Display not changing salt level

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dosmom

Member
May 23, 2022
20
Florida
I have an aqua Rite salt cell but the display Does not change from 2800 salt level. There is no algae in the pool. Is this an indication the board is bad? When I looked at it the other day and the board showed some weird numbers but after giggling it a little it seemed ok
 
Do you have a salt test kit like the Taylor 1766? If not I highly recommend get one, not too expensive and it works unlike test strips

Not sure about the strange numbers but I would see what your salt level really is and from from there.
 
Thank you. So I took out the small display board and placed it back in. There appears to be a short or something because when I jiggle it the settings move. When it came back on the sale reading was 5000 which isn't right, just had it tested at 3100. I moved it around some more, a little more, and not the reading is like 100 but it still says generating. Any suggestions or does it seem like a bad board? It is around 8-10 years old. I took it all out and looked behind it and I don't see any damage except where I have already replaced the thermistor a couple years back. Also, if it says generating will it keep producing chlorine despite what the board says?
 
dosmom said:
Thank you. So I took out the small display board and placed it back in. There appears to be a short or something because when I jiggle it the settings move. When it came back on the sale reading was 5000 which isn't right, just had it tested at 3100. I moved it around some more, a little more, and not the reading is like 100 but it still says generating. Any suggestions or does it seem like a bad board? It is around 8-10 years old. I took it all out and looked behind it and I don't see any damage except where I have already replaced the thermistor a couple years back. Also, if it says generating will it keep producing chlorine despite what the board says?
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If you replaced the thermistor a few years back, this suggests you have some soldering skills. If jiggling it is causing things to happen, my best guess is a cold or broken solder joint at the pins headers on the PCB boards. This is a common occurrence with electronics as they age. Try to reflow the solder joints at all the pin headers. Simply add a bit of fresh solder to them, but make sure the pins don’t fall out or shift or anything when you do it. If your not sure google “reflow solder joints”. Also when the salt cell starts to go it will start to give false readings. I would start by reflowing those pins as that should fix the issues when you jiggle the boards. If it’s still giving bad readings the cell might be going bad. How old is the salt cell and what type is it?
 
dosmom said:
But it is definitely different than just a false reading. The salt level moves from 5000 to 2500 and other readings are weird. Looks like something a short would do
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Right a short somewhere could potentially cause that. A bad connection could also cause that, which you would expect from cold solder joints at the header pins. It could be something else, but reflowing all the header pins is the easiest thing to try. It’s also the most likely culprit based on what you are describing. To me it sounds like most likely it’s either bad headers or bad headers and a bad salt cell.
EDIT: If you are reluctant to try to reflow the solder, you could try cleaning the male and female pins at the connectors with some 91% isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush. Obviously let it dry before putting it back together and plugging it all back in.
 
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Orion7319 said:
Right a short somewhere could potentially cause that. A bad connection could also cause that, which you would expect from cold solder joints at the header pins. It could be something else, but reflowing all the header pins is the easiest thing to try. It’s also the most likely culprit based on what you are describing. To me it sounds like most likely it’s either bad headers or bad headers and a bad salt cell.
EDIT: If you are reluctant to try to reflow the solder, you could try cleaning the male and female pins at the connectors with some 91% isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush. Obviously let it dry before putting it back together and plugging it all back in.
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Thanks. Are you referring to the joints in the back of the main board, behind the gold pins that go into the display piece?
 
dosmom said:
Thanks. Are you referring to the joints in the back of the main board, behind the gold pins that go into the display piece?
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dosmom said:
Thanks. Are you referring to the joints in the back of the main board, behind the gold pins that go into the display piece?
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The plug type connectors that you would plug the board that holds the display piece to the main board. Clean all the pins and the parts the pins go into (worth a shot). The joints on the main board behind the pins you could try to reflow the solder. I would have to take mine apart to be more specific. I just know that in general with anything electronic, those type of connections go bad as they can flex and break the solder connections on the main board. They can look fine, but be broken. Heating the solder up basically rebonds the connections. You want to add a bit of new solder to them to get the old solder to flow. Old solder looses its rosin as it dries out and ages. This means that you have to get it very hot to get it to flow. So hot it might damage the PCB. New solder easily melts because of its rosin core. So you add a bit of new solder to get the old solder to easily flow again.

 
dosmom said:
I have not done a reflow before but looking it up it looks you need to suck up the old resin to remove it and then add new. I don’t have a plunger. Do you know another way to remove the old?
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The video I posted above explains it. Just add a touch of new solder to the old. Not that much, you just need the new solder to get the old stuff to flow. Don’t over do it. You shouldn’t have to remove old solder unless your replacing a part. Common practice there is also to reflow old with new solder then remove all the solder…. But removing the solder is not necessary here. If you don’t have a solder sucker, then a fluxed desolder braid can be used. The following links are to a cheap starter soldering iron and desoldering tools… around $25.00, enough to get you started and to do this job.

EDIT: if you have never tried any of this stuff before and feel like giving it a go, I would recommend you practice a bit on some trash electronics PCB boards. Something broken or your going to throw out anyway.

80W Soldering Iron Kit Electric Gun Adjustable Temperature Welding Solder Wire | eBay

2x Solder Sucker Desoldering Pump & Braid Soldering Iron Suction Removal Tool | eBay
 
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