Balboa board repair or replace?

[DangerBoy]

The Balboa board in my friend's Beachcomber hot tub suffered a failure. Looks like a wire and a bridge going into a relay fried. Is this worth trying to repair or should we just look at replacing it if the board is still available? Any ideas as to what could have caused this?

 

[RDspaguy]

That is the heater circuit, and it was likely a worn relay or loose screw terminal. With the foil burned I wouldn't bother trying a rebuild, nor would I replace just that old board even if I could find it. Balboa has come a long way since then, and a retrofit control system complete with new topside control, heater, sensors, equipment wires, and even a light fitting for around $400.
If you do try to get it fixed I would say replace the relays with replacements that have spade terminals on the front and wire to those to bridge the burned foil (like the black jumper connecting the 2 relays).

 

[DangerBoy]

@RDspaguy Let me see if I understand you correctly. We can get the Zettler AZ2120-1A-15DF relays for just a few bucks. They come with two spade terminals normally (one of them is cut off on the damaged relay in the picture). Are you saying that what we need to do run a jumper wire from the incoming black wire to the second spade terminal (the one that's cut off in the picture) to bypass the fried foil?

 

[RDspaguy]

Exactly. You will still need to solder in the coil terminals, but that heater circuit is in-and-out on the power.

 

[CuckooChris]

Looks like there's a fuse holder at the bottom of the picture without a fuse and a copper wire soldered in its place. Might be an issue.

 

[RDspaguy]

Good eye, @CuckooChris . I didn't even notice that.
With the double fuse holder on the right, it might be factory. Those old 6-finger boards were used in alot of spas, and tweaked as needed for each manufacturer. For a good decade or more it was the only circuit board balboa made. It looks like the one on the board is a 20 amp holder, and the two on the right are 30 amp. A 30 amp fuse is longer and will not fit in a 20 amp holder, so I would bet they relocated the fuse holder to accommodate a larger fuse for a dual pump system or higher hp pump.
In any event, that fuse holder is unrelated to the damage on the board.

 

[Brussell]

Also looks like the contacts on the 2nd 2 relays on the right side are just about gone, replace the board.

 

[DangerBoy]

Also looks like the contacts on the 2nd 2 relays on the right side are just about gone, replace the board.

That's what we're going to do. It's been ordered and is on its way. We also found a place on-line that sells those relays for under $4 each so we're ordering a few of them and will attempt to repair the old board so he has it for a spare. It'll be a good test of my soldering skills...