Easytouch Surge Card

goldmaes

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2018
138
Palm City, FL
I need to get a new 521218 surge card for my Easytouch system. Pentair charges a fortune and I see many other that are way cheaper. Does anyone have any experience with them? Are they as good, problematic? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Eric,

Why do you think you need a new surge card?

It could certainly be bad, but what are the symptoms?

I have no personal experience with off-brand Surge cards, but I seem to remember a post where someone tried one, and it worked.. Have no idea for how long.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Eric,

Why do you think you need a new surge card?

It could certainly be bad, but what are the symptoms?

I have no personal experience with off-brand Surge cards, but I seem to remember a post where someone tried one, and it worked.. Have no idea for how long.

Thanks,

Jim R.
I need one because I currently don’t have one. When my SWG was installed I recently realized they just took a surge card from the separate box and left it hanging in the high power side of my automation system with no attachement of the heat sink to the back of the system. Not sure if it is safe but I would like to set it up correctly which would require the appropriate surge card and the correct cable. 1724632214190.jpeg
 
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Eric,

You can buy a new card, or you can just mount the one you have to the back wall of the EasyTouch.

You would mount it with the heat sink against the back wall up in the low voltage electronics area.. You would have to drill a couple of small holes for sheet meatal screws..

Here is a pic on your current card installed in an older EasyTouch..

Jack 4.jpg

The only real downside to using the Surge card you have is that it only has one RS-485 connector... The card that is supposed to be installed in the EasyTouch has three RS-485 connectors.. One connector is needed to connect the surge card to the main card J20 com port.. The other two connections can be used by anything that needs an RS-485 connection.. Like a pump or ScreenLogic or ???

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Eric,

You can buy a new card, or you can just mount the one you have to the back wall of the EasyTouch.

You would mount it with the heat sink against the back wall up in the low voltage electronics area.. You would have to drill a couple of small holes for sheet meatal screws..

Here is a pic on your current card installed in an older EasyTouch..

View attachment 606281

The only real downside to using the Surge card you have is that it only has one RS-485 connector... The card that is supposed to be installed in the EasyTouch has three RS-485 connectors.. One connector is needed to connect the surge card to the main card J20 com port.. The other two connections can be used by anything that needs an RS-485 connection.. Like a pump or ScreenLogic or ???

Thanks,

Jim R.
Thank you. Yes both solutions would work and with the additional RS-485 connections it would most likely be cleaner. If I did do that I guess you would just take one of the red connections from the transformer directly to the card and the other to the fuse and the cable that is attached to the card to the other fuse connection, correct?

Additionally, any thoughts on the aftermarket (non pentair) cards?

Thanks for your help.
 
Eric,

I have no experience with off-brand surge cards...

My initial thought was they would not be a good idea, but I saw a thread the other day, where one was used, and the OP said everything worked just like the Pentair card. If I remember correctly the price was about $100 bucks, so for that price you really can't go wrong...

And... I agree that having the newer card does make the install cleaner, and troubleshooting easier, if ever needed.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Eric,

I have no experience with off-brand surge cards...

My initial thought was they would not be a good idea, but I saw a thread the other day, where one was used, and the OP said everything worked just like the Pentair card. If I remember correctly the price was about $100 bucks, so for that price you really can't go wrong...

And... I agree that having the newer card does make the install cleaner, and troubleshooting easier, if ever needed.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Thanks so much. I really appreciate all of your help.