Hayward Aquarite SWG

Overview

The Hayward Aquarite consists of two units:

• Control panel and power supply, typically wall mounted
• T-Cell for chlorine generation

The T-cells come in various generating capacities. The specific T-cell being used needs to be set in the control panel for proper operation.

Aquarite T-Cells

Cell chlorine Generating Capacity

Each cell T-3, T-9, T-15 will produce a specific quantity of chlorine before it is depleted.

• T-3 = 210 pounds - 15,000 gallons
• T-9 = 385 pounds - 25,000 gallons
• T-15= 580 pounds - 40,000 gallons
• Equivalent pounds of Trichlor produced over the lifetime of the cell with properly maintained cell and water chemistry.

Which T Cell Should I Buy?

TFP recommends you get a cell at least 2X your pool water volume. Manufacturers specifications assume you will run your pump 24/7 and have the cell generating 24 hours a day. Oversizing the cell allows reduced pump runtimes, reduced SWG %, and excess chlorine generating capacity if needed.

Not all cells, that are the same size, last the same amount of time in the real world is true due to many factors, but they should come very close to making the same amount of chlorine during that time. The ones that make less chlorine are most likely acid washed and each time they are acid washed they will lose some of their lifespan. If one uses a strong mix of acid to water then they can significantly reduce the lifespan.

T-15 Cell Types

The Hayward T-Cell-15 and Hayward T-Cell-15-SWP are the same thing.

The T-Cell-15 has a 3 year warranty.

The Hayward T-Cell-15-SWP is a Swimpure branded cell, which has a 2 or 3 year warranty. You would need to verify with the seller to be sure.

The first number of the serial number is the length of warranty.

The TCELL940 is a T-15 "long life" cell with a 4 year warranty.

A T-15-W is a warranty replacement cell with a 1 year warranty. It's not designated as a retail cell. It's supposed to be used as a replacement for a cell that fails under warranty. Some places sell warranty cells as regular cells.

Determining Salinity

The AquaRite uses the performance of the cell to determine salinity. For each cell (T-3, T-5, T-9 OR T-15), Hayward knows the performance of a properly functioning cell at each temperature and salinity combination. The higher the salinity and/or water temperature, the higher the performance (chlorine output).

There is no separate salinity sensor in an AquaRite. There are six wires going to the cell, two white, two black, one red and one blue wire.

The black and white wires carry the power to the cell and are heavier gauge than the other wires. The two white wires go to the center plate. The two black wires tie together and go to the two outer plates. The red and blue wires go to the temperature sensor.

There are no other wires going into the cell to support a salinity sensor. There are 4 extra wires in the cell cord (brown, orange, yellow and green) that are not used and do not go to the cell.

Another way to tell that the AquaRite does not have a separate salinity sensor is that if the T-Cell setting does not match the cell type, the salinity will read wrong.

If the Cell is larger than the T-Cell setting, the salinity will read higher than actual. If the Cell is smaller than the T-Cell setting, the salinity will read lower than actual. One can verify this by changing the T-cell type and see the salinity change.

If there was a separate salinity sensor in the cell, the salinity would not change when the tcell type was changed.

Thermistor

When the thermistor begins to fail, the voltage gets erratic.

Usually you can see cracks in the coating on the thermistor indicating it’s bad. Some have looked normal and couldn’t find any cracks - but they were bad. Don't bother testing them because in order to access the thermistor...everything else is removed, it wouldn’t take much longer to just replace it.

The thermistor on the SWG is a Negative Temp Coefficient (NTC) thermistor, so resistance will decrease as temp increases. The rating for the thermistor is 2 ohms at room temp (low 70’s F), which is about the reading you should get on a multimeter, give or take a little depending on temp. If it’s wayyy off, it’s bad. If it’s close, proceed.

The next test is, while holding the two leads of the multimeter on the legs of the thermistor, apply a heat source (hair dryer, heat gun, etc.) for a few moments. The resistance reading should begin to drop as the heat source is applied. If not, it’s bad.

A thermistor hack is to put a binder clip on it. It holds it together and acts like a heat sync. If the binder clip test makes it work, then you know your thermistor has done gone bad. You can leave the binder clip on mine while you waited for a new thermistor to arrive.

Burnt T-Cell Connector Plug

The plug is a Molex 76650-0078 plug

Extend AquaRite T-Cell Cable

First, is there any way the box can be relocated? This would remedy the problem in the easiest way with regard to warranty.

This thread describes how an extension cord was constructed.

Even though a 10-position connector is being used, the T-Cell only uses 6 of the 10 pins. There are two Black and two White wires that appear to supply the voltage to the T-Cell from the AquaRite controller. Looks like they're distributing the current across the two paths since the T-15 cells can draw over 6 AMPS. The Red and Blue wires are presumably carrying data (Water Temperature, Instant salt level, etc) back and forth between the controller and T-Cell.

Here are the Pin-outs to be used with the Molex 0469931011 mating plug:

• BLACK 1 -> PIN 1
• BLACK 2 -> PIN 2
• WHITE 1 -> PIN 6
• WHITE 2 -> PIN 7
• RED -> PIN 8
• BLUE -> PIN 10

The PIN numbers on the Molex connectors can be tricky so watch out.