pdelahaye

Hi Graham, nice to hear it was a simple fix, I don’t know if this post has jinxed my own tub, but I went out to add chlorine yesterday and the water was colder than normal and the power & ready lights were blinking! Looks like I have low water flow as well! The joys of hot tubs! Just wait until you fancy the challenge of the lights failing on this tub! I still have 10 raio lights to replace out of something like 37 and then I’ll have them all working again! Paul

There rarely seems to be a limelight tech around when I’ve needed one either, One more thing you could try, just to eliminate the heater being the cause of your errors, when you power up the tub, there should be a summertime setting. I cannot recall the key press required to activate it, will need to check the manual, But it basically turns the heater off for 8 hours, so in a warm climate, and summer months you can keep the water temperature cooler than the minimum 25 degrees C (or whatever that is in degrees F). this might buy you some time to fault find before the hot water the heater has made trips out the tub if that is what is happening. https://www.hotspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2009-limelight-owners-manual.pdf see page 21 for SUMMER MODE Paul

So that little grey box with the black and red cable, without seeing where it goes to, is most like the DC step down transformer, to 5v DC for the point of light controller, on mine it’s a small black transformer, cable tied to the frame of the tub, but that is most likely what it is, it may have been replaced at some time. I’ve no idea how the salt system works, maybe it’s a power supply for that, but I doubt this is linked to your issue. next thing I’d probably check is the power to the circulation pump next, sounds like the heater is working, and maybe if the water is not circulating like I suggested, the heater is heating the water in the heater, if it does not circulate, it could be getting too hot and tripping the hi limit stat. As the water cools down, the heater might start heating it again, until it again is too hot and cuts out? Maybe this is the repeat cycle you are seeing every 10 minutes? i would check the mains voltage is coming out the board for the circulation pump next, multimeter on the white and black cables for the circulation pump, with the multimeter set to AC, expect the voltage to be either 110 or 230 depending on where you are in the world, if you have voltage, could be a circulation pump issue if there is no circulation, I would try and run the tub without the filter in the tub and the tub on, if there is an air lock (have you recently drained down?) as soon as you turn on the tub, can you start the main 2 speed pump? This could help to purge any air if it is causing any issues, do you get a stream of small bubbles from the hot water outflow point on the tub? When you hear the circulation pump running before it cuts out? if you do have bubbles, do they stop when the sound goes off? I wonder if the circulation pump sort of working but really end of life? It might even have something jamming it? I’ve had random orange plastic parts over the years ending up in the tub, which I have assumed are small parts of impeller blades which have broken off and travelled through the pipes, maybe something has jammed it. i believe there is also a way to measure the hi limit thermostat to ensure that is working seem to recall you can take a resistance reading, but no idea what is good or bad. Also on the main board, a LED should light when the heater is on, Paul

Hi Graham, so I’m no engineer, but I have owned a limelight pulse tub since 2009 and I’ve dealt with a whole selection of minor and more major issues over the years. I’m sure these tubs share some common parts whilst I’m not familiar with the salt system, and any software changes in the 2 years after mine was built, but this is where I’d start. i note your tub does not have a flow sensor, mine is built into the heater, but you appear to have a by pass wire installed (white connector to the left of the white connector with the grey cable at the top right of the control board). One safety feature is the tub shuts down if it does not detect flow but when this is bypassed. My limited understanding, is that if flow does stop, the tub relies on the thermal hi limit sensor (also usually on the heater), to detect the water is too hot because it is not flowing. This can cause the tub to stop working, shut down. where this is leading me to, is whether the circulation pump is running, when you turn on the tub, put your hand on it, is it vibrating? If you have a multimeter, it would be worth checking you have mains voltage for the circulation pump. It is also worth noting, the circulation pump is protected by a 20mm glass fuse, inside the fuse holder hidden on the back of the control board box, you can see it just to the left of the blanking plug in the bottom of the control panel enclosure, with the 2 silver spade connectors going to it. It would be worth checking that fuse has not blown in this as this will stop the circulation pump from running, which could in turn lead to the water in the heater getting too hot and tripping the hi limit sensor. If the fuse has blown, the reason it has blown could be a faulty circulation pump, other than this, try removing the filter and run the tub, a blocked filter can cause flow issues, even when they look clean, when they are old they don’t let the water flow as well that is what I’d start with Paul

My wavemaster 2.5 Hp two speed pump has finally given up on my 2009 limelight pulse spa, there is a leak from the wet end, which keeps causing the shaft to lock up, this combined with the bearing has also gone in the pump, when it runs the noise is very metal on metal loud, with the issue on the pump and the leak from the wet end, it’s time for a new pump. i understand after all this time, the original pump model is no longer available. Does anyone know the replacement? It’s 230v pump, used in the UK. I’m thinking Watkins replacement might be item number 73028 if anyone can confirm this? thanks Paul

On my 2009 Pulse, which is basically the same, just a larger spa, when the circulation pump died, and stopped turning, it in turn blew the 20mm glass fuse in the bottom/back/side of the IQ 2020 housing. (sorry I can't recall where the fuse was) but I had to change it after changing the pump. Giving you find the fuse does not blow when the pump is disconnected, I think you are on the right path thinking your circ pump needs to be replaced. That is where I would start.

I've no idea how much these IQ2020 PCB's have changed over the years, but on my 2009, when the red LED is lit, it's indicating the board is calling for the Heater to be on. It required the pressure switch to either be working or bypassed to make the red light come on. There are some pictures here of my IQ2020 PCB for comparison. I don't have a Power LED, only the limit one, so it sounds like it might have changed a bit.

On my 2009 limelight Pulse hot tub, which runs a IQ2020 control system, the temperature range is between 26 - 40 degrees C, but after 40 degrees, it allows you to increase by another 3 degrees, but instead of saying, 41, 42 and 43 degress, it says UT-1, UT-2, UT-3. I think you have just gone into the upper temperature settings, above what they recommend you run the tub at. This function is not mentioned in the manual, but I recall the engineer telling me when they installed and handed over the tub all them years ago, Never personally use it that hot as I get heart pulpitations when the water is too hot 😉 I think you just need to turn it down a couple of clicks and you should get back to the normal temperature settings. Or up if you for some reason like the water super hot!

Having an intermittent issue with the 2 speed jet pump on a 12 year old Limelight Pulse hot tub. Here is the pump in question: Picture of the Wavemaster 9200 Jet Pump Speed 1 always starts on the press of the Jets button, every time, but when you press the Jets button for a second time to engauge speed 2, sometimes it works, but 90% of the time, on the first try, it fails and the Jet Pump stops and "hums". You can always stop the pump, start speed 1 again, and then select speed 2, and on the 2nd or 3rd attempt, it usually kicks into life and runs without issue. I'm thinking it could be capcitor related issue. I understad motors have 2 capcitors usually, one is the start capacitor and one is the run capacitor? but I have no idea how this works on a 2 speed pump. There are 2 capcitors in the metal box on the top of the pump. I'm not sure which is which? Here are the capacitors: Picture of Capacitors The large Capacitor (I guess is the start capacitor) is 50.0 uF +/-6% 480VAC/B - 50/60Hz - Large Capacitor The Smaller Capcitor (I guess is the run capacitor) is a 15 uF +/- 6% 370VAC - 50/60Hz - Small Capacitor Questions I need help on, Am I right assuming the large capacitor is the start capacitor and the smaller one is the run capacitor? How accurace does a replacement capacitor need to be, say I can get one which is +/- 5% would that be an issue? Equally, if I can only get a 16uF capacitor, would that be an issue to replace a 15uF, I assume as long as it's rated slightly higher and the voltage is correct, this should be ok? Which capacitor is likely to be faulty? The Large one? Any other reason the motor could get stuck when it's trying to start the second speed, like could there be wear on the motor brushes? or could the windings on the motor be worn, and this is preventing it starting. Would like to try the cheap options before the worst case of replacing the pump. Thanks for your help Paul

Update, I've bypassed the heater pressure switch, and the tub is heating again. See temporary bypass: https://www.flickr.com/photos/189462959@N02/51726884940/in/dateposted-public/ After a couple of seconds, I hear the relay click, and the call for heat light illuminates on the control PCB. I've run for an hour now, and the water temperature is slowly increasing, now gained 2 degrees. How to fix? I see hotspring sell a permanent bypass https://www.amazon.com/Pressure-Switch-Jumper-Heaters-72768/dp/B016NH6KPW and there are heaters available without a pressure switch. Can I assume even Hotspring consider it might be ok to run the heater without a pressure switch and this is why they offer a bypass? or is it more likely those newer tubs have a different kind of pressure sensor? and I therefore need to ensure I fit a pressure switch? What would be the consiquenses of running the tub with the bypass as a permanent solution? I guess should I spring a leak, and the tub runs dry, without the pressure switch, the heater could in theory burn out and the circulation pump might overheat as I guess it's slightly water cooled?? But then hopefully the limit thermostat would kick in first, as the water in the heater should exceed the set temperature, which should protect the heater. So if I wanted to repair like original, can the pressure switch be removed from the end of the heater so I can service or replace it? I expect it's gunked up with years of calcium deposits. But I note there is a change I can buy a replacement pressure switch from Hotspring, https://www.hottubspasupplies.com/73995-pressure-switch.html Assuming this is for the No Fault 4Kw heater, it's not super clear. What do you think?

Purely for testing purposes....I assume I could switch the power off, make a tempory jumper cable, to bypass the heater pressure switch. The turn it back on, and see if that makes the tub happy again. Anyone see an issue with trying this? To at least test if the pressure switch is faulty? I wonder if it is possible to remove the pressure switch, and clean it, maybe in Vinegar, to remove any limescale which could be causing it to be faulty?

So i'm a long term (International 240v) owner and maintainer of a Limelight Pulse hot tub which I purchased new in 2009. I've had relatively minimal issues other than the dreaded point of lights playing up. (I need to update my seperate topic about that one another day). About a month ago, I noted I was having to fill it up more often than expected. The water loss was more than just getting in and out 3 times a week. So I started digging through the insulation, and traced the issue to the circulation inlet pipe, the adhesive had failed where it holds the pipe in the skin fitting, just where it enters the shell of the tub. After a lot of digging through insulation, turning the tub on it's side and removing the bottom tray, I managed gain access, and fix the leak. The tub then spent another couple of weeks on it's side whilst I started to replace some of the failed point of light fittings. I will cover this in my old topic another day. Anyway, I got it all back together after about a month of it being switched off. Cleaned the tub, refilled and powered up. Cleared the airlock after refilling. Circulation pump and all jets working fine. Water heated up to 36 degrees C which is about right in 24 hours. On Tuesday evening we used the tub for about 40 minutes. all was perfect again. Went out Friday evening to use the tub again, put my foot into the tub and suddenly felt the shock of ambient temperature water. A themometer today reads the temperature at just over 20 degrees. I've read the instructions, checked the spa lock and the temp lock are off. I do note on the control panel both the Power and Ready lights are blinking. According to the manual: a blinking POWER indicator indicates that the heater high-limit has tripped, meaning that either the hot tub water is above its acceptable temperature range, or a malfunction has occurred within the hot tub (such as low circulation due to a clogged filter) a blinking READY indicator indicates that a problem exists with the temperature sensor. As per the manual, I've tried turning it off for 30 seconds, I've tried running the tub without the filter, but no difference, I can see a good flow of water through the circulation pump, and the circulation pump is running. I'm then starting to think along the lines of a faulty heater, thermostat, pressure switch or limit sensor or a failed heater relay board. It looks like there have been about 5 different versions of this heater relay board over the years so it's obvioulsy had some design issues.... The heater is the IQ No Fault 4Kw type with pressure switch, Opening the IQ2020 to check inside. I put the multimeter on the heater outputs, and I'm not getting voltage at all. I then note that the green limit LED is on, (which appears to be normal and I'm guessing this means the heater limit sensor is good?), however the call for Heat Red LED is not lit on the main PCB. This would logically explain why the heater relays are not getting power. But every diagnostic discussion I can find online says this LED has to be on. So hopefully it's not a faulty heater or a faulty Heater PCB as its not getting the instruction to call for heat. But I cannot find any fault finding online regarding when the Call for Heat LED is not lit. My gut feeling is a faulty temp stat or a faulty pressure switch, or something like this. With the power off, I measured the resistance with a Fluke 117 meter, down the 3 cables which go to the sensors. But without knowing what is good or bad....I'm not sure how to interprit the results. Limit Sensor - 12.3 ohms Temp Sensor - 12.92 ohms Pressure Switch - 194 ohms Would anyone be able to share some light on a possible cause of the fault? I'd appreciate the knowledge of the forum. Thank you Paul Picture below of the IQ2020 PCB with the Red LED not lit. https://www.flickr.com/photos/189462959@N02/51724115788/in/dateposted-public/

I use a high flow drop in water pump with a 3" pipe to drain my tub each time I refill, as it's much quicker than using the in built drain. It can move 1500 litres in about 4 - 5 minutes. So I could do repairs without the time to drain and refill I purchased a kids swimming pool, from Intex which had a capacity of 2000 literes, set this up on the grass and I just pump the water back and forth between the repairs on my lights when I needed to drain the tub. https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/outdoor/pools-and-sand-pits/pools/intex-8ft-easy-up-pool/p/100458 Not sure if this is a solution for you? It was only cheap as I already had the pump.

Not sure if it helps, but I've got a Watkins Hotspring pulse spa, and I see a lot of familiar looking parts. Anyway, I too have some pipes near the top of the spa which don't appear to have water in them. I'd always assumed these were part of the air system which mixes with the jets when the valve is turned? So maybe they are air pipes, hence they have no water in them? The water pipes turn a milky colour over time (just like yours have done). My ozone pipe is in the same state as yours as well.

I would think this is the million dollar question. Likely consideration for me (in no particular order) would be: Length of warranty Local Support Which brand they sell most of Reasonable prices and availability of spares out of warranty Running Costs For me I have a 2009 Limelight Pulse which I've owned for 10 years now in the UK climate. I've only had 3 issues, out of warranty: The circulation pump failed at around 3 years old (would have been in warranty under their current warranty period of 5 years, but back when I purchased the tub in 2009, the pumps only came with a 2 year warranty). This cost about £200 from memory. I also had a one way plastic flow valve fail which caused the tub to lose it's water, this was a £10 part and took 2 minutes to fit myself. The point of light LED system started to play up after about 6 - 7 years, since then this has been a bit of a nightmare, but it turns out this has been an issue for most early HotSpring Limelight tubs. To fix it I really need to change out all the LED's at about (£16 each) and there are 30 of them. This is still on the to do list. I had to replace the lid after 7 years (£450) and the head rests (£80), which I think is pretty much expected. I see that as more wear and tear. Also it's better to not leave the head rests on with the lid closed to get longer life from them. Apart from that, it's been good, cheap to run about £1 a day in electric and £0.50p per day in chemicals, filters and silver ions. Climate will I suspect influence running costs somewhat and the temperature you choose to run it at. I would not say I'm the best at preventitive maintenance, maybe someone who cares more for the lid, etc would get a longer life from it. Hope that starts the conversion. Paul

Thank you, that was perfect. The bezel simply pulled upwards when I prized it with a plastic trim removal tool. I just over thought it trying to rotate it. Turns out the centre part of the Bezel has sligthly broken through 10 years of use, and I need a new set of O'rings as one of the small ones is stretched and the large O'ring is not very round in profile any longer. After all this I then found a how to video of my exact diverter valve (just on a different model of tub). I'll leave it here in case anyone else comes up against this issue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUlT96_qGqg Thanks for your help. Paul

So my 2 way diverter valve has water coming out the top of the valve, clearly from the 3 videos I've watched on you tube, I simply just need to maintain or replace the 3 O'rings in the valve. Strange but I cannot find any videos on the Hotspring/Watkins diverter valve, despite the online videos saying all these valves work in the same way, and it's just a case or removing the lever, and unscrewing the cap to access the diverter valve and O'rings....... So valve has been removed, that came off easily. Now I'm faced with the cap, it's very smooth in design so hard to get a grip of, but it has some funny central pattern. Surely there is not a special tool to remove this cap? Anyone managed to do this on their Flair/Pulse/Glow tub? I suspect there are other models which used the same valve as well? Not wanting to promote an ebay seller..... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Diverter-Valve-Spa-Kit-Hot-Tub-Short-Stem-O-Rings-Cap-Handle-Hot-Spring-Watkins-/222577939637 but from their pictures you can see the cap I'm facing and the central pattern. The picture which includes some instructions talks about some Snap Ring Pliers but I fear I'm likely to snap the cap if I apply too much pressure as this is a 10 year old piece of plastic. I assume they are suggesting to rotate using these pliers or do you think it just pulls upwards? I'd like to avoid breaking it. Any one got any ideas? Thanks Paul

Will do, I've ordered a couple more of the replacement light lenses today plus 6 of the holders. I've so far only removed the front panel, I'm kind of hoping the lights which are connected behind the back panel are equally nicely installed! we will see. I definately think some of the foam will need to be cut awat to access the fittings. I've so far found 3 cracked lights when I removed them last year, so I know the fittings had water in them as the back plug on the LED when removed were rusty, they have to be changed. Speak soon Paul

Hi LakeBumKyle I've had the front of my hot tub today to sort a blocked ozone injector, and I took the time to look at the lights in a bit more detail. Forst of all to prove that it is a fault with one of the lights, causing a short. I have the same issue, it started that only my corners and waterfall worked, and then none of them work. The light menu is also missing from the control panel. First of all, if you disconnect the connector between the white cable from the RAIO LED controller and the red/black cables which run abour the perimeter of the hot tub. Now when you turn on the lights, and access the menu, the lite/color menu should now appear. This shows that it is one or more of your LED's which has moisture in it, causing a short. Then what I plan to do, is remove all 4 sides as I described earlier, and then disconnect each of the RAIO LED's from the lighting circuit. They have clever little connectors which cut into the red and black wires, once they are all disconnected, in theory you have elimated the fault. Then you can turn on the lights, and one by one reconnect them until you hopefully find out which one is the culprit. When you find it, you will need to change out the light housing/LED. There is a couple of pictures here of the white connector to disconnect first of all to prove you have a short, and then also some pictures of the grey connectors to disconnect the individual lights. https://www.flickr.com/photos/154798729@N08/shares/2EMBh6 This is how I plan to fix my tub. I just need to order some new light housings.

So if you are only getting 110v into the lighting power supply for your tub, this might be right if your tub is a US model, or in a market where your voltage is only 110v. I get 240v but then I'm in the UK, and this is our standard voltage. I'm sure all issues with these lights result in a short circuit as someone else suggested, caused by moisture in the light fittings, in my tub I know there is at least 6 lights which were not working properly. And even today, I have just 1 light which glows a dim red colour, regardless of whether the lights are on or off! I have a plan on how I'm going to try and diagnose. Here is what I plan to do, however it's not going to be easy. From what I can see, there is a power circuit within the shell of the hot tub, where the 40 odd lights tap into the circuit. Like you, the light menu no longer appears on my hot tub screen. However when I removed all the lights inside the tub from their fittings, (except the waterfall, and speaker lights) the menu reappeared. So what I plan to do is as follows, whether this will work, I don't know....... I'm going to remove the 4 side panels of the cabinet I'm going to switch the tub into summer time mode. This shuts off the heater or 8 hours only I'm going to remove the fuse from the bottom of the control module, to stop the circulation pump from running I'm then going to drain the tub, with the power still on Then I will disconnect each of the individual lights from the main lighting circuit within the tub. (from what I can see each one taps into the circuit with a small grey connector) If you drain the tub before switching to summer time mode, you cannot power up the hot tub, without the heater thermal cutout tripping, and then you cannot turn on the lights. I will then turn on the lights on the tub, hopefully the lighting menu will appear when you switch on the lights, then I will reconnect each light, one by one, in the hope I can find which light is causing the circuit to short circuit and cut out all the lights. This light and maybe the fitting as well will be replaced. I've no idea if this will work, but in my mind, this is the best way to prevent the heater or circulation pump from burning out or tripping the thermal cutout without any water in the tub. When the weather improves and I get some time, I will report back how I get on. To be honest, I would have complained under warranty, if I'd realised at the time how bad this issue is and how it affected all early model tubs. It really should have been a recall, or at least an offer of free lights when they failed. But I just assumed a couple of the lights were faulty, not realising it would render them all useless in the future. Paul

Hi Everyone, Had the tub about 5 years now, and over this time, (after the initial 2 year warranty on the LED's) some of them started playing up, certain colours not working, or some of them just not working at all. I've put up with it as there were many LED's still working, and I found in general Blue lighting, generally worked, some colours you would set, and 1 LED would be a wrong colour, it got to the point about 7 or 8 of them were not correct, but at the time, I did not realise they were front accessable, anyway, another year goes by, and they stopped working, at first, all the spa LED's stopped, but the corner ones around the speaker holes, kind of worked, but not 100%. now they have stopped as well. I notice on the panel, when you push the light button, the Light symbol comes on, however the Light menu and the colour menu do not display, I've checked the Power supply for the lights with a multimeter, we have 240 v AC coming into the power supply, and we have 5v DC coming out the other side so I'm assuming the power supply is good. I therefore assumed it could be the point of light controller which was faulty, so purchased one of these, swapped it out and it's still not working. I purchase 8 new LED's (at great expense in the UK), but I can only remember the position in the tub of 2 of the 7 or 8 LED's which were not working correctly as it's been so long since they all worked. 1 of those I replaced, had corrosion on the plug at the back of the light, so obviously the seal had failed, but the question is if some of the other lights have leaked, could this have shorted out the circuit and be preventing any of the lights from coming on? Maybe I need to remove each light looking for corrosion? Next question, is there any way to test these LED's one by one when I remove them? My mind does not quite know how they work, they obviously have a 5v DC positive and negative input? but how on earth do they know which colour to turn? Could I simply take them out and connect them to a power source to test them? Alternatively can I power up the spa, to test the lights without damaging the heater if there is no water in it? I can pull the circulation pump fuse, to prevent that running dry, but I don't think I can stop the heater working when there is no water in the tub, or will the "no fault" heater cut out if it detects there is no water. I guess it has a thermal cut out. sorry for all the questions, I know these lights have been an ongoing issue on the early models. I can't fathom why the control panel does not show the light menu when the lights are switched on. Thanks for you help in advance Paul