Hope this can help other Dolphin owners. Bottom line: for $15 shipped, and an easy DIY fix, I've breathed new life into my A30i with new gears which solved some power issues / short cycles.
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Just gave my Dolphin A30i new life. I was having issues where intermittently it would only do shorter cycles, and then power shut off, or sometimes would shut off shortly after start. Took apart to check impeller and treads etc and realized that the motor gear was slipping. You can see in annotated photo below how the teeth of the gear are still pointy but worn (should be full tooth all across but on mine as observed it was higher towards back but worn where it makes contact with wheel)
Replaced this part (9983142) along with the other brush gear you can see at left here (9983123), and voila - I;'m back to getting a full 90 minute cleaning cycle with no power loss. And in seeing the A30 climb the water realized it had been a while since I saw it climb that high so I think the wheel/treads had been slipping for a while.
I would not have thought power issues were connected with the gears but perhaps it has some kind of auto-shutdown if it isn't getting traction or movement.
2 photos comparing old and new (new is screwed in here), you can see the wear and how the old one has a "boot/foot" shape when it should be fully even across the tooth of the gear. As-installed, even the new one is not a totally tight fit so not a surprise that some wear causes slippage.
*******************
Just gave my Dolphin A30i new life. I was having issues where intermittently it would only do shorter cycles, and then power shut off, or sometimes would shut off shortly after start. Took apart to check impeller and treads etc and realized that the motor gear was slipping. You can see in annotated photo below how the teeth of the gear are still pointy but worn (should be full tooth all across but on mine as observed it was higher towards back but worn where it makes contact with wheel)
Replaced this part (9983142) along with the other brush gear you can see at left here (9983123), and voila - I;'m back to getting a full 90 minute cleaning cycle with no power loss. And in seeing the A30 climb the water realized it had been a while since I saw it climb that high so I think the wheel/treads had been slipping for a while.
I would not have thought power issues were connected with the gears but perhaps it has some kind of auto-shutdown if it isn't getting traction or movement.
2 photos comparing old and new (new is screwed in here), you can see the wear and how the old one has a "boot/foot" shape when it should be fully even across the tooth of the gear. As-installed, even the new one is not a totally tight fit so not a surprise that some wear causes slippage.
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