I have a 14 yr old system that is driving me crazy. it started out with a bad spa side switch that i took off the system. I cant set the time and i have no water temp reading and air shows 0 degrees. I swapped temp sensors-no change. i have a indoor panel, old mobiletouch handheld, and a new wifi device-unsure of name. i have made a small jumper wire for the indoor panel to eliminate a bad wire run, so that i can sit at equip. and use the indoor panel. yes, i swap the mobile touch antenna/board and wifi board when i use that item. i get a error retrieving data on all devices. i have talked to pentair - was told to replace boards, did that and no change. talked to pool builder/friend and he gave me 2 used boards-no change. i have installed 2 new boards-no change. last 2 new boards i have only installed temp sensor wires to see if something was taking out boards-no change. is my indoor panel bad? and taking out boards? thanks jim
intellitouch problem
- Thread starter jimjoli
- Start date
Jim.
What say we look at one problem at a time.. You say you have no water temp reading and the air temp shows zero.. When you say you swapped temp sensors, did you replace them or just swap the connections on the two (non-working) senors already in your system???
Let's see of Tom has any other ideas... Calling @ogdento
Thanks,
Jim R.
What say we look at one problem at a time.. You say you have no water temp reading and the air temp shows zero.. When you say you swapped temp sensors, did you replace them or just swap the connections on the two (non-working) senors already in your system???
Let's see of Tom has any other ideas... Calling @ogdento
Thanks,
Jim R.
Hey Jim and Jim,
Let's follow JimR's suggestion of 1 thing at a time to see if we can figure out the communication problem... I'm not worried about the temp sensors because when there is no communcation the indoor controller always show zero (since it can't get data from the outdoor unit).
The comm port is an rs485 bus and many components can be connected to it... any of which can disrupt communication. By removing everything except the indoor controller, we can eliminate the possibility of another causing this problem.
So, since you've got new boards to try, let's assume their comms work. Shut off power and disconnect everything from the comm ports except the indoor controller (i5 has 1 port, i7 and i9 have 2). If there are multiple wires in the same comm port connector/block, remove everything except the indoor controller. (you might want to snap a photo first).
Once you have it all set up, power back up and after 30 seconds or so the indoor controller will be reset and should try to get the time and temp. You can press the "Heat" button on the indoor panel and it will try to load the heat settings from the outdoor unit. If the comms work on the indoor controller (again, assume the outdoor one works), you'll get time, temp and the heat screen.
Let us know what you find!
Tom
Let's follow JimR's suggestion of 1 thing at a time to see if we can figure out the communication problem... I'm not worried about the temp sensors because when there is no communcation the indoor controller always show zero (since it can't get data from the outdoor unit).
The comm port is an rs485 bus and many components can be connected to it... any of which can disrupt communication. By removing everything except the indoor controller, we can eliminate the possibility of another causing this problem.
So, since you've got new boards to try, let's assume their comms work. Shut off power and disconnect everything from the comm ports except the indoor controller (i5 has 1 port, i7 and i9 have 2). If there are multiple wires in the same comm port connector/block, remove everything except the indoor controller. (you might want to snap a photo first).
Once you have it all set up, power back up and after 30 seconds or so the indoor controller will be reset and should try to get the time and temp. You can press the "Heat" button on the indoor panel and it will try to load the heat settings from the outdoor unit. If the comms work on the indoor controller (again, assume the outdoor one works), you'll get time, temp and the heat screen.
Let us know what you find!
Tom
Jim,
I believe that if your system did not "see" the temp sensors it would set off all kinds of errors.. I also assume that you do not have a little 3" display built into the box at the equipment pad and that you are using a remote of some type to see the temp readings...
Let me know if this is true and then I'll need to wait for Tom to chime in... I have an EasyTouch and ScreenLogic, with no remotes..
Thanks Tom... Exactly why I asked for your help...
Thanks,
Jim R.
I believe that if your system did not "see" the temp sensors it would set off all kinds of errors.. I also assume that you do not have a little 3" display built into the box at the equipment pad and that you are using a remote of some type to see the temp readings...
Let me know if this is true and then I'll need to wait for Tom to chime in... I have an EasyTouch and ScreenLogic, with no remotes..
Thanks Tom... Exactly why I asked for your help...
Thanks,
Jim R.
Hey Jim,
Nice work plugging the indoor controller directly into the outdoor board with a short jumper... that's exactly how I do it. That the indoor controller STILL cannot communicate with any of the outdoor boards makes me think the indoor controller's comm port is dead.
As for the mobiletouch 1 not being able to communicate either... I'm assuming you've got a similar short jumper from the comm port to the transceiver card... and if so, it seems like the mobiletouch 1's transceiver card is also dead! 2 dead parts can surely happen, but it seems a tad unlikely... like maybe I'm missing something. Do you remember any storms around the time the system started acting up?
Do you routinely use your mobile touch 1? If you don't use it much - or if you're a confident tinkerer - I might suggest that you crack it open... inside you will find an indoor controller board (identical to the indoor panel you've got). It's connected to another transceiver card and to a battery management card. The indoor controller board from the mobile touch can be plugged into the outdoor controller with the short patch cable you made... you could try that and see if it can connect. Be aware that the case halves are sealed with some sort of silicone goo and it makes an unholy mess when you take it apart.
Tom
Nice work plugging the indoor controller directly into the outdoor board with a short jumper... that's exactly how I do it. That the indoor controller STILL cannot communicate with any of the outdoor boards makes me think the indoor controller's comm port is dead.
As for the mobiletouch 1 not being able to communicate either... I'm assuming you've got a similar short jumper from the comm port to the transceiver card... and if so, it seems like the mobiletouch 1's transceiver card is also dead! 2 dead parts can surely happen, but it seems a tad unlikely... like maybe I'm missing something. Do you remember any storms around the time the system started acting up?
Do you routinely use your mobile touch 1? If you don't use it much - or if you're a confident tinkerer - I might suggest that you crack it open... inside you will find an indoor controller board (identical to the indoor panel you've got). It's connected to another transceiver card and to a battery management card. The indoor controller board from the mobile touch can be plugged into the outdoor controller with the short patch cable you made... you could try that and see if it can connect. Be aware that the case halves are sealed with some sort of silicone goo and it makes an unholy mess when you take it apart.
Tom
I'm still thinking that it's odd for the comms on both the indoor controller and the transceiver to have died - barring some kind of storm/surge event - and I'm thinking about something Pool clown has recommended in the past... try clearing the eeprom on the indoor panel (if you haven't already), and then power down/restart the whole system.
30 seconds or so after the system is powered up, the indoor unit will try to get the time and temp from the outdoor unit... if neither updates then the comms are still not working. I usually hit the "heat" button - which also initiates a request to the outdoor unit - and that will fail if the comms are still dead.
30 seconds or so after the system is powered up, the indoor unit will try to get the time and temp from the outdoor unit... if neither updates then the comms are still not working. I usually hit the "heat" button - which also initiates a request to the outdoor unit - and that will fail if the comms are still dead.
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i believe it all started with the spa side switch getting water in to it, so thats why i was thinking the spa switch took out the boards. i have opened up the mobiletouch to find a new battery for it, and the goo is nasty. i will take indoor panel and boards to my sisters house this wkend to check for comm. thanks for your help-sometimes its good to get another pair of eyes on the problem. should i do a eeprom dump? if so, do i lose all programs, labels on all devices? and if i have no comm. would that be why i cant set time? thanks jim
Ahh, ok... it is definitely possible that the spa side controller took out the comm circuitry on whatever was connected to the comm port/bus (indoor panel, transceiver, ourdoor board) if water caused a short from the red or black (power lines) to the yellow/green (data) lines.
No comms will prevent you from setting the time using the indoor unit.
If you reset the eeprom on the indoor unit it will clear all programs labels etc on the indoor unit - but your programming is still on the outdoor unit... when a "blank" indoor unit is connected to a programmed outdoor unit, the indoor will download what is stored on the outdoor (and vice versa... this is a neat way to back up/port your programming when installing a new board... the "blank" board will try to get the programming from the other programmed board). But, for this to work, the comms on your outdoor board have to work.
One other way you can check comms is to connect the outdoor board's data lines to a computer using "rs485 to usb" adapter, and then watch the adapter with a serial monitor. The outdoor controller sends out a bunch of data every 5 seconds or so.
No comms will prevent you from setting the time using the indoor unit.
If you reset the eeprom on the indoor unit it will clear all programs labels etc on the indoor unit - but your programming is still on the outdoor unit... when a "blank" indoor unit is connected to a programmed outdoor unit, the indoor will download what is stored on the outdoor (and vice versa... this is a neat way to back up/port your programming when installing a new board... the "blank" board will try to get the programming from the other programmed board). But, for this to work, the comms on your outdoor board have to work.
One other way you can check comms is to connect the outdoor board's data lines to a computer using "rs485 to usb" adapter, and then watch the adapter with a serial monitor. The outdoor controller sends out a bunch of data every 5 seconds or so.