New pool and Pentair panel not talking to pool pump anymore

[AnkeH]

I have my pool since April and swim almost every day since, so I'm very happy.

However, I do have an equipment question and stumbled over this forum in hope of help.
After the first heavy rain my pool was filled up to the pavers. I panicked a bit but then found out how to drain it. A couple of heat days went buy and the pool pump stopped working, probably because the water level got a bit low. I tried to get it running again using the Pentair panel but neither in Auto nor in Service mode any luck with the F button. I may have clicked around other buttons incl. reset and breakers . My pool guy only knows how to use the panel that is directly on the pump (which I didn't even know existed before). He started it up again which is ok for now. However, I can't control the pump anymore from my remote or from the panel.

Does anybody here know how to configure the Pentait panel and the pool to talk to each other again?

Thanks,
Anke

 

[Jimrahbe]

Anke,

Show me a pic of the main pool pump and the front panel of your automation system.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jdlangley1]

Pentair is doing software update on some pumps with a certain version on them. Pentair was out at my house yesterday working on heater issue and the tech checked my pump but my software version isn’t one on their list with issues.

 

[AnkeH]

Anke,

Show me a pic of the main pool pump and the front panel of your automation system.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim,

Thank you for looking into this. I have attached pictures of the pump, the automation panel and the pump display.

Have a great weekend!
Anke

 

[Jimrahbe]

Anke,

You have an IntelliFlo pump and an EasyTouch automation system.

The pic of the automation shows the system is in the Auto mode and the Pool circuit is on.

In theory, the pump's display should say "Display Not Active" which would mean that the EasyTouch is controlling your pump.

The fact that your pump is showing a display with 0 RPM, tells us that the RS-485 is NOT currently controlling your pump.

The RS-485 com system is kind of like the old xmas tree lights. When it goes bad, you never know which bulb it is.

We need to disconnect every RS-485 connection and just connect the pump to J20 on the main board. This will tell us if the main board is bad or if it is something else.

I can help you with better directions if you can show me pics of the main board and the little board mounted to the back wall of the EasyTouch.

To do that, just remove the top two screws from the panel with the LCD and the whole thing will swing down.

Just in case you want to get with it right now, you just need to remove the single gray cable that is connected to J20 (Com Port) and then find the heavy black cable from the pump which on has two wires, Green and Yellow. Connect just the Green and Yellow wires to J20 and see if the pump's display now says "Display not Active". You want to have the power off when connecting or disconnecting any cables. Turn the power back on the run the tests. Do not worry about anything else working except the pump's display.

Do you have ScreenLogic or just a Pentair Remote???

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[AnkeH]

Hi Jim,

I use the Android ScreenLogic app to remote control the system. I can still switch the pool and spa lights on and off but not the pump (low or high water).

We just had a rain storm coming through with lightning that made my power and Wifi reboot. For some reason the pump started running even though it was off per pump schedule (since the normal automation schedules don't work anymore I configured Program 1 directly on the pump display for now). I was surprised that the pump ran and it switched itself off after the storm. Seems like there is a sensor???

I'll take a look at the outside cables, ports and boards tomorrow when the rain has dried off. I have not yet messed with the hardware but will see if I can find it and follow your guidance.
Just to be sure you don't mean any of the equipment inside as shown in the attached pictures?

Thanks,
Anke

 

[Jimrahbe]

Anke,

If you can use ScreenLogic and turn a light on and off, then your main board's RS-485 is working, so that is good. I assume you mean that when you turn on the light, you can see the actual light turn on and off. Correct?

Please confirm that when you looked at the pump's display and it showed RPM zero, the system was in Auto mode, and Pool and the RS-485 cable was connected to the pump.

If this is true, then it sounds like your pump's RS-485 has died.

What I wanted to try will not work.

What do your SWCG's lights do?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[AnkeH]

Anke,

If you can use ScreenLogic and turn a light on and off, then your main board's RS-485 is working, so that is good. I assume you mean that when you turn on the light, you can see the actual light turn on and off. Correct?

Please confirm that when you looked at the pump's display and it showed RPM zero, the system was in Auto mode, and Pool and the RS-485 cable was connected to the pump.

If this is true, then it sounds like your pump's RS-485 has died.

What I wanted to try will not work.

What do your SWCG's lights do?

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim,

I can confirm that
1) I can turn the actual lights in pool and spa on and off via my mobile phone. I think I also tried that directly via the panel and it worked. Previously it also worked to start and stop the pump.
2) The pump display does _not_ show "Display Not Active". You are right it showed "0 RPM" since the pump was off per schedule at the time.
3) The Penal is in Auto mode. I had it in service mode to try features out but put it back to Auto afterwards.

I will check the cabling around the pump tomorrow. I have not touched any of the cables and would be surprised if this was the issue.
My assumption is that my pool guy started the pump directly using the pump display after I asked him to help me get the pump running again. It had switched itself off, probably due to low water level and I could not get it running again using the App or the Panel. I was hoping there is a configuration setting on the pump display to put it back into "Not Active" mode.

Anyhow, I will check the cabling tomorrow and take a picture of the connections and the main board.

Thanks again for your help!
Anke

 

[Jimrahbe]

Anke,

The pump's display should always say "Display Not Active" anytime the RS-485 cable is connected to the pump, and you are in the Auto mode. It does not matter if the pump is being told to run or not.

Since we know the main board is good, because you can turn your light on and off via ScreenLogic, then that only leaves a bad pump, bad cable, or a poor connection at the EasyTouch.

We have seen some corroded pins in the connector where the RS-485 cable plugs into the pump so you might want to inspect both sides of the connector.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[AnkeH]

Hi Jim,

I looked at all the cables but don't know which one is relevant to inspect further. Except for the beige one that goes up to the little Pentair box they are all black and look the same to me. I have ignored the thick grey ones for now thinking its not data cables but might be wrong. At a first glance nothing looked lose.

I have attached labeled pictures in hope you can point me to the right one.

Thanks,
Anke

 

[AnkeH]

Anke,

The pump's display should always say "Display Not Active" anytime the RS-485 cable is connected to the pump, and you are in the Auto mode. It does not matter if the pump is being told to run or not.

Since we know the main board is good, because you can turn your light on and off via ScreenLogic, then that only leaves a bad pump, bad cable, or a poor connection at the EasyTouch.

We have seen some corroded pins in the connector where the RS-485 cable plugs into the pump so you might want to inspect both sides of the connector.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim,

It seems that the lightning yesterday has fixed the connectivity issue . The pump display now shows "Display not Active" and I can constrol the pump via my phone again.

Considering that it all started with a thunderstorm as well that caused me to drain the water, it seems that the electricity got spooked somehow.

That's not great for a new system but at least its working again now

Thanks again for your help and have a great weekend!
Anke

 

[Jimrahbe]

Anke,

That would be the first time in the history of man that lightning fixed anything, so I doubt it had anything to do with your problem.

But as long as it is working now, I am good.

Thanks,

Jim R.