replacement W3T-CELL-15 not working

[agonista]

i've got a 25k gal saltwater pool with hayward omnipl controller where i replaced an old T-CELL-15 chlorinator that was not working with a new W3T-CELL-15. when i initially replaced the chlorinator, i confirmed the replacement was working and had increased FC by roughly 3 ppm over the course of a day, and it was showing a non-zero current across the unit. i left and came back a few days later to find that the cell was no longer producing chlorine.

since then, i have attempted to get the cell working a couple times by fiddling with the touchscreen controller to no avail. what i see on the display is that the cell type shows as TCELLS340, which looks incorrect, and the relay polarity shows as off, even if i turn the cell to 100%. further, immediately after i set the cell to a non-zero %, it immediately sets the value to 0%.

i have seen mention of a flow switch and fuses on the control board in some other threads that could be relevant. i did not see any obvious damage to the plug that connects the cell to the board last i checked.

i will be onsite and able to test the equipment in a couple days, so i would like to get suggestions on what to look for to diagnose and fix this issue.

 

[TinFoilHat]

What are your pool testing results (with a recommended test kit I hope)? Do you know what your salt reading is? The cell may not be liking your salt level. Do you get any errors such as low salt, high salt, no flow, etc? Since you're going "to be on site in a couple of days" does that mean this is a rental home? I would really want to know the water test results then. Others will chime in since it's on automation that I don't have.

 

[agonista]

What are your pool testing results (with a recommended test kit I hope)? Do you know what your salt reading is? The cell may not be liking your salt level. Do you get any errors such as low salt, high salt, no flow, etc? Since you're going "to be on site in a couple of days" does that mean this is a rental home? I would really want to know the water test results then. Others will chime in since it's on automation that I don't have.

i have a taylor k-1766 kit and have tested the water several times, getting a reliable 3600-3800 ppm salt, which lines up with what the cell sensor shows.

so far, i have only accessed the system via the attached touchscreen, and i have not seen anything that i would describe as a useful error message or log. i have not seen anything to indicate salt concentration issues or no flow, but i will make sure to check that once i'm onsite.

 

[chlorinatorpro]

Confused a bit here...t-cell S340 is for Hayward's new S3 system, yet it appears you are trying to use am AquaRite t-cell 15 on the system. You state you have OmniLogic (?) controller. Perhaps if you can post pictures of the controller and the touchscreen display we can get a better idea what is going on? Is there any way you can change the cell type on the display?

 

[agonista]

Confused a bit here...t-cell S340 is for Hayward's new S3 system, yet it appears you are trying to use am AquaRite t-cell 15 on the system. You state you have OmniLogic (?) controller. Perhaps if you can post pictures of the controller and the touchscreen display we can get a better idea what is going on? Is there any way you can change the cell type on the display?

i am confused as well, and i have done more work to diagnose the issue.

i purchased this property recently and inherited the saltwater system as-is. the chlorinator was not working properly when i bought it, and was showing salt level of 1300 ppm. at the time, i did not have a taylor k-1766 kit on hand to check the salt level, so i had a pool store test it, showing 3400 ppm salt.

after confirming that reading myself using k-1766 that showed 3600-3800 ppm, i looked at the chlorinator, which was labeled as a T-CELL-15. afaict, i could not easily upsize from this chlorinator, and that it was rated for a 40k gal pool, while this pool is 25k gal. i had a look for a replacement cell because it should be straightforward to swap out the cell. i found that i couldn't easily get a new T-CELL-15, but the updated replacement part is W3T-CELL-15.

i installed the replacement part pretty quickly, plugged it in, and it ran for about 6 hrs while i was present, adding roughly 3 ppm net FC to the pool. i came back a few days later to find the cell not working at all, i.e. no current across the cell. i also noticed that the cell type was listed as TCELLS340 and not TCELL15 or similar. there were and have been no alerts suggesting the salt concentration is too high, but there were previous alerts that the salt concentration was too low with the previous old cell. afaict, there is no way to set the cell type manually or have it redetect the cell type.

i have noticed some pretty odd behavior from the controller while fiddling with the chlorinator settings - 2-3 times while attempting to get the chlorinator settings to take, it rebooted itself. this is the kind of behavior i would expect from a bad control board. besides this, it simply won't allow me to turn the chlorinator on - every time i set the chlorinator to a non-zero % value and hit the checkbox, i come back to find it set to 0%.

i found the omnilogic residential troubleshooting guide here on the forum, and i used it to test the control board. at the beginning of the chlorinator section on page 43, it states

"NOTE: To chlorinate the pump must be on and primed, solar must not be in operation, flow must be detected, the water temperature must be above 50 degrees, and the salt level must be between 2700-3400ppm."

my k-1766 measured and chlorinator measured salt concentration is 3600-4000 ppm, which is definitely above this range, but i would expect the controller to throw an alert if the concentration was too high for the chlorinator to run. upon testing the mainboard, i found the following:

- step 5A - i cannot get the chlorinator to turn on
- step 5B - i see no alerts in the chlorinator menu
- step 5C - i cannot change cell polarity, always reads OFF
- step 5D - i think i missed this step, and i'm unsure how to clear the config and verify/program the chlorinator
- step 5E - both 4A and 20A fuses tested fine for continuity when removed
- step 5F - i get 24V ac from the yellow transformer output leads, unsure how to check rectifier wiring
- step 5G - transformer input terminals show 120v ac between pins 1 and 3, and 2 and 4
- step 5H - MPP voltage reads as 120v between breaker contact and bus bar

after reviewing the docs, the only parts i didn't execute properly are 5D and checking rectifier wiring in 5F. i also noticed some wire insulation damage on a couple of the input wires to the transformer, but it seems to generate a steady 24v ac output without issue.

 

[agonista]

my controller is an omnilogic board running firmware 4.8.1, and the cabinet for the system shows as an OmniPL. the board doesn't quite match the layout shown in the troubleshooting guide, and it shows a 2022 copyright stamp on the pcb.

 

[chlorinatorpro]

I verified on my end that tcell s340 is the correct cell type setting on the OmniLogic. What happens when you simply turn off the power button, wait for a minute, then turn it back on? Do you get the same results?

 

[ajw22]

What MSP version is your OmniPL running?

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