I have an Intelliflo VSF that has been running fine for a couple of years (since new), scheduled by an EasyTouch PL4 and ScreenLogic. A couple of weeks ago, it stopped following the schedule (of course, while I was away for a week), causing my first green pool. When I got home, I noticed that it had not been running (per screenlogic history). The pump was unresponsive from the app and from the EasyTouch panel. It would, however, respond from the panel on the pump itself (which it shouldn’t). I power-cycled the whole system and it ran fine. Now, I just noticed that it again didn’t run for a few days in a row (after running as scheduled for a week), then it ran every other day for four days. Today, it’s unresponsive again, except from the panel on the pump itself. I ran my fingers down the data cable to the pump to see if the gardner had snagged it or something. I found no obvious damage, but now it works (by app and EasyTouch) again. Should I replace the data cable or does anyone have any other ideas? Today’s happenings make me think bad cable. I just can’t understand why a bad cable would cause intermittent (and even every-other day) operation, when it is never manipulated or moved. It also doesn’t seem like the power-cycle last time should have fixed it if this was the culprit.
Intelliflo Stopped Following Schedule
- Thread starter steveoFresno
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,480
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Sounds like the RS-485 data connection is flaky. The ET may not have bulletproof error recovery on it and may take a restart to get it communicating again.
Did you disconnect the cable at the pump? We have seen cables with the connection pins corroded.
Replacing the cable could be a good guess.
Lets see what ideas @Jimrahbe has.
Did you disconnect the cable at the pump? We have seen cables with the connection pins corroded.
Replacing the cable could be a good guess.
Lets see what ideas @Jimrahbe has.
Steve,
It is unlikely that the cable itself is bad, but the connections on either end could well be bad..
Make sure the green and yellow wires are connected well where they connect to the EasyTouch.. The connector screws can come loose, especially if several wired are connected to one connection terminal.
As Allen points out, we have seen the other end of the cable, the one with the connector that connects to the IntelliFlo, having corrosion.. Sometimes the corrosion is on the cable side and other times it is on pump side.. I remember one where one of the connector pins had completely dissolved..
What I would do is look at the pump's display. It should say "Display not active" if the pump is being controlled by the EasyTouch.. I would have someone watch the display while you move the cable around.. If the pump's display suddenly shows a normal screen, then you will know the cable is intermittent..
Of course, it would make sense to inspect both ends of the cable no matter what.
Thanks,
Jim R.
It is unlikely that the cable itself is bad, but the connections on either end could well be bad..
Make sure the green and yellow wires are connected well where they connect to the EasyTouch.. The connector screws can come loose, especially if several wired are connected to one connection terminal.
As Allen points out, we have seen the other end of the cable, the one with the connector that connects to the IntelliFlo, having corrosion.. Sometimes the corrosion is on the cable side and other times it is on pump side.. I remember one where one of the connector pins had completely dissolved..
What I would do is look at the pump's display. It should say "Display not active" if the pump is being controlled by the EasyTouch.. I would have someone watch the display while you move the cable around.. If the pump's display suddenly shows a normal screen, then you will know the cable is intermittent..
Of course, it would make sense to inspect both ends of the cable no matter what.
Thanks,
Jim R.
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When you check the pump end of the cable, make sure the locking ring is tightly securing the plug to the pump socket. There's also a nut which secures the socket. Mine likes to loosen a bit periodically, probably from vibration.
Just realized that I never said thanks. Sorry for that and thanks for the advice! Connections looked okay, and it seems to be working now. Must have been a positional open in one of the connections.
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