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Found 12 results

  1. Hello! A few days ago I noticed the control panel on my Caldera Utopia Naigra spa was blacked out and not functioning. After resetting the power, the panel booted to a service menu but nothing on the screen can be selected. Below is everything on the screen and attached is a picture of the panel. Anyone know how to get past this? System Menus Re-Calibrate Touchscreen Service Menu Eagle Version: EU2.03 CalderaSpas ACK FW Version: TU2.00
  2. I have a brand new spa (400gallon), 2 pump system. Pump 1 is a 2 speed, pump 2 is off or on with a high speed or off. My pump 1 works great and has never failed. My pump 2 will work for a while and stop pumping or making noise after 30 minutes or so. (I’m not talking about the automatic timer that stops it). Pump 1 will still be running on high but 2 just goes silent. It still shows on the electric panel that it’s still on but clearly not. I can turn it off and on and it’s says so on the panel. No error codes. The panel has no clue that anything is amiss. After about an hour or 2 it will work normal again and then repeat. I have correct voltage coming to the hot tub. 220volt, 6 gauge (4 wires) from breaker to sub panel and to hot tub. The only thing I can come to a definitive answer is the pump is overheating. This hot tub is 4 days old and it’s great when it works. Luckily pump 1 runs half the jets and I can still use that side of the tub when pump 2 fails and the other half of the tub jets are nonexistent. I’d greatly appreciate insight from anyone or someone who’s dealt with this before. I’ve seen others have this issue as well dating back a few years. I will check the pump/motor to make sure there is no debris like insulation bunging it up. It’s brand new and there are no leaks. It’s a Barefoot Spa Pagani Premium X Hot Tub
  3. I am setting up an artic spa bandit GP manufacture date 03/11. Onzen system. Just filled it up not too long ago for the first time after being out of service for many years. Currently the pH is high (~8) and salt is a little high (3000ppm) and I working on brining them both down by diluting and pH down chemical. After 48 hours I have no sign of free chlorine and I am concerned the onzen system isn't working. I have seen bubbles/smoke from the anode, but I want to confirm by running a sanitizer production test as outlined in the onzen technical manuals (attached). Problem is the menus for my tub seem different. I can't get to the screen to show sett - it only flips through FF and FD... I assume because I have any older version. I have FF set to 4 (highest possible setting) and FD set to 2 (highest possible setting). Any insights are helpful - thanks very much! Onzen-Manual.pdf
  4. Help! Everywhere I have read, the high limit switch is located in the cabinet as a red button that can be reset. I don’t see anything that resembles that. Am I missing something?
  5. I need help! I've stumped multiple hot tub "experts" with this problem and am driving myself crazy! My hot tub will not hold chlorine, no matter what I do. After putting in the proper amount of chlorine and getting a proper reading (between 3-5ppm free chlorine), within one hour, the reading is back down to zero (for both free chlorine and total chlorine). Here are details on my levels, equipment and usage: Hot tub is always covered except when in use. (outdoor tub) I regularly use shock, typically right after every use. I've tried both chlorine and non-chlorine shock. Only 2 people (me and my husband) regularly use the hot tub, about 2 times a week. No children have ever been in the hot tub. Alkalinity and pH levels are in range. (Alkalinity: 85 ppm, pH: 7.4 ppm) My cyanuric acid level is in range. (94 ppm) Total hardness is in range. (200 ppm) Metal levels are in range. (0 ppm) I've tested these levels myself using test strips AND at two different pool/spa stores that provide water analysis. Here's what I've already tried: I have done TWO spa flushes and drains with Oh Yuk Hot Tub Cleaner. I followed all the instructions and even let it sit overnight for the "stubborn contaminants" treatment found on Oh Yuk's website. After draining, I also thoroughly cleaned the shell and the cover. I also thoroughly cleaned my filter by soaking in LeisureTime Filter Clean and spraying off with a hose. After draining and flushing with Oh Yuk, I attempted to switch to bromine, hoping to have better results. I had the same issue. I followed instructions exactly for bromine too. Used shock and sodium bromide to activate the bromine. Bromine levels still would be down to zero within an hour. I did another drain and flush before switching back to chlorine. I have tried to superchlorinate by bringing chlorine level to approximately 100pm. The levels still drop extremely quickly. With an initial reading of over 10ppm (the highest test strips go), the levels were back down to 0 within three hours. Attempted to use a phosphate remover, but the level actually went higher after using the remover. I've been told by spa dealers that phosphates don't really affect water chemistry though because they are so small (parts per billion!). Hot tub details: 250 gallons Water's Edge Spa, LeCirc Sanitizer: Chlorine, LeisureTime Spa 56. I follow LeisureTime's instructions for the proper amount, which equals 1 tsp for a 250 gallon tub. But I've also tried using more as recommended by my hot tub dealer (approximately 3 tablespoons) but it still disappears within a couple of hours. Typical temperature: 103 F Purchased brand new less than one year ago (July 2020) Does anyone have ANY ideas?! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
  6. Hey guys, I got a free hot tub from an old family friend. It went on the fritz with him about 6 months ago, but he is an old guy and didn't care to attempt to fix for how little he used it, so he drained it and offer it to me. I believe it is an '08 hot spring vanguard (?) The issues he was having from his memory was the second control panel stopped working, and then he said it stopped heating up. I took a look inside, it looks like a little water was left in the heating element, froze and busted the plastic cap off. So I know it needs a new heater for sure. I was just wondering if it's best to go with the current heater or is it possible to change over to a Balboa system? We are thinking of extending our deck around it, so it would probably need a panel on the top side, but I'm not sure how that would play with the second control panel on it. Any advice/help would be great! Thank you! Below is some pictures (sorry it was before I cleaned out the inside, obviously some critters got in there) http://imgur.com/a/0Xqp8o7
  7. I have a Balboa EL2001 Mach 2 circuit board and ML700 topside panel with aux top panel. I am trying to pinpoint if I have an issue with the topside panel or the circuit board. The board was replaces under 2 years ago. The top panel acts like everything works, icons change like it is working, but nothing actually turns on. None of the 3 motors and not even the spa water light. All the fuses are good and I don't see any visible damage on the board. I would love to be able to unplug both top panels and test if I can get the circuit board to turn anything on. Is that possible?
  8. My tub has completely stopped functioning to where the panel is now blank and none of the pumps can be triggered from the control panel or by power cycling the spa. The stereo works, I can control the LED lights from the control panel just fine, but nothing else works. As the title suggests, it is a 2013 Sundance Optima 880 with 240vac supply and two pumps. I just had the control panel replaced 6mo ago under warranty. Here are the troubleshooting steps I've followed thus far: Completely shut off power at circuit breaker for 24 hours and turned it back on. No change in status. I cycled the power after removing the control panel connection to the PC board hoping the recirculating pump would come on, but no luck. I removed the WiFi module that was in-line with the control panel, cycled power and no change in status. Checked power throughout the PC board including incoming 240vac, transformer input/output, and continuity of all fuses. All check out fine. By process of elimination, I suspected that it must be something with the PC board, so I decided to pull it out for closer inspection - after labeling the wires of course. I heard the capacitors could swell over time and you'd see a bulging at the top, but this wasn't the case. I then noticed something peculiar. There is a small integrated circuit chip adjacent to the capacitors that just didn't look right. It was surrounded by what looked like burn marks instead of the crisp green color of the PC board. I flipped the board around and noticed an indisputable dark spot where that chip is. See attached pics. Apparently, this chip is a voltage regulator. So, my question to this forum: Based on the troubleshooting I've done and the discoloration/deformation of this chip, would you conclude that the source of my problem is the PC board and I need to replace it? Pictures Burnt IC Chip Back of PC Board PC Board Model # PC Board Really appreciate any suggestions or wisdom on this matter. Much appreciated, Jon
  9. Spa is not heating, voltage to each element is 120v. But when I set the temp up to 104 the spa kicks on for a shot while and then shuts off. I don't hear a low speed pump circulating. What way should I go, change the 2 speed pump or replace heater?
  10. My 2002 Sundance Optima 850 died in the winter of 2015 after 13 years of operation. The water was cold and the display showed OH (over heat). When I started troubleshooting, everything looked correct and the water started heating. Then after a short time the temperature started rising quickly. I noticed the circulation pump wasn’t running but the heater was on. This made me think the circulation pump ($200) might be bad. As an electrical engineer I tried to get some schematics of the controller so I could determine the exact cause. If the pump wasn’t running it could be a bad pump or it could be the controller wasn’t telling it to run. Unfortunately schematics are not available. Due to the high cost of parts, shot-gunning the problem can be very expensive. I decided to write this post to explain what I did so it might be of use to other people. Looking online I saw several suggestions. Capacitor failure (<$20 for the parts) – It is possible for capacitors to fail but this is not very common. The DC voltages on the PCB are < 17 volts and the capacitors are rated at 25V. If a capacitor fails it can load down a power supply or cause ripple (AC voltage) which could affect the circuit operation in strange ways. Typically you should design with more margin but technically these parts will work. I looked at the caps and didn’t see any signs of swelling. I also checked the power supply for signs of AC ripple but there was none. Changing caps on the PCB is not as simple as it looks. The board needs to be heated so both leads can be removed at the same time and this is difficult with a soldering iron. In the process of changing the parts you can easily damage other parts. I wouldn’t recommend changing caps unless you actually had a problem that was visible. Bad temperature sensor ($30) – Several blog postings said the most common cause of OH or ---- was the temperature sensor. This part is a thermistor, a resistive element with a negative temperature coefficient. As the heat rises the resistance drops. Online I found a table listing the temperature characteristics of the thermistors used in this spa. These are 30K ohm at 25 degC. When I unplugged the sensor connector and measured the temperature sensor it read 27K and the water was around 27 degC so it looked fine. Bad Hi-Limit sensor ($30) – I checked the hi-limit sensor in the same way as the temperature sensor and it also was around 27 degC. The sensors seemed to be fine. Bad controller board ($350 – 650) – Since controller boards are expensive I really didn’t want to buy one until I knew it was bad. The controller has a microprocessor as the brains of the system. To fully understand how the system works you would need to have a schematic for the board and some information on the firmware (software for the microprocessor). I traced the circuit and discovered how the relays were wired. The board uses two driver chips to control the 12 relays. During various phases of troubleshooting I had seen cases where the heater was on and the circulation pump was off. This of course causes an overheat situation. It could be caused by a bad pump, bad relay, bad driver chip or the microprocessor not telling the relay to activate. By running the system and measuring the 5V inputs to the driver chips I discovered the board seemed to be working correctly. At this point the system started displaying --- which means it has shut down due to some problem. I was about to spring for a used controller board ($350) when I read a post that said the factory never changes the board without using a tester to simulate the sensors first. What a good idea. For the Optima 850 LDC controller I built the following test circuit http://www.pdf-archive.com/2016/06/25/optima-850-lcd-sensor-tester/ . Parts are available at places like www.jameco.com or www.digikey.com . I used a 14 pin IDC connector with a flat ribbon cable so I didn’t have to deal with crimp pins. The resistor are just 1/4W 5% parts, nothing special is required. I put the circuit in a small plastic box so I could label the switches and protect everything from touching any other electrical connections. http://www.pdf-archive.com/2016/06/26/optima-850-lcd-test-box (The controller logic runs off low voltage DC but there is 240VAC on the board for input to the power transformer and at several of the relays, so be very careful. It’s not obvious which circuit connections are high voltage.) Design of the test box allowed me to test the flow sensor and both temperature sensors. The controller requires No Flow on the flow sensor when the system powers up or it will shut down. With the flow sensor switch open, turn on the power. Close the flow sensor to simulate the circulation pump operating. Since the lowest temperature you can set on the heater is 80 degF, the design allows you to simulate heating and non-heating conditions. With this I checked the operation of the heater to verify it turned on and off properly. The hi-limit switch allows checking of overheating condition. After testing each sensor it appeared everything was working properly. When I reconnected the actual senor connector the system went back to its previous state and would not turn on. It simply displayed ----. Even though I couldn’t see anything wrong with the sensors when I measured the resistance, I decided to buy new sensors since they were cheaper than replacing the controller board. When the two sensors arrived, I replaced the temperature sensor first since it’s the easiest. The spa is now working again. Apparently there was some intermittent on the sensor that I couldn’t see. Not knowing the exact logic running the controller didn’t allow me to troubleshoot any further before taking a guess at the problem. I now have a spare hi-limit sensor in case that fails in the future. Thermistors aren’t under any stress so I don’t expect a problem; in fact I don’t know exactly what was wrong with the one I changed. The bottom line, the most common cause of this problem turned out to be exactly what several people had stated and fortunately it was one of the least expensive solutions. It's now been three weeks and the spa is working fine. PROBLEM SOLVED!
  11. I have a Royal Spa Royalty II and it uses air switches. Just recently, when I push in the button to turn my jets on they come on for a split second and then turn off. I cut power to the tub and took out the air switch and tested it. I can see the air switch clicking as I press the button and can't see any potential damage. Any ideas as to what what would cause this?
  12. Just recently purchased a Used 05 Artesian Antigua Spa. When I started up tub (a few days ago) the water temp has been stuck on 95 the entire time. U can adjust the water tempature and the other night when it was aabout 55 out I had tub at 95 and tub was about 106 next day set at 85 had temp at 95 now it is 45 out and water temperature is 85 no matter what I set tempature too. Im assumming heater is fine and that my issue is with a limit, relay, thermostat, or contol board. Someone that can lead me in the right direction would appretiated. Thank you for your time.
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