Hot Springs "flashing Red Light Of Death"

[george54321]

Last night I noticed the red power LED was flashing on a 2005 Hot Springs Vanguard spa. There was no heat to the spa, and the water was already lukewarm with a forecasted overnight low of -7F. Several resets of both the 30A and 20A breakers did nothing to change this. We tented the spa and ran heaters underneath all night, which prevented it from freezing.

Today, on advice from my dealer, I replaced the hi limit thermistor. No change.

The recirc pump is working and I can see water moving from the bottom of the tub. Also, when power is applied via the 20A breaker, the following red LEDs are lit on the controller board: controller unplugged, and the LED on D17. LIM OK lights green for about 1 second, then off, and HTR ON never lights.

I tried to OHM out the heater but got wildly fluctuating readings. I do have access to a new heater if that might be the case, but I'm curious about the LED readings.

Thanks in advance for any assistance - given the weather here and the very real possibility of freezing I'm nearing desperation and my dealer is booked "for days"...

[PreservedSwine]

If "control unplugged," is lit, it indicates an issue with either one of the components on the I2C interface, or the actual control head or main circuitboard. The most likely scenario is that the mutli-color light has developed a failure. Turn off the power, Unplug both light harnesses, and power it back up.

Do you have a stereo installed on the unit?

[george54321]

Thanks for your reply, i was just about to post an update; On the advice of my dealer, I unplugged the I2C interface and powered the spa back on. I "think" it may be working - I get LIM OK and HTR ON both lit up. I checked voltage on the power relay board and I have 240V on H1 and H2. I don't know for sure yet, but I think the heater may be working. Aside from the water getting warm, is there another way to know? And no, there is no stereo on this spa.

[PreservedSwine]

If there are no other components on the I2C interface-it's just the light. You've already unplugged it, it's the only thing in the spa that's plugged into the I2C interface

Inspect the LED light, you may have a small leak around the light lens, and it has damaged the multi-color light LED PCB.

If you have an amp clamp- you can check the amp draw of the heater. Or, if you have no amp clamp, but must know if the heater is working, here's a crude (but effective) way to check the amp draw. Station one person at your house electrical meter- it either spins, or if digital, will show the current amp draw. Have somone turn the heater on, check the speed of the meter, or the amp draw. Turn the heater off, and on, just to ensure nothing in the house has coincidentally turned on at the same time. The heater pulls around 17-23 amps, depending if it's a 4kw or 6kw. The meter will double time, or triple time, when the heater is energized. If digital, you'll see the actual amp draw, and with a little math, can determine right away if the heater is drawing amps.

It's also just OHMS law- if the heater is getting voltage, and the element OHM's out properly, it's heating. Period.

[Hls174]

I have a 2014 hot springs envoy tub and my hot tub is not maintaining temperature. It changed the filters and the high limit sensor and control sensor. Still not heating properly. The Hrt light is blinking and the green light beside flashes every once and a while . Can anyone help? 

[jkgti]

On 12/4/2014 at 2:27 PM, PreservedSwine said:

If "control unplugged," is lit, it indicates an issue with either one of the components on the I2C interface, or the actual control head or main circuitboard. The most likely scenario is that the mutli-color light has developed a failure. Turn off the power, Unplug both light harnesses, and power it back up.

Do you have a stereo installed on the unit?

This was just the information I needed to fix my tub.  After changing the water in my 2007 Hot Spring Envoy I went to power it back up and the power light would just flash.  Looking on the IQ 2020 board, I could see that when powering up the LIM OK light would light up for a few seconds, then turn off and the "CONTROL UNPLUGGED" light would come on.  The circulation pump would run, but no heater, and no response to any of the controls on the main control panel. I had our local dealer come by and they quoted me a new control head because the display and buttons weren't working.  That didn't quite sit right with me as to the reason for the issue... and then I found this post.   This morning I took a look at the I2C interface and there were a couple things plugged into it.  First, I tried disconnecting the LED light as suggested in this post.  Still had the same issue.  Then I followed the cables for the other things plugged into the I2C interface... one appeared to be a remote control receiver (part RFMR-1C) but I never had a remote for this tub, so I disconnected it.  The other two things plugged into it seemed to go to the stereo which had been removed a long time ago, so I disconnected those two.  When I flipped the breakers and powered it back up, BINGO!  It's now running just fine.  Glad I didn't have the dealer order the control head only to find out that wasn't the issue!  Thanks for the post!!