I believe it is basically a table lookup based on the amps and water temperature. But Jamesw knows more details
AquaRite issue, after cleaning the cell it reports lower salt level than the pool has
- Thread starter mjmeans
- Start date
The salinity is calculated based on the amperage expected based on the salinity and temperature.
It could be a bad amp measurement, but that's very rare.
You can measure the actual amps if you want. You would have to use a plug adapter or cut into the wires or rig a different method.
There are 10 wires in the cell cord. You would need to put a meter around the 2 black wires or the two white wires.
Holding the plug vertically with the cord going down and looking at the connection points. 1 is top left, 2 is top right, 3 is second down left and so on with 9 being lower left and 10 being lower right.
1) Black - Power to cell
2) White - Power to cell
3) Black - Power to cell
4) White - Power to cell
5) Brown - Not used
6) Red - Goes to thermistor
7) Orange - Not used
8) Yellow - Not used
9) Green - Not used
10) Blue - Goes to thermistor
The cell has 13 plates. Only the center plate and the two outer plates get power.
Both white wires go to the center plate and the two black wires go to the outer plates. (Black/White might be reversed).
When the cell is powered, it acts like 2 sets of 6 batteries in series where the sets are in parallel.
www.troublefreepool.com
It could be a bad amp measurement, but that's very rare.
You can measure the actual amps if you want. You would have to use a plug adapter or cut into the wires or rig a different method.
There are 10 wires in the cell cord. You would need to put a meter around the 2 black wires or the two white wires.
Holding the plug vertically with the cord going down and looking at the connection points. 1 is top left, 2 is top right, 3 is second down left and so on with 9 being lower left and 10 being lower right.
1) Black - Power to cell
2) White - Power to cell
3) Black - Power to cell
4) White - Power to cell
5) Brown - Not used
6) Red - Goes to thermistor
7) Orange - Not used
8) Yellow - Not used
9) Green - Not used
10) Blue - Goes to thermistor
The cell has 13 plates. Only the center plate and the two outer plates get power.
Both white wires go to the center plate and the two black wires go to the outer plates. (Black/White might be reversed).
When the cell is powered, it acts like 2 sets of 6 batteries in series where the sets are in parallel.
Extend AquaRite T-Cell Cable
I wasn't sure if I should bring this old post back to life http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/80789-extension-cord-for-aquarite-chlorinator or start a new one, but I need to add about 6 feet to the standard 15' long cable that comes with the T-cell to make it reach the controller...
www.troublefreepool.com
Actually, there's a cover part on the cell where the serial number is printed. Pop that off to see if you can get to the wires.
I've seen other posts that mention that the unit periodically reverses polarity and a bad pole of the 2 pole relay causing the salt reading to be essentially half of what it is supposed to be on average if one pole of the relay is bad. So I can check that also. 3810 ppm versus 2300 to 2600 ppm isn't half, but if it's basically a table lookup and the current effect is not linear, then it might explain it. I'll check the relay and current measurement tomorrow. I have an ordinary AC clamp style ammeter; I hope that will suffice for the current measurement.
In my opinion, it's more than 99% certain that it's just a bad cell.
You can check the voltage and current going to the cell to verify the readings in diagnostics if you want to be sure.
At the top right corner of the circuit board, you have two terminals. One with double red and one with double black.
You can take a dc current measurement there. You can use a clamp on meter or an inline meter. Most multimeters can do up to 10 amps inline dc current measurement.
You can also measure the dc voltage there as well.
You can check the voltage and current going to the cell to verify the readings in diagnostics if you want to be sure.
At the top right corner of the circuit board, you have two terminals. One with double red and one with double black.
You can take a dc current measurement there. You can use a clamp on meter or an inline meter. Most multimeters can do up to 10 amps inline dc current measurement.
You can also measure the dc voltage there as well.
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The results.. When I first went out this morning, the diagnostic was reporting 0.0 amps. I cycled the main switch. I then measured the voltage on the red and black terminals on the upper right of the PCB. The measured voltage was 26.38V, the diagnostic voltage was 27.1V. Hayward's diagnostic manual states voltage should be between 22.0V and 26.0V, so it seems there is a 4V range expectation. Both the measured voltage and diagnostic voltage is over spec maximum of 26.0V and the difference between the measured voltage and the actual voltage is 0.72V which is 20% of the expected 4V range. Is this relevant? I then cycled the main switch to switch polarity back since the diagnostic showed 0 amps. This time diagnostic voltage was 26.8V and the measured voltage was 26.41V, a difference of 0.39V, much closer in the opposite polarity. I haven't yet checked current because if the voltage measurement is off, the current will certainly be off as well.
One other thing to report now that I have the box open. I can see the PCB is "G1-011056G-1 A".
Check the current. The voltage depends on the nonload voltage starting point and the amp load.
The nonload voltage depends on the input voltage.
The current load depends on the cell type, salinity and water temperature.
Typically, you get a voltage drop of about 1 volt per amp.
Since your cell is underperforming, the amp load is lower than normal, which makes the voltage higher than normal.
Smaller cells, like a T-3, will routinely run at voltages above 26 volts. A T-3 will usually run at 27 to 28 volts.
The nonload voltage depends on the input voltage.
The current load depends on the cell type, salinity and water temperature.
Typically, you get a voltage drop of about 1 volt per amp.
Since your cell is underperforming, the amp load is lower than normal, which makes the voltage higher than normal.
Smaller cells, like a T-3, will routinely run at voltages above 26 volts. A T-3 will usually run at 27 to 28 volts.
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My clamp meter couldn't read DC current so I had to go get another meter. So on one polarity the amps reported by diagnostics 5.76A, measured was 5.96A. After switching polarity (main switch off-auto) the diagnostics reported 5.76A and measurement was 6.01A. So the actual DVM reported 0.2 to 0.25 amps higher than the Aquarite diagnostic reported.
So that means the Aquarite diagnostics are reporting higher voltage and lower amps than are measured by an independent VOM. Do you happen to know if Aquarite uses a current sense resistor that can be unsoldered and tested?
I don't know how it measures current.
I would suspect that the measurement is probably as accurate as a typical multimeter.
So, maybe the actual measurements are half way between the diagnostic readings and the multimeter readings.
I'm really pretty sure that it's just a bad cell.
How did you measure the current, inline or clamp around both red or both black?
I would suspect that the measurement is probably as accurate as a typical multimeter.
So, maybe the actual measurements are half way between the diagnostic readings and the multimeter readings.
I'm really pretty sure that it's just a bad cell.
How did you measure the current, inline or clamp around both red or both black?
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The meter I'm using has an accuracy of +/- 3% amps and +/- 0.5% volts and 0.8% ohms. So if possible, it's better to measure voltage and resistance and calculate current with ohms law. Part of the reason why sense resistors should be 0.5% or 0.1% tolerance. With a known voltage and resistance, you can get a more accurate current measurement as long as you also know the resistance of the rest of the circuit. If you are expecting a 1 ohm total resistance of a cell, including the resistance and impedance of the leads going to the cell, the connector, and the circuit traces, and your sense resistor is also accurately 1 ohm, then you can measure the resistance of the cell while powered by configuring it as a Wheatstone half-bridge circuit. If the cell has dual plates that vary together and you use two high accuracy resistors you then have a Wheatstone full-bridge circuit. Depending on the resistances involved it may be a half or full bridge on the PCB but using the plate circuits in the cell in series with two of them. With an accurate excitation voltage and return voltage measurement you then calculate the resistance change in the cells which then gives you the current. If the sense resistors or Wheatstone bridge circuit resistances are no longer known values, then the voltage and current measurements will also be wrong.
I briefly looked for a published schematic for Aquarite, but I didn't find one.
I briefly looked for a published schematic for Aquarite, but I didn't find one.
The system basically works like a battery charger with two sets of 6 batteries in series with the sets in parallel.
The current flow creates hydrogen and chlorine gas which is where the energy is stored.
A new cell uses a specific amount of current at a specific temperature and salinity.
If you know the current and temperature, you can calculate the salinity.
It's probably just a bad cell.
The current flow creates hydrogen and chlorine gas which is where the energy is stored.
A new cell uses a specific amount of current at a specific temperature and salinity.
If you know the current and temperature, you can calculate the salinity.
It's probably just a bad cell.
You're indicating that the salinity is 3,800 and the water temperature 89 degrees.
If those are accurate, I would expect the amps to be about 8 vs the 6 that you're measuring.
If the salinity is 3,800 and the water temperature is 89 degrees and the cell is a T-15, then I have no doubt that the cell is bad.
You can probably get a little more life out of the cell if you change the cell type to T-9 in settings, but it's really time for a new cell.
When you put the new T-15 cell on, it's likely to cause a high salt error if the amps are 8.0 or above.
If we allow the amp meter in the aquarite the same accuracy, the amp readings are within the range of total accuracy.
If those are accurate, I would expect the amps to be about 8 vs the 6 that you're measuring.
If the salinity is 3,800 and the water temperature is 89 degrees and the cell is a T-15, then I have no doubt that the cell is bad.
You can probably get a little more life out of the cell if you change the cell type to T-9 in settings, but it's really time for a new cell.
When you put the new T-15 cell on, it's likely to cause a high salt error if the amps are 8.0 or above.
If we allow the amp meter in the aquarite the same accuracy, the amp readings are within the range of total accuracy.
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