Pentair Mastertemp 400 Not working

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tomcraw

Member
Apr 3, 2021
9
Austin
Moved from here.
Howdy everyone -

I have the same issue as James had. When I short the wires together below the fireman's switch then I have full local control of the mastertemp 400 and everything works fine with no errors (other than water spewing out of my cracked manifold that I'm trying to patch).

I tied the ends of the control lines together and ohm'ed it out at the J19 connector back in the control box and it read it as a short (.2 ohms or so). So the lines themselves are good.

Then the question is: is the problem normally the J19 connector or the Omron relay sitting next to it that shorts the lines together? Or something else? I have access to some excellent soldering equipment and folks that will replace whatever components needed on the main control board.
 
Tom,

You need to measure the coil of the Omron relay when the Automation is supposed to be telling the relay to call for heat.. If you get 12 volts DC, but the relay does not close, then the relay is bad.. If you don't get 12 VDC, then something is wrong with the main board in the EasyTouch..

Let's get Tom to chime in about the relay and what chip turns it on.. Calling @ogdento

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
How old is the system?

Most likely just a programming problem.

Is the light above the Filter button on when you're trying to use the heater?

What pump do you have?

What automation do you have?

Put the system in Service Mode and then press the Filter button to start the pump.

Once the pump is on, press the heater button to see if the heater will come on.

Are you working directly with the panel or through a remote interface?
 
Last edited:
System installed August 2020. Went through Austin snowpocalypse in Feb.
  • Filter is Clean & Clear Plus Cartridge
  • Pump is IntelliFlow VSF. I run it between 1600 and 3100 rpm.
  • Had a Paramount UV2 but I've taken it out of the system for now after the freeze damage - power disconnected inside the control box and capped.
  • Had to replace booster pump after freeze, now using Polaris PB4SQ
  • Pentair Easytouch Control system with Pentair Screenlogic app
Trying to turn on the heater with the app does not work.

Pressing the heater button on the control panel does nothing, and the light does not come on. No trouble controlling the pump from the panel.
 
Put the system in Service Mode and then press the Filter button to start the pump.

Make sure that the light above the Filter button is on.

Once the pump is on, press the heater button to see if the heater will come on.
 
If James' tip doesn't help you, the problem could be the relay driver chip, labelled U4. It's a ULN2803A and I think pin13 controls the onboard heater relay... so if that chip is bad the heater won't operate correctly.

The driver chips aren't hard to test with a multimeter, but it's just as easy to swap in a new one. If you don't have any extras kicking around ;) you can just swap U3 and U4... but make sure you get the orientation right. If it starts working then order a couple from an online electronics shop (i don't buy chips from fleabay/amazn if i can help it)
 
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Note: Going into Service mode will transfer control back to the pump.

So, if the pump has a timer that tells the pump to run, the pump will come on, or you can start the pump from the pump's control panel.

For the heater to work, the system has to have the Pool Filter circuit or Spa Filter circuit on.

If the pump is running on a circuit that is not Pool or Spa, the heater won't work.
 
More info:

Now if I try to turn the heater on with the App the heater momentarily turns on and flashes an r14 error and turns off. The control panel and the app at that point both think the heater is still on.
 

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Normal boot up is 888, 128 and then rX where X is the software revision number.

For the heater to work, the system has to have the Pool Filter circuit or Spa Filter circuit on.

If the pump is running on a circuit that is not Pool or Spa, the heater won't work.

The light above the filter button has to be on for the heater to work.
 
The pump is currently running and the light is on, the installer put a sticker on it for "pool low".

Following this thread:

Pentair Mastertemp 400 r14 Error Code...

Hi all! We just had our gas hooked up today and finally fired up the heater. We have a Pentair Mastertemp 400. It turns on, runs through the light show and displays the temperature. I can press "POOL" or "SPA" and the heater starts working. However, when I try to turn on the heater through...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

I get the same results with either manual heat ON or OFF.

The other day I ran the heater independently for a while and there were no issues. But I did manually turn down the max temp. Some posts seem to indicate the max temp on the heater needs to be set to 104 (max) in order for the app to work? I can't change that now without disconnecting the heater and shorting the fireman's switch again. Would that cause this issue?
 
Additional datapoint:

If the heater is connected to the EasyTouch control panel my water feature will no longer turn on from the app (it won't trigger the actuator to turn the valve).

Does anyone have a link that would basically walk through the EasyTouch setup from scratch? Seems like I have hit some kind of firmware bug.
 
tomcraw said:
Some posts seem to indicate the max temp on the heater needs to be set to 104 (max) in order for the app to work?
Click to expand...
That is correct. Whatever max temp you have set on the heater, the ET will not go above that. So when a heater is connected to an ET, you set the Pool and Spa heat settings at 104 (max) on the heater control panel prior to connecting the heater to the ET.

tomcraw said:
If the heater is connected to the EasyTouch control panel my water feature will no longer turn on from the app (it won't trigger the actuator to turn the valve).
Click to expand...
There should be no wiring that is between the heater and a control valve. So in your programming you have an incorrect Circuit selected for one or both.
 
False alarm on the water feature, app must not have connected properly.

Summary of where I'm at:
  • The heater, when disconnected from the easytouch controller, works as expected. I ran it for 20 minutes or so. Heater fires, water gets hot, etc.
  • The heater, when connected to the easytouch, can not be turned on by the app, it turns on briefly and turns off
  • The heater can be run from the easytouch in Service mode.
I'm going to go make sure the max temp is set properly on the heater and hook it back up.
 
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