Added a 2nd pump and relay to single stage control

[drnufer]

Hi All

My Tub has 2 - 2 stage 220 v pumps. I had previously purchased an Acura spa control which is awesome. My old control was acting flaky. i put the new one in, but I knew it is a singe stage pump control so I added a relay and operate it from the Aux button. All this should be great but something is wrong. again This is a two stage pump.

details as follows
I got a relay with a 110v coil. I connected the coil to the aux output so when I hit the aux button the relay fires. I wired the two sets of common contacts to direct 220 v power. Then I connect the 2nd pump to the relay. I made sure I was sending the 220 volt to the red and black. I connected the white to neutral, even thought I should not need it. When I test fired it all seamed well. But the pump motor started to smoke after I ran it a while.

Can you advise I what I missed in my jury rig?

thanks Dennis

 

[ajw22]

Is the relay DPST? You need to switch both lines for 220V.

Where did you connect the neutral to?

Post pics or show a wiring diagram.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dennis,

Welcome to TFP... A great place to learn that you can never get all the "smoke" back into a motor once you let it out....

I read your post and am not at all sure I understand what you have done... But, If I understand correctly you have a hot tub and you replaced your 2 speed controller with a 1 speed controller.

Then to power the 2nd speed of your pumps, you added a relay that energizes when you push an Aux button...

If this is true, I think you may have missed the way a 2 speed pump works... A 220 volt 2-speed pump has three wires.. one wire (common) always has one leg of the 220 volts input, while the other two wires turn on either the high speed or the low speed. The important part is that they can NEVER have power at the same time. Having power on the both the High speed and Low speed wires at the same time will quickly let the smoke out of your pumps.

If I understand what you are saying in your post, it sounds to me like you did just that.

I suspect the pumps are now bad, but assuming you are lucky, the way to wire this is through a SPDT relay. (This relay just controls the speeds of the pumps, not the on/off) The common is connected to one leg of the 220 volts so that when the relay is not energized, power goes through the NC contacts to the low speed input to the pump. When the relay is energized, power goes through the NO contacts to power the High Speed input to the pump...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[drnufer]

so yes its dpdt relay both legs of the 220 v go to the pump though the relay contacts.
The white neutral is connected to the board connector normally used for AUx (bubbler etc). I checked with an ohm meter to make sure it went to ground.
So the Aux output of the control just operates the relay coil.
The contacts are independent and go direct to the 220 v ac power source.

 

[ajw22]

What model pump and what model relay? We need pics and details to double check your wiring. Words make it sound like you did all correctly. The smoke says there is something wrong.

 

[drnufer]

yes Jim thats what I thought, I figured I did not understand the pump operational power. I am not supposed to send 220 to the pump, just high 110 or low 110. so the fix is easy provided the pump is still living. I could either clip the low off completely. I'm thinking I dont need the low because the primary pump will heat and circulate enough. However. if you think I must have the the low, I can connect that via the relay to the other pump since its less amps. When my relay is not energized, the low of pump 2 will connect to the low of pump one. when the relay energizes via the aux output button, it will send 110 to the high side of pump 2 and disconnect the low power. that work? and thanks much its big monkey off my back, I am forever repairing my tubs. This new control from Acura, ended that for me. I got it for my last tub which developed a leak I could not find. Acura makes solid dependable replacement controls.