Low Voltage for Valve Actuators

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Yeah, tested several times because I was surprised but same every time.

Diagnostics look good! See attached.

Everything I can find about this transformer seems to indicate it's only used for the salt cell. So not sure it should be affecting the actuators. Based on the diagnostics tho it would seem like it's fine? Not sure why the resistence was showing 0 but seems like that couldn't be the case.
 

Attachments

  • 20230702_184658.jpg
    20230702_184658.jpg
    240.3 KB · Views: 1
  • 20230702_184751.jpg
    20230702_184751.jpg
    363.8 KB · Views: 1
Well, I guess I was wrong about the transformer only being needed for the salt cell. Or else it has to be wired some other way to bypass it, because I tried removing all and then some of the connections, but it would only power up the panel of everything was connected. Also retested the white/blue several more times and can't get anything other than 0 out of it.
 
Yeah my best guess is that it works for the draw the salt cell needs, but it can't supply enough amperage for the actuators. Looks like I can have it by next weekend at least...and hopefully it works! Question is whether I can resist ordering the OmniPL while I wait!
 
Well, I got the new transformer, and I'm no better off. But...there's some weirdness. New transformer tested out fine before I took it outside, although the blue and white was bouncing between 3.0 and 2.9 and the high value is supposed to be 2.9. Anyway, I disconnect all the old wires, and go to pull the old transformer out, and it's stuck somehow. The white wire is plugged into the wrong port! They had swapped the white transformer wire and the white power input wires on the board! So after getting the old one off I test the blue and white again, and now I get a reading! It's showing 2.0...in range although the very bottom. So long story short I wired it all properly and BOTH transformers still give me the exact same result. Same voltage drop and slow return after briefly turning an actuator on. Salt cell diagnostics are good either way. Old transformer is back installed so I can return the new one most likely.

So I assume the two white wires are just a direct connection on the board (didn't think to do a continuity test while it was open). So that would explain it working either way, and obviously the resistance test required measuring the right one since they're disconnected at that time.

"Luckily" I had already caved a few days ago and ordered the OmniPL Retrofit board, so it's already on the way. Won't arrive till Monday tho and so might not have time to try to install it till the next weekend. Will have to hold on to this transformer till then just in case I end up still needing it. (BTW, bought it from Amazon, supposed to be new, and 3 corners on the mount were badly bent and the sticker is all ripped up...does not look new at all!)

If this new board doesn't work...not really sure what to do. Rectifiers are the only other thing in the circuit but they can't be the issue since the actuators are AC.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: JamesW
olevelo said:
The white wire is plugged into the wrong port! They had swapped the white transformer wire and the white power input wires on the board!
Click to expand...
How long was it like that?

Definitely strange that it was like that.

Maybe that caused some damage.

I would think that it wouldn't work at all if the wires were not properly installed.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
It's been like that for at least as long as I've owned the house, just over a year. If the board has a direct connection between both white wires, then it shouldn't matter which one they're plugged in to. When I go to replace the board, I'll do a continuity test between them to see. Presumably it's literally just sending the 120v to the transformer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesW
So, the transformer was good the whole time and you were just testing the wrong wires?

I didn't think that the test results made any sense.

If you get a chance, remove the small transformer and show the whole thing.
 
I like how your username is a palindrome.

Does it mean the same thing forwards and backwards?

Also, is your city as nice as it sounds or is it a trick like Greenland where the name does not match the place?
 
JamesW said:
So, the transformer was good the whole time and you were just testing the wrong wires?

I didn't think that the test results made any sense.

If you get a chance, remove the small transformer and show the whole thing.
Click to expand...
The small transformer looks like it's surface mounted. I'll get a better look at it when I swap the boards, but probably won't spend much time trying to diagnose the old board, unless I come up with something easy to try this weekend.

And yeah it was good. The wires are all kind of bunched together so it wasn't obvious they were swapped unless you looked really closely.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: JamesW
JamesW said:
I like how your username is a palindrome.

Does it mean the same thing forwards and backwards?

Also, is your city as nice as it sounds or is it a trick like Greenland where the name does not match the place?
Click to expand...
It doesn't mean anything particular, but the whole point was to be a palindrome (hence no capitalization!).

As for Niceville, it actually is pretty nice! We're on the gulf coast so have that going for us, and it's a "small town" (I'm from much smaller places so it's still big to me!) with good schools and such. At the very least, it's not Greenland levels of opposite!
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesW
OK, everything is resolved! In two different ways!

So I should start with the actual solution to the original problem. This is going to make everyone mad...it was one yellow transformer wire that was plugged into a rectifier instead of the board!!! As mentioned before, I bought the OmniPL Retrofit kit, and when it arrived I thoroughly reviewed the install manual (I had actually read as much as I could online before, but it seems there are some differences in the versions). In the section where it talks about removing wires from the old board, it mentions removing both yellow wires, and I remembered that one wasn't on the board (since I had tried swapping the transformer). Interestingly, that's in the section for ProLogic and Aqualogic Plus, but not in the regular Aqualogic, which is what I have (or thought I did!). Anyway, before tearing things apart I tried just moving that yellow wire to the board, and boom, all of the old actuators worked! Checked the voltages and no crazy drops like before. So frustrating!

Well I was still excited about having the new board with wifi plus a lot more scheduling options, so I proceeded with the swap. The actual swap probably took 30-45 minutes, super easy. But I spent some more time mounting the display...since it's on a 15' cable I decided it made more sense to mount it inside my screen enclosure so you can control it without going out, and I had this weird hole in the wall that was covered by cardboard and it seemed like a great spot for it. But I wasn't excited about running the cable and having to drill through a portion of the house or the screen to run it. Well when I took the cardboard off, there was a wire in the hole that I wasn't sure what it was for. I then noticed that there was another wire I had never noticed before that ran from the pool panel into a hole in the side of the house. I realized this was an old remote display wire...they previously had a display right where I wanted it! The problem was the wires are bare on each end and I needed JST-XH connectors....but it was an 8 wire and I only needed 6...and I have a box of JST connectors...so surgery it was! Took a bit of time and had one lead break when plugging it in and didn't know till I tested (it powered on, but then couldn't communicate with the relays), but got it all in and now I have much better control of the pool!

Quite frustrating I bought 3 actuators, a transformer, and a new panel...close to $2k, and it was literally just one wire plugged in to the wrong spot. And a "pro" looked at it last year and didn't realize this. I tried to find some full wiring diagrams of this old board to confirm things were right but didn't find much. Surprising since its so popular. Anyway, I should be able to easily return the transformer, but the store I bought the actuators from say its a 20% restocking fee, plus I have to pay for shipping, so almost doesn't seem worth it. Thinking maybe keep them in case the others die (almost tempted to replace them anyway since the old ones are so grungy!). I also have one free valve control on the board so could use one more for something...just not sure what make sense!

Thanks for all the help!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply