IntelliCenter Bizarre behavior

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Turbo1Ton

Turbo1Ton

Gold Supporter
Dec 26, 2019
1,995
NE Oklahoma
Pool Size
14500
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Was trying to heat the spa for the kids tonight. Water temps started at 79F. Reached 87F and stopped. I go out to check it after a while when kids said it wasn't running. Pump had shut off because it lost comms. Reset the system, everything comes back on normal. Switch from Pool to Spa. Heater never tries to fire, after 30secs to a minute, the comms are lost and it shuts everything down. Do this several times, no joy.

Thought maybe they forced an OTA update, but no, still on 1.064. Reset the system and all is well as long as in pool mode. Switch to spa and lose comms.

At a loss for what to check.

--Jeff
 
Heated pool just fine yesterday. Was 79, heated to 86. No issues whatsoever.

I get rando heater alerts on my system (AFS, Ign Lockout, etc.) but none have caused issues with the actual operation of the heater.

--Jeff
 
Your MasterTemp connected by firemans switch or RS-485?

Lost comms with which devices?

How many alert messages did you get in what sequence?
 
ajw22 said:
Your MasterTemp connected by firemans switch or RS-485?

Lost comms with which devices?

How many alert messages did you get in what sequence?
Click to expand...
RS485 on the heater.

All devices. Both pumps and heater.

Only alert I got tonight was the AFS at the initial fire up of the heater (which I believe was not actual due to the heater heating the water up 8 degrees.)

--Jeff
 
Alright, I spent some time this evening trying to troubleshoot. Everything is working as expected. Ran in Pool mode all night (as is normal) and it was running just fine this morning still.

Ran the pool for 15 minutes with the heater on. All is normal. Shut down the heater, and let it completely shut off. Toggled the spa on, everything reacted normally. Heater initialized (Blower started running) and pump speed increased. Heater lit off. Last night the heater would never initialize. It was basically dead, and after about what seemed like several minutes the pump would shut down and the local display on the pump was reading 0 RPM and the heater was controllable from the local keypad.

Ran the system for at least as long as it ran last night (guessing 15 minutes last night before it shut down, water temp went from 79 to 87, so couldn't have ran too long). Ran for at least 20 minutes this time and let the heater completely shut down once it reached setpoint. No odd behavior noticed.

I will say I had been having adult beverages last night but I had only had 1 at the time this happened!

--Jeff
 
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And tonight when my programmed spa schedule is running, the heater worked for a bit, then lost comms. I have been out there and can get the heater to run by using the local keypad, but it has no communication with the IntelliCenter.

Pumps are fine, at the moment.

Heater comms are connected through the RS-485 expansion board, on its own dedicated terminal, and the terminals are tight and nothing looks wonky.

--Jeff
 
After further consideration, I'm not sure it had comms when the schedule started. So my heater has lost comms with the IC. So weird.

--Jeff
 

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Ok... Did some more troubleshooting. I have found that between the IntelliCenter board comms connector A and B, the green/yellow pins no longer have continuity. So everything that is connected through the comms B connector is not working. This includes my heater and nodejs. Not sure how the Intellichlor is still communicating because the surge board is connected through comms B connector. Pumps are the only thing on the comms A connector.

@ogdento - Any idea what may be going on? Anything more I can check? Could it be repairable?

--Jeff
 
Did you have 3 wires under each screw on the B connector?
 
Get the comm expansion board.

It is pricey but considering the growth of RS-485 devices and if Pentair ever gets the IntelliVakve RS-485 working I think it will become necessary. I installed it in my panel so that I did not need to double up wiring in any comm connectors.
 
ajw22 said:
Get the comm expansion board.

It is pricey but considering the growth of RS-485 devices and if Pentair ever gets the IntelliVakve RS-485 working I think it will become necessary. I installed it in my panel so that I did not need to double up wiring in any comm connectors.
Click to expand...
Already have the comms expansion board.

The only connector with multiple wires is comms A for the 2 pump wires. Comms B has one 4 conductor cable that runs to the surge board. Another connector on the surge board runs to the comms expansion board. Heater and ethernet for nodejs are terminated on the expansion board.

I just ran a jumper between green/yellow terminals on connectors A and B and that did nothing. I have continuity through everything now and the heater and nodejs are still not operating.

A little bit at a loss as to what else to try to keep troubleshooting.

--Jeff
 
Connect the comm expansion board to Comm A on PCB.

Connect the two pumps you had on Comm A to the expansion board.

If that does not work it then something in the expansion board may be defective.

Double up wires and move everything off of the expansion board.
 
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ajw22 said:
Connect the comm expansion board to Comm A on PCB.

Connect the two pumps you had on Comm A to the expansion board.

If that does not work it then something in the expansion board may be defective.

Double up wires and move everything off of the expansion board.
Click to expand...
I'll give this a shot. Mentally I'm struggling with this as everything is connected, verified by continuity check, but there may be something going on at the board level I guess.

--Jeff
 
Turbo1Ton said:
I'll give this a shot. Mentally I'm struggling with this as everything is connected, verified by continuity check, but there may be something going on at the board level I guess.

--Jeff
Click to expand...
Sometimes change for change’s sake is what gets things to work.

I don’t question the process when I get the result I want.
 
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ajw22 said:
Sometimes change for change’s sake is what gets things to work.

I don’t question the process when I get the result I want.
Click to expand...
Ha! Fair enough.

Expansion board is connected to comms A connector
Surge board to comms B connector
Pumps are connected directly to expansion board
Heater and nodejs still connected to expansion board

Pumps are communicating just fine.

Heater and nodejs are still dead. Now I'm wondering what is fried on the heater and RPI?

--Jeff
 
Disconnect heater and nodejs and only work one of them at a time.

Move wires to an unused connection on the expansion board or double it up with the wires to Comm A or B.
 
ajw22 said:
Disconnect heater and nodejs and only work one of them at a time.

Move wires to an unused connection on the expansion board or double it up with the wires to Comm A or B.
Click to expand...

Using only comms A, connected only one component at a time. Heater and nodejs did not work. As soon as I plugged the pumps back in, they fired right up.

Looking like this is a heater board/nodejs(RPi) issue.

--Jeff
 

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