Waterway Power Defender 270, no power to control center

Carey934

New member
Mar 23, 2025
4
Phoenix, AZ
Hello, we have a Waterway Power Defender 270 and a while back, we lost power to our house. When the power came back on, the control center on the pump no longer showed any indication of getting power, despite verifying the power was active. We called out pool guy and he said the unit was stuck in a boot-loop and nothing we could do and it required tools we do not have to fix. About five minutes later, the power light was on and the control center was working as it should.

Last week, we had to turn off power to the house for some electrical upgrades inside the house. When the electrician was done, power was restored and the control center on the pool, once again, shows no power. Once again, there is power going to the pump. It seems like the same problem as before. Someone in another forum mentioned getting a new 'drive' (whatever that means) and no one at Waterway has returned our call. We had switched to a different pool maintenance company and our previous pool maintenance company who installed this pump is no longer returning our calls.

Like before, the control center has no LEDs or screen lit up. It appears like there is no power to it, yet there is power to it. I am very comfortable with low voltage wiring and I understand an RS485 can be wired up and I can get that to USB on a laptop in terminal mode, but I have no idea what the commands are.

I would appreciate any advice on this topic. I'd hate to be helpless every time the house loses power and have my pool pump not run. If my pool guy had fixed this previously in under five minutes, I am sure this is something I can do on my own.
 

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Welcome to TFP.

Someone in another forum mentioned getting a new 'drive' (whatever that means)
The "Drive" is the control panel and electronics in it that controls the VS motor.

Did you check the voltage between L1 and L2 at the pump?

What was the voltage reading?

Let's see if @1poolman1 is familiar with that pump.
 
Welcome to TFP.


The "Drive" is the control panel and electronics in it that controls the VS motor.

Did you check the voltage between L1 and L2 at the pump?

What was the voltage reading?

Let's see if @1poolman1 is familiar with that pump.
That motor is the Nidec Neptune 270. If there is proper power at the L1 and L2 (240V) and it doesn't light up, the drive has probably been damaged. As with all variable-speed motors, the drive is the most expensive of the two parts. Fortunately, the replacement cost of that entire motor is less than the replacement cost of the drive of the other major manufacturer's motors.

That is one reason that I always recommend that Waterway pump first unless automation is involved. Even then, using relay inputs is usually all that most pools really need. Have installed many of those motors to both Pentair and Jandy systems for completely satisfied customers. The fact that the entire pump usually costs less that any of the "big 3" brands doesn't hurt either.
 
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When we lose power to the house, the controller goes dead. It gets power, but no LEDs come on, the screen is dead and the buttons are non-responsive. We contacted support at Waterway and they sent a short video showing to unplug and re-plug a connector while the unit has power, and this has worked. Happy to report the pump and controller are just fine, nothing is broken or damaged. Hoping to share this information for anyone else suffering a similar issue (including my future self) after a power loss.

Reset Waterway Power Defender 270
 
The power must be on for this process to work. Anyone who needs to be warned how electricity works should NOT be working with electricity. These steps were provided to show how to reset the pump, which REQUIRES the power be on. That's why just cutting the breaker wasn't working for me.
 
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