IC40 Chlorinator and Intellichlor Circuit Board Issue

[Jake317]

I have the IC40 Chlorinator and Intellichlor Circuit Board PN 520723.
I lost power to IC40 and check the board.

The black wire obviously was heated and on the circuit board I also see the black on D8 and D7 has been cracked and shows sign of heat.

I have no issue replacing the IC40 and the Circuit Board PN 520723, but curious if you guys might know what caused this. I have owned this pool for about 10 years and the IC40 unit is my second unit that has been operating for about the last five years.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jake,

The board takes the AC input from the SWCG transformer and converts it into about 40 Volts DC that runs the cell itself.

Over time, the connections at the connector can get corroded and when they do, they act like a resistor and get hot when current passes through them. What you see at the discolored connector is a result of heat.. I have never seen this on the Pentair products, but I have seen it a lot with Jandy or Hayward system, but I can't remember which right now.

When a cell goes bad, it can pull a lot of current and cause what you are seeing, as well as damage the power supply.

If this were my system, I would replace both the power supply (Pentair calls this a "Surge board") as well as the salt cell.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jake317]

Jim, Thank you for this support. I am planning to replace the IC40 Cell and Surge Board. Reading your information makes me feel better knowing that I am going in the correct direction.

 

[JamesW]

Also, be careful about adding salt. Make sure that the cell is off when you add salt because a big slug of salt can cause excessive current and cause overheating.