Jandy Truclear: Replace or switch?

[KCNM]

Hello everyone. Long time no see.

My Jandy Truclear is about 4 years old, and I was planning on replacing the salt cell as spring comes up, as production was decreasing. However, now the power pack LCD panel is lighting but not displaying anything. This seems to indicate a bad power pack.

Both on here and with my local hardware store, the Jandy Truclear are not highly spoken of. If removing the cover and jiggling the display ribbon cables does not magically fix the issue, should I even bother with a like-for-like replacement? Or should I replace with another system? And if the latter, any recommendations?

I have a very simple setup with no automation. It's an old single-speed pump and a plain cartridge filter, all on a timer. Not planning on doing anything more than that unless forced to.

 

[ajw22]

If you do not have an Aqualink then dump the TruClear.

Consider a Circupool RJ Series. Especially if you can DIY the installation.

Circupool SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Jandy TruClear SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Newdude]

Both on here and with my local hardware store, the Jandy Truclear are not highly spoken of

Its the budget model, the same as Pentair's IC15/IC30. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it also is what it is.

If any of them did as much, for as long, nobody would spend more on the flagship models.

 

[wireform]

I'm in agreement, do away with the Trueclear go it with an RJ series with minimum 2x pool gallon capacity. Have a customer that has one and I think it's garbage compared to the circupool when there's no automation involved. The customers Trueclear will be cut out as soon as winter is gone.

 

[Mdragger88]

In tampa you would probably benefit from even bigger than 2x’s your pool’s volume of a unit. Something like a 30/35k rated unit especially if you’re using a single speed pump still. When browsing on the discount salt pool website be sure to select the smaller unit then “upgrade” to the next size for $10 as thats the current sale.
Here’s the comparison page so you can compare outputs etc of various models vs the jandy unit you have

Compare and Review Saltwater Chlorine Generator Prices and Features | DSP

www.discountsaltpool.com

 

[KCNM]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Thanks especially to Mdragger88 for the heads up on the special over at Discount Salt. I'll likely be purchasing the RJ30 tonight before it expires. That's a good 50% output increase over the TruClear, which should help a lot during the summer. I know I have 10,000 gallons in the signature as an estimate. I definitely don't have more than 12,000 based on the water bill after filling. So should be close to 3x capacity.

I don't mind doing the electric, since all the lines and such are already run for the current system. I've never worked with PVC before, but I watched the guys doing it a few years ago and it didn't seem like rocket science. So should be a straight forward DIY project.

 

[Newdude]

I've never worked with PVC before, but I watched the guys doing it a few years ago and it didn't seem like rocket science

Buy 2 T's and have enough scrap pipe that you get 6 practice tries before doing it for real. Then it's your 7th rodeo, not your first.

 

[wireform]

I'll get ahead of your next challenge of where in the plumbing it's going. The horizontal pipe where the TRUECLEAR is now has only enough room for the cell or maybe not. The flow switch is a separate part to plumb in which will then be in a vertical pipe if there isn't ample room and it'll need to be mounted in the up-flow direction where I've placed a red "x".

 

[KCNM]

I'll get ahead of your next challenge of where in the plumbing it's going. The horizontal pipe where the TRUECLEAR is now has only enough room for the cell or maybe not. The flow switch is a separate part to plumb in which will then be in a vertical pipe if there isn't ample room and it'll need to be mounted in the up-flow direction where I've placed a red "x".

Thorough! I appreciate the help.

@Newdude I remembered your name from posting on my original build thread. I'm currently entertaining myself reading through your build thread from '22 now.

 

[KCNM]

Well I opened the power pack cover. Everything looked perfectly normal. No signs of water intrusion or corruption. I disconnected and inspected the ribbon cables. The contacts looked clean, but I did notice this brown discoloration *within* the keypad ribbon. Unsure whether it's something that's shorting the contacts or not. Regardless, put everything back together and the symptoms did not improve. Still only light on the display with no characters. The light is also not responsive to holding the power button for 6 seconds, which is supposed to power off the system.

(Apologies for the quality. Taken at night with a headlamp.)

So RJ30 is ordered and on the way. I watched their installation video on YouTube and I'm pretty confident I'll be able to handle the install.

 

[wireform]

So RJ30 is ordered and on the way. I watched their installation video on YouTube and I'm pretty confident I'll be able to handle the install.

It's a no brainer for a seasoned diy'er.

 

[wireform]

Can you shorten the ribbon to beyond that point.

 

[KCNM]

Can you shorten the ribbon to beyond that point.

My wife suggested that. The extent of my knowledge is that ribbons are very easy to accidentally destroy when working on phones and laptops... I don't have much experience in purposely trying to destroy them lol.

But the calculations basically broke down that we're paying at least $420 or so no matter what for a new cell. Do we mess with this power pack to try to get it alive again? Or just commit the money to a hopefully better system?

 

[wireform]

If it's clipped into a connection then unclip it and see......

 

[KCNM]

If it's clipped into a connection then unclip it and see......

It's not a clip. The ribbon is just a ribbon with contacts on one side. Then it goes into a slot with contacts on that same side. So the task would be stripping the ribbon back an inch and having a clean exposed contact.

 

[Newdude]

I'm currently entertaining myself reading through your build thread from '22 now.

There were many ways to deal with the experience. Humor was the only one that didn't involve bail money.

 

[PoolGate]

If you end up replacing it you could probably throw the old system on ebay and get $100 or so for parts as a non-working unit. Especially if the cell was still working when the power supply failed.

 

[KCNM]

Finally got around to installing today. Unfortunately, the suggestion from @wireform regarding placement wasn't going to work. The flow switch wants 12" of space in front of it, and there wasn't that much vertical space. And the cell and the switch were too long to fit horizontally. So I instead lengthened the loop towards the house by about 9", giving me plenty of space to install the cell and the switch with the proper clearance.

For never having done PVC before, I think I did an OK job. My 9yo son helped me on the top section, so some of it is not as pretty. But no water comes out when the pump is on, so who cares. In all, it was about a 4-hour project. Spent $40 on tools -- PVC cutters and primer + cement -- and another $20 in parts -- 5' of PVC, two 90° "pool sweeps", and one coupler.

Start of the project.


Cut the existing pipe as close to the junctions as I could.


Everything back together. Pump on but nothing connected to check for leaks. This is also at least 30m after cementing the last junction, as that was the listed cure time.


Tiny bubbles after connecting everything!

 

[PoolStored]

Congrats!

You want the "hump" facing down on the cell, that way, gasses are cleared away and not retained in the hump:

 

[KCNM]

You want the "hump" facing down on the cell, that way, gasses are cleared away and not retained in the hump:

I can flip it tomorrow morning. I saw that orientation in the manual called out for VSP, so I assumed it was supposed to be the other way for non-VSP. Since I have a single speed, I put it oriented "up".