Temporarily bypass EasyTouch 8 to run filter

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houstonguy

Active member
Mar 19, 2010
40
Houston, TX
A lightning strike this afternoon seems to have fried the motherboard in our Pentair EasyTouch 8. Capacitors and a couple of wiring harnesses were blown completely off. I've ordered a replacement board, but it might be next week before it arrives.

Is there a relatively easy way to bypass the controller and power the filter pump in the meantime, or is it better to just wait it out? If the latter, any suggestions that might help to keep the water clear while the pump is out of commission?

FYI, we just moved into this house in July and are still using the previous owner's pool guy to clean/maintain the chemistry. It's been about 10 years since we last had a pool. I did the maintenance back then, so a little rusty but not completely clueless. Thanks!
 
You need to get some liquid chlorine to put in the pool every day and brush it in to mix it since the pump isn't working. 1/2 gallon a day should do it. If everything is Pentair and it's all automated, if the pump is a variable speed pump then it should be wired independently so if it's also not running then it could be fried too, which I would expect from your description of the carnage. Have you checked at the breaker panel to see if all breakers to the pool are turned on and not tripped? If you have GFIs in your automation box then they probably also need to be replaced. Get with your insurance company as you may be replacing a lot of stuff that will cost a lot of moolah.
 
Show us the high voltage relay wiring in your EasyTouch.

Also show us a picture of your pump.

Depending on the answers to the questions above it may require moving some wires.
 
The filter pump is a Whisperflo WF-30, so not variable speed All of the breakers are on. Only one breaker flipped due to the storm, but it was unrelated to the pool equipment.

The GFI that is directly mounted on the side of the controller seems fine. There's a second one that is wired through the bottom of it and mounted lower on the side of the house. It won't reset.

The little 3 amp circuit breaker labeled electronics flipped and won't reset when there is power running to the board. If turn off the main circuit breaker for the board below, I can reset the 3 amp one, and then it trips when the power is turned back on. One of the other breakers in the controller is tied to the outdoor kitchen fridge/plugs and they all work.

I don't see any visible damage to any equipment other than what I found when I opened up the panel and saw the motherboard.
 
You need to move the power lines to the pump from the LOAD screws on the filter pump relay to the LINE screws. Then the pump will get continuous power and you can control the pump from the pump control panel.
 
houstonguy said:
That did the trick. Main filter pump appears to have survived unscathed so I will run it manually until the new board arrives. Hopefully everything else is still working after that, too. Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Great. Remember to move the wires back to the LOAD screws when you install the new board.
 

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Motherboard showed up faster than I expected. Got it swapped out and the load wires moved back where they belong, but still have some problems and trying to figure out what's damaged and what's a programming issue since the new board means I lost all the previous setup.

It seems like nothing connected to Aux 4-8 will work manually. But most, if not all of it works when I run the self test and it goes through the output cycle. Also having trouble with the Intellibrite pool lights, but the spa light works. I've been looking through the manual and the forums, but I still think I'm missing something.

As an example, there's a floodlight connected to Aux 6. Push the button, nada. No red light on the panel. No flood light. Run the self test and it comes on with the Aux 6 output test. Buttons and panel lights also check out fine during the self test. Same for water feature pump. Same for the two spa valves. Valve button fires up the filter and heater but valve actuators don't move. During the self test they work as expected.

Any thoughts, or is my next best step to call the pentair help line and work with them? Thanks!
 
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Yeah, that's what I was just starting to wonder about. The board that blew out has two stickers on it. One says Pentair Inc. EZTCH 8P Replacement 520711. The other smaller sticker has a barcode that lists P/N 520657. It looks like the former might be for a pool or spa configuration and the latter is the pool and spa. I ordered the 520711 as replacement, but it might not be the right one.

The new board doesn't have any identifying stickers but Software Rev display in Diagnostic says Easytouch P4. Either way I think the board is my problem.

Old board:
IMG_8606.jpeg
 
New board is in and panel is working properly now. All the pumps and valve actuators now work as expected, but still a couple of things to sort out.

I'm not sure the heater survived. It doesn't seem to be getting any power. Not responding from the EasyTouch or the main panel on the unit. It's a Pentair Mastertemp. Is there a breaker or fuse or something on the unit that I should check? I have Heat turned on for the Pool and Spa in the EasyTouch Settings.

EDIT: I found the control fuse and it's definitely blown. Going to replace and hope that's the only problem.

Intellibrite lights all turn on and the circuit functions are set to Intellibrite, but the color change settings aren't working. If I try to set a color or mode, there's no attempt at the on/off clicking patterns that would typically occur to change the color.

Pretty sure the screenlogic antenna is fried. I'm not getting any lights at the outdoor antenna, which is not too surprising since that was one of the harnesses that got blown off the main board.

Open to any suggestions on troubleshooting the heater/lights before I give the pool company a call tomorrow.

Thanks!
 
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Pentair_MasterTemp_Firemans_Switch.jpg
MasterTemp heater has a fuse by the fireman’s switch.

Pentair MasterTemp Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Found the problem with the Intellibrites. I had not assigned the relays and synced them in the Configure menu in the EasyTouch. If the new fuse fixes the heater, everything will up and running except the screenlogic, which will likely require replacement of the antenna/transmitter. Thanks all!
 
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