again. I have seen your posts in the past where it involves soldering the wires directly to the board. I can't imagine that would be too difficult. I may just keep this fried board for practice. I will keep you posted.

 

[Dirk]

Thank you @ogdento and @Dirk! I am submitting to have this replaced under warranty. If we get this replaced, I will likely rewire to avoid this happening again. I have seen your posts in the past where it involves soldering the wires directly to the board. I can't imagine that would be too difficult. I may just keep this fried board for practice. I will keep you posted.

Soldering to the board was my attempt before others chimed in with a much simpler solution. And if you apply the fix before the connector fails, you won't need to solder anything. You just need to decide if you want to apply the fix before or after the warranty expires (which I'm guessing would be counted from when you bought the first one, not when you got the second one). I would apply the fix on the day your warranty expires, that way, Pentair can keep replacing them until it does.

Replace the solder blobs with wire nuts or Wago connectors and this is a five-minute job.


FYI: all this does is provide a better, alternate path for the current that is frying the connector and the IC parts. The current "shortcuts" through the two splices, and only the small amount of current the board uses goes through the connector. The white and green wires never carry any significant current, so they are not involved in "the fix." In fact, they cannot be spliced before the board, or things won't work right.

A second precaution is to apply this stuff anywhere you have cable connectors with pins. Inside and outside the IntellipH and on the IntelliChlor cable connector.

Amazon.com

My theory is that the cheap pins corrode and cause extra resistance, which then turns into heat and melts the connector. The grease helps prevent the corrosion.

 

[Stoots]

Thanks for the great illustration. Does anyone have an actual pic of what this looks like? I don't quite understand what we are doing. From the picture, it looks like we are snipping the pair of red and black wires and then reconnecting. This all happens prior to the wires going into the white plastic connector. Or are there a pair of red/black wires coming in and only 1 red/black each going into connector?

 

[Dirk]

Thanks for the great illustration. Does anyone have an actual pic of what this looks like? I don't quite understand what we are doing. From the picture, it looks like we are snipping the pair of red and black wires and then reconnecting. This all happens prior to the wires going into the white plastic connector.

That is exactly right. Cut the two reds, splice all four red wires together. Cut the two blacks, splice all four black wires together. I would put some of the grease on the splices as you wire-nut them together. Or solder all four reds together and put a wire nut over that (that would be the best connection, as it would be corrosion proof and impervious to over-current issues). Then do the same with the four black wires.

This would likely void the warranty, so that's why I suggested waiting until after the warranty expires.

That's for a preventative fix. If you're going to fix one that is already fried, there's an extra step.

 

[Dirk]

The "wire nut" version of the fix was performed and reported here, complete with pics. But I can't now remember in whose thread that was. Maybe he'll read this thread and share.

 

[Stoots]

What does cutting the pair of wires and then splicing them all in a single Wago/wire nut do? Does it somehow help to drop the current flowing to the board down?

 

[ogdento]

it keeps a very large current from flowing through the connector, which is garbage

 

[ogdento]

agh, sorry, stupid phone.

the intelliPH board itself needs very little power to run the display and controller etc. The red/black wires power the intelliPH and deliver a LOT of power to the salt cell... instead of just tapping into the red/black wires to power the intelliPH, Pentair chose to route all the power through a connector on the intelliPH board which creates a situation where the connector can be subject to corrosion, overheat, and ultimately melt.

 

[Dirk]

@ogdento discovered that the two reds are connected to each other via traces on the circuit board. Same with the two blacks. So all we devised is to connected red-to-red and black-to-black before they get to the board. Circuit-wise, the splices don't change anything. All the current draw of the IntelliChlor (IC) was running through the white connector and the traces in the board. While the traces are fine for that, the cheap pins in the white connector, and the some of the other parts downstream of the connector (the relay and the resistors, etc) are not up to the task.

As I said, my theory is the pins in the white connector don't work great. When new, they work well enough, but probably introduce a little resistance due to their poor physical connection and the cheap tinning they use. Enter the pool environment: acid and chlorine fumes, water, etc and the pins start to corrode. That corrosion leads to resistance, more corrosion, more resistance, etc. That resistance turns into heat. Soon enough the resistance builds up, the heat increases, and voila, melted white connector and fried pins. That severs the power connection to the IC, and it stops working.

I'm not clear why your other parts also melted. Though we have seen that before. Not all the IC current runs through those, but the excess heat generated in the white connector and the surrounding traces probably plays a role.

By cutting and splicing the wires away from the board, that creates a primary path for the IC's current that then doesn't flow through the connector. The connector still has some current running through it, but only enough to power the components on the circuit board, which is nothing compared to the current the IC uses.

We've yet to see this occur with an IC20. We know it happens with IC40s, and even Pentair warns not to use the IntellipH with an IC60.

Anywho, that's why the connector melts, and why the splice fixes/prevents it.

 

[Dirk]

What does cutting the pair of wires and then splicing them all in a single Wago/wire nut do?

Just to be crystal clear: You do not "splice them all in a single Wago/wire nut." You splice all the cut red wires in one Wago/wire nut, and then you splice all the cut black wires in a second Wago/wire nut. None of the reds touch any of the blacks and vice versa.

I think that's what you meant, but just wanted to say it out loud.

 

[ogdento]

Ugh, I finally tried to repair two of these last night and neither will boot.

They both had a blown relay, blown comm chip and tvs diodes, and burned connectors. I pulled the bad parts (you can kindof tell because the current draw drops to around 50mA), but all I get is blocks on the display...



My guess is the microcontroller is hosed... the display itself could be bad (the driver chips can fail), but I don't feel like swapping it out tonight. It's kindof discouraging.

 

[Stoots]

Just to be crystal clear: You do not "splice them all in a single Wago/wire nut." You splice all the cut red wires in one Wago/wire nut, and then you splice all the cut black wires in a second Wago/wire nut. None of the reds touch any of the blacks and vice versa.

I think that's what you meant, but just wanted to say it out loud.

Indeed. I meant to keep red and black separate. Question, what would happen if you (as an example) cut the pair of red wires and terminate them into a Wago connector and then have a single wire going to (cheap) board connector. The other red wire I would just cut close to connector. Kind of like what @Turbo1Ton did in this picture, except I would leave the connector in place.

 

[ogdento]

that looks great... just a single power tap to the board