Hey all. I posted last month about my screen not working on my Omnilogic and thanks to your help was able to figure out it was the PSU assembly that was messed up. A week later, a local Hayward service tech replaced it and all was well. So we thought.
Exactly 2 weeks later, wifi won't connect, screen is gone, etc. Of course this happens when I am out of town so my hubby is left to deal with it. The local Hayward tech comes out and says this time the PSU assembly, main board, LED display, and the tcell board where it plugs in are all toast. Apparently there are black burn marks from it getting hot. Our lightning protection indicator is still green indicating no strike. There are no other marks anywhere on the unit. I do not know if there were any fuse issues. The tech says he has never seen damage this extensive. He called Hayward to try to get it covered by warranty but his rep told him if he submitted it, they would deny it and say it was lightning. He submitted it and sure enough, they denied it.
Now, I am not a big computer person so I contacted my brother who did networking, programming, and cyber security for the Air Force for 25 years and a friend who does programming and networking as his job and asked both of them if a firmware update could cause an issue with how things were running with the unit and cause a short or something to over heat or whatever the technical term is, as I don't speak that techy language. I also told them not to tell me what I want to hear but to be honest with me. Both said absolutely, that can happen.
Interestingly, the update that was installed effected all of the components that were fried. Our very large expansion board with it's many actuators and the components attached to it were not touched. Nothing in the update effected anything on that expansion board either. I find it rather odd that a lightning strike would pick and choose very specific areas to burn up in a large electrical unit yet not burn up electrical areas right next to ones it did burn. There were no burnt wires showing the path of the lightning, nothing other than the connections where things plugged in were burnt like it shorted out.
I installed the update June 18. The first failure occured July 12. They replaced the PSU on July 24. Then everything went out on Aug 8. So first time 25 days between and then 15 days between failures.
Tomorrow I am going to call Hayward to talk to them about this situation and hopefully get some coverage. At least parts. However, my concern is what happens in a couple of weeks when this happens *again* and we are in the same situation as our warranty expires on the 22nd. You would think after having the same issue so close together that they would consider something was going on? Maybe if this same thing happens with all of these same components going out again in a few weeks? It won't be coincidence or lightning hitting the same place 3 times. It is over $2500 to replace the parts and $3500 to get a whole new unit (tech suggested possibly doing that since there is only a 1 year warranty on parts and our warranty is expiring and we would get 3 years with a new unit).
Has anyone heard of anything like this happening? Our Omnilogic was installed in 2017. The local Hayward tech said he was given a wink and nod and a short warning about the pool company that built our pool by the Hayward rep. Of course they are bankrupt and out of business already as well. So it wouldn't surprise me if something was shoddy with the unit itself given the cluster that the entire build was. Just par for the course. But we truly never had any issues with it (other than wifi connection) until this firmware update.
I'd like to think I am pretty savvy with things and the thought process of a lightning strike just doesn't add up for me here. Am I crazy? I know it isn't 100% out of the realm of possibilities but neither is the possibility of it not being lightning and there is no way to definitively prove one either way.
Exactly 2 weeks later, wifi won't connect, screen is gone, etc. Of course this happens when I am out of town so my hubby is left to deal with it. The local Hayward tech comes out and says this time the PSU assembly, main board, LED display, and the tcell board where it plugs in are all toast. Apparently there are black burn marks from it getting hot. Our lightning protection indicator is still green indicating no strike. There are no other marks anywhere on the unit. I do not know if there were any fuse issues. The tech says he has never seen damage this extensive. He called Hayward to try to get it covered by warranty but his rep told him if he submitted it, they would deny it and say it was lightning. He submitted it and sure enough, they denied it.
Now, I am not a big computer person so I contacted my brother who did networking, programming, and cyber security for the Air Force for 25 years and a friend who does programming and networking as his job and asked both of them if a firmware update could cause an issue with how things were running with the unit and cause a short or something to over heat or whatever the technical term is, as I don't speak that techy language. I also told them not to tell me what I want to hear but to be honest with me. Both said absolutely, that can happen.
Interestingly, the update that was installed effected all of the components that were fried. Our very large expansion board with it's many actuators and the components attached to it were not touched. Nothing in the update effected anything on that expansion board either. I find it rather odd that a lightning strike would pick and choose very specific areas to burn up in a large electrical unit yet not burn up electrical areas right next to ones it did burn. There were no burnt wires showing the path of the lightning, nothing other than the connections where things plugged in were burnt like it shorted out.
I installed the update June 18. The first failure occured July 12. They replaced the PSU on July 24. Then everything went out on Aug 8. So first time 25 days between and then 15 days between failures. Tomorrow I am going to call Hayward to talk to them about this situation and hopefully get some coverage. At least parts. However, my concern is what happens in a couple of weeks when this happens *again* and we are in the same situation as our warranty expires on the 22nd. You would think after having the same issue so close together that they would consider something was going on? Maybe if this same thing happens with all of these same components going out again in a few weeks? It won't be coincidence or lightning hitting the same place 3 times. It is over $2500 to replace the parts and $3500 to get a whole new unit (tech suggested possibly doing that since there is only a 1 year warranty on parts and our warranty is expiring and we would get 3 years with a new unit).
Has anyone heard of anything like this happening? Our Omnilogic was installed in 2017. The local Hayward tech said he was given a wink and nod and a short warning about the pool company that built our pool by the Hayward rep. Of course they are bankrupt and out of business already as well. So it wouldn't surprise me if something was shoddy with the unit itself given the cluster that the entire build was. Just par for the course. But we truly never had any issues with it (other than wifi connection) until this firmware update.
I'd like to think I am pretty savvy with things and the thought process of a lightning strike just doesn't add up for me here. Am I crazy? I know it isn't 100% out of the realm of possibilities but neither is the possibility of it not being lightning and there is no way to definitively prove one either way.
Esp if this all happens again in a few weeks for a 3rd time now that our warranty has expired. Nothing I can do on the weekend either.