Power Outage Alarm/Communication Lost

[danapalminapool]

Hi, I have browsed through old forums and can’t seem to find exactly what I’m looking for.

Our pool is only 2 months old. Everything was set up for us and it worked fine for maybe 2 weeks. It’s a Pentair Easytouch PS4 with Intelliflo VSF. (Yes everything is under warranty, and I have calls out to my builder but they’ve been less than responsive ever since they took our money… hoping to just fix it myself).

My ScreenLogic app started displaying “Pump 1: Communication Lost” about once a week. We’d wake up and realize the pool clearly didn’t run the previous night. Only thing that would fix it was a breaker reset. And then it would work just fine again. In service mode the pump seems to work just fine. When communication is lost I can hear the panel clicking, lights still work, and the valves turn for the water feature-just no pump thus the features don’t work. To me that means the comm cable is okay and functional?

We went back and forth resetting it once a week, and now it’s worse. It will display “Pump 1: Power Outage Alarm and Pump 1: Communication Failure” daily. It runs the cleaner cycle, kicks over to the pool cycle but then never shuts off. If I manually (in the app) unclick the green pool button (to get it to shut off and not run all day) the alarms pop up and then I have to remember to click the pool button again at night or it’ll never come on. There is no power to the pump when this error displays.

Other: I only have 4 programs, tried waiting 24 hrs for it to catch up on itself, done multiple panel resets and circuit breaker resets. I haven’t messed with egg timers.

I need some help! Why would it just stop working? Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

When the problem occurs, without touching anything, what do you see on the pump's display. Is it blank, as in it has no power? If the display works, what does it show?

Please show me a pic of the front panel of your EasyTouch, as I need to understand which one you have.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[danapalminapool]

Thanks for the reply! The pump just ran for the hour it was supposed to, and then errored out again. I’m honestly shocked it shut off on schedule because it hasn’t even been turning off. The pump has no power. I included the internal wiring just in case.
Thanks!
Dana

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

The problem is the idiot that installed your EasyTouch wired the VS pump to the load side of the Pump/Filter relay. This means that pump will not get any power if the Pump/Filter relay is not closed. The pump/Filter relay will only close if the system is in the pool mode or spa mode.

I noticed that your display shows Auto and NOT Pool or Spa, so the relay will be open.

The IntelliFlo should get constant AC power.. Move the two red wires from the load side (output) of the pump filter relay over to the Line side (Input) and your problem will go away. The pump/filter relay is the one in the upper right.

That said, if you have a SWCG, it is just stupid to run the pump if you are not making chlorine. More about this later.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

You have a "lite" version of the EasyTouch, that is why you have no load center for your breaker. You also have a max of 4 schedules including any egg-timers not set to the default of 12 hours. You also only have two Feature Circuits,

Show me or tell me what all of your schedules look like.

Above I said "The problem is the idiot that installed your EasyTouch wired the VS pump to the load side of the Pump/Filter relay." Just to be clear, I am assuming that the two red wires coming off the pump/filter relay go to the IntelliFlo. I guess they could go some place else, but you should be able to tell where those red wires go.. Please let me know if they don't go to the IntelliFlo pump.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[danapalminapool]

The 2 red wires go down into the tube that connects to the back of the Intelliflo.

Apologies, I’ve only wired a handful of things before. Do I switch one red with one blue and then one red with the 2 blacks?

Schedules attached. Only 4 and all egg timers are at 12hr0min.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

With the power off..

Move each Red wire one pin to the left.

You will end up with the first pin having a Blue and Red wire (You could also just wire nut these two wires together and not use the relay)
The 2nd pin will be empty
The 3rd pin will have Black, Black and Red (You could also just wire nut these three together and not use the relay)
The 4th pin will be empty.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dan,

What are you calling "Cleaner"? What kind of cleaner do you have? I assume a suction side cleaner.

If so, does a valve move to turn on and off?

Or is it connected all the time and you are just using the cleaner circuit to change pump speeds??

In theory the way it is currently wired the pump should not get power when not in the Pool mode. I assume that you have Cleaner set up with a Circuit Function of "Master Cleaner".. If true, this will tell the pump to run, but there will be a delay.

A better schedule would be. This would keep the system in the Pool mode anytime you wanted to pump to run.

Pool 9 pm until 6 am
Cleaner 9 pm until 1 am
Pool 1 pm until 2 pm.

Show me your pump speeds...

What is the purpose of running the pump from 1 pm until 2 pm??? What are you trying to do?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[danapalminapool]

Thanks Jim,
I’m able to get the blue and red into the relay but there isn’t enough slack for the black/black/red to get them in so I’ll just wire nut. What happens when I don’t use the relay? Like any kind of delay or loss of function? I just powered back up and the pump screen says Display Not Active!! Hallelujah!

Thank you! Dana

 

[danapalminapool]

Dan,

What are you calling "Cleaner"? What kind of cleaner do you have? I assume a suction side cleaner.

If so, does a valve move to turn on and off?

Or is it connected all the time and you are just using the cleaner circuit to change pump speeds??

In theory the way it is currently wired the pump should not get power when not in the Pool mode. I assume that you have Cleaner set up with a Circuit Function of "Master Cleaner".. If true, this will tell the pump to run, but there will be a delay.

A better schedule would be. This would keep the system in the Pool mode anytime you wanted to pump to run.

Pool 9 pm until 6 am
Cleaner 9 pm until 1 am
Pool 1 pm until 2 pm.

Show me your pump speeds...

What is the purpose of running the pump from 1 pm until 2 pm??? What are you trying to do?

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks for the times. Any advice on RPMs appreciated as well. They set our system up for the cleaner to be a feature. Here’s what they look like for speeds (attached). We have a vacuum(?). A little 2 wheeled white guy i think it says The Pool Cleaner or something like that on it. I’m not well versed in cleaners. Is this a suction side??

I was wanting to clear surface debris and get some water moving midday since we’ve had a lot of dust, pollens, etc. Seems to help the appearance of the surface with the extra hour thrown in.

Thanks, Dana

 

[danapalminapool]

Thanks for the times. Any advice on RPMs appreciated as well. They set our system up for the cleaner to be a feature. Here’s what they look like for speeds (attached). We have a vacuum(?). A little 2 wheeled white guy i think it says The Pool Cleaner or something like that on it. I’m not well versed in cleaners. Is this a suction side??

I was wanting to clear surface debris and get some water moving midday since we’ve had a lot of dust, pollens, etc. Seems to help the appearance of the surface with the extra hour thrown in.

Thanks, Dana

 

[danapalminapool]

Thanks for the times. Any advice on RPMs appreciated as well. They set our system up for the cleaner to be a feature. Here’s what they look like for speeds (attached). We have a vacuum(?). A little 2 wheeled white guy i think it says The Pool Cleaner or something like that on it. I’m not well versed in cleaners. Is this a suction side??

I was wanting to clear surface debris and get some water moving midday since we’ve had a lot of dust, pollens, etc. Seems to help the appearance of the surface with the extra hour thrown in.

Thanks, Dana

Also no valves move when I hit the cleaner button in the app. Sorry didn’t answer all your questions.

 

[Jimrahbe]

We have a vacuum(?). A little 2 wheeled white guy i think it says The Pool Cleaner or something like that on it. I’m not well versed in cleaners. Is this a suction side??

Dana,

Yes, that would be a suction side cleaner. Where does it plug into your pool plumbing?

Show me a pic of where the cleaner plugs in and several pics of your equipment pad showing all your equipment and valves.

On the surface, I think the speeds are ok. If you do not have a heater, then you could drop your pool speed to 1200, I'd leave the cleaner speed set at 2800.

Is your cleaner working for you?

I doubt that running the pump for an hour between 1 pm and 2 pm does much to help with skimming, but it can't hurt..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[danapalminapool]

Jim, We have a lap pool and it inserts in the middle-ish of the pool. We’ve never removed it before.

We have 5 deck jets on the right, the farthest right value doesn’t move as far as I’m aware. But we also have a sheer waterfall. The right upper valve moves when we elect to turn on the water features. They operate as one (unfortunately! wish I could separate them).
The left side is the skimmer and bottom of pool drain valves, I’ve never touched these, and the electrical for the Intellibrites.

No heater. I’ll try dropping the pool speed.
Dana

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dana,

I just wanted to make sure that your cleaner was not plugged into your skimmer. Your cleaner has its own port and that is good.

I am not sure which valve is for the main drain, but I would shut it off, or only open it about 10% or so. This will force more water through the skimmer to help it collect more stuff.

Your water looks great!!

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[danapalminapool]

Dana,

I just wanted to make sure that your cleaner was not plugged into your skimmer. Your cleaner has its own port and that is good.

I am not sure which valve is for the main drain, but I would shut it off, or only open it about 10% or so. This will force more water through the skimmer to help it collect more stuff.

Your water looks great!!

Thanks,

Jim R.

I’ll have to check when I get home which is which but I’ll definitely close off the main more if able.

And thank you so much for your help today!!! I think everything will work like normal at 9pm!
Dana