SWG J7 Male Connector Pins Burned

[WaynePool]

Need new male connector pins of J7 as show in the attached pictures or the new connector. These burned two pins cause the SWG has no power and intermittent communication among the IntelliTouch and 4 pumps.

Thanks

Wayne

 

[JamesW]

You can solder directly to the board.

The connector is probably Molex.

Here are some contacts that should be able to help identify the correct part if you want the connector.

TE Connectivity: Connectors & Sensors for Harsh Environments

TE connectors and sensors are embedded in many types of technological devices, where reliable and persistent data, power, signal, and sensing connectivity are required — enabling innovation in industrial technology, connected factories, emobility, renewable energy, minimally invasive medical...

www.te.com

https://www.molex.com/en-us/home

DigiKey Home

DigiKey offers millions of products from thousands of manufacturers, many in-stock quantities available to ship same day. Apple Pay, Google Pay™ & Paypal accepted, order online today!

www.digikey.com

https://www.mouser.com/

 

[JamesW]

They sell the whole part, but it is expensive.

 

[JamesW]

These burned two pins cause the SWG has no power and intermittent communication among the IntelliTouch and 4 pumps.

There are 3 communications plugs.

For the cell, D+ and D- (Green and White) are the communications and 39VDC and GND are the DC power voltage (Red and Black).



For communications, red (+) and black (- ground) provide 15 volts DC power and yellow and green are the communications.

If a device has its own power, you only use the communications wires (Yellow and green).

For example, a pump only uses yellow and green because it has its own power.

A remote controller will use the red and black power wires if it does not have its own power supply.

 

[DrewLG]

These burned two pins

Do you know why the pins got so hot? Have you fixed that problem?

 

[JamesW]

Do you know why the pins got so hot? Have you fixed that problem?

The current is about 7.5 to 8.0 amps, which is pretty high.

If the connection has any excessive resistance, the pins will get excessively hot.

As the connection burns, the resistance increases and the problem gets progressively worse until the part eventually fails.

 

[DrewLG]

Right, but where'd the excessive resistance come from? Pentair presumably uses real connectors, not Chinese counterfeits, so they should make good contact and the plating on the terminals should resist corrosion.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Pentair presumably uses real connectors, not Chinese counterfeits, so they should make good contact and the plating on the terminals should resist corrosion.

Drew,

I've seen this type of failures on military products that use "real" connectors.. It does not take much contamination to cause a little corrosion or resistance. Once it starts it is like positive feedback and it just keeps getting worse and worse.. Can often take years to fail enough so that it even gets noticed. Or in some cases, the report of "smoke in the cockpit" is a clue...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[SoDel]

I bought a container of this so long ago I can’t remember https://www.grainger.com/product/44...VxEhyCh0C-gcrEAQYAyABEgLdGPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Dab some into the connector once a year. Also great for automotive and marine uses. I also use it on my landscape light crimp connections which are buried — no issues for many years.

I also noticed Grainger says for short term — that’s not right. The manufacturer says long lasting protection and that has been my experience with it. https://www.super-lube.com/Content/...Data_Sheet_Anti-Corrosion_&_Connector_Gel.pdf

 

[WaynePool]

There are 3 communications plugs.

For the cell, D+ and D- (Green and White) are the communications and 39VDC and GND are the DC power voltage (Red and Black).

View attachment 539675

For communications, red (+) and black (- ground) provide 15 volts DC power and yellow and green are the communications.

If a device has its own power, you only use the communications wires (Yellow and green).

For example, a pump only uses yellow and green because it has its own power.

A remote controller will use the red and black power wires if it does not have its own power supply.

View attachment 539676

Thanks Jim

 

[Flying Tivo]

+1 on Soldering directly to the board. You still have the connector at the bottom of the enclosure. Make sure you double check that.

 

[WaynePool]

Drew,

I've seen this type of failures on military products that use "real" connectors.. It does not take much contamination to cause a little corrosion or resistance. Once it starts it is like positive feedback and it just keeps getting worse and worse.. Can often take years to fail enough so that it even gets noticed. Or in some cases, the report of "smoke in the cockpit" is a clue...

Thanks,

Jim R.

I don’t know why the two power pins were burnt but I do know the InterlliTouch is more than 10 years old and, just like you said, probably cause by contamination. It worked yesterday with the temporary fix by cleanup the contacts and I will directly solder these two wires by next week if I can not get the pins and connector.
This morning, the pumps didn’t not automatic start. Probably due to no communication. I reset by cycling the circuit breaker. The pumps temporarily have communicated “Display not Active” then lost communication just in seconds. I ran the filter pump manual and the pump started run auto program after 10 minutes, the started run manual again.
I think my system then and now has intermittent communication among the equipments: IntelliTouch, IntelliChlor, IntelliChem, and Mobil Intelli Display.
I am going to troubleshoot this afternoon. Any help and guidance will be appreciated.
Attached rare sequence pictures of what happened this morning. My filter pump is VSF just replaced 3 years ago. Other 3 pumps are VS and about more than 10 years old.

 

[WaynePool]

+1 on Soldering directly to the board. You still have the connector at the bottom of the enclosure. Make sure you double check that.

Thank. Will do it next week.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Wayne,

The key to troubleshooting Com issues with the IntelliTouch is to understand there is just one com port.. You might be able to connect to the com port at different places, but there is only one com port.

The next key is that almost any device connected to the com port can load it down and cause the whole thing not to work.

Step one on troubleshooting the problem is to remove EVERYTHING from the RS-485 com port EXCEPT the main card and one IntelliFlo pump.

If you can get a single pump to work with the main card, then that tells you that the basic com port is working and that most likely that one of the disconnected device is bad. You can then add one device at a time until you find the bad one. The pump must show "Display not active" before it can be controlled by the automation.

Do NOT removed or connect any RS-485 device with the power on.. Unless your goal is to blow up the com chips...

Most things can be disconnected by simply removing the 4 pin connector.

Because of the damage to your surge card (SWCG power supply) I would suspect that to be the cause of your com port failure.. It may not be bad at all, but it could also have taken out other things on the com port including the chips in the cell itself.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[WaynePool]

Wayne,

The key to troubleshooting Com issues with the IntelliTouch is to understand there is just one com port.. You might be able to connect to the com port at different places, but there is only one com port.

The next key is that almost any device connected to the com port can load it down and cause the whole thing not to work.

Step one on troubleshooting the problem is to remove EVERYTHING from the RS-485 com port EXCEPT the main card and one IntelliFlo pump.

If you can get a single pump to work with the main card, then that tells you that the basic com port is working and that most likely that one of the disconnected device is bad. You can then add one device at a time until you find the bad one. The pump must show "Display not active" before it can be controlled by the automation.

Do NOT removed or connect any RS-485 device with the power on.. Unless your goal is to blow up the com chips...

Most things can be disconnected by simply removing the 4 pin connector.

Because of the damage to your surge card (SWCG power supply) I would suspect that to be the cause of your com port failure.. It may not be bad at all, but it could also have taken out other things on the com port including the chips in the cell itself.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Is surge card the one that has 3 com ports?
When inspect the connection of wires on the 3 COM ports as your suggested, I found out one ground black wire on COM3 was not inserted in the slot and barely touch the outside underneath terminal (see attached picture). So I removed the card in order to connect this ground wire.
By doing that I find out why the male pins on J7 were burned. They were burned because the previous surge card was toasted. When some one replaced it with the new card that is on the panel right now, he did not replace the J7 pins or connector. That’s answer your question.
After inserted the ground wire. I turned on just the filter pump and it ran for more than 1 hour; every thing work: SWGs, Chem, Sterner was doing good. Then I turned power of all pumps on: one at a time (just power but not command to run). Until the last pump turned on for 15 minutes, then other 3 pumps lost communication and the filter pump is continuely running manual on one of the schedule that was manual preprogrammed before. The Mobile Control also lost communication.
I then turned off other three pumps, the filter pump still run on the schedule manual program. I suspect the filter pump cause the intermittent communication problem. I will reset the circuit breaker and try only run the filter pump only. Should I also remove the Mobil display out?

Wayne

 

[Flying Tivo]

You can try to connect directly(only com) to the mother board and skip the surge card. That will also eliminate the surge card as a problem.

 

[WaynePool]

Flying Tivo, so the COM ports on the motherboard doesn’t connect directly to COM ports on the surge card? If that is the case then I will move the data wires of each device per Jim suggestion previously.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Wayne,

There is just one com port... Normally, there is a jumper cable between the com port on the main card and one of the three connections on the surge card. This gives you two extra connections to the same com port.

The surge card also provides the com port connection to the salt cell through the burned connector.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[WaynePool]

Finally, I am back in town and following with all your suggestions, I able to run my pool in automation mode now with most of the equipments connected to the COM ports: pumps, IntelliChlor, IntelliChem, Mobil Intelli control; there is two RS-485 sets of wire I have not connected to the COM ports:
1. one is from ScreenLogic2. I have no idea what device is connected to the other end of Ethernet cable buried under the ground. I am thinking about using the ScreenLogic2 for control the system from my iPhone. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
2. The other set is routed inside the pcv tube going vertically down the ground.
Until I know what device uses these two sets of wire, I will not connect them. For now, no more intermittent communication problems.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Wayne,

ScreenLogic can be connected by hardwiring a 4 wire cable from the EasyTouch com port directly to the protocol adapter..

Or ScreenLogic can use a wireless links... to connect the EasyTouch to the protocol adapter.

Do you have any Pentair remotes??? They also can be hardwired or wireless...

Thanks,

Jim R.