Solar Heater running Intermittently

[kbizzle]

I have an older Pentair System with a Jandy RS6 Controller. Everything has been great, last week I turned on the Solar Heater as we finally got better weather and sunshine. It ran normal for a few days, but now has been turning on and off intermittently.

There doesn't seem to be an issue with the pump or anything else when I put it into Service Mode on the panel, it will run as it should. But when I have it on automation, the solar will turn on and off and not continually run. The heating temperature is set far above the current temperature of the pool, and the actual pool temperature that shows on the Jandy controller displays a pretty accurate temperature.

The two sensors that are next to the pump and nearby the circuit panel don't show any breakage in wiring. Is there some other sensor that I don't know about possibly. We had the solar panels themselves replaced three years ago but had a wild winter here in California.

I do not get any error message on the Jandy Controller .... yesterday it ran totally fine, but today it's up to this again.

Thoughts?

Thank You.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

There should be a third sensor placed near the solar panels. This sensor suffers the most weather abuse and is the most likely of the three to go bad. I have never had to replace my air & water sensors, but I've had to replace my solar sensor twice in recent years. Sorry, I don't know anything about Jandy systems, so can't help you with using that to diagnose your problem. Hopefully someone knowledgeable about Jandy will chime in.

 

[MSchutzer]

Squirrel is correct, there is a third sensor up at the solar panels.

When you say it turns on and off during the day, that may be the correct behavior. If the weather is such that the panels are not at least 5 degrees warmer than the pool water the Solar JVA will turn off to avoid cooling the pool.

If you look at the web interface on the RS and look at the status window it will show the current state of the Solar Heat. It will either say Solar Heat (when it’s on) or Solar Heat ENA if it’s enabled but too cool up at the panels.



Early in the season like now it’s common for it to turn on and off if the solar panel temperatures are marginal.

It could also be a bad sensor as Squirrel as suggested.

 

[1poolman1]

I have an older Pentair System with a Jandy RS6 Controller. Everything has been great, last week I turned on the Solar Heater as we finally got better weather and sunshine. It ran normal for a few days, but now has been turning on and off intermittently.

There doesn't seem to be an issue with the pump or anything else when I put it into Service Mode on the panel, it will run as it should. But when I have it on automation, the solar will turn on and off and not continually run. The heating temperature is set far above the current temperature of the pool, and the actual pool temperature that shows on the Jandy controller displays a pretty accurate temperature.

The two sensors that are next to the pump and nearby the circuit panel don't show any breakage in wiring. Is there some other sensor that I don't know about possibly. We had the solar panels themselves replaced three years ago but had a wild winter here in California.

I do not get any error message on the Jandy Controller .... yesterday it ran totally fine, but today it's up to this again.

Thoughts?

Thank You.

Is the pump turning on and off or just a valve turning?

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Even if the solar sensor is good, its wiring may not be. My solar sensor, having been replaced several times, does not have a continuous cable - which would need to be about 100 feet long - back to my automation panel. It is spliced near the panels. The last time I replaced it, I used the smallest available "waterproof" wire nuts; those wires are very thin.

After our wild California winter with seriously pounding rain, I found that connection had gone intermittent. I re-fastened the connection using push-in connectors instead of wire nuts and re-wrapped it with tape. The connectors have tiny clamps that feel more secure than wire nuts.

 

[kbizzle]

Is the pump turning on and off or just a valve turning?

Hello .. it will go into full solar mode, pump turning on and valve turning, then it will turn off a few minutes later with pump lowering it's rpm and valve turning to the off position... then do it all over again .. very inconsistent operation. It worked normal the first day (last week) it was turned on and then I noticed it doing this a couple of days ago.

 

[kbizzle]

Is the pump turning on and off or just a valve turning?

Hello .. it will go into full solar mode, pump turning on and valve turning, then it will turn off a few minutes later with pump lowering it's rpm and valve turning to the off pos... then do it all over again .. very inconsistent operation. It worked normal the first day (last week) it was turned on and then I noticed it doing this a couple of days ago.

 

[kbizzle]

Is the pump turning on and off or just a valve turning?

There should be a third sensor placed near the solar panels. This sensor suffers the most weather abuse and is the most likely of the three to go bad. I have never had to replace my air & water sensors, but I've had to replace my solar sensor twice in recent years. Sorry, I don't know anything about Jandy systems, so can't help you with using that to diagnose your problem. Hopefully someone knowledgeable about Jandy will chime in.

I will have to take a look at that .. appreciate your time.

 

[1poolman1]

Hello .. it will go into full solar mode, pump turning on and valve turning, then it will turn off a few minutes later with pump lowering it's rpm and valve turning to the off pos... then do it all over again .. very inconsistent operation. It worked normal the first day (last week) it was turned on and then I noticed it doing this a couple of days ago.

Its possible that the water temp sensor is bad. You need to carefully watch the pool temperature reading on whatever interface (All Button/One Touch/iAqualink) that displays it while the system is running. Then with the solar "on" and see it there is a change to some unreasonable reading. A bad water temp sensor can indicate to the RS that the set temp has been reached and turn the solar off.

 

[MSchutzer]

How is the weather there today? Is the air temp warmer than the pool water, do you have any wind?

If your solar sensor is good it will turn the solar valve on (and increase the pump speed) when the pool is below the set point temp, and the panels are at least 5 degrees warmer than the pool water.

While I’m not in Sacramento my Solar was cycling on and off today due to the cool wind we were getting.

What you are seeing could be completely normal behavior if your solar sensor reads lower temperatures.

 

[NateTheMoron]

Hey @kbizzle did you ever get an answer on this? I'm dealing with an identical problem.

Thanks

 

[Ahultin]

Hey @kbizzle did you ever get an answer on this? I'm dealing with an identical problem.

Thanks

What automation do you have of any? Describe your issue. Solar automation is made to react to weather conditions such as cloud cover. It could be that what seems like odd operation (cycling on and off throughout the day) is actually normal.