RE: Autopilot Digital 36 In Use 5.5 Years, Replace With

[Venomous]

RE: Autopilot Digital 36 In Use 5.5 Years, Replace With

First I have to thank everyone that was trying to help me with my Autopilot troubles. Next please let this thread continue as the help I am getting is needed and much appreciated.

I have to say Autopilot does take care of their customers. Sean showed up at my home today to check out my system. What he found was a burned connection in the Black Banana Plug. I went to radio shack and got some new Banana plugs. I replaced both the black and red. The red looked a little rough but appeared to still have a good connection. I powered up and my cell is working. I feel kind of dumb. Every other time a cell died it gave the same readout as it did for the burnt connector. So I just figured it was another cell. This is great because not only is my cell working but It means this cell has lasted longer than 2 years and seems to be going strong. Thank you so much Sean!

Waterbear, I am getting my levels to where you suggest. We had a big rain last couple days so I have added some stabilizer and salt. Right now CY is sitting at 90. PH is still 7.4, TA 90, calcium 260, salt 3400, chlorine 1.0 maybe a little higher and the settings are level 2 , 20%

Can you give me a list of what you would consider the perfect chem evels I should be running at?
You had mentioned running the Digi 36 at level 1 and changing the %, what do you recommend?

Thanks for the Help.

 

[Poolsean]

Venemous,

You're welcome. You'll have to let me borrow the Yamaha Jet Boat some weekend though!

Your chems are perfect where they are. Don't change anything and keep it there!

You can change the Cell Power to 1 and increase the output percent to 50%. Test your chlorine and retest after a few days. Adjust the output based upon the test results.

Thanks for sticking with us.

 

[Venomous]

Venemous,

You're welcome. You'll have to let me borrow the Yamaha Jet Boat some weekend though!

Your chems are perfect where they are. Don't change anything and keep it there!

You can change the Cell Power to 1 and increase the output percent to 50%. Test your chlorine and retest after a few days. Adjust the output based upon the test results.

Thanks for sticking with us.

Hey you are welcome on the boat anytime. We do some harsh tubing on the lakes. We have a tube called the UFO. It is a 4 person that spins around while it is being towed. Centrifugal force throws you off pretty hard.
We also take that sucker wave jumping off Port Everglades. We would love to have you aboard. It is like being on a huge Waverunner.
To bad you did not get to see the No Fear 4X4 truck that was used to pull the Yamaha. They stole it right out of my driveway the other night.
As soon as I get the new truck I will PM you for an outing.

Thanks Again!

 

[Guest]

The ONLY change I can see making to your chem levels would be to add borates to 50ppm but ONLY after the pool is stable and chlorine levels are constant.

 

[Venomous]

Re: RE: Autopilot Digital 36 In Use 5.5 Years, Replace

UPDATE:
I know this is a really old thread but I want to update what has happened in the four years after this thread was started.
As mentioned previously Sean From Autopilot had come out and found a burned lead at the black banana plug connection going into the main unit. I made the repair and everything was working fine. My cell at the time was 2 years old. About 3 weeks after Sean was there, it burnt the black lead at the banana plug again. This time I bought some large professional banana plugs and put them on. I had burned many Autopilot cell power cords that had melted themselves to prior cells, so I started feeling the plugs for heat many times a day. It was about a week after putting on the newest set of banana plugs that I felt the main plug at the cell and it was extremely hot. I then looked at the Digital read out on the autopilot and it was in Boost Mode. I shut it and took the plug off the cell and it had started to melt and was deformed all around the black ground lead. I cut the AutoPilot plug open and saw the plug had three leads inside it. Two were attached in Parallel to the red positive and the other single lead was used for ground. I thought it may be possible that the current was to much for the gauge of the wire on the ground and that is why it constantly burned instead of the double lead on the red wire. I went to Home Depot and bought Heavy Duty Outdoor Water Proof 10 AWG Cord with thick rubber jacket and made my own AutoPilot cable. It worked fine and everything was great for a week until the AutoPilot stopped working. I checked the cable and it was fine. I took the cover off the main unit and saw the problem. The thin gauge black ground wire coming off the Female banana plug receptacle that goes into the PC board of the AutoPilot was burned off. I had created a new weak link in the ground wire by upgrading the size of the Cell Cable. I made a new piece of Black 10AWG ground wire and attached it into the main unit from the PC board to the banana plug receptacle. Once again the Autopilot was working fine. I monitored the AutoPilot every day for months and it never failed again. I ran it in SuperBoost Mode frequently. The cell is now over six years old and working perfectly and I have never had another problem with the AutoPilot since making my own cable and installing a heavier gauge wire in the main unit. It appears that the original AutoPilot cables were melting in Boost Mode and Super Boost Modes. I have put some pictures below of the cable I made. I hope this updates helps some with older Digital Autopilots.

 

[Venomous]

Almost forgot. This was the original thread that got locked.

autopilot-digital-36-in-use-5-5-years-replace-with-t4083.html

 

[Poolsean]

Interesting update. Thanks for the info