Instant salt reading low (-2000) on my Aquarite

tangte

Member
Feb 16, 2017
16
Tallahassee
Hello,

I have an aquarite t-cell 15. It developed a problem recently. The low salt light was on, so added 4 bags of salt in there, and the salt reading was fine the next day. But a few days later, the average salt reading lowered down to 2700 again. So I went to the pool store and they told me my salt level was 3400 and my pool has Zero chlorine in there! So I went back to my aquarite system and press the diagnostic button while it was generating. The instant salt was reading -2000, -1900, something like that...The current was about 3.4A, which also seems low compare to before, not exactly sure. I tried to reset the salt level to 3400. It just lowered down to 2700 again in a few days. Has anybody seen this before? Does this mean my cell is going bad, or I have a bad circuit board? Appreciate your help!
 
Thanks for your reply.
diagnostic readings: voltage is about 22V, current is about 3.4A, instant salt -1900. I believe these are the important numbers
I bought this house 2 years ago. So the cell is at lease 2 years old. Can be a lot older than that.
The cell is very clean. And I cleaned it with HCl acid for 20 minutes anyways. Did not make any difference.
May I ask another question. I saw somebody recommend in another thread 'reverse the polarity, and check the diagnostic readings again'. What is that for? Does the aquarite system reverse the polarity automatically from cycle to cycle? Just curious how this device works.
 
22 volts is lower than normal.

Turn the switch to off and recheck the voltage.

Then, go back to auto and recheck the readings.

What are the first four characters of the cell serial number?
 
Sorry I was wrong regarding the voltage. I just stepped out of my house and turned on the system. The readings are: 27.8V, 3.8A, -2000.
If I 'reverse the polarity' by switching to off then back to auto, the readings become: 27V, 5.2A, -3100.
I took a picture of the cell tag, attched below. Not sure which one is the serial number.
Thanks for your help!
 

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Just as an option if you’re replacing your cell, I recently replaced my Hayward cell with this third party that’s highly reviewed and rated , and quite a bit cheaper than the name brand . At least check it out before you skip a mortgage payment to afford the Hayward model.

https://www.amazon.com/T-Cell-15-Co...s=gateway&sprefix=blue+works+&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
Thanks man. I actually just asked this question while you were posting this suggestion. What a good timing! So, how did this replacement work for you so far? Pretty good?
 
Most generic cells will work fine initially, but few will last as long as the genuine OEM. And good luck getting any warranty claims honored on any of those third party cells.

If you got 5 years out of cell and a new one is less than $500, that’s less than $100 per year for chlorine costs. With good management of your water chemistry and TFP methods, it should last even longer.
 

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Thanks man. I actually just asked this question while you were posting this suggestion. What a good timing! So, how did this replacement work for you so far? Pretty good?
So far so good, only two months old though. Performance is better than the OEM, but when the OEM was new I didn’t own the house, so hard to make an apples to apples
 
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