Intellitouch i9+3s communications problems - "error retrieving data"

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pennpeggy

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Jun 1, 2014
5
NEW LONDON, PA
I'm a new member - I posted an intro in that forum, and all of our equipment and pool details are listed after my signature.

Last year I installed a Pentair Intelliflo VS filter pump - absolutely love it - less noise, less $ to electricity provider. At the time, I did not hook up the communications cable to the Intellitouch panel, and just operated it at the pump for the season. Today, we hooked up the comm cable, following the instructions in the manual, and discovered that the indoor wired control panel can no longer communicate with the Intellitouch outdoor controller (i9+3s). The error on the panel saying "See Indoor Control Panel if flashing" is flashing.

We rechecked all the connections, and then actually removed the pump communications cable from the controller - still same errors. Powered everything off & restarted, reset the controller using the button on the outdoor panel, and even pulled off all the wires and checked continuity between the two controllers (fine). Any time I initiate a query or command at the indoor panel, I get a message saying "there is an error retrieving the data." I cannot reset the time, cannot program the panel, cannot really do anything from the indoor panel. We are able to operate all the equipment if in service mode, but ONLY the filter pump in automatic mode. And then, the pump has to be controlled from its faceplate, not from the indoor controller. And weirdly enough, the light for the pump DOES light up on the indoor panel, but now there is a "FREEZE ON" message that I've never seen before and have no idea what it means.

So my questions are:

1. Is my motherboard fried again? If so, could that have really have happened with just hooking up a comm cable?
2. Or is my indoor controller fried?
3. How can I determine if either of the above it true?
4. Or....is it possible that somehow hooking up the pump caused the versions of the two controllers to be out of sync? My indoor is at version 1.130, and my notes say that the outdoor was also at 1.130 when installed in September 2010. If this is the case, what do I do?
5. What does "FREEZE ON" mean?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Peggy

18,000 gunnite salt pool, installed in 2007 with following equipment:
Pentair IntelliTouch i9+3s controller with Intellitouch indoor (wired) control panel
Pentair Intelliflo VS filter pump
Pentair Legend pool cleaner w/Pentair LA01N booster pump
Pentair Intellichlor chlorine generator IC40
Pentair Whisperflo pump for waterfall feature
Sta-Rite Cartridge filter
 
A few possibilities. The wired indoor panel has a break in the wire somewhere thus hampering the full communications. The indoor board has an issue and you need to reset the unit and this would also synch the two of them.
 
swimcmp said:
Call Pentair, have them walk you through the trouble shooting process. I had the same error on an Intellitouch with a handheld remote. The problem we had was the antenna board had gone bad.
Click to expand...

thanks, swimcmp. I have used Pentair TS before and been very happy. That was to be my next step today (it will have to be tomorrow...) I assume that when you say the antenna board went bad, you mean that you have a wireless system, right? I'm pretty sure that my hardwired indoor panel probably doesn't have an antenna....
 
ps0303 said:
A few possibilities. The wired indoor panel has a break in the wire somewhere thus hampering the full communications. The indoor board has an issue and you need to reset the unit and this would also synch the two of them.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Paul. Our first (or second) thought was a wire break, but we tested continuity of the wire from the outdoor panel to the indoor panel, and it's fine. Are you saying there could be a break somewhere else - internal to the board(s)? I believe we did reset the unit (pressed the appropriate button on the outdoor panel), but had no success. Is there another way to reset the system? (We have powered it on/off a couple of times already - from the breaker in the house.)

It just feels like a software issue.....because I'm having a hard time understanding how my system was completely fine at 9:00 am, and died at 2:00 pm (on a bright sunny day), with the only change being the attempt to connect the comm cable for the VS pump....

Peggy
 
Update - after talking with Pentair, I replaced the motherboard. Same error. Pretty sure both my motherboards are OK. (and now I have a spare!) Got frustrated, gave up for the season (pool is now a skating rink!) and will start anew in the spring. I'm thinking I may actually abandon the inside panel and just control it from a phone or iPad, assuming that Pentair has that all worked out by that time. I'm certainly open to other suggestions....like should I replace the interior board???

It's just so odd that this didn't happen until I tried hooking up the data line for the new pump.
 
Hi Peggy, does the indoor panel work again if you disconnect the pump's comm cable from the outdoor board?

If the indoor panel does work, check the menu > setup > equipment page and see if there are Intelliflo options there... if there aren't then I think you need a firmware update. My indoor panel version is 1.16 and I have the Intelliflo options.

If the indoor panel still does not work (you still get the comm error) then you might have fried the RS485 chip on the indoor panel. I did this to my outdoor board two weeks ago by fiddling with the cable without shutting the power off... the 15 volt power wire came off and hit one of the data lines, whoops. I put on a new rs485 transceiver and it works now.
 
Sorry Peggy, I didn't read carefully enough... sounds like you did pull the pump communication cable off and the indoor controller still can't communicate.

My guess is the rs485 chip on the indoor panel is blown. If you feel like shipping it to CA i'd be happy to test it for you.
 

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