IC40 not showing under Diagnostics on Easy Touch

[lafonte98]

Hello,

I recently found out that my easy touch panel will show me my salt level but when I go to the diagnostics menu it shows that it is not connected. Can someone explain how to do this? Currently, my salt level reading on the IC40 is Red so there is low salt however, when I test with an Aqua Strip for salt level it shows well over the 3500 ppm, reads around 7 on the strip. Perhaps, the temp of my water is too low to get an accurate reading, it is around 56 degrees or so. Now I am kind of thinking the IC40 was not giving me an accurate reading due to the low temp and now I probably have way too much salt.

Thanks in advance,

Greg

 

[Jimrahbe]

Greg,

Is the IC40 plugged into your EasyTouch or a separate power supply?

If plugged into the EasyTouch, try... Menu, Settings, IntelliChlor and make sure it says "Enable -= Yes" This is also where you can set the output percentage.

If plugged into a separate power supply, then you need to make sure there is a communications cable between the power supply and the EasyTouch. It is in the manual on page 26..

56 degrees is on the edge.. The cell really does not like water less than about 60 degrees...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[lafonte98]

Greg,

Is the IC40 plugged into your EasyTouch or a separate power supply?

If plugged into the EasyTouch, try... Menu, Settings, IntelliChlor and make sure it says "Enable -= Yes" This is also where you can set the output percentage.

If plugged into a separate power supply, then you need to make sure there is a communications cable between the power supply and the EasyTouch. It is in the manual on page 26..

56 degrees is on the edge.. The cell really does not like water less than about 60 degrees...

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hey Jim,

Thanks for your reply. The IC40 is plugged directly to the bottom of the EasyTouch panel. I will trouble shoot through the settings menu this weekend. Really appreciate the help on this. I am also hoping the temperature is causing the IC40 to get the bad reading. I do plan to clean it out with Muratic Acid this weekend. Wish me luck....

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Jimrahbe]

Greg,

Do NOT clean with MA as the first thing to do... Inspect the cell and if it looks clean, leave it alone.. Every time you "clean" your cell you remove some of the plates, which shortens the lifespan..

When it is covered in scale, you don't have a choice... On the other hand if your chemicals are correct, there should not be any scale or at least not much...

How old is the cell? If a couple of years old, it may just need a new Flow Switch which has a thermister in it that helps calibrate the salt test.

I suspect the cold water is the primary issue..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

If you had ScreenLogic, you could see this page about the IC40...

View media item 1963
Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[lafonte98]

Greg,

Do NOT clean with MA as the first thing to do... Inspect the cell and if it looks clean, leave it alone.. Every time you "clean" your cell you remove some of the plates, which shortens the lifespan..

When it is covered in scale, you don't have a choice... On the other hand if your chemicals are correct, there should not be any scale or at least not much...

How old is the cell? If a couple of years old, it may just need a new Flow Switch which has a thermister in it that helps calibrate the salt test.

I suspect the cold water is the primary issue..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Jim,

The IC40 unit was installed with the pool in April or May of 2012 so it is pushing 7 years old right now. I will inspect it to see if it has heavy scaling or not before cleaning with MA. Since the pool was just opened a few days ago my chlorine level is high due to the shock they used when opening so I am not concerned with pushing chlorine out at this point in time. I do need to get to the bottom of this sooner than later. I have heard of screen logic and it looks pretty sweet. Think I might put that on my Christmas list.

 

[lafonte98]

Jim,

The IC40 unit was installed with the pool in April or May of 2012 so it is pushing 7 years old right now. I will inspect it to see if it has heavy scaling or not before cleaning with MA. Since the pool was just opened a few days ago my chlorine level is high due to the shock they used when opening so I am not concerned with pushing chlorine out at this point in time. I do need to get to the bottom of this sooner than later. I have heard of screen logic and it looks pretty sweet. Think I might put that on my Christmas list.

Jim,

I was able to go to the settings menu to "enable" Intellichlor, thank you for this tip! Why would my pool company NOT have set this up or shown me this!!!!??? It shows that I have around 2550 ppm so according to the salt chart I will need around 4 bags of salt to get to my desired level of 3200 ppm. I do have one other question. Since I enable the Intellichlor on EasyTouch it now appears that I cannot change my salt percentage on my Intellichlor unit itself (I have not added the salt at this time to get it up to the required level). I went to push the buttons to lower the output percentage and nothing happens. Any ideas on that?
I did notice went I went to the settings to enable the Intellichlor it shows pool mode 50%, any ideas on what that means? Do I need to change that for any reason?


Thanks in advance,

Greg

 

[Jimrahbe]

Greg,

Not sure I understand the question completely.. When you get to the menu you show in your pic, if you hit the right or select button you will move to the enable line. If you push it again the 50% should start to flash and you can then use the up/dn buttons to change the % of out output of the cell. Pushing select again will take you to the bottom line which is the amount of output the cell will produce if you had a spa. I would just keep this at zero but it does not really matter.

Lets look at the big picture.. Before you add any salt you need to know the "actual" salt level of the pool. What you see reported on the EasyTouch is what the cell "thinks" is the salt level. Just because it says 2550 does not mean it is actually 2250. In most cases it will be close, but often with the IC40 it will be off by a mile causing the cell not to work.

The first step is to use a Taylor K-1766 and determine the actual salt level.. If for example, the salt test said 2800, then the salt reading from the cell is probably working ok. On the other hand, if the actual salt level in your pool is 3300, then this means the cell is having a problem running the salt test and most likely has a bad thermister in the flow switch. The fix is to replace the flow switch..

If you just add salt, whenever the cell says the salt is low, you will end up with a salt level of 5000 and a cell that still won't work.

The cell will not work, and should display a red low salt light, anytime it "thinks" the salt level is below 2800...

What is the actual salt level in you pool?

I have no idea why your installer was an idiot...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Greg,

Not having ScreenLogic is like going for an advance math test and not using a calculator..

It makes many things, just so much easier and often fun!!

Jim R.

 

[lafonte98]

Greg,

Not sure I understand the question completely.. When you get to the menu you show in your pic, if you hit the right or select button you will move to the enable line. If you push it again the 50% should start to flash and you can then use the up/dn buttons to change the % of out output of the cell. Pushing select again will take you to the bottom line which is the amount of output the cell will produce if you had a spa. I would just keep this at zero but it does not really matter.

Lets look at the big picture.. Before you add any salt you need to know the "actual" salt level of the pool. What you see reported on the EasyTouch is what the cell "thinks" is the salt level. Just because it says 2550 does not mean it is actually 2250. In most cases it will be close, but often with the IC40 it will be off by a mile causing the cell not to work.

The first step is to use a Taylor K-1766 and determine the actual salt level.. If for example, the salt test said 2800, then the salt reading from the cell is probably working ok. On the other hand, if the actual salt level in your pool is 3300, then this means the cell is having a problem running the salt test and most likely has a bad thermister in the flow switch. The fix is to replace the flow switch..

If you just add salt, whenever the cell says the salt is low, you will end up with a salt level of 5000 and a cell that still won't work.

The cell will not work, and should display a red low salt light, anytime it "thinks" the salt level is below 2800...

What is the actual salt level in you pool?

I have no idea why your installer was an idiot...

Thanks,

Jim R.

Jim,

My apologies as I was not clear on my first question. I used to control the output of my salt from the IC40 itself but now it appears those buttons do not do anything. Currently, it is green up to the 60% mark and when I press buttons to lower it or higher the percentage nothing happens, I do realize it is not functioning anyway due to low salt. According to the above it now appears that I control this from my EasyTouch panel. And yes, my pool installers are idiots. This forum has saved me multiple times since i have had my pool. Cannot say thank you enough, you personally have advised me multiple times.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Jimrahbe]

Greg,

When controlling from the cell, you do it in 20% increments.. When controlling from the EasyTouch, you have 1% increments.. In my mind, it only makes sense to use the ET.. When the ET is in charge, the cell buttons no longer adjust the %..

If you are happy with this forum, you should check out this thread.. Become a TFP Supporter - Trouble Free Pool I personally use the $5 per month deal as I never even miss it..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[lafonte98]

Greg,

When controlling from the cell, you do it in 20% increments.. When controlling from the EasyTouch, you have 1% increments.. In my mind, it only makes sense to use the ET.. When the ET is in charge, the cell buttons no longer adjust the %..

If you are happy with this forum, you should check out this thread.. Become a TFP Supporter - Trouble Free Pool I personally use the $5 per month deal as I never even miss it..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Jim,

I will definitely check out that Become a TFP Supporter Forum. Thanks!

I did check my salt level with AquaChek Pool & Spa test strip. I got the result of a 7 which is a salt level of 4170 which is obviously higher that it should be. My SWG still shows that is has a low salt reading. What do you suggest I do next? Take off the IC40 and inspect it and possibly clean it with MA or simply rinse it out reattach and see what happens from there....

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Jimrahbe]

Greg,

I would take look inside and see if there is scale.. If you have scale, then you have no real choice but to clean it with diluted MA..

JamesW showed us the following test to check the thermister...

The Intellichlor keeps changing depending on the version, so it’s hard to keep up with what versions do what. They also hide a lot of useful information, which also makes it difficult to diagnose.

Pressing and holding the “More” button launches the System Status Mode. When the lights finish scrolling, the percent lights indicate hours of usage in 1,000s. For example, if the 40% light lights, that indicates 4,000 hours.

Version 3.1 on adds the ability to determine system temperature. Pressing the “More” button after the display shows 1,000s of hours of usage, will show temperature as follows:

Lights…………….....………Temperature
No LEDs………….…..………Below 30F
40%..........................36 to 45F
40% and 60%............46 to 55F
60%..........................56 to 65F
60% and 80%............66 to 75F
80%.........................76 to 85F
80 and 100%............86 to 95F
100%.......................96 to 99F
100% blinking……..….over 99F
All LEDs blinking……...Sensor bad

Hold down the MORE button on cell for 6sec and watch the Cold Water/PWR light if it goes RED that tells you the temp sensor is bad and you need to swap out the flow switch/temp sensor (520736). If it doesn’t turn RED it could still be bad but it just hasn’t failed completely and then you need to make sure salt level in the pool is 3500 or above if it is swap flow switch/temp sensor (520736)

The temperature sensor is a 10k thermistor. Its resistance varies based on the temperature. The way it varies is known precisely. So the box measures resistance in ohms and calculates the temperature.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[lafonte98]

Greg,

I would take look inside and see if there is scale.. If you have scale, then you have no real choice but to clean it with diluted MA..

JamesW showed us the following test to check the thermister...

The Intellichlor keeps changing depending on the version, so it’s hard to keep up with what versions do what. They also hide a lot of useful information, which also makes it difficult to diagnose.

Pressing and holding the “More” button launches the System Status Mode. When the lights finish scrolling, the percent lights indicate hours of usage in 1,000s. For example, if the 40% light lights, that indicates 4,000 hours.

Version 3.1 on adds the ability to determine system temperature. Pressing the “More” button after the display shows 1,000s of hours of usage, will show temperature as follows:

Lights…………….....………Temperature
No LEDs………….…..………Below 30F
40%..........................36 to 45F
40% and 60%............46 to 55F
60%..........................56 to 65F
60% and 80%............66 to 75F
80%.........................76 to 85F
80 and 100%............86 to 95F
100%.......................96 to 99F
100% blinking……..….over 99F
All LEDs blinking……...Sensor bad

Hold down the MORE button on cell for 6sec and watch the Cold Water/PWR light if it goes RED that tells you the temp sensor is bad and you need to swap out the flow switch/temp sensor (520736). If it doesn’t turn RED it could still be bad but it just hasn’t failed completely and then you need to make sure salt level in the pool is 3500 or above if it is swap flow switch/temp sensor (520736)

The temperature sensor is a 10k thermistor. Its resistance varies based on the temperature. The way it varies is known precisely. So the box measures resistance in ohms and calculates the temperature.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Jim,

Appreciate the information. That explanation makes since due to the cell originally showing 20% and 40% but then all of the sudden (without me touching anything and after I changed the controls to the EasyTouch panel) it somehow went up to 20%, 40%, and 60% being lite up green. The temperature must have went up to the 60% range which makes sense!!!! It is pouring right now so I will probably wait until tomorrow to check the cell for calcium buildup. Thanks for your time!

I just bought a Pentair Kreepy Krauler 920, first robot vacuum since owning my pool. I sure hope it was worth the money.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[lafonte98]

Jim,

I checked the IC40 and it has zero scaling on it so I did not use MA. I added a few more bags of salt over the weekend and it is now running correctly with no low salt warning, all green lights . I guess my EasyTouch panel is fairly accurate when displaying the current salt level. I really need to learn more about what the EasyTouch panel can do, I feel like I am missing out on some cool features. Just realized it has an EGG timer that I can use for my pool light in case I forget to turn them off I can set that. Do you happen to know of a good forum on here for the EasyTouch or a good YouTube video? If not, I can search on my own.

Thanks again for all the help,

Greg Gammon

 

[Jimrahbe]

Greg,

Most EasyTouch threads are under the "Everything Else" forum... The U-tube stuff that I saw would not help many people.

I suggest that you just go to the "Everything Else" forum and start reading old threads.. You can search using the advance tab and then search the key word "EasyTouch".. When you find a subject that you have questions about, just start asking...

Thanks,

Jim R.