Vintage controller on the fritz!!!

[midmodonhillwood]

Good morning!

We bought this house in October 2023 and it was built in 1977. I’m pretty sure the pool and wall mounted controller in the bedroom are also the same age!!

I put a fresh backup battery in the circuit board and was able to program it and it worked fine up until last night when I noticed the LCD for the clock was out and there were 3 LED’s lit up for POOL, SPA, and AUX 1.

I went to the circuit breaker and turned it off, pulled the controller from the wall and looked around but didn’t see any bad solder circuits.

Can I still get one of these? We have a real good home warranty that has got us a new pump and filter but I’m not sure they will cover the automation part of the pool/spa system.

I have the wiring diagram, can I use this to see if there is something newer out there that will wire right up to this harness?

Thank you!

 

[ajw22]

That control system is long obsolete.

We have seen a few of them in the walls of old houses like yours.

Let's see if anyone knows how to get that running again.

 

[midmodonhillwood]

I'm an ex Mercedes-Benz Technician and I still have some electrical contact cleaner spray in my toolbox! I think I will turn off the breaker, try some compressed air and a good splash of contact cleaner and see if anything comes of it. I noticed when I tapped on some of the integrated circuits the red LED responded and went off. I also get a slight wake up of the clock LCD display.

 

[ajw22]

Maybe @ogdento wants to take a try at replacing components. IC replacements in the old boards are easier then in modern ones.

 

[midmodonhillwood]

Maybe @ogdento wants to take a try at replacing components. IC replacements in the old boards are easier in modern ones.

Thanks for trying to help find a solution!! I can still turn the filter and sweep on and off manually with the toggle switches, which I suppose is the way things were done before any type of automation!

 

[ogdento]

That's kindof neat... I've never seen one of those before.

When you "tapped on some of the ICs" and you got the system to work - or at least got the LED and LCD display to respond - which ICs did you tap on?

The most likely issue with an old board like this is that either the electrolytic caps are dead/dying and therefore the power supply isn't working, or some of the socketed chips have become unseated.

As for what's on the board, here's what I found:
U1 UA78?15 most likely a 15vdc linear regulator
U2 ? no number visible
U3 MC14027 JK flip flop
U4 TRW 8324 TRW made lots of stuff but I'd guess this is some kind of static memory? i dunno
U5 CA3081 NPN transistor array
U6 ? no number visible
U7 L202B Darlington Array
U8 LM358? dual op-amp
U9 CA3162E a/d for display
U10 CA3161E 7-segment driver

 

[midmodonhillwood]

That's kindof neat... I've never seen one of those before.

When you "tapped on some of the ICs" and you got the system to work - or at least got the LED and LCD display to respond - which ICs did you tap on?

The most likely issue with an old board like this is that either the electrolytic caps are dead/dying and therefore the power supply isn't working, or some of the socketed chips have become unseated.

As for what's on the board, here's what I found:
U1 UA78?15 most likely a 15vdc linear regulator
U2 ? no number visible
U3 MC14027 JK flip flop
U4 TRW 8324 TRW made lots of stuff but I'd guess this is some kind of static memory? i dunno
U5 CA3081 NPN transistor array
U6 ? no number visible
U7 L202B Darlington Array
U8 LM358? dual op-amp
U9 CA3162E a/d for display
U10 CA3161E 7-segment driver

Hey! You are up in Chico! I have a friend up there that wants me to come visit!

I tapped U3, U4, U5, U6 & U7. They correspond to the buttons on the front, FILTER, CLNR, SPA & AUX1.

Something you might find interesting, while I have it out of the wall mount it is just hanging downwards by the harness and over time the red LED's light up again. When I pick it up and hold it and tap the IC's or press the buttons, the LED's will turn off only to reappear when left hanging down.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts! Thank you!

Here is the manual for it...

 

[ogdento]

Yessir I am in Chico. Gonna be hot here this coming week!

It definitely sounds like one of more of the socketed chips - out possibly wires connected to the terminals - is loose. I'd suggest you go through and clean/reattach all the wires and probably pull/clean/reinstall all the socketed chips (clean the sockets too... Use 90+ percent isopropyl). That may do the trick but if not at least your at a point where the connections are hopefully good.

 

[midmodonhillwood]

Yessir I am in Chico. Gonna be hot here this coming week!

It definitely sounds like one of more of the socketed chips - out possibly wires connected to the terminals - is loose. I'd suggest you go through and clean/reattach all the wires and probably pull/clean/reinstall all the socketed chips (clean the sockets too... Use 90+ percent isopropyl). That may do the trick but if not at least your at a point where the connections are hopefully good.

Thanks!

I grew up in Quincy, not far from you!!

I will do some disassembly, cleaning and reassembly today and report back!