DIY Troubleshooting Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus

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kchinger

Well-known member
Aug 20, 2017
295
Southeast PA
So a couple days ago (luckily JUST after it had finished a final cleaning before I closed the pool, sometimes you do get lucky) my Dolphin just stopped working. It was going along happily in a cleaning cycle, came back and it wasn't moving. Not unusual, at the end of the cycle the light stays blue a while but it's stopped because it's done. It seemed short though, so I turned it off, waiting 30 seconds, turned it back on. Nothing. I waited a few minutes, turned it back on, nothing. Waited until the next day, took it out of the pool, set it on its side, heard no noises at all, no movement.

The troubleshooting guide (http://images.inyopools.com/cloud/documents/dolphin-troubleshooting-guide.pdf) from Maytronics is of course woefully inadequate since they don't want you doing DIY repairs I guess. However, the dealers aren't exactly local to me (maybe 30 minutes?) and it's well out of warranty anyway so I'd probably want to do my own work as much as possible (it's just a little over 3 years old).

The guide just says "it might be the power cable, take it to a dealer and they'll test it". I'm an electrical engineer and pretty handy, has anyone tried testing the cable themselves? Are there any other steps I can take first before I drive it somewhere?

A new cable is $180! Pretty expensive for small gauge wire, but I guess it's 60' long and pretty fancy stuff, so $3/ft doesn't seem ridiculous.
 
Inyopools has a guide on how to check the cable. I wonder how to test the unit further. Mine stops after the self-test almost all the time. I had the same issue the last year, and Maytronics repaired it under warranty. The work order isn't helpful as seemingly they've replaced the cable (9995862-DIY) and a side panel (99807845). Both of these hardly look like an issue for the self-test to fail.
 
Also, I've disassembled the motor — no signs of water damage or something like that. The unit's behavior is the same as inside the cleaner: impeller motor starts, then two cycles of the drive motor (forward and backward), then one more impeller motor run, and then nothing. The green diode on the PCB continues to blink uniformly.
 
So it turns out mine was the motor, according to the pool store diagnostic. $400 for them to replace, $300 for the part and I do it myself (and I can't find it cheaper anywhere online). Or they'll give me $100 off a new robot. Which is tempting. $300-400 to still have a 3 year old robot that may or may not work for another season doesn't sound great, when I could get a new one for like $500-600 after their discount.

Three year old things that are relatively well cared for shouldn't be trash, that's ridiculous. I maintained good levels, took it out in the winter and stored it in the pool house, used it somewhat frequently but probably only a couple times a week on average. Never pulled it by the cord. I'm just frustrated at this point that I have to spend any money at all on such a new, expensive product.
 
Did you happen to buy it w/ a credit card? My visa signature card has extended warranty- where they pay for repairs up to so much $ or refund the original purchase price if you buy a new one. I just looked into this on one of my swg’s but i paid $99 for it & right now they’re $250 so I haven’t done it yet.
 
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Mdragger88 said:
Did you happen to buy it w/ a credit card? My visa signature card has extended warranty- where they pay for repairs up to so much $ or refund the original purchase price if you buy a new one. I just looked into this on one of my swg’s but i paid $99 for it & right now they’re $250 so I haven’t done it yet.
Click to expand...

You might've just saved me a bunch of money. I hadn't even considered that (I forget that I even have that coverage). Original warranty looks like it was 30 months (I thought it was a year) and my Visa will extend a 1-3 year warranty by 1 year. I bought it Oct 2017, so I'm just outside the manufacturer, but should be within the Visa extension.

Now I just have to figure out how to do it.
 
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Yep, I found it eventually (they don't make it easy, and then they make the wording confusing on the initial thing...).

I can't imagine why they don't make it easier, or advertise this stuff after you already have the card...

My cable is sort of "shedding" its outer casing a bit, so I'm going to get a quote to replace that at the same time, since it's all connected, and it's under warranty hopefully, I'll get whatever I can justify fixed.
 
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Mdragger88 said:
I had to go here 👇
& sign up then upload my receipt. You can just call the # on the back of the card & they will get you on the right path
Click to expand...

Ok, so I have another question I guess. I haven't finished the claim process (waiting on warranty document from Maytronics and the invoice from the pool store) but if I can get them to approve the motor and the cable, I'm at like $640 according to the pool store.

The pool store is offering me $100 off a new robot. Is there a requirement in the reimbursement from Visa to actually perform the work? Or can I take the $640, the $100 from the store, and just buy a new robot? Seems like if I'm spending basically exactly what the robot originally cost, in order to repair it, that's a bit silly.
 

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You may want to call & talk to card services & let them know the repair costs as there’s possibly a percentage/monetary limit on repair at which they just reimburse u for the original amount you paid for your 1st robot after you submit your receipt for a replacement (regardless of replacement cost) . They should guide you in the right direction.
That’s how I found out they wouldn’t reimburse me the purchase price for the replacement swg ($250) but the price i paid for my original ($98). That’s what i get for getting a good deal the 1st time around lol 😂.
 
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