Hi folks, I'm trying to limp this cell through the summer. T-CELL-15. It's 6 summers old, so I know it's at the end of its life anyway.
At the end of the last summer, I would get daily shutdowns with the "low salt" light flashing. The salt level was fine, I cleaned the cell, etc. It's just getting old.
What I'm wondering, is how the controller knows to shut down the generation due to low salt? I'm assuming it's based on amperage. And if it is, couldn't we just place a resistor/rheostat in parallel to increase amperage and simulate a properly working cell? (note from an electronics point of view, adding a resistor in parallel reduces overall resistance, which will increase current at a given voltage). Has anyone tried something like this?
Or another approach, if I set the up the controller to think it's a smaller cell number (per the chart, below, the smaller ones draw less current), it will expect a lower current, so it shouldn't flag a fail state for a smaller amperage? EDIT: Oh, I just found this thread indicating this is true: Failing T-15 SWG Cell Experiment @JoyfulNoise
If adding a resistor, I assume I'd actually add one in parallel between each of the black/wire pairs - 2 resistors total. Connector pinout in post 2 here:
www.troublefreepool.com
So I'll try dropping the cell number down to T-5. @JoyfulNoise, did you ever go right down to a T-3, or were the efficiencies just not worth it near the end of T-5?
At the end of the last summer, I would get daily shutdowns with the "low salt" light flashing. The salt level was fine, I cleaned the cell, etc. It's just getting old.
What I'm wondering, is how the controller knows to shut down the generation due to low salt? I'm assuming it's based on amperage. And if it is, couldn't we just place a resistor/rheostat in parallel to increase amperage and simulate a properly working cell? (note from an electronics point of view, adding a resistor in parallel reduces overall resistance, which will increase current at a given voltage). Has anyone tried something like this?
Or another approach, if I set the up the controller to think it's a smaller cell number (per the chart, below, the smaller ones draw less current), it will expect a lower current, so it shouldn't flag a fail state for a smaller amperage? EDIT: Oh, I just found this thread indicating this is true: Failing T-15 SWG Cell Experiment @JoyfulNoise
- T-3 1.3 - 4.5 Amps
- T-5 1.9 - 5.7 Amps
- T-9 2.3 - 6.7 Amps
- T-15 3.1 - 8.0 Amps
If adding a resistor, I assume I'd actually add one in parallel between each of the black/wire pairs - 2 resistors total. Connector pinout in post 2 here:
How to trick Hayward TCELL15 that Salt Level is fine?
I have seen several posts @caliskier about adding a Resister to the blue and black wires inside your TCELL to tell the control panel the Temperature and Salt levels are fine. My TCELL940 (extended life, yeah right) is only 1 year old, but started saying "Low Salt" suddenly, but I tested water...
www.troublefreepool.com
So I'll try dropping the cell number down to T-5. @JoyfulNoise, did you ever go right down to a T-3, or were the efficiencies just not worth it near the end of T-5?
