I've replaced the sensor (I should have just swapped air & water to test but wasn't thinking) and it's not the sensor that is bad. After new sensor and swapping with water the air still shows 255. I have a feeling the only thing left is a new control board.. but hoping maybe there is something else to check before I just jump on that.
Pentair Easytouch air temp shows 255, not sensor
- Thread starter Killer Squirrel
- Start date
KS,
I too think it is the main card, but let's see if we can get Tom to chime in...
Calling @ogdento
I assume you have already hit the "reset" button on the front panel. It is just like rebooting a PC, no programs will be deleted. I have no clue if that will fix the problem or not, but better than nothing...
Thanks,
Jim R.
I too think it is the main card, but let's see if we can get Tom to chime in...
Calling @ogdento
I assume you have already hit the "reset" button on the front panel. It is just like rebooting a PC, no programs will be deleted. I have no clue if that will fix the problem or not, but better than nothing...
Thanks,
Jim R.
Tried the reset button yes. All other functions seem to be working ok, just the air showing 255. When the system is booting or just after the reset button it shows 0 until it runs thru its startup then shows 255 again. I'm looking at prices of the main board andn I'm a bit floored.
I have the EZTCH8 (not 4). I'm also seeing some kind of upgrade kit for the eztch4 that takes it to Intellicenter and I'm wondering if that might not be worth it at this point. At the very least I'd hope to get a more recent firmware on the eztch. It's supposed to freeze next week and this is horrible timing!
I have the EZTCH8 (not 4). I'm also seeing some kind of upgrade kit for the eztch4 that takes it to Intellicenter and I'm wondering if that might not be worth it at this point. At the very least I'd hope to get a more recent firmware on the eztch. It's supposed to freeze next week and this is horrible timing!
PM Tom... I suspect he can help you out.
I'd love to upgrade to an IntelliCenter, but I have a simple pool, and there is nothing that I can't do now, that I could do with the IntelliCenter.
I may eventually upgrade, but it would mainly be because of what I do here, rather than the operation of my pool.
Thanks,
Jim R.
I'd love to upgrade to an IntelliCenter, but I have a simple pool, and there is nothing that I can't do now, that I could do with the IntelliCenter.
I may eventually upgrade, but it would mainly be because of what I do here, rather than the operation of my pool.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Thanks Jim! I pmd him, we'll see what he says. If anything pertinent I'll post here for others to see in case someone else has the same issue.
I tend to agree with Jim about the intellicenter upgrade... the intellicenter IS very cool, but it doesn't have anything I need that my intellitouch doesn't have... AND I can fix my intellitouch if it breaks. I actually have one in a box on my workbench that I've never bothered to install on my pool!
Oh, I forgot to send you this extra info on the sensor... Temperature Sensors - Further Reading
Oh, I forgot to send you this extra info on the sensor... Temperature Sensors - Further Reading
Tom @ogdento
If the temp has been replaced with a new one, what else could it be other than the main card?
Thanks,
Jim R.
If the temp has been replaced with a new one, what else could it be other than the main card?
Thanks,
Jim R.
Hey Jim,
I probably should have just included the details here instead of a pm but basically he's going to double check his temp sensor resistance and make sure the connector is good. If you check the chart on these temp sensors, a very low resistance will show as a high temperature.
A low resistance could be from a shorted input, so if that stuff checks out it could be that the input protection on the sensor is shorted/damaged, OR that the microcontroller input is blown (hopefully not!)
The input protection is on the opposite side of the board from the 6-position sensor connector... one circuit for each of the 3 sensor inputs. It's basically a 3.3k? current limiting resistor on the input with a couple of diodes (in one chip/package, typically a bat54s) with another 100k? resistor tied high (I thought I sketched this out once but I can't find it). The diodes are configured in such a way that a high positive or negative voltage causes the diode to conduct, keeping the microcontroller input from eating it. I've actually never seen an Easytouch with blown input protection (see it on multimeters all the time!) but I have seen boards with those parts damaged from rough handling (which is unlikely to have happened in this case, since the board is screwed to the bezel).
I probably should have just included the details here instead of a pm but basically he's going to double check his temp sensor resistance and make sure the connector is good. If you check the chart on these temp sensors, a very low resistance will show as a high temperature.
A low resistance could be from a shorted input, so if that stuff checks out it could be that the input protection on the sensor is shorted/damaged, OR that the microcontroller input is blown (hopefully not!)
The input protection is on the opposite side of the board from the 6-position sensor connector... one circuit for each of the 3 sensor inputs. It's basically a 3.3k? current limiting resistor on the input with a couple of diodes (in one chip/package, typically a bat54s) with another 100k? resistor tied high (I thought I sketched this out once but I can't find it). The diodes are configured in such a way that a high positive or negative voltage causes the diode to conduct, keeping the microcontroller input from eating it. I've actually never seen an Easytouch with blown input protection (see it on multimeters all the time!) but I have seen boards with those parts damaged from rough handling (which is unlikely to have happened in this case, since the board is screwed to the bezel).
I'll continue here as opposed to pm so others can benefit. Sensor and connector check out. What can I do to troubleshoot the input protection circuit? Thanks for the help guys!
here's a pic of the circuitry highlighted in yellow... there are 3 input protection circuits with 2 resistors and 1 diode each. From the component side of the board, going left to right, the input pins you see the bottoms of are for Water, Solar, and Air. But I don't think the protection circuits are in that same order... it looks like the Solar input connects to R4, D5, R26, the Water input to R5, D6, R9, and the Air input to R6, D7, R8.
Pin 3 of each diode (the pin closest to the D5 and D6 labels) connects to both resistors in the circuit and is then routed off to the microcontroller... check to make sure you have continuity from there to as close as you can get to the microcontroller (the micro is under the lcd... curse you, Pentair!!) because the pcboard trace or one of the through-holes may be damaged somewhere along the way.
To test the actual input protection circuit you're basically going to be looking for a shorted diode or a messed up resistor. here's a link to the diode's data sheet... I'm pretty sure it's a bat54s, so you'll be looking at connection diagram #3:
Pin 3 of each diode (the pin closest to the D5 and D6 labels) connects to both resistors in the circuit and is then routed off to the microcontroller... check to make sure you have continuity from there to as close as you can get to the microcontroller (the micro is under the lcd... curse you, Pentair!!) because the pcboard trace or one of the through-holes may be damaged somewhere along the way.
To test the actual input protection circuit you're basically going to be looking for a shorted diode or a messed up resistor. here's a link to the diode's data sheet... I'm pretty sure it's a bat54s, so you'll be looking at connection diagram #3:
I think it's more likely a board trace has an issue rather than the protection circuitry... with nothing connected to the air input I get a reading of 253F (the voltage is 5.7volts at the right-most air input pin, from the component side). Assuming 255 is the max, it makes sense that it corresponds to a nearly full scale reading.
If you look at the connector side of the board, you'll see a trace between the air and solar pins, and it then goes along the outer edge of the board - through the word "Sensors"... this seems to be the air temp line to the microcontroller, and you'll see it terminate in a through-hole just to the right of the LCD connector. inspect that line to make sure it hasn't been knicked and check the continuity.
If you look at the connector side of the board, you'll see a trace between the air and solar pins, and it then goes along the outer edge of the board - through the word "Sensors"... this seems to be the air temp line to the microcontroller, and you'll see it terminate in a through-hole just to the right of the LCD connector. inspect that line to make sure it hasn't been knicked and check the continuity.
Thank you so much for all the details! I'll dig into it as soon as I get home from work.
Ok so ants are the culprit. That being said, after cleaning off their ridiculous corpses from the circuitry I was getting between 145 and 160 degrees (it would fluctuate as I starred at it with hatred). I took off the board and have checked resistance values berween each each surface mount resistor and between the input protection and found that each set was fairly close in values (comparing the corresponding components from each water/solar/air set). Resistance between the terminal pins were also consistent. I'm not sure what I'm looking for under the lcd but can try removing that and looking closer if you think that may be where I need to look. The sensors themselves also still check out.
ahh ok so getting rid of the ants only got you a little bit better, to 145/160?
I wouldn't remove the lcd yet... where were the ant carcasses?? (are these those "crazy ants" that have been over-running texas?) i'd get some 90+ % isopropyl alcohol and some q-tips and then - with the power off of course - clean off the board where the ants were, and all around the temp sensor components.
also, did that pic showing the air sensor trace make sense, and does what you can see of that trace have good continuity?
I wouldn't remove the lcd yet... where were the ant carcasses?? (are these those "crazy ants" that have been over-running texas?) i'd get some 90+ % isopropyl alcohol and some q-tips and then - with the power off of course - clean off the board where the ants were, and all around the temp sensor components.
also, did that pic showing the air sensor trace make sense, and does what you can see of that trace have good continuity?
Continuity seemed fine what I could check. And yes the Dang crazy ants are well, crazy. Let me try and post a pic to show the ant destruction.
I'll go clean everything and see if that helps anything.
I'll go clean everything and see if that helps anything.
KS,
No matter what, you are going to have to clean the card. Better to do it now, before you do any more troubleshooting.
I do not understand why they would be there, nor why they died.
Thanks,
Jim R.
No matter what, you are going to have to clean the card. Better to do it now, before you do any more troubleshooting.
I do not understand why they would be there, nor why they died.
Thanks,
Jim R.
After cleaning it all it's showing Air - error. Then it showed 245 degress before going back to error and tripping the freeze mode. I'm gonna have to leave it alone for the day as it's now raining on me and getting dark. Thank you so much for all the help! Any other ideas and I'll try them out tomorrow morning.
*Edit* I most definitely cleaned them off with a nylon brush when I first noticed and then did all my testing afterwards. I just didn't clean with alcohol, which now I've done with the above results. Just wanted to make sure yall knew that part. Thanks!
*Edit* I most definitely cleaned them off with a nylon brush when I first noticed and then did all my testing afterwards. I just didn't clean with alcohol, which now I've done with the above results. Just wanted to make sure yall knew that part. Thanks!
There is an ET board for sale in the following thread but member hasn't been online recently. If you send them a PM they might get an email if they have that set in their preferences.
For Sale: EasyTouch 4 P/S Control Panel, Pwr Supply, Breakers
I bought the EasyTouch 4SC-IC40 Pool Spa Combo 520543 and the IntelliTouch/EasyTouch to Intellicenter Upgrade - i10PS | 522048 These were delivered a day apart, the unused easytouch control panel, power supply, & fuses were replaced with the Intellicenter. I received the Intellicenter upgrade...
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Oh. My. God. Those are crazy ants!
I happened to see a news story about how they're pushing out the fire ants in Texas, AND about how they've been wreaking havoc on people's electronics. I guess a few get in, get zapped, and dump out that "i'm under attack" pheromone which brings in more... lovely stuff really. Wonder if that Crud is conductive?
Do you have a shot of the back side of the board? In the top right corner of the photo you attached I can see that the sensor connector has capacitors across each sensor input as well (some of my boards have them, some don't). But it doesn't look like the ants got up in that area.
Can you see any ant husks under the display?
I happened to see a news story about how they're pushing out the fire ants in Texas, AND about how they've been wreaking havoc on people's electronics. I guess a few get in, get zapped, and dump out that "i'm under attack" pheromone which brings in more... lovely stuff really. Wonder if that Crud is conductive?
Do you have a shot of the back side of the board? In the top right corner of the photo you attached I can see that the sensor connector has capacitors across each sensor input as well (some of my boards have them, some don't). But it doesn't look like the ants got up in that area.
Can you see any ant husks under the display?
yuck. there's 10 minutes reading about tawny crazy ants that i won't ever get back... all ants can squirt out formic acid to repel attackers etc, but the tawny crazy ants secrete the stuff and are covered with it!! gross.