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Balboa BP bad circuit board


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HI Everyone,

I bought a "new" BP board from a seller on FB. Yes I know not the best choice lol. Anyways it was supposedly a manufacturer only board. However I installed the board and it's stone dead. Doesn't light up my tp800 at all. My display is fine. 

Haven't heard back from the seller. Anyways is there anything on the board itself I can check? Anything common that goes bad? The board does look brand new. I checked all the fuses and ohmed them while they were out. All had at least 5ohms. Made sure all the jumper wires were tight. This is for a 240v hot tub. Not sure what else to check. I have 240v at the controller. I attached a picture of the board.

 

Thanks for the help!

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1 hour ago, Endlesssumer said:

All had at least 5ohms.

Fuses should read 0 ohms if good and infinity (no reading) if bad. I suspect your tester is out of calibration.

1 hour ago, Endlesssumer said:

it was supposedly a manufacturer only board.

I have been fixing spas for 26 years and I have no idea what a "manufacturers board" is. Did the seller explain it?

Post pics of the board installed and the wiring diagram on the box lid.

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Thanks for the reply! Multi meter is fine. It's a top of the line fluke. I'm a hvac contractor so working on boards is not new to me. Just the hot tub world is haha. 

The primary fuse and other fuses are actually right around 2ohms. They are fine and pass continuity. The seller said that this board is only given to manufacturers and not for general resale. Looks like it was made for jacuzzi basing off the board number. It looks like a typical BP board. Nothing different about it.

My friend has a retrofit BP system in a older tub they are getting rid of. I took that board out and placed it in mine and it fires right up. The only issue is that board is a bp501g3r2a and from the tech sheet it doesn't appear to support a dedicated circ pump. All the setup options show none under circ pump (yet it does have a circ plug on the board). That board just makes my 2speed pump run on 1st speed all the time. Not sure if there is a way I can enable the circ option on this board? If so I'll just use that board.

If not is there any other testing or things to look for on the bad board? Solder joints look fine. 

The wiring diagram on the enclosure does not apply. The enclosure is from an old legacy system. Vs2000 I think. I attached a picture of the board wiring (unused plug is AV) That's not my normal feed wire. Had to pull tub out do to a leak. So this is my temp feed wire until I push the tub back

Thanks for all the help!!

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1 hour ago, Endlesssumer said:

The seller said that this board is only given to manufacturers and not for general resale.

Ok, a proprietary board. That makes more sense. 

1 hour ago, Endlesssumer said:

looks like a typical BP board. Nothing different about it.

Looks are deceiving in this case. The thing that makes it proprietary is the fact that it IS different, and a generic balboa board will not work in the proprietary brand tub, and vice-versa. It may be as little as a different button layout, so jets 1 turns on the light or such, or as big as nothing works at all. But a proprietary board will not work right with any non-proprietary or other proprietary brands parts.

2 hours ago, Endlesssumer said:

Not sure if there is a way I can enable the circ option on this board?

It would be in the dipswitches if so, but it sounds like not.

 

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Very interesting, wish they seller would have said that. He said is it will work with all tp  controllers. I have a tp800 the connector is the same. But its just stone dead. So maybe not compatible like u said. 

Ill bring up the spec sheet when I get home. But I'm pretty sure I don't see anything about a circ dip switch.

 

Thanks for the help!

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Its not the original board for that housing your right on that. The housing is an old vs2000. Again the seller claimed to be a "spa expert" and said this board would fit right it in. Obviously not the case haha. I planned on modifying the housing with proper standoffs to make it fit secure and safely. 

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Yea After I got the board I saw how cheap this were. 

Anyways I found the issue why its dead and whats going on. Fuse 7 Near the top center of the board keeps blowing. It does this even without anything connected to the board (expect power cables obviously). So this tells me there is a short in the board. Ive looked I dont see any sloppy solder joints. I have repaired PCB boards in the past so I can replace a component. Im just not sure what could be causing it. I cant find any detailed board layouts online. Just wondering in anyone has any ideas or experienced this in the past.

 

 

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Im trying to return but not that easy. The guy is a complete scum and is no longer responding. Luckily I payed with paypal so now its in the resolution center waiting for them to hopefully decide in my favor. 

According to this guy this board was a direct replacement for my old vs2000. Absolutely not the case. My old topside (which needed to be replaced anyways as the buttons were bad) would not work (different molex connections). So I had to buy a newer topside to work with the BP board. The BP style board is the newest up to date board so I didn't mind at the time. 

I didnt know the differences between all the boards at the time, but It has been a big learning experience. Im in the HVAC industry so im used to dealing with boards and electronics. Just the hot tub world was new for me. Live and Learn.

As im already invested in the BP style system that is what Im going to stick with. Im hoping paypal goes in my favor. If not im was just seeing if anyone had ideas about the board or what component may be shorting it. Without board diagrams hard to test. 

 

Thanks for all the help

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If your old system was a VS (it was) then you have no need for a BP. I am not a big fan of the BP. The whole "stuck relay detection" crap is still using the same 2 fault prone sensors, but now instead of turning it off at the board with an error, it actually causes a gfci trip. So now you get to add another thing to the list when troubleshooting a gfci trip, and it can cause a freeze in the winter. Not sure a stuck pump relay is worth freezing solid over...🤔

It is a shame you already bought a BP topside. 

 

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