Maytronics Dolphin Drive Motor Problem

[djw]

Moved from here.
This is the 52ZY24-50 impeller motor in mine that I suspect this the reason why my S200 is not working. Goes forward, backward, then stops. The impeller motor looks fine in general, it will turn but the bearings are "stiff" as best I can describe them - not seized but by no means free spinning, but on the bench when I put power in the unit, the drive motor works, but the impeller motor does not start spinning unless I tap the motor shaft, then it runs.

I would buy a new impeller motor if anyone knows where one can be had, or I can do the rest of the tear down and see if new bearings help get it started.

If anyone has ideas, LMK.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Is the Dolphin out of warranty?

For parts call Marina Pool, Spa and Patio in Colorado. They helped me once promptly. Margaret or Seth there can help you.
You can find the number easily on Google.

Maddie

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Internal parts are incredibly hard to come by as Dolphin insists that the main components are swapped out rather than rebuilt. It’s an unfortunate decision for DIY fixers but it serves the vast majority of pool owners well enough (most people never want to look inside anything). These components are built in Israel, not the USA, and so finding the internal parts of the motor assembly is going to be a real snipe-hunt. I hope you can locate a supply.

 

[React]

I have the same issue with my s200i. Was repaired within warranty and also out of warranty but now having issues again.

I tried changing out the bearings but still had issues with them spinning freely.

Did you have any luck? I'll probably break down any buy an entire motor if I don't have any success fixing it.

Looks like you aren't far from me too @djw

 

[djw]

II had one motor drive unit replaced under warranty too. This failing motor is the exchange unit.

I obtained and tried to replace the bearings, but on my impeller motor, the motor casing screws were really loctited in and, despite having about every high-end phillips head bit you could imagine (from other hobbies), one of the screws would not move and ended up getting unusable... They are soft and made out of crappy metal. On to plan B.

My bearings were not completely seized, but the impeller motor turned hard. When powered on, I could manually twist the motor shaft and it would start running, but would not start on its own without assistance.

Several of the youtube comments had similar reports and some stated they just used some thin high quality lube down the shaft on either end seemed to help. Having nothing to lose at this stage, I tried the same and it seemed to work ok. On the bench the impeller motor would start-up at the appropriate time, spin, stop, start and spin ok. I put a couple more drops down each shaft end with it running. Still seemed equally stiff to turn by hand.

I put it back together and also added some silicone grease around the impeller motor shaft end that is exposed to water. The wet end of either motor seems a weak point to me in the design - can't imagine that they can keep water out forever.

I put it back together and it has been running for a couple of days without incident. I suspect I am still on "borrowed time" with the motor unit anyway, but I will run it this way until it fails for good.

Although I really like the Maytronics robots and know they are fantastically easy to work on, I think you have to "budget" in your mind that you are going to spend a few hundred dollars per year to keep it running and replacing all wear parts, including the motor(s). When it was dead, I was just going to buy another entire unit and use this one for spares, but now I think I will just break down and get a spare motor drive unit and use this one for parts when it gives up eventually.

Finding affordable replacement motors would make the expense of a Maytronics cleaner much more tolerable. The motors should cost about ~~$10 each if they could be sourced.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

II had one motor drive unit replaced under warranty too. This failing motor is the exchange unit.

I obtained and tried to replace the bearings, but on my impeller motor, the motor casing screws were really loctited in and, despite having about every high-end phillips head bit you could imagine (from other hobbies), one of the screws would not move and ended up getting unusable... They are soft and made out of crappy metal. On to plan B.

My bearings were not completely seized, but the impeller motor turned hard. When powered on, I could manually twist the motor shaft and it would start running, but would not start on its own without assistance.

Several of the youtube comments had similar reports and some stated they just used some thin high quality lube down the shaft on either end seemed to help. Having nothing to lose at this stage, I tried the same and it seemed to work ok. On the bench the impeller motor would start-up at the appropriate time, spin, stop, start and spin ok. I put a couple more drops down each shaft end with it running. Still seemed equally stiff to turn by hand.

I put it back together and also added some silicone grease around the impeller motor shaft end that is exposed to water. The wet end of either motor seems a weak point to me in the design - can't imagine that they can keep water out forever.

I put it back together and it has been running for a couple of days without incident. I suspect I am still on "borrowed time" with the motor unit anyway, but I will run it this way until it fails for good.

Although I really like the Maytronics robots and know they are fantastically easy to work on, I think you have to "budget" in your mind that you are going to spend a few hundred dollars per year to keep it running and replacing all wear parts, including the motor(s). When it was dead, I was just going to buy another entire unit and use this one for spares, but now I think I will just break down and get a spare motor drive unit and use this one for parts when it gives up eventually.

Finding affordable replacement motors would make the expense of a Maytronics cleaner much more tolerable. The motors should cost about ~~$10 each if they could be sourced.

100% agree

Terrible customer service and support coupled with “engineered failure”. They simply don’t want the end user to have a source of low cost supplies because they promise their retailers that they’ll be able to sell many of these units per year and that service is nothing more than a 15min job to replace bricked components that they can charge a significant premium on plus service/labor fees. The motor assemblies generally run $400-$600 retail to the customer but I doubt there’s more than $50-$100 worth of parts in them. It’s all designed to flush a lot of profit into their distribution channel so that the parent company, Maytronics, doesn’t have to sell into the retail space and incur all those costs.

My robot too appears to be on borrowed time. If I get another season out of it I will chalk it up to a very expensive and failed pool toy experiment …. Then I may reconsider going back to my old suction side cleaner.

 

[djw]

There’s probably a friendly “black market” opportunity for motors around here. I am pretty sure I have my original drive unit somewhere (I hope) and who knows, one or both motors are probably workable or simply repairable. You’ve piqued my curiosity now.

Everyone that has had to get a replacement drive unit may have a motor or two on hand that could be resurrected at much less cost than an entire $400 drive unit replacement.

Don’t throw those old drives out. Power to the people!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I’ve seen at least one site that will sell the impellar motor but I have yet to see anyplace where they sell the drive motors.

 

[djw]

I’ve seen at least one site that will sell the impellar motor but I have yet to see anyplace where they sell the drive motors.

I saw one in searching, forget where, but not in stock and I think it was around $100, which I think is Maytronics-level retail pricing.

 

[React]

100% agree

Terrible customer service and support coupled with “engineered failure”. They simply don’t want the end user to have a source of low cost supplies because they promise their retailers that they’ll be able to sell many of these units per year and that service is nothing more than a 15min job to replace bricked components that they can charge a significant premium on plus service/labor fees. The motor assemblies generally run $400-$600 retail to the customer but I doubt there’s more than $50-$100 worth of parts in them. It’s all designed to flush a lot of profit into their distribution channel so that the parent company, Maytronics, doesn’t have to sell into the retail space and incur all those costs.

My robot too appears to be on borrowed time. If I get another season out of it I will chalk it up to a very expensive and failed pool toy experiment …. Then I may reconsider going back to my old suction side cleaner.

I agree with you both and this was a tough lesson over robots. I've just come to the decision that I'll need to replace the motor every few years. Finally broke down and got a new motor from marina ($350) and works like new.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I agree with you both and this was a tough lesson over robots. I've just come to the decision that I'll need to replace the motor every few years. Finally broke down and got a new motor from marina ($350) and works like new.

In my robot thread (see Signature link) I opened my motor up and found several issues. I’m on track to finish rebuilding it and hopefully it will work again. If it does work, then the cost to rebuild the robot was maybe $50 worth of parts and a few hours of my time which just proves that these robots can be repaired cheaply. It’s just Maytronics’ choice to stick it to their customer base and make them pay exorbitant fees.

 

[markayash]

I’ve seen at least one site that will sell the impellar motor but I have yet to see anyplace where they sell the drive motors.

Remember what site had them? That is what bad on mine

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Have you called Marina to ask?

 

[markayash]

Have you called Marina to ask?

Nah, might ask but digging around and talking to JoyfullNoise you can't really buy them separate..At least not from Maytronics.
I did find some " refurbished" ones on ebay for $175 including shipping

If mine was a rare failure I might consider it but seems there are a lot of the failing after 3 years and not all the same part

 

[pjt]

I would think there's an enterprising TFP enthusiast that could retrofit high quality brushless motors into robots as a side gig.

 

[markayash]

I would think there's an enterprising TFP enthusiast that could retrofit high quality brushless motors into robots as a side gig.

Just find a supplier and sell them

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I would think there's an enterprising TFP enthusiast that could retrofit high quality brushless motors into robots as a side gig.

Brushless motors work differently than mechanically commutated motors. Therefore to use a brushless motors, one would need to completely redesign the control board as well. Dolphin does manufacture commercial grade robots that use brushless DC motors but they are significantly more expensive than their consumer grade products.