Pentair Intellitouch i5s+3 - all red lights on the power center - 'there was an error retrieving the data'

[m475133]

New to the site and pretty new to pool ownership. Last fall we added on to our house which involved relocating the wired indoor control pad. The pad was removed from the wall while the system was still energized and it looks as though wires were crossed and I fear I fried components.

My equipment includes Intellitouch i5s+3 (personality board says Rev B 520296) and motherboard is Rev C 520073 with 520165 version 1130 04/22/2009. Intellichlor ic40, pentair heater, pentair vs pump, actuators for pool slide valve and fountain.

The current state of the system is:
+ the indoor pad has power supplied from the panel and looks to have retained all my settings, however as soon as I try to access a menu I get the 'there was an error retrieving data' message
+ almost all of the panel lights eventually end up red and solid on the control board when i cut power and attempt to restart the system
+ I am able to use the pump, the heater and the salt cell manually/individually but not from the Intellitouch itself
+ likewise the valve actuators work only at the actuators themselves, not the Intellitouch
+ we recently removed the lights from the pool so the pool sam is no longer connected

So far I have:
+ replaced the three 3 amp circuit breakers to no effect
+ confirmed with a multimeter that I am getting current on the comp port black and red wires (power) when tested together, and seems to also get current when testing the orange and green wires (data) together
+ I have removed the connector from the com port, I have removed the connections of the actuators, removed the heater block from J30, disconnected the relay for the filter pump, and AUX1
+ I replaced the battery on the motherboard
+ I spoke to a pentair intellitouch tech on the phone this morning but because i am the home owner and not a technician he wouldn't tell me what else to test to determine if I have blown the personality board, the motherboard (or both) or individual components that might be easy/cheaper things to replace before I spend a bunch of money on new circuit boards.

Can someone please help with a step by step troubleshooting checklist and how to test along the way? I have included pictures of what I thought were the main pieces but happy to post more as needed.

Thank you!
David

 

[Jimrahbe]

David,

Let's see what Tom has to say... Calling @ogdento

But take it easy on him as he recently poked himself in the eye..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ogdento]

Hey David,
- Your personality board is probably fine - they don't have any sensitive components, and the only one I've ever seen fail was dropped or whacked somehow that it suffered a broken relay (the little black cubes labeled "Omron" in your pic)
- the battery on the main board is only to keep time

I was going to ask a question about all the LEDs being on, but...

I just noticed that in your pic of the outdoor mainboard, comm chips U4 and U16 are smoked. You can see a nice melted bubble in them both. My best guess is they've failed short... which would cause a high current draw (and too low a voltage) and hold the board in a not-quite-booted or reset state, keeping all the LEDs on.

At the very least, the comm chips on the outdoor board need to be replaced. There's a good chance the rest of the board is okay, but given that both chips have holes blown in them there's a chance micro-controller U1 is dead. The indoor board's comm chip may also be dead. I know a guy who can fix the comm chips on the indoor and outdoor boards... he's just a nerd - not a tech - but I'll have him pm you.

The other potentially bad news is that the comms on the salt cell and pump could potentially be blown as well... the salt cell can't be opened, but you can use it as-is anyway.

 

[m475133]

Thank you for such a fast response. I will take the outdoor board out again tomorrow and get better pictures of the entire board and maybe a video.

I think i'm following your last point about the salt cell but it is new this spring and is working fine independently of the automation, so would all these issues that pre-existed the new cell have caused new damage to it? The pump is original and was connected when the SHTF last fall so I think i'd cross my fingers and hope that's not an issue.

To further complicate things I also had hoped to add the screen logic capabilities to the system and was told just this afternoon that my components were not too old to be upgraded with screen logic but that its likely they would require an update to firmware which would require a tech to come update and install anyway so in your opinion am I better off just paying the 'stupid tax' for blowing my board and buying a new motherboard than spending time and money trying to repair and update it given where I want to end up?

Thanks again.
David

 

[ogdento]

Hey you're welcome!

I may have misunderstood about the salt cell...
- if the salt cell was never connected to the comm port then it's most likely fine.
- if it WAS connected to the comm port, then whatever blew up the chips on your outdoor board could have blown the comm chip in the salt cell - but you can't replace that chip because the salt cell is sealed shut.

I'm pretty sure the IC 40 can operate without a connection to the outdoor board - but you just might not get the salt reading. Maybe @Jimrahbe can speak to that (I have an Aquarite salt cell)

I wouldn't be too worried about the firmware thing... there's a number of folks here - including myself - who can update firmware, and there's a thread that discusses how to do it if you're feeing DIY-ish.

I've rarely seen the pumps comm chip blow up when the indoor or outdoor board gets zapped... so there's a real good chance yours is fine - it's just something that might happen so you want to be aware of it.

At the end of the day I guess you're right in that it's just a math problem for how much it'll cost to repair vs. getting an Intellicenter

 

[Jimrahbe]

David,

I don't remember ever seeing anything about ScreenLogic not working with older IntelliTouch units. I am not at all sure that is true.

The cell will work standalone without any RS-485 connections. But, if you got hit by lightning and it took out the chips in the IC40, then no telling what that might do to the cell's internal power supply circuits. There is no way to know unless you hook it up.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[m475133]

Really appreciate it guys.

I think my salt cell and pump won't end up being an issue.

So the question of repairing the main board then is how much would it realistically cost to repair if I wanted to go that route. Looking at replacement parts for the mother board I see them on Amazon Rev D for just under $1,300 so if the cost to repair isn't significantly less than that I'll probably just order a new one and take my lumps, but if you're thinking it's more like a couple hundred then I'd want to pursue that and ship it off to whoever could do the work.

https://www.amazon.com/Pentair-520287-Motherboard-Replacement-IntelliTouch/dp/B0045JHU6E/ref=sr_1_24?crid=30RYHGCST65CO&keywords=pentair+520073+part&qid=1682384394&sprefix=pentair+520073+part%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-24&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.ac2169a1-b668-44b9-8bd0-5ec63b24bcb5

Thanks,
David

 

[mknauss]

At that cost, I would consider upgrading to the Intellicenter. Especially since the legacy automation systems are being discontinued by Pentair.

 

[Jimrahbe]

David,

I would think you could have the card repaired for $200 to $400 bucks.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[m475133]

Thanks all. Made the decision to upgrade to IntelliCenter. Should arrive tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion. It opened my eyes for sure.

Dave