arnieb

Update: The topside analog control unit was faulty and the replacement from Ace Pool Supply worked perfectly. I was curious enough about the circuit so I decided to take it apart and see what the failure mode was and how it worked. More importantly, where the wires went to. I was pretty impressed with the circuit design, although the switch, due to its design, is a weak link and is prone to failure. The circuit is pretty straight-forward, but the mechanical design of the unit was very impressive. If you think about it, the switch must absolutely, postively, insulate the user in the tub from any lethal voltages or potential faults that would allow lethal voltages to reach the tub. The entire switch cavity is filled with a gooey potting compound that feels like very sticky jello. It permeates everything. The switch is made up of a metal disk with three little pointed tabs on it and a gold ring on the PC board. The metal tab has a circular piece of PC board glued to the top where one switch contact connects to to the conducting copper on the board. The switch contact is a heavy wire that acts like a spring, so depressing the switch through the insulating label depresses a plastic rod about 1/16 of an inch and that pushes the metal disk onto the pc board. The little metal tab (teeth?) push through the potting goo and make contact with the gold ring on the pc board. In the case of my switch, the metal spring broke away from the top portion of the switch. This is probably the cause of failure in my other 3 dead units. So, here is the pinout of the analog phone plug. The numbers correspond to their position on the connector to the PC board. 1- BLUE Wire: Not Connected on this unit* 2- YELLOW Wire: Not connected on this unit* 3- GREEN Wire: Other side of cycle switch 4- RED wire: Common conection to switch, Heater on LED (cathode) and temperature control variable resistor ( 1 K ohm) 5- BLACK wire: Other side of variable resistor 6- WHITE wire: Other side of LED (anode) * They go to pads on the board so it is likely that there are several variants of theis controller that share the same PC Board. My final assessment is that it is cheaper to buy a replacement unit rather than to try to fix it. I just wish Balboa would improve the switch design to make it more reliable. arnie

Hello, I'm new to this forum, so I appologize in advance if this has been covered. I couldn't find the search function in the interface. I have a Z-110 that I purchased in the mid-90s when I moved into my new house. Still works great even after replacing components on a regular basis. After draining the tub and going on vacation, I returned, filled the tub and discovered that the single button on the analog topside unit that cycles through on-light-jets etc stopped working. The temperature set dial works, as does the light indicating that the heater is on. The only thing not working is the switch. The plug is an RJ-11 phono plug with 6 conductors. I ordered a replacement from Ace Pool Supplies at a good price, so the pain wasn't too great. However, this is my fourth replacement unit and I'm inclined to try to repair them if possible. Also, I'm not 100% positive that the topside unit is the point of failure, although it probably is. So, my question is has anyone on this forum ohm'ed out the connector so that I can easily test if the switch has failed? I called Balboa and asked the tech support guy what the pin out was and he acted like I was asking for top secret information. I'm an EE, so I can probably figure out a 6-pin connector, but I was hoping to save an hour and have more confidence in my measurements. BTW, I located a 6-pin socket with screw terminals that will make the testing process that much easier. It was $1.50 with $6 shipping. Thanks in advance for any assistance. arnie