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Desparate for help! Hot tub acting strange


Macgruber

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One last question and then hopefully when I get my new board everything will work and I can leave y'all alone.

My board is rated for 120v or 240v use. I have 240v to the hot tub and so I am going to run it at this voltage. I have two pumps now, one is 230V and one is 115v. Is it possible to run the board at 240v but use the 115v pump? It is the newer of the pumps so I would prefer to use it.. I don't know if the board is capable or converting the voltage for the pump? maybe that is a stupid question..? 

 thanks again RDspaguy and Canadianspatech for your help! I don't have a lot of money and being able to spend family time in the tub with my kids really excites me. 

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The way your wires are now sends 120v to the pumps. A 230v pump will not work with 120v, and may damage the motor or board.

16 hours ago, RDspaguy said:

Your pumps are wired 120v. To make one 240v, move the white wire from that pump plug from the neutral connection (left side of board under main power terminals marked neutral) to J32 or J25, I'm not sure which, but it will only work on one or the other.

If you connect it to J32 and it doesn't work, switch it to J25. These are both righ beside the main power terminals on your board. Make sure the breaker is off before touching any wires.

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Originally the pumps white connection was connected to the "neutral" spots on the board...  the actual board diagram shows that the white should be on J14..  Do you think J14 is a neutral terminal or would J14 also be an option for 240V? By the time I was checking voltages on terminals J14 was totally dead with no continuity to anything else. Thanks for being patient with me... electrical is certainly the one area where my increased handiness hasn't caught up. Are you in Canada or the US? would love to send you a small gift card as a token of my appreciation. 

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Ahh found the answer "A voltage specification of 115 volts means it will function correctly in the range of 110 to 120 volts. A device listed at 230 volts actually means it will function correctly in the range of 220 to 240 volts."

So just so I understand ...I can wire the board for 240volts and if I hooked up the 115v pump with the white on neutral the pump can safely operate at 115v while the board receives 240v? My biggest fear is frying another board!

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Ok. I went on my computer for better resolution on your pics (I usually am on my phone) and can now see that J14 does in fact connect to the bottom power terminal, not the neutral connections, so would supply 230v to the pump. It is likely not working due to the board damage.

Also, I referred to the original pump earlier because I got you mixed up with another thread and thought the 230v pump was new. Sorry about that.

The board damage could be from normal wear, but could also be from a faulty piece of equipment, such as the heater or pump. So test the equipment before you install the new board or you could fry it as well. You should be able to connect the white wire from the 240v pump plug to the J32 terminal for testing. Test the heater with power off for continuity to ground.

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My theory on why the board burned out in the first place is this: I didn't realize when we first got it going that the board could run at 240V or 120V and that depending on what your setup was you needed to change a setting using the control panel to tell the board which one to run at. I only figured this out after the issues started happening and I believe when the power was disconnected and reconnected it may have defaulted to the low current setting despite the fact that the high current wiring was in place... or vice versa.  

When I had the board plugged in I did set the board to the right current level and tried the white pump wire to J23 J24 and J25 (ha all except J32) and that is when the pump would run on low but as soon as I switched the pump to high that is when the pump would start doing the jumpy thing where the heat was trying to kick on but when I tested the voltage to the pump it was around 100 (this was the 230v pump) Would I expect this to react differently on the J32 than on those other posts? 

I will check the heater for continuity to ground. 

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Hmm.. well I am not sure what to think...thought a bunch of extra voltage where it shouldn't be would hurt it.  What could cause that kind of damage and what are all the voltages/tests you would recommend to test to make sure I am not doing it to the new board? I will check the power to the pump, it is different pump than was installed when the board burned out.. I noticed it wasn't grounded so I will take care of that. 

The topside controller seems to be functioning fine.. which pretty much just leaves the heater... what tests should I perform on the heater to be sure the heater isn't causing the issue?

 

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13 hours ago, Macgruber said:

think...thought a bunch of extra voltage where it shouldn't be would hurt it.  

The programming just tells it if it can run the heater and jet pump at the same time. You aren't getting extra voltage anywhere.

13 hours ago, Macgruber said:

What could cause that kind of damage

Usually old worn contacts inside the relay overheating. But it could be caused by overamping if a component, such as a shorted heater or faulty pump.

13 hours ago, Macgruber said:

you would recommend to test

Hook up the 240v pump common wire to J32 or J25 and see if it runs correctly, or bring it to a motor shop for testing. The board damage could be from the wrong voltage to the pump, which could also damage the pump.

Check the heater terminals for continuity to ground.

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It is bloody cold here so I am just going to wait until the new board arrives and install it and run tests right away. 

Braved the cold for a couple minutes and test the heater; resistance in the element was 10 which from reading sounds good. I tested from theater terminal to ground and there was no continuity .. this is good right?  The outside heater body did have continuity to ground but the posts themselves did not. If that isn't what you meant let me know.. and if I am interpreting the lack of continuity wrong also let me know! 

Thanks!

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Alright.. well I got the new board and switched it out. Unfortunately because I am a moron and overlooked an obvious issue when I started up the tub my filter popped and a good amount of water splashed onto the board. The breaker tripped really quickly and and after a lot of swearing I thoroughly dried everything out and fired up the tub. Now it seems that things are working but not properly.. and it was probably the water splash but I figure I would see is there is anything that can be done.  I am now getting an HL error where the tub stops and needs to either sit for a bit or have the breaker reset. From reading the literature on the site:

This indicates that either the heater or the spa has reached 118F or higher. The system will not re-start automatically.  To re-start the system, the water temperature must be below 112F and the heater key at the topside control must be pressed. 

 If "HL" stays on and cannot be disarmed, there has been high amperage drawn through the board - 48 Amps total max. - replace board.

If it is the overheating thing (happening at normal temps) maybe it is that the pump is auto turning off after a time out and the water is just sitting on the heater? 

The tub will heat for a while and then shut off because of this error... I also have been getting an FLC error that isn't fixed by messing with the pressure switch(will mess with it more but doesn't seem to be working so far) It also seems that the tub isn't kicking back on with the pump and heater when the temp drops.. I have been able to get the heat up to 104..  by popping back out and turning the jets on... 

Ugh this has been so exhausting.. I only seem to learn things the painful way!

So did I fry my board? 

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After a bit more investigation the HL problem really seems to be that the pump is non kicking on with the heater.. so the coil turns on to heat but since no water is moving through it quickly reaches the high limit and shuts down until it cools off enough. Is there a way to wire the pump for constant low speed function? This would at least allow me to function in the short term.  The jets can be controlled through the top panel... as long as I go out and press "jets" every half an hour the the error doesn't happen.
 

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2 hours ago, RDspaguy said:

Post a pic of the circuit board and wiring diagram.

@RDspaguy is asking for pics is because we need to see how it is NOW wired and how the dip switches are set. Saying it is the same just new does nothing for us 1000 miles away. If you want help ya gotta follow instructions.

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