Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote not working after pool opening

[badcpa]

Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote keypad keeps losing contact with control panel and won't allow me to access sub menus (e.g., adjust the temp on the heater--when I try to access the heater menu, it either takes me back to the main menu or briefly displays the message "communication timeout" then goes back to the main menu). Also, sometimes it requires repeatedly pushing a button to get various things to turn on/off (eg. waterfall pump or pool lights). Then sometimes, once they are on, you can't get them to turn off with the remote and have to go to the control panel to do it.

The funny thing is, the remote worked perfectly fine up until we closed down the spa in February--we could even use it from inside the house to adjust the heater, lights, or any other function. Then when the pool builder came to open the pool and spa last week, the remote suddenly doesn't work right. He came back out to look at it, and said there was a loose wire that he fixed, and he also moved the trasmitter a few inches (it's located directly above the outside control panel, which is next to the equipment pad). It worked fine the rest of the day, then started malfunctioning the next day. The remote display now also shows the wrong date and different info than is displayed on the outside panel.

There are fresh batteries in the remote, and it doesn't seem to matter how close or far the remote is from the control panel. Does it seem likely that something would go wrong with the remote and/or transmitter between Feb 1st when the pool was closed and April when the pool was reopened? Or is this a programming issue caused by the pool man changing something in the programming?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[JasonLion]

That sounds like there is a problem with the antenna at the base station. If the antenna connection to the base station was lose or intermittent it could behave exactly like that.

 

[badcpa]

After 5 months without being able to use the remote, my pool builder finally replaced a board in the antenna (just like I asked after reading your response, Jason) after moving the antenna several times in an attempt to fix the problem. He said the antenna was defective after all, but also I was getting "interference" from something. For now (the first time all season) the remote seems to be working perfectly! Thanks for your help.

 

[fishonww]

Re: Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote not working after pool openi

I know this topic is a bit old but I just had to chime in in case someone ever searches for this problem in the future. I have the Pentair Easy Touch 8 remote and am actually on my second remote in only 6 years of pool ownership. I began having a problem like the originator of this thread where my remote was intermittent (not a battery issue). It would constantly give me a "timeout" message or "no connectivity" or some garbage like that. After calling Pentair tech support, he had me remove the cover off of the receiver component that is over by the equipment (looks like a plastic cover that covers the computer card and antenna...about the size of a man's hand. I described the blinking lights on the computer board and he told me that my circut board needed to be replaced and that it was around $350.00! I went the entire Summer this year without using the remote and finally had some down time to do some diagnostics on my own. I ended up cutting a doubled piece of tin foil (kitchen type) into the shape of the antenna cover outside and I slipped it inside the housing behind the circut board. The shape of the cut out tinfoil incuded a thin section that mimic'd the shape of the antenna. I went back into the house and whalaaaa, no more trouble with connecting. $350 my eye! How about a $0.005 cent piece of tin foil Pentair! Good job to the technician that didn't have time to consider that it could just simply be interfearance from the local area. I am totally guessing but I believe that when ATnT added their new TV service in our neighborhood that it affected my signal for some reason. They were doing a bunch of trenching for lines behind our home in the easement and it stopped working about a week later. Just a guess...but the neighbor didn't add any new wireless equipment to his home. Hope this helps with someone in the future. Let me know!

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Re: Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote not working after pool openi

Nice! Simple solutions are the best. Thanks for posting, and welcome to TFP by the way!

 

[archonis]

Re: Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote not working after pool openi

LMAO, its simple. The unit works at 912Mhz. Doing that is not the best way and can actually kill the 485 drivers on the board depending on how bad it is. I WOULD NOT DO THIS!!

Its SIMPLE! take a look at the RF light on the board. If its blinking like crazy or just about on all the time then move it.

Tin Foil attracts RF, Remember doing this to pick up TV stations? This will kill the 485 bus. This is why they state to keep it away from metal and 5 feet from the box.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote not working after pool openi

Archronis please explain how this is going to kill the RS-485 drivers? I've been shielding radio signals for many years and never have heard this.

 

[apemueller]

Re: Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote not working after pool openi

Dear fishonww. I had the same problem posted: a "communication timeout" message in my RC kept flashing every time I pushed a button. It took about 20 times to activate a function. I tried the tin foil around the antenna (just the antenna, not all the circuit board) and it worked! Thanks!

 

[ahypnoz]

Re: Pentair Easy Touch 4 remote not working after pool openi

One thing that you can also do is to turn off all your led lights.
After replacing my old light bulbs with led bulbs, I have noticed that the led bulbs produce electrical interference and can cause a lack of communication.
I hope this helps.