IC40 Lights out, with red system error light on IntellipH

[3rdcoaster]

Dirk: more or less my thoughts. Would add: burn may not be related to the current per se, but due to corrosion of the wire pressure contacts in the connector, which just isnt up to the outdoor location and frequent on/off cycles. Corrosion causes resistance causes heat at the rated current. We'll see. Ed

I am reporting in that this repair has held up for 17 months. So worth the effort. Hopefully won't jinx myself by this report! Thanks to all, especially @Dirk for prior posts and help. Enjoy the 4th!

 

[Dirk]

Well that's good to hear. We've done a lot of work on this since then, though. For example, we now know it's not just the black wire that has the problem. Red, too. We've figured out the correct fix for this now, so holler back if you haven't seen the other threads about the latest ideas.

 

[3rdcoaster]

Haha, Time marches on...I saw @bertschb thread after I posted. Very cool. Have to take another look and consider the "pre-fix". Thanks again. Ed

 

[Dirk]

Haha, Time marches on...I saw @bertschb thread after I posted. Very cool. Have to take another look and consider the "pre-fix". Thanks again. Ed

I think it's important that you consider doing to the red side whatever you did to the black side. They both carry the same amount of current, and are both vulnerable to burning. We've now seen "cases" of each occurrence.

 

[Dirk]

We think the black wire carries the current for the SWG (among other things), though I'm not sure it's the hot wire. In DC wiring, red is usually the hot wire (which only matters for the point I make below). Someone here had heard from Pentair that they were going to address this problem by discouraging (somehow?) the use of the IC60 with the IntellipH. That led us to believe the lesser amperage requirement of the IC40 and IC20 is not sufficient to melt the connection. We now know that's not true in all situations. If it is in fact the current draw of the IC causing the problem, then that current is likely running through the black wire (but maybe not only that one wire, read on).

For a while, I think you should check on that connection periodically. I think it's possible that another wire could fail. It follows that if X amount of current was traveling through that black wire, then all or some of that current is traveling back out through one of the others. It's also possible that the current splits up and travels out through more than one wire, but I think its possible that most of it is traveling out through just one. I suspect the red one, for two reasons. If you look very closely at the pic that I modified, it looks a bit like the pin just to the right of the fried one has similar tinging on it. It's very vague, and maybe not there, but that is the red wire pin. If I was engineering this thing, and was coming up with the color scheme, I would run primary power through the red and black wires. Black would be common and/or negative, and red would be the positive DC wire to the SWG. In other Pentair four-wire connections, the red and black are power, and the other two are signal wires, so that might be Pentair's color scheme. So...

It's possible that the black wire (the common wire) had the most amps running through it, and the red wire had the second most. The black wire's pin connections acted a bit like a fuse. It burned out first (like a fuse would), because it had the most amps running through it. But now that you've bypassed the pins, you've eliminated that "fuse." Which might subject the next in line to be the next fuse. This is all very obscure, and maybe not likely. But it's worth keeping an eye on. Obviously that connector is inadequate for the current running through it. It's not a given that only the black wire is running too much current.

Anywho... thanks for pursuing this. You may have proven the workaround for others. We'll look forward to your future reports. Whoever did that work for you did a first rate job. And you've now provided the model for the fix.

I was just re-reading my old post. I was pretty close, back then. We now know:

- The red and black are the power leads, and all carry the same amount of current (all four wires).

- The red leads are positive, the blacks are the ground.

- The white and green carry only the COMM signals, and much less current.

- The connector has two sets of black conductors/connections (two male/female pairs), and two sets of red conductors/connections. The two black wires are connected together via traces on the circuit board. The same is true for the two red wires. So all four wires, and all four sets of conductors inside the connector, are all carrying the same amount of current. Which means any of the four sets of conductors in the connector can burn. We think the set with the worst corrosion heats up and burns first, but it is just "luck of the draw" and has nothing to do with what the circuitry is doing.

So, basically, the best fix is to connect the two black wires together, before they get to the connector, and then run a jumper to either of the two black pins of the circuit board (but you don't have to do both blacks, because they are already connected on the board). And then do the same for the two reds. Leave the four white and green wires alone.

What this does is create a path, off the board, for all that current. What then flows through the jumper wires (or what's left of the connector conductors) is just the small amount or DC current that the board uses for itself. The current that the IntelliChlor is pulling all goes through the new off-board connections. Hope that makes sense.

Bottom line, if you don't apply this version of the fix, one of the other three pins on your connector is likely to burn next at some point, when its corrosion builds up enough.

 

[Dirk]

Something like this. You can shave the insulation and connect the exposed wire with the jumper. Or cut them and put them together with solder or wire nuts or the Waco connectors. I prefer solder. Just be careful if you cut the wires, because at least one of the sets might be too short to reach after when you try to reassemble everything.

 

[3rdcoaster]

Dirk: thanks very much for the update. I'll take a look and consider adding the red wire bypass to the existing black.

for the record, my interaction with Pentair support suggested they are aware of this weak point (susceptibility of the connectors to corrosion and burnout). The argument was along the lines of: this is the advantage of dealer installation, when it breaks it is covered. Glad there's better understanding of how to prevent and repair now.

 

[Lake Placid]

Dirk: thanks very much for the update. I'll take a look and consider adding the red wire bypass to the existing black.

for the record, my interaction with Pentair support suggested they are aware of this weak point (susceptibility of the connectors to corrosion and burnout). The argument was along the lines of: this is the advantage of dealer installation, when it breaks it is covered. Glad there's better understanding of how to prevent and repair now.

Pentair Support “Yes sir, we are aware of a design flaw and suggest an authorized dealer installation so our failed design will be supported when it fails. Oh you say your system was manufactured in 2017 and is 5 years old? It’s out of warranty and you need a new system. Thanks for calling pentair support!”

 

[Dirk]

I'm suppressing a rant about corporate greed, and warranties, and known defects, and integrity, and quality. What's the use...