Autopilot LS1000 with RC15 CVC light blinking

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J

joetristano

0
Aug 17, 2009
24
Pool Size
15000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Aqua Rite (T-9)
Hi All, This is my first post to the forum.
We just moved to our house in April with a 16x32 vinyl IG pool with an Autopilot LS1000 with RC15, Hayward super pump and sand filter + Aquacal HP.

Back in June my CVC (Cell voltage clamp) light started blinking. I tested the salt (2100 ppm) and called autopilot. They said to ramp it up to 3300 ppm. During then and a few weeks ago I had a leak in my heatpump so the salt level declined quite a bit. Last weekend the CVC light started blinking again so brought my salt back to 3300 ppm and checked and cleaned the cell. It was pretty calcified so I cleaned it with 4 H20, 1 HCL mixture. Black flake and powder came out after rinsing. I put the cell back and all was good so I turned my pump of for the night. This AM the CVC was blinking again. I called AutoPilot and they told me to call a service tech. I looked up replacement cells and saw that someone was selling one on ebay b/c it was actually a board issue. I'm not sure of the age of the unit but I think it's about 10 years old. I've temporarily switched to tri-chlor in a floater and am trying to determine my next steps. Any advice would be appreciated.

Should I
1) get the thing looked at for about $80/hr
2) order the cell @ around $850
3) switch to liquid chlorine
4) switch to tri-chlor


Thanks
Joe
 
Hello Joe,

A dead cell will give you a RED cell light.
The CVC activates for either low salt, scaled cell, or cold water temperature.

On the bottom left corner of the power circuit board, on the back of the housing, there are three test points labeled I C V on the board. Set a multimeter to volts dc and place the multimeter probes on C and V to show voltage to the cell. Leave it in volts dc and place the probes on I and C to show cell amperage (but with a decimal place to the right, i.e. 0.551 = 5.51 amps).

This will help determine what the problem is.
 
Sean,

Thanks for the info. I thought I was in the clear b/c the cell light was green when I checked it the other day but then after a check yesterday afternoon when I got home from work it was blinking again.

I tested the test points on the board on the ICV test points. CV is @ 29V and IC is at 5.5 Amps.

It's weird b/c the problem seems intermittent. Sometimes, the CVC light blinks when the cell comes back on and sometimes it does not. I cannot seem to find a pattern. One thing that always happens is that when I turn power on and off to the unit, the cell light is green for the 1st cycle.

Any ideas?

Thanks again

Joe
 
Yes. Your cell is worn on one side. In the older LS units, it did not have a memory as to which side of the polarity to energize the cell, so it is random.
What that means is that it is possible for the cell to have more wear on one polarity direction than the other. That's why you're seeing it green then flashing, most likely after it reverses polarity (every 4 hrs is the factory setting).
If you test the voltage with it green, then test it again when it's flashing, you would most likely see the amps and volts much differently (higher volts/lower amps when flashing).

Ultimately it means that you're going to need a cell soon. You're only generating chlorine efficiently half the time.

Hope this helps
 
Sean,
Thanks for the info. Would you suggest getting a sc-60 for this system or is the whole system likely to give soon considering its age. $825 for the cell vs $1400 for a new autopilot system is a big difference.

Thanks again

Joe
 
Sean,
Thanks for the tips. I've been toying with 12 and 24 hour pump runs so I should be good either way. Since I'm in PA I'll probably run on tablets or bleach until next spring.

Thanks again for all of the help!
Joe
 
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