Compool lx3800 dimmer relay rly-dim discontinued and need it!

[Leona518]

Hello world!
We’ve got two relays totally burned out, dimmer relay 500 watt pentair compool rly-dim they don’t make or sell them anywhere in 2019 grrrr... no upgrade or replacement possible. So what can we do the cheapest and fastest to get the light to turn on? Don’t care about dimming. Can we just get the 20amp regular relay and use one of those? Wiring looks different... we’re not experts here or electricians , just want it up and running if possible without upgrading whole system as pentair recommended $$$$

thanks so much for any response!!!!
Leona

 

[Bama Rambler]

eReplacementparts says they can get them, but I'd call them and make absolutely sure.
Relay Kit [RLYDIM] for Pentair Pool and Spas | eReplacement Parts

If you don't care about the dimming function, I don't see why a regular relay wouldn't work.
Except for that funky little coil connector, a standard DPST ice cube relay would work.

 

[setsailsoon]

If it was me, I'd replace with any standard relay that's the same capacity and voltages. They're very common parts that can be purchase online at Amazon, Ebay and electrical outlets like digikey. Just make sure the voltages and amperage are adequate. Typically the actuating voltage is 24 vac but check to be sure that's what yours is. Your only challenge may be finding the same case format so you may need to mount it somewhere else and run wires. Alternatively, it looks like you have several relays installed. If there's an unused spare relay you can just move the wires. Use appropriate safety practices for 240vac power. If you don't know what these are get somebody that does to show you how. Serious injury or death are real risks for this work.

I hope this helps.

Chris

 

[Leona518]

eReplacementparts says they can get them, but I'd call them and make absolutely sure.
Relay Kit [RLYDIM] for Pentair Pool and Spas | eReplacement Parts

If you don't care about the dimming function, I don't see why a regular relay wouldn't work.
Except for that funky little coil connector, a standard DPST ice cube relay would work.

Thank you so much. Yeah I'm not sure about the little coil connector. We will need to look through the system more to figure out where things should plug in. The manual says "it CAN take two dimmable relays" not that it "HAS" to so unless I'm reading that wrong, it should be ok with just a regualr relay at appropriate capacity and voltage.. Thanks again for your time and research.

 

[Leona518]

If it was me, I'd replace with any standard relay that's the same capacity and voltages. They're very common parts that can be purchase online at Amazon, Ebay and electrical outlets like digikey. Just make sure the voltages and amperage are adequate. Typically the actuating voltage is 24 vac but check to be sure that's what yours is. Your only challenge may be finding the same case format so you may need to mount it somewhere else and run wires. Alternatively, it looks like you have several relays installed. If there's an unused spare relay you can just move the wires. Use appropriate safety practices for 240vac power. If you don't know what these are get somebody that does to show you how. Serious injury or death are real risks for this work.

I hope this helps.

Chris

Hey Chris, Thank you very much for your response. Yes all the rest of relays are being used for other things. As I replied to another person here -- The manual says "it CAN take two dimmable relays" not that it "HAS" to so unless I'm reading that wrong, it should be ok with just a regualr relay at appropriate capacity and voltage -- just need to make sure we know what those are before messing about with electricity. Too bad pentair just stopped making these parts without a replacement. If you happen to have other ideas throw them at us. Thanks again so much!!!!

 

[Leona518]

For a follow up to anyone who might need this info.

I think I've purchased one of the very last rly-dim in existence in 2019 from a buddy in another state. Tried to purchase one on a website that claimed to have it - and it was a hoax.

So we've got a regular relay and a dimmer in hand. Now it seems *very* obvious that of course you can install a regular relay instead.

But anyhow, installing the regular relay, we needed to turn off the little plastic button on the "SPEC FNCT dimmer" and plug the coil into the regular AUX 3 connection port. Dimmer relay was easy peasy and plugged into the port that looks like a telephone jack - while keeping the SPEC FNCT dimmer button 'on'.

Thank you again for the posts and helpful information everyone.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Thanks for coming back and letting us know what you found. It helps us in the future.

 

[Pool Clown]

Since no one has addressed the 800 pound gorilla in the room, i thought i might have a go...
Once you get everything up and running, you may want to throw an am meter on those two circuits to make sure that they are not exceeding the amp rating on the relay. Those relays/dimmers failed from too much current going through the place of highest resistance (pinch).

Not necessarily too much current, but when you have a high resistance point, the amperage rating, or that points ability to handle current, goes down.

I myself have replaced relays that look similar with no ill effects afterward, but sometimes you do find problems. It takes two seconds to throw on an inductive meter and check the current draw. What may have happened in your case is the spade connectors on the dimmers may not have had a tight fit. When installing the new relays make sure that the spade connectors on the relay are tight, giving a good bit of resistance when you are pushing them on. You will need to first pull them off to do this. I have also had the screws that clamp down on the wires from the relay (black and red) that connect to the main buss have a melt down because they were not tight (white blocks at the top of the 3rd pic).

 

[Leona518]

Yes that was also the initial reaction to the burned out relays...

Was afraid they burned from too much AMP or current...

and thank you very much for the reminder to go ahead and measure them anyway. It's all up and running now so it is worth the two minutes it takes to be completely sure.

The reason I don't think it'll be an issue is:
1. The box had water get into the system from a pool leak into equipment room
2. These are two dimmers that worked in the past (I'm told)
3. One dimmer is hooked up to a 100-wat spa light; and the other is hooked to two 100-watt pool lights (pretty minimal)
4. Both dimmers burned out at the same time (too much coincidence)

Of course there is a possibility that someone may have crashed into a plastic conduit and shorted out two pairs of wires that were running to those lights. Or, the underwater housing for the lights has been pulled out of the pool so often that the cords have frayed and shorted underwater -but I don't think this is the case.

Will be sure though before walking away from it and assuming problems were water.

Thanks so much again!