8 month old Pentair Intellichlor IC40 - Cell Lighting Flashing

[JoeFletch]

The IC40 that I have was replaced in November 2020 through Pentair. Details can be seen in this post; Pentair IntelliChlor IC40 Fire / Burning. It is not covered under warranty.

So the cell is just about 8 months old and the cell light is flashing. I have confirmed that it is NOT generating chlorine (installed spool piece, added water, held flow switch down with pencil). I clean / check the cell every 3 months or so and there is no buildup. Basically brand new.

I reached out to Pentair to troubleshoot this and they said to balance according to the following details.


My details are as follows.

	Pentair	TFP	Me
FC	2-4	4-6	4
CC	0	0	0
PH	7.2-7.8	7.2-8.0	7.6-7.8
TA	80-120	50-90	60
CH	200-400	350-450	375-400
CYA	30-50	60-90	70
NaCl	3600	3,800-4,000	3,800 (tested a few days ago by local pool store)
Phosphates	<125ppb	N/A	>1,000ppb

I know the TFP stance on phosphates and I have been following it for quite some time (maybe 2 years). So I don't test it with my kit at home and the local pool store doesn't even test for it normally (on demand only). But when they tested for it, it was greater than 1,000ppb. So in order to be within specifications for Pentair to hopefully have them assist further, I am in the process of treating phosphates.

Is it possible that the failure in November 2020 could have affected the control board? Is there anything else that I should look at? Voltages to the cell?

 

[JoeFletch]

I came across this post.

The first sign of a bad cell is a flashing cell light when the cell is clean.

You should never acid wash the cell if it is clean.

With the flashing green light cell, I did clean it with acid thinking that I was missing something. Dang. I may have destroyed this cell. A very expensive mistake.

 

[JoeFletch]

From this article (Pentair Intellichlor ICXX SWG - Further Reading), holding the more button I was able to get the following information.

• less than 1,000 hours of operation, no percentage lights initially lit
• 80 and 100% lights lit, so 86 to 95F, which appears to be about correct.

I also see the following in the article.

What to Do If Easy Touch/ScreenLogic Reports Salt Level as Zero​

For some reason, unknown to Pentair, minor changes to the system will cause the salt level in the EasyTouch and ScreenLogic to read zero.[9] This is just an error in reporting and the cell should still be working as long as the actual salt level is ok and the cell does not show a "red low salt" light on the cell. I believe that there is a timing issue in the circuitry that reports the salt reading to the EasyTouch. It is obvious that the cell knows what the real salt level is. This has been "Fixed" by the following actions:

• Just shutting off and rebooting the ET
• Replacing the flow switch
• Replacing the ET's surge card (power supply for the cell)
• Replacing the ET's main board
• Replacing the salt cell itself.

My panel does not report the salt concentration properly. I don't think that this could be an issue, but wanted to mention it here.

 

[mknauss]

@JamesW or @Jimrahbe will be along soon to help you with your troubleshooting.

Pentair Intellichlor ICXX SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Jimrahbe]

Joe,


If the cell light is flashing on and off about every 2 seconds, and the cell is clean, then something in cell is bad. This is not the same as when the Cell light turns on and off every few minutes as the cell generates chlorine..

Sorry to say that if all the other lights are operating as they should, that I know of no fixes for this problem.

You can measure the DC voltage going to the cell if you want... It should be about 40 volts DC, when the cell is not generating chlorine and about 35 volts DC when the cell is generating chlorine. Not sure if you have an internal power center or an external power center, but you just need to measure between the larger Black and Red wires going to the cell where it connects to the power supply board.. Here is a pic of mine for reference.

New SWCG PCB.jpg

• Jimrahbe
• Jul 18, 2017
• 1

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Joe,

Something you can try is to cut the green and white wires from the flow switch.. This will disconnect the thermistor inside the flow switch.. The cell will then use an internal resistor for salt measurement temperature adjustments.. It can't make it any worse than it is now.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JoeFletch]

If the cell light is flashing on and off about every 2 seconds, and the cell is clean, then something in cell is bad. This is not the same as when the Cell light turns on and off every few minutes as the cell generates chlorine..

Sorry to say that if all the other lights are operating as they should, that I know of no fixes for this problem.

That's what I was afraid of. I guess I was already ahead on getting this cell for free from Pentair. Thank you for the feedback.

You can measure the DC voltage going to the cell if you want... It should be about 40 volts DC, when the cell is not generating chlorine and about 35 volts DC when the cell is generating chlorine. Not sure if you have an internal power center or an external power center, but you just need to measure between the larger Black and Red wires going to the cell where it connects to the power supply board.. Here is a pic of mine for reference.

I'll try this and see where the voltage is. But I suspect that since the cell is "on" that this is within specifications.

 

[JoeFletch]

Joe,

Something you can try is to cut the green and white wires from the flow switch.. This will disconnect the thermistor inside the flow switch.. The cell will then use an internal resistor for salt measurement temperature adjustments.. It can't make it any worse than it is now.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Since I now have the pool chemistry within Pentair specifications (<100ppb phosphates), does it make sense to give Pentair one last call to see if there is anything else that they can suggest?

If the flow switch / temperature cell is working properly, I suspect that I should cut the wires close (or closer) to the cell in case I could use this flow switch as a spare for a future cell. Or should I not even consider saving any parts from this cell?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Joe,

I'd cut the wire about half between the cell and the switch.. If the status of the cell stays the same, then I'd save the flow switch.. If the cell starts working, I'd toss the flow switch.

Thanks,

Jim R.