EasyTouch UPGRADE overload / not enough amps?

[charlieTX]

I upgraded to an EasyTouch circuit board from a Comp pool board last week, ran fine for a few days, everything worked no problem, pump, cleaner, heater. HAPPY DAYS! Then I encountered a "surging" problem and the pump wouldn't filter. I spoke with Pentair support (after two full days of trial and error maintenance myself) and they advised the new board was probably bad and to return it.

So, I installed the new board on Thursday. No problem, works fine, again.... Turned on the heater today for the first time, and the pump starts to surge again, and the heater won't start.

So having pretty much dismantled my entire system last week looking for air leaks and blockages, I think I've determined it's a power supply issue...

I'm guessing, really guessing, that I've wired it incorrectly, missed a step, or my equipment needs more power and the board is tripping?

At no point has the GFCI or any of the 3 amp fuses tripped....

As far as the install I just matched the old wires from the comp pool to the appropriate spots on the Easytocuh. I didn't mess with the transformer or anything else.

I have a 2.2hp Century Centurion switchless motor single speed pump, and a Pentair mini-me gas heater, with a separate pump for the cleaner.

And just to clarify, it worked for a few days last week.....



Please, somebody show me the light!!!!

 

[bdavis466]

Can you post pictures of the wiring, breakers and relays? Hopefully it's clear enough to see what's what.

What all are you trying to run? What are the schedules, features, etc?

What size breaker and wiring do you have from the main panel to the ET?

 

[Jimrahbe]

I find it hard to believe that the main PCB would be the cause of this problem, especially not two of them. I also find it hard to understand if the original power to your equipment worked, when it was controlled by the Compool unit, why it would not work now. I suggest you step back and start your troubleshooting all over again as if it was the first time.

1. Turn on the main pump and nothing else.. Let it run for an hour or so. (Leave on) Does the main pump surge?
2. Turn on the cleaner pump (Leave it on).. Does the main pump surge.
3. Switch between the "Pool" and the "Spa" mode.. (Make sure the heater is off) Does the main pump surge?
4. Turn on the Heater. Does the main pump surge?
5. Turn it back to the Pool mode. Does the main pump surge?
6. Etc.. try one thing at a time and see if you can duplicate the problem.

As I was typing this I had a thought (Hard to believe, I know).. I suspect your using the EasyTouch to automate the valves when switching between Pool/ Spa/ Cleaner/Spillover.. Could it be possible that the valves are not connected correctly and that you somehow have one of them set up to dead head the pump. If you restrict the input or output to the pump that might show up as surging.. I didn't say it was a good thought..

You say you didn't mess with the "transformer".. are you taking about the main power transformer that supplies power to the Easytouch main PCB?

If you mis-wired an AC power line, I believe that you'd blow a breaker right away or something would just not work.. it would not be intermittent.

I suspect it works for a week just because you have not hit the right combination of features to cause the problem.

If you have a voltmeter, I'd measure the AC input to the panel to ensure it is close to 240 volts. I'd also measure the output of the pump/filter relay when the pump surges to confirm that the relay is not turning on an off.

Good Luck,

Jim R.

 

[kadavis]

What do you mean by pump is surging, are you losing prime in the pump. The control turns a relay on or off. If you didn't change any high voltage wires and the motor is wired correctly the motor will turn on or not. If a motor doesn't start it will usually trip the circuit breaker in the electrical panel. The 3amp breakers are for your motorized valves and circuit board

 

[charlieTX]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I went back through my photos of the old circuit board set up, and found that previously, of the four wires coming from the minimax heater control to the pentair circuit board, the BLACK and GREEN wires had been spliced in to one terminal contact on the board from heater and the yellow and red were taped off. The new manual states to only use the YELLOW and GREEN wires to connect the heater.

So currently I can't use the heater through an AUX setting, but it does work through the menu turning the heater on and off, and I have spliced the unused RED and BLACK wires together.

So at least I have heat, and filtration, and some measure of sanity is slowly returning after a long week!

So hopefully I have isolated the problem, for now, as a wiring error. Still very confused as to how it worked seamlessly for three days previously, but we shall see how it runs now.

As an afterthought, I haven't installed the control panel indoors yet, so I am running it in SERVICE mode and using manual controls and haven't set up any programs.

 

[charlieTX]

What do you mean by pump is surging, are you losing prime in the pump. The control turns a relay on or off. If you didn't change any high voltage wires and the motor is wired correctly the motor will turn on or not. If a motor doesn't start it will usually trip the circuit breaker in the electrical panel. The 3amp breakers are for your motorized valves and circuit board

That's what had me confused last week, the pump appeared to not be priming so I went after clogs, air leaks, or the pump going out. Ruled all of that out, then eventually put the old board back in and the pump primed and worked just fine. It literally was surging, start, stop, start, stop, and I had no control over the board and had to turn off power manually, and I have just discovered my GFCI needs to be replaced, so I'm guessing the wiring error on my part should have been causing a trip, and wasn't... Glad I found that out with low voltage.

Literally a never ending cycle..... Thanks!

 

[gary300]

When I did my conversion from Compool to Easytouch upgrade I ran into a problem with some of my relays being intermittent, going on then off and generally flaky. It turned out that the coil wire connectors attaching the relays to the Easytouch AUX connectors had developed some contact corrosion after being in service for 25 plus years. I could make circuits intermittent just by opening and closing the panel door! After a lot of searching I finally found the proper replacement connectors, and they came with a cable attached that I could splice into the relay coil wires.

Here is a LINK to the cables.

This might explain some of your symptoms, hope I have been of some help