Ecomatic ESC 36 Gas Sensor Error

[ringlug101]

Hello, I have an ECOMATIC ESC 36 swg. Recently, I have been getting random flow errors. After the unit initializes the red 'FLOW' LED lights and the generator is disabled. I have had luck with cycling power and occasionally it will boot and work great all day. Other times it starts out fine then cuts out (FLOW LED)

Here is what I know-
- I am certain that there are no water leaks in my system, I can see the gas sensor on the cell it fully immersed at all times.
- The salt level is ~4800ppm
- Salt cell is clean, and produces huge amounts of sanitizer when it actually turns on (The cell is less than 2 years old)
- Water temp is 74 deg
- All electrical connections between controller and cell are tight and clean.

I have disassembled the control unit looking for anything obvious like loose connections or burnt components on the PCB. No luck.

Since the gas sensor lead is located pretty close to one of the cell leads I presume it is looking for continuity between the two. I continuity checked the leads from the controller and they are good, less than 0.1Ω end to end.

Anyone know what the gas signal should look like with a meter or o-scope? Or any idea which components to look at on the PCB? I have called and emailed the ECOMATIC help line multiple times and never got a human on the other line or an email response.

Thanks for any help,
RINGLUG101

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

Don't you mean flow sensor, not gas sensor?

The traditional thing to check when you are getting flow errors is to check the skimmer basket, pump strainer basket, and clean the filter. Usually that clears up the problem. Sometimes the flow switches do fail.

When checking the flow sensor with a multi-meter, you should be able to get it to turn on and off by turning the pump on or off. It should be very low resistance when there is flow and open when the pump is off.

 

[Poolsean]

The Ecomatic system doesn't use a flow switch. It uses a gas trap sensor, which detects when there are excessive gases, or air entrapped in the cell, between two specific points (continuity). I believe one of the cell cord connections is used as one of the points, with a separate single wire contact point as the second point.

 

[ringlug101]

Sean-

I agree completely that is how the Ecomatic works. I believe the conditions to satisfy the continuity between the gas sensor lead and the power lead are there, it is just not being picked up on the control board.

I was hoping someone had some experience with the ecomatic control PCB.

Thanks,
Ringlug

 

[Strannik]

I don't have expertise with Ecomatic, but if the implementation is anything like Autochlor then it's conductivity based. I think the chip looks at the frequency that comes out of measuring circuit. That is if I still remember correctly.

Is it a sensor pin that they have? Make sure there is no build up on it. Also check if it ever had a metal flag which is now missing. Make sure there are no bubbles around when the pump is running, cause high turbulence can cause it as well.

 

[ringlug101]

I think I am ready to declare victory on this one. I completely tore down the unit and did a thorough pcb inspection- found nothing out of order. I then cleaned up all the internals including the connections (there was a ton of solder flux and dust). I cleaned off the brass barrel connectors with a rat tail file to make sure it was good and clean. Re installed the unit and made sure the connections were very tight.

The unit has been working flawlessly for 12 days.

The cell is working so well now, I had to turn the duty cycle down to 20% because it was producing copious amounts of chlorine. :-D

I measured the voltage on the gas sensor lead and it is about 50% of the cell voltage. For example when the cell is outputting 20V, the gas lead measures 10V.

In the end I believe the problem was the connections at the cell. They were tight but probably not tight enough. Additionally, there may have been some o-ring lube on the connectors?

Thanks for the help.

 

[DrgnGal]

I know this messege started a few years ago, but I'm having the same problem. I don't know what to do. I have a brand new Compupool cell (generic Ecomatic) it worked for a while, now flow error. I looked and there is no air on the cell when it is flowing. Help