Easytouch Wireless Remote Issues

Jump to latest Follow Reply
T

trell1245

Member
Nov 4, 2019
8
Phoenix, AZ
Hello,

Long story short, I am having an issue reconnecting my Easytouch Wireless Remote back to the Easytouch 8 panel. Looking for some help or guidance. I have tried the menu -> settings -> "Wireless Address" routine with no luck.

My main control panel came as Easytouch 8 chassis, but it came with a Easytouch 4 main circuit board. (It also has everything for SCG, but the actual cell). Working with a local mom and pop shop, they set me up with a new main circuit board that was an Easytouch 8. They actually gave me the main board for free due to all the issues with my Pentair Mastertemp. I wanted the upgrade as I was using all of the relay outputs. The upgraded board allows me to add an air blower to my spa.

I installed the new board and everything for the main pool/spa is working fine (pumps, valves, schedules, etc.) However, I cannot get the wireless remote to connect again. As said above, I tried the method through the menu, in settings "Wireless Address". The wireless remote just times out on "searching". My only thought, is the new main board is running on a new firmware that the RF transmitter is not compatible with (same with the wireless remote). The new main panel is on firmware VOC: 2.160 and the remote is on VOC: 2.130.

I have double check the RF transmitter is getting power and the 485 com link lights are blinking (not sure if the blinking indicates something).

Any other thoughts or suggestions. At this point, if it purchasing parts I will probably upgrade to the Screenlogic setup.

Thanks,
 
1245,
Just to clarify... did you have this working at some point? and when you do the wireless settings bit, you're doing it on the both the indoor and outdoor, right?

If the answer to both of those is yes, I'd ask if you've unscrewed the comm wires at all while the system was powered up. And I'd suggest connecting ONLY the wireless card to the easytouch and trying the wireless setup again (remove the pump and anything else that was on there - but power down before messing with the wires!)
 
Ogdento,

Thanks for the response. Hopefully below provides a little information on what I tried and experience with the panel so far.

Yes, the wireless remote was working with the original easytouch 4 motherboard. Yes, I did the setting and wireless address on both the outdoor panel and the wireless remote. My system does not have an indoor hard-wired panel/screen.

No, I did not touch or remove the com wires while the system was powered up. Every time I turned off power prior to adjusting wires.

On the J20 Com port (on the motherboard) I did have to remove (2) wires when I switched to the new board. While I had everything open and shutdown I took the time to clean up the original installers work. They left panel as an absolute rats nets and very un-professional install. The Com wires out of the J20 go to the Intelliflo pump and the SCG board (I have included a picture for reference). They were woven between (3) other wires, so I had to disconnect it and reattached. All other connections were left alone and just moved the terminal blocks.

The Intelliflo pump is working correctly and taking the different speed commands. I tried moving the RF transmitter comm cables to the J20 port. Reading in the installation manual it mentions both methods for the comm cable. Either you can have multiple cables under the J20 port or you can use the SCG board to break the cables up. I have not tried removing both the SCG and Intelliflow comm cable completely from the system and trying to establishing connection. I can try that tomorrow.

I did notice on the RF transmitter the 485 link light blinks periodically. When I put the system into "Wireless Address" mode both the 485 light and RF link light blink at the same time. I would think this means the RF transmitter is actually going into connection mode. However, I cannot find any information what the blinks mean.

Also, I hate picking on peoples work, but this was a large firm that did the installation. For example on their workmanship, they left about 10' of the air temp sensor cable coiled up. I am all for extra, but this is excessive. The power cables are all inter-crossed and not rib caged. I was always taught grounding first and in the back, then neutrals, then power.

Easytouch 4 Motherboard.jpgClips from install manual.jpgPanel.jpgSCG Board.jpg
 
The fact that the 485 light blinks periodically seems to indicate that it's seeing activity on the bus. A bad sign would be if the blinking is in a repeated pattern... like 5 blinks and then a pause, 5 blinks and a pause - and on and on. That usually means a dead card. Is the Fccid on your remote P4HEASYTOUCH2A? (that'll tell me if you've got the newer card with the "Laird" radio chipset)

If the pump is getting commands, and the swg can report data, then your comm bus is ok. I'd test the resistance on the comm terminals to the transceiver card to make sure the connections are all good and tight. If that looks good, I would do a quick test and make a short cable to connect ONLY the transceiver to the outdoor board's comm port and retry the pairing. If that doesn't work, then your card is probably bad.
 
Yes, the remote is a P4HEASYTOUCH2A.

I had some more time to test today. I removed all com wires except for the RF transmitter on the J20 port. Still did not connect to the remote.

I put everything back to how it was; SWG board and Intelliflo on the J20 port and the antenna on comm port 2 of the SWG board. I still have the Easytouch 4 board, so I placed it back in the panel. I just moved the connectors and did not physically remove wires. While the system was off, I did an EEPROM Erase on the wireless remote. I wanted to force it to reconnect with the RF transmitter. I turned on the old Easytouch 4 and started the reconnect process. The panel and remote reconnected within a minute. Exactly as you would expect. I then put the Easytouch 8 back in and it still will not connect, same issues.

I did note the lights on the RF transmitter blinked differently with the Easytouch 4 versus the Easytouch 8. Like I said before, with the Easytouch 8 the 485 light and RF link light blinked at the same time (more of a toggle on for 1 second, off for 1 second) when it was in the "wireless address" mode. With the Easytouch 4 they did not blink at the same time. The 485 light blinked randomly and the RF light blinked/went steady once the remote established a connection.

I am leaning toward the RF transmitter does not want to communicate with the updated board.

Antenna.jpgEZYTCH 4.jpgEZYTCH 8.jpgRemote.jpg
 
Hey 1245,
This is a weird one! What i'm struggling with is that the ET firmware release notes say 2.130 has changes for the new "Mobi II" style radio - this is the radio you have (with the Laird chipset)... and that statement implies that the new radio was NOT supported prior to 2.130, which of course can't be correct since your ET 4 is running 2.100 and it can use the new radio!

Riddle me this... is your ET8 board able to communicate with your pump and/or swg? If not, the other option is that the comm port on your ET8 is dead.

Either way, I would think that 2.160 firmware would work beautifully with a 2.130 wireless unit - I think I have both firmware versions so I should be able to test it out.
Tom
 
Yes, it is communicating with the pump. I have 3 different speed settings programmed in the panel and it runs at all of them. I can go into the pump settings and see the status.

I am not a 100% sure it is communicating with the SWG. I have the transformer and SWG board in the outdoor panel, but my pool does not have the actual generator installed (just a standard chlorine pool). I can go into the Intellichlor setting and it has no errors, but I don't think that really means anything. Actually, in the next month or 2 I was going to look at installing a Intellichlor cell as everything is prep'd for it. I have heard great things about salt water pools vs standard chlorine.
 
interesting... if the et8 can talk to the pump then the comm port is very much alive. it sure seems like a firmware incompatibility.

i can set up a remote with 2.130 firmware and try to pair it with an outdoor board running 2.160... but I'd want to use the same transceiver board version. is there a sticker on the back of your transceiver with a version on it? (something like 1.1, 1.2, etc)?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Thought I would give everyone an update. I purchased a new Screenlogic setup (wireless) and it works fine. It must be something with the old firmware in the RF transmitter that did not work with the new Easytouch 8.

Now onto installing the Chlorinator.

Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply