Electrical gremlins

[Nitramnayr]

Recently we swapped out a pentair LED light in our spa. Another in our pool is burned out (bad seal/water intrusion).

Since then, I’ve noticed the pool and spa lights will turn themselves off without command after 15-45 minutes. I don’t have any egg timers set and they are not on a schedule.

When I reset the breaker for these lights it turns off the entire Easytouch panel. I opened the breaker panel and noticed a blue wire comes off the breaker, routes itself to a gfci plug on the bottom right of the panel as a LINE (tests good, nothing is plugged in), and then comes out as a black HOT and terminates at the transformer (part 521082). One blue LOAD line goes to a relay and the other blue LOAD line goes presumably to the junction box for the lights.

Has anyone had this sort of issue? We did not reconfigure wiring to the breakers when replacing the light, and I tested the breaker by swapping it and seems to be operating normally.

Thanks for any help y’all can toss my way!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Nit,

I would suspect an intermittent Aux relay, due to dirty contacts..

That said, I would use a voltmeter and measure the voltage going into the lights Aux relay and compare it to the voltage coming out of the Aux relay.. I would do this when the lights are working, and then again after the lights turn off..

I suspect that the voltage coming out of the Aux relay, when the lights are off, is either not there at all, or it is very low.

I say this assuming that both lights turn off at the same time, and they both use the same relay.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Nit,

The transformer that you show should have nothing to do with your lights..

I think that is the system transformer.. Show us a bigger pic of your system...

I reread your post.. looks like the idiot that wired your EasyTouch has GFCI power going to the system transformer. That is just a silly thing to do.. The system transformer does not need to be GFCI protected.. And if the light's GFCI pops, the entire EasyTouch will shut off, as you have found out.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Nitramnayr]

Thank you both. Here’s a photo of the entire panel. Just to clarify:

The pool and spa lights circuit breaker has a blue wire coming off of it that connects to the gfci outlet’s LINE and then the blue wire comes off the gfci outlet’s LOAD and heads to up to the relay. I hit the gfci reset button and the pool light do turn off however the panel remains powered. So the big mystery is that I don’t know why the entire panel shuts off when i turn off the lights breaker.

Regarding the GFCI: There is a black wire that feeds the other Gfci LINE which originates from that large transformer block. And there is another blue wire on the gfci LOAD that originates from a junction box via conduit.

 

[BMerrill]

Agree with Jim above, an idiot wired this box.
Call an electrician before someone gets electrocuted.
There is so much wrong with the wiring in the panel. For starters, only one wire should be connected to any terminal on a breaker.
Blue wires shouldn't be in a panel box, they are typically used as travelers and in lighting fixtures.
Why is there a white wire going to a relay? If it is acting as the second leg of a 240 circuit it should be relabeled to red or black. White wires are typically neutrals and should be on the neutral buss bar or on the feeding GFIC breaker.
Low voltage and high voltage should never be mixed inside a panel unless the panel is designed with a seperate low voltage side.
What is the LED driver doing in the panel? Doesn't look to be listed for pool/spa use either. Not good.
Depending upon the length of the wire to the fixtures, the 12 volt output probably isn't adequate which maybe the reason the lights are going out.
Could also be getting interference and may need a snubber.

 

[Nitramnayr]

Call an electrician. There is so much wrong with the wiring in the panel. For starters, only one wire should be connected to any terminal on a breaker.
Blue wire should never be in a panel box, they are typically used as travelers on 3 and 4 way switches.
Low voltage and high voltage should never be mixed inside a panel unless the panel is designed with a seperate low voltage side. .
What is the LED driver doing in the panel? Doesn't look to be listed for pool/spa use. Not good.
Depending upon the length of the wire to the fixtures, the 12 volt output may not be amble.
Could also be getting interference and may need a snubber.

Will do, thank you all for the help!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Nit,

I'm puzzled by the silver power supply in the middle of your EasyTouch.. Pool lights are powered by stepdown transformers.. 120 volts AC in and 12 volts AC out..

Your box appears to convert 120 Volts AC into 12 volts DC.. One reason for using a pool rated transformer is that, if things go bad, the transformer is made so that it is impossible for high voltage to get to your lights.. Your switching power supply does not have that safety feature..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

Your switching power supply does not have that safety feature..

And low voltage wiring should not be installed in the high voltage section. As others have noted there is a lot questionable with the wiring.

 

[Nitramnayr]

Nit,

I'm puzzled by the silver power supply in the middle of your EasyTouch.. Pool lights are powered by stepdown transformers.. 120 volts AC in and 12 volts AC out..

Your box appears to convert 120 Volts AC into 12 volts DC.. One reason for using a pool rated transformer is that, if things go bad, the transformer is made so that it is impossible for high voltage to get to your lights.. Your switching power supply does not have that safety feature..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim,
I did confirm that this is for the landscape lights, not the pool lights. I will check on moving this to outside the enclosure if it should not be inside with the other equipment.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Nit,

Glad it is not connected to your pool lights.

In the meantime, back to your original light problem..

Tell me which Aux relay is being used for your pool and spa lights..

The Aux 2 relay, the one that you have the yellow line going to, does nothing as wired.. Aux 2 is the 3rd relay from the left on the top row. It only has one blue wire going to it.

Thanks,

Jim R.