sorry in advance if this post is too long ...
13000 gallon pool. Autopilot (dig-220) SWC system with SC-36 cell. It had been working fine for just over four years. About 4 months ago I saw a warning of low cell amps? The salt has always been well maintained 2700 - 3500 ppm. We’re in Florida so cold weather in never an issue.
I cleaned the system, no real scale build up on the cell plates. I cleaned the cable, disconnected and reconnected. Due to life pressures I simple started chlorinating the pool until I had more adequate time to devote to problem solving this issue.
So I just purchased a replacement cell (Compu Pool’s GRC/AP/SC36). If fit well but I still had the low amp warning. So I Google autopilot low amp and read up on possible issues. Yesterday, I replaced the ceramic 10 amp fuse, as well as the 3 amp fuse. Additionally, since I suspected the banana clips, I made two jumper run from 16 awg wire, with a female j- clip on one end which I connected directly to the boards. I effectively by-passed the cable. On the other end, I wrapped the wire around the mail ends of the new sc-36 cell and placed an oversized wire nut, which fit like a glove.
When I powered up, all thing looked fine. I ran the test mode and it displayed 20 V / 6.5 amp, re-calibrated salt to 2500 ppm (to match test performed at local pool supply store an hour earlier). I treated pool with 40 pounds of salt, as well as 2 quarts of acid. I check an hour later and all things looked fine. I ran boost mode for several hours and switched boost off and the volt/amps still looked good. I decided to run the system overnight (power 2 in normal mode).
I checked the system this morning, the low amp warning light was on again, while the salt concentration was 3000 ppm? I checked the board and noticed that the ceramic 10 fused looked slightly discolored on one end. I replace with a new one and system is running fine?
My dilemma is simple; do I continue to pour more money into redeeming the autopilot system? If this next fuse fails, what should I look into next as root cause? If I had to but a new power supply this will be another ~ $600 to add to the replacement cell cost of $265 and a new cable which I had planned to by Monday for $56. Total out of pocket could grow to over $900. Is there a more reliable system, such as a Hayward? Local pool supply stores are trying to get me to consider a replacements system?
Advice on trouble shooting our autopilot system would be greatly appreciated. Any lessons learned with respect to alternative systems would also be helpful. At this point, I am not sure I simply return the new cell, cancel my cable order and go with chlorinating our pool?
13000 gallon pool. Autopilot (dig-220) SWC system with SC-36 cell. It had been working fine for just over four years. About 4 months ago I saw a warning of low cell amps? The salt has always been well maintained 2700 - 3500 ppm. We’re in Florida so cold weather in never an issue.
I cleaned the system, no real scale build up on the cell plates. I cleaned the cable, disconnected and reconnected. Due to life pressures I simple started chlorinating the pool until I had more adequate time to devote to problem solving this issue.
So I just purchased a replacement cell (Compu Pool’s GRC/AP/SC36). If fit well but I still had the low amp warning. So I Google autopilot low amp and read up on possible issues. Yesterday, I replaced the ceramic 10 amp fuse, as well as the 3 amp fuse. Additionally, since I suspected the banana clips, I made two jumper run from 16 awg wire, with a female j- clip on one end which I connected directly to the boards. I effectively by-passed the cable. On the other end, I wrapped the wire around the mail ends of the new sc-36 cell and placed an oversized wire nut, which fit like a glove.
When I powered up, all thing looked fine. I ran the test mode and it displayed 20 V / 6.5 amp, re-calibrated salt to 2500 ppm (to match test performed at local pool supply store an hour earlier). I treated pool with 40 pounds of salt, as well as 2 quarts of acid. I check an hour later and all things looked fine. I ran boost mode for several hours and switched boost off and the volt/amps still looked good. I decided to run the system overnight (power 2 in normal mode).
I checked the system this morning, the low amp warning light was on again, while the salt concentration was 3000 ppm? I checked the board and noticed that the ceramic 10 fused looked slightly discolored on one end. I replace with a new one and system is running fine?
My dilemma is simple; do I continue to pour more money into redeeming the autopilot system? If this next fuse fails, what should I look into next as root cause? If I had to but a new power supply this will be another ~ $600 to add to the replacement cell cost of $265 and a new cable which I had planned to by Monday for $56. Total out of pocket could grow to over $900. Is there a more reliable system, such as a Hayward? Local pool supply stores are trying to get me to consider a replacements system?
Advice on trouble shooting our autopilot system would be greatly appreciated. Any lessons learned with respect to alternative systems would also be helpful. At this point, I am not sure I simply return the new cell, cancel my cable order and go with chlorinating our pool?
