Sudden problem with all 4 of our Pentair lights

[Yorker]

Hi Everyone,

I’m a DIY’er. I’ve done our home wiring for decades. I rewired our kitchen in Los Angeles and passed the city inspection (granted that was 15 years ago).

Now I’m at my wits end with our pool lights. Over the past couple months I’ve replaced all four of our Pentair Globrite LED White lights.

They are on three different Intermatic Transformers. One to control two pool lights, the second to control the step light and the third for the spa.

A couple nights ago I installed the final Globrite LED light. When all was done, all four lights were working (being controlled by our ScreenLogic Connect phone app).

Later that night the Spa light stopped working, later the Step light followed then the two Pool lights also stopped working.

I’ve checked the wiring, breaker, and they are fine.

What I don’t understand is when I use our Klein NCVT - 2 tester to check for hot wires. The wire leaving the breaker IS hot, but the black wire entering our pool light box at our pad is NOT hot (no wires are hot).

This does not make sense to me. When the black wire leaves the transformer, does it become low voltage or something and not readable with my tester?

I’m two days from calling a Pentair certified pool guy, and preparing for the pain about to hit our savings account .

Any suggestions?

 

[Ahultin]

Black wires are 12-14v
Ncvt-2 is a dual range tester. Push and hold the power button for 2 seconds - in order to read low voltage on the black wires from the transformer you are waiting for a blue light which is "dual mode" this should read low voltage (12-48) and line voltage (48-1200)

 

[Yorker]

Black wires are 12-14v
Ncvt-2 is a dual range tester. Push and hold the power button for 2 seconds - in order to read low voltage on the black wires from the transformer you are waiting for a blue light which is "dual mode" this should read low voltage (12-48) and line voltage (48-1200)

Thanks Ahultin. When I turn the tester on (pressing for 1, 2 or more seconds) I always get a green light on the right side, the left side remains dark. I tried it our outdoor pathway lights, which I know is getting power and still no response from the tester.

I'm now thinking that the problem may be with the transformers. Though it seems odd that all three developed a problem within hours of each other.

My head continues to spin

 

[ajw22]

Do you have a multimeter to check actual voltage in the transformers?

 

[Yorker]

Do you have a multimeter to check actual voltage in the transformers?

No, No, not the multimeter!

Yes I have one, a Klein MM200. Had it for years and never seemed to figure it out. I will crack open that manual (once again) and see if my aging years have helped my brain function. I would be good for me to have a better idea if they are that problem before our local Pentair certified installer takes us to the cleaners.

Thanks for your input Allen!

 

[ajw22]

A multimeter is an electrician best tool for diagnostics. I cannot imagine how you can do electrical work without it.

 

[Yorker]

A multimeter is an electrician best tool for diagnostics. I cannot imagine how you can do electrical work without it.

Somehow I have gotten by without using one ... and I am certainly not an electrician All the DIY work I've done around our homes has been simple and quite straight forward. I realize this is well over my stills.

 

[Ahultin]

I'm wondering if the low voltage driver for the relays fried on the easy touch. This would be a single point of failure that would cause all 4 lights to not work. Do you have anything else on relays in the easytouch?

 

[Ahultin]

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[Yorker]

I'm wondering if the low voltage driver for the relays fried on the easy touch. This would be a single point of failure that would cause all 4 lights to not work. Do you have anything else on relays in the easytouch?

Ahultin , I just saw your reply. I thank you for your continued input.

I questioned if something like than may be the issue. To be honest I have always been confused as to what constitutes a relay. As I mentioned we have three transformers outside our Pool's Panel. I assumed that they allowed us to control each of our pool light areas.

On our phone we are also able to control these things with our pool

POOL MODE (to circulate/filter the water)
SPA MODE (where the jets in the spa will not allow the water to overflow into the pool)

Then we have 7 FEATURES
SPA JETS for the 8 additional spa jets (from our second pump)
LIGHT SPA
LIGHT POOL
LIGHT STEPS
DECK JETS
POOL 2700 rpms
POOL 3000 rpms

INTELICHLOR

 

[Ahultin]

Looks like you are using 5 relays, 1 appears to only control the swg, 1 (bottom left) likely is the spa pump, 2-4 are most likely lights. It also looks like the lights may be powered thru the convenience gfci on the right side of the panel, have you confirmed that has not tripped?
After checking the gfci, You can use your multi-meter on the second third and fourth relay to confirm they are passing power when you turn on the lights. Position 2 on each relay (load 1) should read 120v when the light is triggered on.

 

[Ahultin]

Red circles look like the light relays, blue circle is the convenience gfci outlet.

 

[Yorker]

Ahultin, I've been reading the links (and links within those links) regarding the relay's. SO HELPFUL. Not sure I'm comfortable doing much of what they say, but I will take a look at the relay switch I see on the front of the panel to see if that is something I can reset like a breaker.

I'll report back later.

 

[Ahultin]

@Yorker check the gfci first

 

[Yorker]

@Yorker check the gfci first

Not sure where to look for the GFCI switch/button - I'm assuming it is the white square button. The breaker for the lights does not have one.

Also, the relay switch does not look like it is tripped.

 

[ajw22]

Light GFCI is the outlet on the lower right of the panel circled in blue…

 

[Ahultin]

Not sure where to look for the GFCI switch/button

Under the dome cover, right side of the panel is a standard gfci outlet like in the kitchen or bath. Check if it is tripped.

 

[Yorker]

Ahultin, I've been reading the links (and links within those links) regarding the relay's. SO HELPFUL. Not sure I'm comfortable doing much of what they say, but I will take a look at the relay switch I see on the front of the panel to see if that is something I can reset like a breaker.

I'll report back later.

It seems that I'm not seeing your replies very quickly....sorry.

Yes, the GFCI on the right side was tripped when I started this saga. I don't think this changes anything, but when I first started this (turning on any light), the breaker that controlled the lights kept tripping (and tripping the gfci on the right side), I assumed the breaker was faulty. Since there was an open unused breaker in the panel that was not being used, I moved the wire to that breaker to test. The "new" breaker did not trip, but the lights still did not work so I continued looking into other solutions

Also, currently, I only have one of the pool lights connected as I have been testing things.

 

[Ahultin]

That changes things. Breakers and gfci trip for different reasons! In addition, unless the interior photo is old, when you moved the hot to an unprotected breaker you left the neutral passing thru the load side of the gfci convenience outlet and/or breaker.
You're going to need to start from zero.
I would start by disconnecting the wiring inside each transformer. You will need to reconnect the hot powering the transformers to the same gfci that the neutrals go through. Try connecting one transformer at a time to see if one trips the system.

 

[Yorker]

That changes things. Breakers and gfci trip for different reasons! In addition, unless the interior photo is old, when you moved the hot to an unprotected breaker you left the neutral passing thru the load side of the gfci convenience outlet and/or breaker.

The breaker I moved the hot from was not a gfci breaker (right?). The breaker I moved it to also was not gfci. Isn't that the same?