IC60 Measuring Salt Level Often

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jimbethesda

jimbethesda

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Jul 2, 2018
679
Austin, TX
Pool Size
20000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I happened to glance at my IC60 the other day and I noticed it was in salt measuring mode. The manual states that it checks every 12 hours or right after powering up. Neither of those were true at the time. Since then, I’ve been looking at the reported salt level in my IntelliCenter app. It changes +/- 100 several times a day suggesting it is going into salt measuring mode frequently. Everything else appears to be working fine.

Was there a firmware update that changed the frequency of measuring? Is this a sign something is wrong with it? It’s about 1.5 yrs old and still under warranty.

Thanks in advance!
 
Check your flow rate. Each time the cell sees low flow, it goes through the boot up cycle.
 
mknauss said:
Check your flow rate. Each time the cell sees low flow, it goes through the boot up cycle.
Click to expand...
I wondered if that was the case, so I purposely lowered the pump speed until the low flow light came on, then increased it. It did not go into measurement mode.
 
Just tried it again. Low flow for about 3 mins, then back up. Flow light just goes from red to green. No salt measurement.
 
Interesting. Only reason it reboots before 12 hours is removing power I guess. I swore mine rebooted at low flow ------
 
I doubt that. It is integral to the Intellicenter. You must be in Pool Mode for the IC to run. What do your schedules look like?
 

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I have no experience with IntellipH. I wonder if it is when it dumps acid that the IC shuts its power off?
@Dirk -- you have one of those pH things ---- ideas?
 
Jim,

I suspect that the power supply shuts off for a sec of so and resets everything.

My guess is the ipH that is causing the problem.

I suggest that you disconnect the ipH from the power and run the cell for a few hours and see if the problem goes away.

I seem to remember an old thread where IC60's were causing the EasyTouch SWCG power supply to reset, causing the IC60 to reset every few minutes.. An IC40 in the same system worked with no problems.. It may be a similar problem and caused by the extra load of the ipH.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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The IpH temporarily shuts down the IC's production of chlorine while it dispenses acid, then resumes the IC's normal operation when done. But it doesn't cut power to the IC, and so the IC does not restart or re-perform its start up process.

The IpH uses the IC's transformer for its power. Assuming the transformer is correctly wired to the pump relay, when it goes off, both the IpH and the IC lose power (which is what you want, so that nothing gets dispensed without pump running). Also, the IpH depends on the flow switch of the IC to determine flow. Neither IpH or IC will dispense if the IC's flow switch isn't indicating enough flow.

If any of that helps.

Certainly removing the IpH as a troubleshooting technique would be a good step. There's a lot of electronics involved up and down the chain of gizmos, so there are a lot of suspects.
 
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Oh, here's something to watch that might help narrow it down. The IpH displays a count down timer until its next dispensing (in minutes, starting at 60). If the power to both the IpH and the IC were getting interrupted at the same time, causing the IC to "reboot," the IpH's count down timer would also get reset. So if you can catch the IC rebooting, or retesting salt, whatever, but the IpH's countdown timer is not reset to 60mins, then the IpH did not also lose power.

As near as I can tell from the wiring, the IpH doesn't have any control of the power to the IC, only the pump relay does. The two power wires of the cable pass through the IpH. The IpH communicates with the IC, and can control all aspects of it (say, in the absence of a automation controller), but I believe it does so through the two comm wires, not anything to do with the two power wires (if I'm using the correct terminology).
 
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I know squat about the ipH, but it appears to me that the ipH plugs into the SWCG's power supply connection and that the SWCG plugs into the ipH..

If that is true, then the ipH runs off of about 40 Volts DC that would have originally gone to the SWCG. There is no AC power, either high voltage or low voltage involved..

If this were my system, I would monitor the DC voltage coming out of the SWCG power supply in the IntelliCenter and see if it intermittently drops too low. Without the ipH, it should be about 40 VDC when the cell is off and about 35 VDC when the cell is making chlorine..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
it appears to me that the ipH plugs into the SWCG's power supply connection and that the SWCG plugs into the ipH..
Click to expand...
Correct. But not just power, the comms go back and forth too. The IpH talks to the IC, and the IC still talks to the IntelliCenter (or ET). The IpH doesn't communicate with the IntelliCenter/ET. The IpH "listens to" and passes the IC comms, and displays status about the IC on the IpH controller screen, even while the IntelliCenter/ET is controlling the IC.
 
Dirk,

All that makes sense, but the com port is not going to shut off the IC60 or the IpH by removing the DC power..

I could be way off base, and the problem has nothing to do with the power running the IC60, but on the surface, it is the only thing that I know for sure will cause the IC60 to re-run the salt tests, so it kind of makes sense that intermittent power is the most likely cause of the reboots..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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