Update: I replaced all the plastic bearings in the drive/brush system on my robot and it made it through a full cleaning cycle today. So we'll see how long it keeps working. The total parts cost so far to refurbish the impeller motor and replace the other parts was under $50.
Doheny's Discovery, S200, Active20, Triton owners club
- Thread starter Killer95Stang
- Start date
I just use my wife's Tupperware. Made holes for the cords and then just lift the lid to turn it on. Power unit is pretty splash proof to begin with.
Works great. Mine stays in this in a service cart.
- Jul 16, 2012
- 7,210
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Hey, guys, my 4 year old Doheny's Discovery is having the exact same problem as described by Swimbo in his post #1881 - It turns on, moves a few feet then stops. What are my options here? Thanks
Sometimes it's just better to keep my mouth shut and let her believe she forgot it at aunt Betty's..
I took my Discovery apart and noticed the motor compartment was all wet. Can someone please tell me what I should replace or should I just get a new robot?
- May 23, 2015
- 24,443
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
The “black box” is sold as a monolithic unit to replace defective motor issues. It looks like the motor seal was compromised somehow. Replacement “black boxes” run about $400-$500.
I dried out all the motor connections and was able to get the motor running. I think I am going to conformal coat the PCB and all the connections. It is interesting there is a MIL-D-3464 DESI PAK inside the unit. Looks like an afterthought to me.
Oly
Gold Supporter
Post your waterproofing procedures and results when you do this. I think you are on to something.
Well I'm back with more news, still fighting issues with my robot. It will run anywhere from about 10-80 minutes then stop. Starting it again without moving it will repeat the same. There is not an obvious problem, but it seems to be a little shy about climbing walls. I am thinking about replacing the drive motor next.
keatz85
Bronze Supporter
Update: very disappointed w/ my Dolphin Active 20.
Backstory: purchased in May 2019 and cleaning has been underwhelming. Leaves a lot of debris and takes multiple cycles. Daily is okay when a lot of debri isn't in pool but have to run multiple times a day in the spring, fall, and the day before or of swimming to get clean. Pool is 20'x40' kidney bean and the bot is for pools up to 50' but I do question if there's enough slack - the cord is 60' but there's also distance from the power supply to the pool (i'm assuming most people don't have outlets right next to their pool and I think i remember reading not to use extension cord ). The bot can hit every part of the pool but there's spots where the cord is tight.
Noticed it was getting hung up on the main drains. I learned on here Maytronics can send (I believe for free) an impeller cover with an added "hood" that diverts the water back and provides a bit of forward "propulsion, however I learned from Maytronics that's only for certain models (not the Active 20). So I bought a couple of these Main Drain Clip-On - Pool Maintenance Simplified. You're supposed to 2 per drain but I figured I'd try 1 per drain first since IMO the clips are expensive for small piece of plastic (when you have to buy 4). Learned you really do need 2 per drain, 1 helps but it can still get caught up.
The drain clips (2x drain) definitely help, it still gets caught up on the main drains but can work itself off w/in 30 seconds or so. However, I noticed when closing for 2020 I was running the bot nonstop and it still was missing a lot of debris. Just opened up for 2021 and I've ran the bot 10x, probably closer to 20 and there' still a lot of debri. Now the dang thing won't climb the walls either. I've tired both the fine and ultra fine filters, even mix and matched, cleaned the Crud out of the filter basket, cleaned debris where where the filtered water shoots out, wheels are moving fine, brushes are not worn, brushed the walls too in case they got too slick over the winter, chemicals are balanced.
I'm going to reach out to Maytronics today as soon as they open, however super nervous as it was purchased from Marina on 5/3/19 and arrived/registered 5/7. So could be past the 24 months for warranty (barely) depending on what start date Maytronics uses for their warranty.
Everyone appears to love their Dolphins so I'm wondering if I just got a lemon from the start? Any suggestions/advice not mentioned?
Backstory: purchased in May 2019 and cleaning has been underwhelming. Leaves a lot of debris and takes multiple cycles. Daily is okay when a lot of debri isn't in pool but have to run multiple times a day in the spring, fall, and the day before or of swimming to get clean. Pool is 20'x40' kidney bean and the bot is for pools up to 50' but I do question if there's enough slack - the cord is 60' but there's also distance from the power supply to the pool (i'm assuming most people don't have outlets right next to their pool and I think i remember reading not to use extension cord ). The bot can hit every part of the pool but there's spots where the cord is tight.
Noticed it was getting hung up on the main drains. I learned on here Maytronics can send (I believe for free) an impeller cover with an added "hood" that diverts the water back and provides a bit of forward "propulsion, however I learned from Maytronics that's only for certain models (not the Active 20). So I bought a couple of these Main Drain Clip-On - Pool Maintenance Simplified. You're supposed to 2 per drain but I figured I'd try 1 per drain first since IMO the clips are expensive for small piece of plastic (when you have to buy 4). Learned you really do need 2 per drain, 1 helps but it can still get caught up.
The drain clips (2x drain) definitely help, it still gets caught up on the main drains but can work itself off w/in 30 seconds or so. However, I noticed when closing for 2020 I was running the bot nonstop and it still was missing a lot of debris. Just opened up for 2021 and I've ran the bot 10x, probably closer to 20 and there' still a lot of debri. Now the dang thing won't climb the walls either. I've tired both the fine and ultra fine filters, even mix and matched, cleaned the Crud out of the filter basket, cleaned debris where where the filtered water shoots out, wheels are moving fine, brushes are not worn, brushed the walls too in case they got too slick over the winter, chemicals are balanced.
I'm going to reach out to Maytronics today as soon as they open, however super nervous as it was purchased from Marina on 5/3/19 and arrived/registered 5/7. So could be past the 24 months for warranty (barely) depending on what start date Maytronics uses for their warranty.
Everyone appears to love their Dolphins so I'm wondering if I just got a lemon from the start? Any suggestions/advice not mentioned?
- May 23, 2015
- 24,443
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I have an S300i which isn’t much different than than the A20. Some thoughts -
1. Find a way to move your power supply closer to the pool. There’s no problem using a properly rated outdoor extension cord as long as you can safely lay it out without anyone tripping.
2. Main drains - a problem for any pool cleaner. Sounds like you’ve found a partial solution. Nothing you can do about it unless you moved up to a much larger and more expensive M series robot.
3. Leaf debris - sounds like you get a lot of leaves in your pool spring & fall. Sorry to say, but you have got to manually scoop those out as much as possible. Robots are great but any robot trying suck up piles and piles of soggy leaves will eventually get clogged up and stop cleaning. I don’t get a lot of leaf debris in my pool but when I see long palm fronds in my pool I manually scoop those out to keep the robot from getting bound up with them.
4. Dolphin Warranty - covers defects in manufacturing or premature device failure, not customer satisfaction. You can call, but I would be very surprised if they’d accept a return at this point in time.
1. Find a way to move your power supply closer to the pool. There’s no problem using a properly rated outdoor extension cord as long as you can safely lay it out without anyone tripping.
2. Main drains - a problem for any pool cleaner. Sounds like you’ve found a partial solution. Nothing you can do about it unless you moved up to a much larger and more expensive M series robot.
3. Leaf debris - sounds like you get a lot of leaves in your pool spring & fall. Sorry to say, but you have got to manually scoop those out as much as possible. Robots are great but any robot trying suck up piles and piles of soggy leaves will eventually get clogged up and stop cleaning. I don’t get a lot of leaf debris in my pool but when I see long palm fronds in my pool I manually scoop those out to keep the robot from getting bound up with them.
4. Dolphin Warranty - covers defects in manufacturing or premature device failure, not customer satisfaction. You can call, but I would be very surprised if they’d accept a return at this point in time.
keatz85
Bronze Supporter
Appreciate it!
I now have the power supply close to the pool and plugged into an extension cord and the bot appears to be getting around a lot better.
I have a couple maples nearby. Was thinking about getting this - Leaf vac for opening and closing. For the cost it seems like a no brainer but I'll check out some threads on here to see if it's been discussed.
The reasoning for calling Maytronics would be since it's not climbing walls, can't even handle 45ish degree inclines, which is really concerning to me that's something's wrong, it climbed walls no problem in the past.
I had an Aqubot Turbo T4RC that came w/ the house/pool (that broke around pool closing time 2018) and that sucker picked up everything. Granted I'm sure they spent a lot more on it than my Active 20, it had somewhere around a 9 hour cleaning cycle, and didn't climb walls but the Aquabot was significantly better IMO, was I just spoiled w/ the Auqbot?
CTFocusST
Well-known member
- Jul 4, 2019
- 224
- Pool Size
- 13500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Have you brushed the walls recently? Or done an OCLT recently? I had some trouble with mine climbing walls at pool opening but it turned out I had some algae growing that I hadn't caught yet. Once I got chlorine in check it started climbing again. It would start to climb but wouldn't make it more than an in or so up
keatz85
Bronze Supporter
Thank you!
I brushed after seeing somewhere (probably here) that could be the cause. FC was 0 upon opening, I intended to SLAM but only shocked. CC was at 1 a few days later so again shocked but failed to SLAM. Water is clear but yeah I need to test again and do an OCLT, and actually SLAM if needed.
Moving the power supply near the pool helped significantly, it got the majority of the debris but was still not climbing. I checked the impeller and there was some debris in there. After cleaning the impeller it could handle the 45 degree incline but not the vertical walls. I ran it w/o the filter for a few minutes and bingo it could climb. I then subbed out the ultra fine filter w/ the fine filter and it still climbs so I'm going to soak the ultra fine filters before using them again. About half way into another cleaning cycle and pool is looking pretty good!
Going to keep my eye on it for a little bit longer but I think the problem is solved. It's surprising how little things cause BIG issues (this and another example - my pump wasn't priming - cause was a tiny suction side leak. TFP for the win, again, as always!
Basically the robot is able to climb vertically do to the strength of the pump motor in the robot creating a suction by pulling the water from the bottom and expelling through the impeller. Any resistance/restrictions in the flow of water will cause it to not be able to climb vertically. Hair wrapped around the impeller or resistance due to a dirty or ultra fine filter will cause this very issue. I'm glad you have figured it out.
My 5 year old Active 30i is having difficulty climbing walls, I think it is the pump weakening. It was replaced under warrantee 3 years ago. Rather than going through rebuild, I am thinking of purchasing a new s200 or analogues whichever is cheaper. anyone know of best prices, I have not called Margret at Marinas yet but thought I would throw out the question to see if anyone knows of a sale or promotion upcoming. I can do a few things to improve the present function and I am not in a big hurry but also made the decision of buying new rather than refurbishing this one.
I would try it for testing purposes only without the filter to see if it's impeding on the suction causing it not to climb. Not sure what filter is in there but the finer filters if available for that robot will always reduce some but not enough to stop it from climbing. I think those filters eventually have enough stuff remaining that can't be removed diminishing it's ability to pass the needed amount of water to keel ot climbing.