Hi there...I have a complex problem I am hoping someone can help with. The short story is that I am on my THIRD Pentair 520712 in two years. It seems that every time there is a lightning strike anywhere in the area, the com port on this board fails.
MY SETUP
WHAT HAPPENS OVERVIEW
FIRST FAILURE DETAILS
SECOND FAILURE DETAILS
THIRD FAILURE DETAILS
THEORIES (here is where I am hoping others can help!)
SOLUTIONS (again, please help!)
Again, the common event every time was lightning. The com port has died all three times, with more damage this third time. I am trying to determine what else I might do (in addition to my whole house surge) to protect this from happening again.
Thank you so much for any ideas you can offer!
MY SETUP
- In ground saltwater pool
- Variable speed pump
- Heater
- Chlorinator
- Lights
- All controlled by a Pentair 520712...which is also connected to an Elan home automation system.
WHAT HAPPENS OVERVIEW
- When we have a lightning storm (NOT a direct strike) the com port seems to burn out on this motherboard.
- We DO have a whole-house surge suppressor (at the main breaker panel, not on the pool panel), and the Elan control system is protected by a UPS.
FIRST FAILURE DETAILS
- Lightning storm in the area, the com port stopped working.
- I narrowed in on the fact that the com port stopped working because the motherboard worked fine in terms of controlling the heater and chlorinator. Only components connected to the com port refused to function (VS Pump, radio remote, Elan control appliance in my basement computer rack.)
- Again, anything plugged into the com port (VS Pump, remote, Elan) would not work.
- The RG485 port on the Elan that the motherboard was plugged into also seemed to burn out. (There are two of them, I used the other one and once I replaced the Pentair motherboard it worked fine.)
- Diagnostics didn't show anything besides no communication to the pump.
- The "fix" was to replace the Pentair 520712 and use the other port on the Elan. Full functionality was restored after I bought a replacement board online (I was out of warranty by a month for the original one and I just wanted to be up and running so I paid the $300 and installed/programmed it myself).
- Please note that there was no evidence of a direct strike and no other damage to anything else in the house.
- There were also no burn marks on the mother board.
SECOND FAILURE DETAILS
- Again, a lightning storm in the area.
- Same symptom: Anything plugged into the com port on the Pentair 520712 would no longer function (so no controlling the VS pump and no remote control with the ELAN.
- All other features on the board worked (so I manually turned on the VS pump and the 520712 happily fired up the chlorinator, which does not communicate through the com port.)
- The self-diagnostic noted that there was no communications with pump again.
- No physical damage to the board (no burn marks, etc)
- No damage to the Elan this time.
- No other damage to anything else in or around the house.
- I, again, turned to online, bought a new board, installed/programmed it and was up and running again.
- Its also worth nothing that I am aware of someone else 1/2 mile away that has the same Pentair/Elan combo and they ALSO had issues. They seemed to be closer to the strike that I am because both of their units fully failed (versus my partial, com-port only failure.)
THIRD FAILURE DETAILS
- Very similar. Lightning strike in the neighborhood.
- No direct hit, we did have the lights flicker.
- No communication at all through the com port again (so the VS pump nor remote control work)
- The self-diagnostic showed no coms to the pump (again.)
- The system seems less stable this time...the com port does not work at all but the board runs for a while and then just dies so I lose the chlorinator (as before I am able to run the pump manually.)
- The Elan seems perfectly fine this time, but I won't be able to confirm until I receive my replacement board again.
THEORIES (here is where I am hoping others can help!)
- I just have bad luck, 3 lightning strikes (even indirect) could do this.
- The antenna for the radio remote is acting as an inductive antenna and generating a current through that sensitive com port (the remote antenna unit DOES also connect to that com port). This might be a valid root cause for the first two failures, but this third time I left that antenna disconnected from the com port on the motherboard just to rule this out.
- Something is wrong with the bonding/grounding of all my pool systems (pool itself, pentair gear, etc) making them pick up energy during a lightning storm that is then frying my boards.
- I have had three bad boards in a row from the manufacturer.
- Something else connected to my Elan (perhaps my home alarm system?) is picking up energy during a lightning storm and transmitting it through the Elan (which survives with no issues) and into the Pentair motherboard via its com port.
SOLUTIONS (again, please help!)
- Install an Intermatic PS300 surge suppressor on my pool sub panel itself (in addition to the one on my main house breaker panel) .
- Find some other in-line low voltage suppressor to protect that com port (do they make those things?)
- ???
Again, the common event every time was lightning. The com port has died all three times, with more damage this third time. I am trying to determine what else I might do (in addition to my whole house surge) to protect this from happening again.
Thank you so much for any ideas you can offer!
but most people seem to do better in storms with wireless links. I think you can actually use a screenlogic wireless link to replace your Elan > ET cable and it will "just work"... I don't think it cares about what protocols are being used, but this should be verified before purchasing anything!