Raypak heater - CLK

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binyamingavriel

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Jul 2, 2013
76
Wesley Hills, NY
Pool Size
39000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I have an older Raypak heater (I think it's an R366a, but I'm at work now so I'll check tomorrow). Worked great last season. This season it started randomly shutting off. It seemed to me that the touch pad was faulty, and as soon as I disconnected it, the heatre worked fine again (with the caveat that I could only adjust it by reconnecting the touch pad). The heater is wired to the same timer as the pump, so it turns on/off with the pump, and retaining its current settings. What I noticed was that when the touchpad was connected sometimes a little pressure or jiggling would result in the screen/unit turning on/off, leading me to believe there was a loose wire or poor connection.
Last week a new problem cropped up. The water was cold, and a quick check of the heater gave me a CLK display. Shutting off and turning on the unit got it going again (CFH->SPK->heat), but after some time it went back to CLK. I opened up the panel and tried resetting (although the panel shut off before I had a chance to do it). The unit seems to try to cycle on (CFH->SPK) but then goes to CLK. However, occasionally it still lights and stays lit for a random amount of time (seconds to hours). When SPK is displayed I hear the clicking at the ignitir, but I am also hearing occasional clicking from the area of the control board.
I was not able to easily identify any loose wires, but perhaps I'm missing something. The fact that "moving" the board gives me some results (positive and negative) still has me believing in a wiring issue, but I'm not sure which wire is the likely culprit. Obviously it could also be a bad board, but I'd rather try the more basic and cheaper fixes first.
I know the CLK code has to do with an open fireman's switch, but I do not have one installed. Just a loop of wire connecting the two terminals.
Thanks
 
My Raypak heater would do that about every 4 years and then I would put a plastic carpenters wood clamp in a spot on the circuit board and apply pressure with the clamp until it would function. This would make the board work for another year and then I would order another one off Amazon for 400 bucks I think. Last time it went bad, they didn't have a Rapack board but they did have an aftermarket board that worked well with new sensors for 300 bucks. Great heater, has lasted 15 years and still kicking, just wish they had better circuit boards or you could buy an analog heater. It might be the heat here.
 
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Well I decided to take another look and I found what looked like a burnt pin on the back of the board. Guess what? It's one of the CLK contacts! So I tried my best to resolder it and reinstalled and no more CLK code! However, the display and power did seem to still be very temperamental if not positioned perfectly. Especially after closing the front panel of the heater. But a few good hits and I got it going again.
I'm having trouble posting pics now, keeps saying I've exceeded my limit by 9.4 kb no matter what size photo I try to attach, so I'll try to post pics later.
 
Yeah there is a limit for new people. There are two things you can do-become a supporting member (gets you a discount of test kits and test kit stuff, is tax deductible, helps us keep the lights on) or use an outside photo source BUT photo bucket just put a lock down on the 3rd party hosting ($399 ransom) and we worry the others will follow suit.

I am glad you found that spot. That is what I thought you would find! I hope it holds!

Kim:kim:
 
Mine did the same thing, probably bad flow soldering on the board or delamination. I used to have mine open with the board hanging out and a clamp on it to get it to fire and read. Three boards went the same way and did not feel like spending the dough so I would just put the clamp and leave the board open for the last year to save some $. My equipment is behind it's own wall so nobody could see my engineering. I hope it works this winter, I haven't tried it all summer.
 
I'm afraid to leave it open due to kids and weather, but I'll look into a clamp. My board only has two screws holding it in place, and I wonder if there were more that got lost over time (a real possibility, as this week alone I myself lost two of the outer screws that hold the cover over the control board), or were they just cheap with what was supplied initially (which I've seen in other products). Either way, maybe adding more screws will help?
Any tricks about clamping? Do you have a picture of your clamping for reference?
Thanks
 
Sorry, don't have any pics. What I did was put pressure on the board til it fired and used that for reference on where and how much pressure to apply with clamp. I used a plastic wood working clamp that was like vise grip but the pressure could be adjusted by ratcheting effect or in small increments if this makes any sense. Wish I had pics as that was 5 years or so ago and didn't think to take pictures. The clamp did come from Home depot. If I remember mine was held on by 5 screws but I could be wrong it's been awhile. Missing screws may be your issue but I doubt it, try new screws first. Always start with the obvious and simplest solution first, as a mechanic I dont know how many times I would see customers who had replaced their alternator then brought it in to find it was only a bad fuse or loose connection. Good luck and if you do need to replace board try Amazon.
 
Sorry to revive an old thread, but after further fiddling, I wanted to update. I'm still left with my original problem. Basically when the touchpad is connected the settings seem to change randomly (both mode and temp). However, I've found that I can hook it up, adjust the settings, and then disconnect the touchpad and then the heater will stay as set. Annoying and inconvenient, but it works. Any further ideas?
 

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Further reading of your post is indicating that you have two different issues related with, or pointing to, the control board.

From the picture that you posted, removing the orange wire nut from the two red wires and separating would/should give you the CLK fault. If those wires, and their connection(s) are good, you may just have a problem with the board. Either a broken trace or the socket that connects those two red wires is having a connection issue with the board (bad or failing solider joint). The fact that you are also having some other connection issues elsewhere on the board that would normally point to the touch pad, may also be in fact a connection issue to the board or between the board and the socket for the touch pad, indicating bad or cold shut solider joints throughout the board. And they are now showing their deficits with age.

Usually the touch pad would be the culprit, for one of the issues.

Since this is your second touch pad, you may want to look at the board. These issues (as you are finding out), can begin to get expensive as there is no real diagnostic for the board, other than to replace and see if that fixes it. As to if you may have gotten a bad touch pad? I suppose that is always a possibility, but i have not experienced a bad touch pad or membrane out of the box, and that would only fix only one of these issues. You may want to try removing the orange wire nut, cut and re strip the red wire ends, and reconnect the wire nut. That could possibly resolve the CLK fault.
 
binyamingavriel said:
I have an older Raypak heater (I think it's an R366a, but I'm at work now so I'll check tomorrow). Worked great last season. This season it started randomly shutting off. It seemed to me that the touch pad was faulty, and as soon as I disconnected it, the heatre worked fine again (with the caveat that I could only adjust it by reconnecting the touch pad). The heater is wired to the same timer as the pump, so it turns on/off with the pump, and retaining its current settings. What I noticed was that when the touchpad was connected sometimes a little pressure or jiggling would result in the screen/unit turning on/off, leading me to believe there was a loose wire or poor connection.
Last week a new problem cropped up. The water was cold, and a quick check of the heater gave me a CLK display. Shutting off and turning on the unit got it going again (CFH->SPK->heat), but after some time it went back to CLK. I opened up the panel and tried resetting (although the panel shut off before I had a chance to do it). The unit seems to try to cycle on (CFH->SPK) but then goes to CLK. However, occasionally it still lights and stays lit for a random amount of time (seconds to hours). When SPK is displayed I hear the clicking at the ignitir, but I am also hearing occasional clicking from the area of the control board.
I was not able to easily identify any loose wires, but perhaps I'm missing something. The fact that "moving" the board gives me some results (positive and negative) still has me believing in a wiring issue, but I'm not sure which wire is the likely culprit. Obviously it could also be a bad board, but I'd rather try the more basic and cheaper fixes first.
I know the CLK code has to do with an open fireman's switch, but I do not have one installed. Just a loop of wire connecting the two terminals.
Thanks
Click to expand...
I had same problem. Found bad solder joints on the backside of the board(they will look cracked). Reflowed the the 2 CLK pins an the next pin just for good measure. If you saved your old boards, fix them and resell! :)
 
CarbonHigh said:
I had same problem. Found bad solder joints on the backside of the board(they will look cracked). Reflowed the the 2 CLK pins an the next pin just for good measure. If you saved your old boards, fix them and resell! :)
Click to expand...
Apparently my first resolder job was not great, although it did last me four seasons. I just redid it again and it looks to be working. I had forgotten about this and tried to replace the relays at first. Raypak r406a won't spark
 
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