Pentair Intellitouch IS4 spa-side remote no signal / voltage

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J

jonUF02

New member
Jun 7, 2024
3
Orlando, FL
Hello, I have a Pentair Intellitouch system with i5. I also have ScreenLogic connect for app and PC control.

My problem is that My iS4 spa side remote is not working. I replaced it with a new one and it worked fine for about 6 months, then stopped working completely. No LED, no button control. I got another new one and connected it directly at the panel for test before pulling it underground. I still get no activity. I get no voltage between the black (ground) and orange (LED) terminals at the panel. I have ensured that the spa-side remote is ENABLED in the system from the app, PC, and wall panel. I also just installed a brand new sealed i5 personality board and I get the same.

Is the spa-side remote supposed to be active all the time? I see some info stating that it is only active in Spa mode, but previously it was active all the time when it worked. The LED was always on when the pool was running, and the buttons controlled the functions at any time. One of them is programmed to activate the spa mode, the others are bubbler, lights, and heater on/off.

Does anyone have any ideas on this please?
 
Welcome to TFP.

I believe the IS4 should always be active.

Maybe @ogdento has ideas about where the 5V comes from on the boards.
 
jon,

The IS4 does not put voltage into the IntelliTouch, it puts in a momentary ground from the black wire.. through the buttons and the led only turns on if the heater is heating,,

I would suspect that the chip that receives the grounds is bad.. Just a guess though..


img027-1.jpg

img027-1.jpg



Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Just to add to what jim and allen said...

The orange/LED pin is an output so you won't see any voltage on it unless the LED is supposed to be ON (i.e. heater is on).

Pins 1R, 2Y, 3G and 4B are inputs and normally the pins will be at 2.5 volts (measured to Gnd) or a "high" value... pressing/closing a switch "pulls" that input down to Gnd or a "low" value, and the microcontroller reads the input values to determine the switch state. (These will be 5v on an Easytouch)

I was bored one day and traced the signals from the personality board to the mainboard... each input 1-4 has a resistor (R49-R52) and a diode pair (D14-D17) to protect the microcontroller from static, shown circled in red in the photo below.

1717809248749.png

So if your IS4 isn't working... disconnect the IS4 from the personality board and - as a test - use a short bit of wire to momentarily connect one of the inputs 1-4 to the Gnd pin... you should see the associated Aux turn on. If that test works, the wire to the IS4 or the IS4 itself may be bad again. If that test didn't work, make sure the voltage from Gnd to each of the inputs 1-4 is 2.5v (if your voltages are not 2.5 then the input protection circuitry or the microcontroller might be bad)
 
ogdento said:
Just to add to what jim and allen said...

The orange/LED pin is an output so you won't see any voltage on it unless the LED is supposed to be ON (i.e. heater is on).

Pins 1R, 2Y, 3G and 4B are inputs and normally the pins will be at 2.5 volts (measured to Gnd) or a "high" value... pressing/closing a switch "pulls" that input down to Gnd or a "low" value, and the microcontroller reads the input values to determine the switch state. (These will be 5v on an Easytouch)

I was bored one day and traced the signals from the personality board to the mainboard... each input 1-4 has a resistor (R49-R52) and a diode pair (D14-D17) to protect the microcontroller from static, shown circled in red in the photo below.

View attachment 582600

So if your IS4 isn't working... disconnect the IS4 from the personality board and - as a test - use a short bit of wire to momentarily connect one of the inputs 1-4 to the Gnd pin... you should see the associated Aux turn on. If that test works, the wire to the IS4 or the IS4 itself may be bad again. If that test didn't work, make sure the voltage from Gnd to each of the inputs 1-4 is 2.5v (if your voltages are not 2.5 then the input protection circuitry or the microcontroller might be bad)
Click to expand...
Well, then it sounds like the main board is bad. I get no voltage between the black ground pin and any of the others. I paid $280 for the new i5 board. I was contemplating just doing the Intellicenter upgrade, because my heater also wasn't turning on, but today I have traced that back to just a break in the signal wire. I suppose I can keep living without the spa side remote and try to re sell the new parts I have bought in the process.
 
Agh, the i5 board is almost never the issue... it's just a pass-through of signals to the main board. Did you end up buying a replacement main board as well?

Couples question about how you're testing for the voltage:
1. you're sure the personality board is well seated to the main board - and there's no crud in the connector?
2. are you checking the voltage on the top of the screw-terminal block, or have you pulled the block off to expose the pins? (pull the block off)
 
ogdento said:
Agh, the i5 board is almost never the issue... it's just a pass-through of signals to the main board. Did you end up buying a replacement main board as well?

Couples question about how you're testing for the voltage:
1. you're sure the personality board is well seated to the main board - and there's no crud in the connector?
2. are you checking the voltage on the top of the screw-terminal block, or have you pulled the block off to expose the pins? (pull the block off)
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the associated part of the main board is bad at this point, and I don't really want to invest roughly $2K to upgrade the whole brains of the system and inside control panel at this time. The spa-side remote never worked when I bought the house. It's just frustrating I spent money on the replacement which only worked for a matter of months, and now have invested in the ScreenLogic, the extremely overpriced legacy indoor control panel replacement (previously failed), as well as additional new parts just sitting on the shelf at this point. If I sell off the new parts on the shelf, maybe I'll spend on a replacement main board to get the remote working again. I have the app, but don't really keep my phone at arm's length while in the pool / spa, and it's more difficult to tell someone, including my wife, to go into the app to control things.
 
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