Pentair Prowler 930 stalls/stops before completing 2-hr cycle

[lazygirl1978]

I have a new pool and a new Kreepy Krawly Prowler 930. I've had it about 2-3 weeks. I LOVE how easily its bin empties, but I realized last week that it wasn't actually cleaning for 2 hours on its regular cycle. It just stops after maybe 20-40 minutes. The control panel is lit up as if it's on, and my phone's Prowler App says it's in the process of a cleaning cycle, but it's not moving. It's just sitting there --- sometimes in deep end, sometimes in shallow end. It's not getting stuck on something. Eventually, I guess when the 2 hours is up, it turns off and says it's done. I can't find any information about this on the internet anywhere.

Twice now the App has told me that the Prowler had a "Servo overload" and it gives me the options of "Cancel" or "Reset Robot." When I press "Reset Robot," nothing seems to happen. I'm not sure if this is related or not. It appears to be working/moving when it says this.

If I turn the robot off and then on again, it springs to life. For about 20-40 minutes. Then I have to restart it.

I told my Pool Builder about this, but they're coming on Wednesday to program stuff, so I expect I'll just deal with it then. The Pentair rep is coming out too. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'll update here if I find a fix...

 

[justinc]

The Pentair Prowler 930 is essentially a rebranded Dolphin robot. Several users lately on this forum have had similar issues with their Dolphin. I think 1 user had something stuck in the impeller of the motor. Another user or two users I think had to send theirs back and trade them out for new units.

Dolphin Active20 - cycle time less than an hour

Dolphin Active20 starts, and runs great for 30-60 minutes, then stops. Aside from stopping early, it does everything great...climbs walls, cleans waterline, etc. I have checked every moving part, no debris, no twisted hair, nothing. Thing is cleaner than a whistle. It is eight weeks old. Found...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[lazygirl1978]

The Pentair Prowler 930 is essentially a rebranded Dolphin robot. Several users lately on this forum have had similar issues with their Dolphin. I think 1 user had something stuck in the impeller of the motor. Another user or two users I think had to send theirs back and trade them out for new units.

Dolphin Active20 - cycle time less than an hour

Dolphin Active20 starts, and runs great for 30-60 minutes, then stops. Aside from stopping early, it does everything great...climbs walls, cleans waterline, etc. I have checked every moving part, no debris, no twisted hair, nothing. Thing is cleaner than a whistle. It is eight weeks old. Found...

www.troublefreepool.com

Thanks! I’d searched a few ways but hadn’t found this (very recent) thread. Hopefully my pool builder makes it right!

 

[lazygirl1978]

Update. Grr.

Pentair rep told me to give the filter basket a super good cleaning. Advised to run without the basket to see if the sort of dirty basket was the problem. (My pool is still a construction site...). It did not help. Still quit after 20 min.

Pool builder brought me a brand new 930. I ran it and left. It seemed like it ran 2 hours — just a couple leaves left around. It definitely ran more than an hour.

Ran it again and it only ran 20 min!

Today my pool builder said that she thinks they programmed them incorrectly at the store (it seemed like they both came from the box...I had no idea the store did any programming). Still on demo mode or something. They’re going to look into it.

In the meantime they gave me a 920 loaner.

The 920 ran 30 min and quit.

My ph is 7.7 so I know that’s fine. Pool temp is 90 (91 according to the thermometer handing in my pool) — the robot is supposed to work up to 90, so I asked the pool builder if that could be it, and she said no. I’m still skeptical so my next plan is to turn off the heater and see how it down at a little cooler temp.

Something in the manual made me think I should try with my pool pump off too. So I’ll give that a shot next.

Argh!!!

 

[lazygirl1978]

Tried the loaner 920 this morning with the pump off. It ran 30 min my first try and then it ran only 15 the second try.

Pump was off. Pool water was 89 degrees. pH is 7.7.

How can three different robots all be malfunctioning like this in my pool?

 

[lazygirl1978]

Update: My PB had been saying there was no way my pool temp was the problem, but then last week they said maybe that was it. I let the temp drift down to about 84, and the 920 I'm currently using ran 90 minutes last night! Still several leaves on the bottom, but a big improvement. The PB told me a few days ago that Pentair is working on the problem.

Now I see from another post about a misbehaving Active 20 that there may be a bad batch of Maytronics. I'll keep updating. The literature says they should work fine up to 90 degrees....I'm hoping I get a new one from a new batch that works like it's supposed to!

 

[justinc]

Yeah, I think you are getting some of the ones from the bad batch.... Surprising since Maytronics is usually top notch but hopefully they will make it right for you

 

[cgabb5]

My Prowler 920 is doing the same thing. It's less than three months old. Plug it in and it runs for maybe 15-20 minutes. Contacted Pentair for support, no answer or reply yet.

 

[lazygirl1978]

My Prowler 920 is doing the same thing. It's less than three months old. Plug it in and it runs for maybe 15-20 minutes. Contacted Pentair for support, no answer or reply yet.

My pool builder ended up getting me another new one about two weeks ago! Works great now. I never had to deal with pentair directly. Where did you buy it?

While I waited for them to figure it out, I just ran the loaner 910 they gave me (the 910 had the same problem so I’d just go out and start over every 30 minutes).

 

[DjEclipse]

There is an issue with slme models regarding high pool Temps. There is a software fix that takes a few minutes but it has to be the dealer or the Maytronics Rep. It is a change in the software to allow it to run in higher temperature pools.

It was only a certain run of the robots at the factory that had this problem.

 

[cgabb5]

There is an issue with slme models regarding high pool Temps. There is a software fix that takes a few minutes but it has to be the dealer or the Maytronics Rep. It is a change in the software to allow it to run in higher temperature pools.

It was only a certain run of the robots at the factory that had this problem.

Well, that would make sense. Mine started having problems as the weather and pool temp got warmer.

I exchanged mine with the pool builder. I probably need to make sure it's running correctly.

 

[itb.balto]

This video solved the Pentair start, stop, rollback shutdown problem for me. Was due to a jammed impeller blade. It proved to be a very simple fix to a maddening problem.