IC40 12A Thermal Circuit Breaker Tripping

[ewag316]

Howdy. Tried to research for my exact problem, coming up empty so starting a new thread that will probably sound like many others. I watched this video as well ....

Equipment: IC40 connected to EasyTouch including the SCG Power Center

History: new IC40 replaced under warranty about 4 months ago.... pool has been in service for about 20 months. No problem with the new IC40 until a week ago.

Situation: 12A SCG circuit breaker trips instantly upon resetting (this only happens when the filter pump is on because the SCG transformer is hooked up to the load side of the FP relay). The 12A breaker trips even if the IC40 is disconnected from the EasyTouch panel. As far as I see it, this means the IC40 is not the cause of the problem. If the pump is not running, the 12A breaker is fine, which makes sense because there's no power to the transformer.

• I tested power output from transformer and its 32 VAC
• I installed a new 12A thermal breaker thinking perhaps it was bad, tripping without cause .... same issue.
• Everything else seems to be working OK: front control panel, the filter pump starts/stops and adjusts speed, and my Screen Logic system is fine, all of which connect to the surge board.
• I inspected the surge board (without removing) to look for any signs that it was toast, but it looks A-OK. Last thing I can think of to replace it (Pentair Load Center Intellichlor SCG Surge Board PCBA | Pentair 521218)

Any other ideas or is the surge board the next, most logical item?

 

[ajw22]

I would disconnect the white connector on J7.

If you have 32V at J9 and J7 is disconnected and the circuit breaker pops then the surge board is bad. Probably a short in the rectifier on the board.

Let's see if @Jimrahbe agrees.

 

[ajw22]

Here is a thread on repairing the surge board if you have the ability....

EasyTouch Surge board repair - IC40

I had the 12A breaker pop on my EasyTouch that uses an IC40. The pool maintenance guys said it was a bad breaker, so I dutifully replaced it only to have the same problem. I tracked down the problem to the Surge board (521593). It turns out that there are two functions for this board: 1...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JamesW]

Disconnect the 4 wire connector that goes to the cell and see if the breaker still pops.

If it still trips, try replacing the bridge rectifier.

GBPC3506-G Comchip Technology | Discrete Semiconductor Products | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. GBPC3506-G – Bridge Rectifier Single Phase Standard 600 V QC Terminal GBPC from Comchip Technology. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

https://www.mouser.com/

Mouser #: 583-MP356
Mfr. #: MP356
Mfr.: Rectron
Description: Bridge Rectifiers 35A 600V

Amazon.com

If it does not trip, the problem is likely to be in the cell.

 

[JamesW]

fuse keeps blowing on Hayward swim pure salt water panel.

Hello, May salt water panel recently went dead, no lights, no power, no digital display etc. I replaced the black circular resister as previously in the past believing this was the issue and fix as previously. After swapping out the resister, I reinstalled the circuit board with all the wires...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JamesW]

These might work better.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/category/diodes/2042?s=N4IgTCBcDaIOICEAKBhAzAVgAxgOogF0BfIA

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/category/diodes/2042?s=N4IgTCBcDaILICEwFYCMB1EBdAvkA

 

[Jimrahbe]

316,

Not that it matters now, but I agree with all of the above.

Surge card is bad, if the breaker pops with the white connector removed.

Either replace it, or repair it.

The bad new is that does not mean the cell is not also bad. The cell could have gone bad and caused the surge card to go bad.. Most likely not, but something to keep in mind.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ewag316]

Thanks all. Great things to try! Will report back if I figure it out.

 

[ewag316]

New surge board, 5 minute swap, SGC is working. Not until I pulled the old one out and really inspected it closely did it look like the solder points where the bridge rectifier is attached look (just a little bit) burned. I'm going to replace the bridge rectifier and swap it back out, and if it works, I'll keep the new one as a spare.