No control of pumps/blower/booster

[Nitramnayr]

We just got power restored today after the hurricane passed through. We have circuit protection on our main house and pool subpanel.

When we press the buttons on the easytouch panel, the lights activate, relays click, power is on at the bubbler. Turn off the switch and power goes away. Breaker works normally.

I called pentair and he went right to “your motherboard is bad.” I’m having a hard time understanding that if it is directing electricity as it’s supposed to.

In the app we get an Alert: “pump 1 communication lost.” Prior to the storm I had a motorized actuator valve that I though was broken but turns out is okay, only that its 24V 3amp relay in the top right corner of the panel had tripped.

I am stumped. Do we truly need a new motherboard? Pentair said there’s no diagnostics to tell if it’s bad.

 

[ajw22]

When we press the buttons on the easytouch panel, the lights activate, relays click, power is on at the bubbler.

What works and what does not work?

What model pump?

Do you have a multimeter and know how to use it?

Turn off the switch and power goes away.

What switch?

Breaker works normally.

What breaker?

Show us pictures of the inside of your EasyTouch panel and your equipment pad.

 

[Nitramnayr]

The plot thickens- we can turn on spa and pool lights with the buttons on the easy touch panel. Could this just be a bad RJ45 cable causing the 2 pumps to not work?

 

[Nitramnayr]

What works and what does not work?


What switch?


What breaker?

The pool and spa lights work. The pool pump, booster pump, blower, and water feature do not.

The breakers inside the pentair panel kill power to the blower when we checked voltage at the connections inside the blower.

 

[ajw22]

What model pump?

What does the pump display show?

 

[ajw22]

Booster pump and blower are not RS-485 controlled.

Check if you have voltage on the LOAD side of each relay when you turn the booster pump and blower on.

 

[Nitramnayr]

IntellifloXF variable pump and air supply blower. When I open the intelliflow pump’s cover the display is dark/unresponsive.

We checked for voltage on the load side of the blower relay and it was present, able to be given power or turned off with the breaker and switch on the easytouch. We can’t figure out why a device like a blower can’t run with power going to it. I don’t assume it has a capacitor-

 

[ajw22]

Check for voltage at the blower wire connections.

Check for voltage at the IntellifloXF power connection on the back of the pump.

 

[Nitramnayr]

Check for voltage at the blower wire connections.

Check for voltage at the IntellifloXF power connection on the back of the pump.

Okay we just wired up a spare blower. Same behavior as the original blower- switch on the easy touch gives it power and takes it away but won’t turn it on (make it blow).

We are working on pulling the pump apart now to get to the wiring connections.

Thanks for you help so far this is puzzling!

 

[ajw22]

You need to check if there is voltage at the wire connections at the devices that are not working.

It sounds to me like something cut or damaged the wires.

 

[Nitramnayr]

I’m about to replace a bad gfci that controls landscape lights. It’s a long shot but hoping it helps narrow things down. I did notice the main pump has a lit up control screen that’s on the pump which wasn’t there before. I may try replacing breakers also to see if that narrows it down. Just took apart the waterfall pump and found the capacitor in good shape.

 

[Nitramnayr]

Well the voltages checked out as you suggested and I gave up last night before dinner. Flipped all the breakers off including the main panel breaker that feeds the subpanel. Ate dinner and came back and flipped everything on and it worked! Neighbor thinks our main breaker panel which has a bunch of servos and “smart” controllers in it didn’t like the power it was giving the subpanel so it metered the voltage or only gave it 120/not enough to turn the pumps or devices.

It was interesting when I called pentair that the rep said “definitely the motherboard, they go out all the time.” I was hoping this wouldn’t be a $800 replacement part and with some time and patience it paid off.

Thank you for your help trying to figure this one out!

 

[Nitramnayr]

Well the voltages checked out as you suggested and I gave up last night before dinner. Flipped all the breakers off including the main panel breaker that feeds the subpanel. Ate dinner and came back and flipped everything on and it worked! Neighbor thinks our main breaker panel which has a bunch of servos and “smart” controllers in it didn’t like the power it was giving the subpanel so it metered the voltage or only gave it 120/not enough to turn the pumps or devices.

It was interesting when I called pentair that the rep said “definitely the motherboard, they go out all the time.” I was hoping this wouldn’t be a $800 replacement part and with some time and patience it paid off. He was so confident and both of us were doubtful of his solution.

Thank you for your help trying to figure this one out!

 

[ajw22]

Neighbor thinks our main breaker panel which has a bunch of servos and “smart” controllers in it didn’t like the power it was giving the subpanel so it metered the voltage or only gave it 120/not enough to turn the pumps or devices.

Things are not as simple as they used to be.

It was interesting when I called pentair that the rep said “definitely the motherboard, they go out all the time.” I was hoping this wouldn’t be a $800 replacement part and with some time and patience it paid off.

Pentair support takes a very siloed view of a problem.