Life with a Hayward SuperPump VS (and troubleshooting the Er64)

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Brett_N

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Jul 21, 2015
123
Tempe, Az
First, I have to say I am NOT affiliated with Hayward at all. In fact, I'm a self admitting newbie to pool ownership.

I recently replaced an old AO Smith / Jandy FloPro single stage 1.5HP with a SuperPump VS 1.5 HP. Hers a few things I learned.

1. This thing sucks. Literally, sucks....a lot....pressure wise! I run mine on low and my zodiac G2 through the adapter and it moves well. On medium, it moves really well. On high, it races around the pool like its hopped up on something illegal.

2. It's quiet. On low, you can't hear it 5 feet away. On medium, it's a little louder, but not too bad. On high, you can still carry on a conversation within 5 feet no problem.

3. On low (just moves the water around) it draws about 50watts. Worth it for a clean pool to run it 24/7

now....it's not without issues. I installed it on a concrete pad. After some new plumbing, everything was fine. Then...a week later, it rained. HARD....2 inches in an hour, which is the kinda thing we get on occasion in PHX. Needless to say, it isn't exactly "weatherproof" out of the box. I got the dreaded Er64 - an internal short code - and said "oh **** my new $700 pump is toast." After tearing all of the wiring apart, and drying it out, still no luck. I let it bake in the AZ sun for 2 days, re-assembled everything, still ER64 ( needless to say, my new neighbors learned some new 4 letter words!)

then it dawns on me. This is an AC motor.....(I do digital motor control for a living, FYI, so this isn't new science to me!) and say "wait dummy, maybe the rotor is stuck in between phases!" Hallelujah....I took the fan cover off, spun the shaft a couple times, and fired her back up. Voila...pump is back in business and running like its brand new.....


so....if you get one, heres some words of advice.

1. Ditch the crummy Allen key screws for the cover to the digital controller. Lowes sells the replacement hex heads, they are 4Mx0.7 pitch metric. I think they are 20 and 25mm long. $1.50, easy fix. You need 2 short and 2 long. The Allen key ones strip easily since they are aluminum, I had to drill one out before the install even started.

2. Silicone is your friend. When installing the cover, run a bead all the way around as extra protection. You want NO entrances for moisture as there are electronics in the box.

3. A 90 degree fitting pointed straight down for the BX cable is a must. Oh, and more silicone wouldn't hurt.

4. Build some sort of cover. I know it's a PITA, but some extra protection can't hurt.

All in all, couldn't be happier. I know there are nay Sayers against VS pumps, but after the $100 rebate from the power company, and the fact I can run it all day long on some of the cheapest electric rates in the country and notice a difference, it just makes sense. In a month I'll work on a spreadsheet to hopefully show the energy savings.

Again just tips from a newbie, hope someone finds it helpful...especially clearing the trouble code.
 
:goodpost:

Thanks for that good feedback. I am a big fan of my VS pump also. They give you a lot of control over your water movement and save a lot of electricity.
 
For a pump cover over my new Pentair VS is just bought a plastic storage tub at HD for about $5 . The cheapest one I could find. I took a utility knife and started carving out for the plumbing, electric connections, then cut a big area out of the back so the fan could cool it well, and I've got it protected from rain and from the sun.
 
Cheers, this is my first post.

Interesting post, Brett. I have the same pump and got the Err64 code a few weeks ago. Mine was replaced under warranty, so I didn't attempt to diagnose. I am an industrial controls engineer, and am very interested in what you think the specific problem was. My Err64 fault code happened during or immediately after a heavy rain. My pump is not directly open to rainwater, but in the windy storm it may have gotten wet. The circuit never lost power during the storm.

I am afraid this will happen again and put my pool out of service for another week. Would love to hear your thoughts.

-R
 
R - Hayward is sending me a replacement power module as well. Guess I'll have a spare. My ERR64 happened in the middle of the rain storm too - but the pump was completely unprotected. When I took the top off, there was a spoonful of water in the top square unit. I pulled the power wires, yanked out the circuit board, and let everything dry out for 2 full days. Still the same issue, then I realized it was probably the motor being stalled in between phases. A quick spin of the fan solved the problem. and it fired right back up.

I think the ER64 is actually caused by the digital controller getting confused when the motor shaft stalls in between magnetic phases and sees it as a short. Basically it can't figure out where the zero crossing threshold is in between phases since there is no movement and the magnetics are acting against each other when powered. That's the best hypothesis I can come up with. The system uses back-emf (sensorless) motor control, which can sometimes be finicky like that, and I think they are only using the feedback from 2 of the motor drive phases instead of all 3. If the magnetics for those 2 phases are at zero crossing the whole system gets wonky. I should know - I test for it in my lab everyday at work LOL!

If you still have your old power unit, plug it in (somehow?) take the back off where the fan is (or just spin the shaft if it's disconnected from the pump) and see if it works.

I say silicone ALL the way around the seam on the cover and where the AC comes in the side. Can't hurt it.

Did Hayward send you the updated power head with motor, or just a new control board? Apparently the update is more water tight, and has a better real time clock?

- - - Updated - - -

Mines only 85 :p but it's 9 feet deep
 

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Your theory sounds plausible to me. Hard to believe a brand new unit would have a real short after one month of service. Hayward sent out a regional pool store tech to replace my motor/controller unit, and unfortunately took the old one with them. But if it happens again under warranty, I'll try spinning the shaft before calling. The replacement I got looks the same as the old one. I didn't check the serial number, but the user manual supplied was a Rev A.
 
I have the same pump & love it.

so far no rain issues but RE:
4. Build some sort of cover. I know it's a PITA, but some extra protection can't hurt.
Try a shower cap over the controller, if you use a clear cap you can see the display and operate the buttons
 
While you are sending this thread to the engineering department, how about requesting an external high/low speed relay connection, I would love to get one of these basic variable speed pumps, but need an external way to switch from a variable high (Speed 1) to variable low speed (Speed 2) for my solar controller like I do with my 2 speed pump.
 
I think the Pentair VS 011018 has 4 external programs. I don't know if they would serve your purpose though.
 
I came home today to find the dreaded Err64 fatal error on my VS pump again. It rained quite a bit last night, and I think the wind blew the rain into the sheltered pump area.

However, after a power cycle, the pump started up for maybe 30 seconds before throwing an Err01 and shutting down. Err01 is some kind of undervolt. Hard to say exactly because its virtually undocumented as are the different firmware versions of the controller.

After several reboots, I managed to get my pump working at a low 1000rpm speed without throwing and error code. I think I will run it this way overnight and hope the rotation and heat of the motor will dry out the controller electronics and connectors.

If anyone has had similar experiences, please chime in.

-R
 

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