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aqualogic air temp sensor replacment

14 years ago

I know some of you have experience fixing certain faults with your Aqualogic boards, but has anyone ever had a faulty sensor and successfully fixed it? Anyone have an opinion on whether a guy who's not afraid to get his hands dirty can fix it?

My PS-8 is still under warranty, but the nearest Hayward service center is an hour away. Meaning two plus hours of labor just to replace a sensor.

Appreciate any and all thoughts.

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Comments (13)

just-a-pb
14 years ago
The air temp sensor is very easy to replace, just two wires and it doesnt matter which way they go.
Just turn off all power when you are working on it.
How do you know your air sensor is bad?
mikethepoolguy
14 years ago
You wont even get your hands dirty.

Also the air sensor is just for freeze protection, so if you are in San Diego, Houston, or Miami you dont even need it.
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mikethepoolguy
14 years ago
Wow ,I take that back, without an air sensor some systems will assume freeze protection.(filter pump will run continuously). I have never tried that on a AQL.
poolguynj
14 years ago
And it usually does matter which way the wires go. They are color coded. Do not change the wire length either as that will change the impeadence of the sensor.

Scott
buck1s
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks all. I didn't think it could be too hard. The reason I suspect the sensor is faulty is that overnight, or any time the sun is not nearly directly on it, the air sensor will read mid 30's (when it may be 80 outside). Hence, my freeze protection was kicking on all the time. I've disabled that for now, but want to get it working again by fall.

I've done a little looking around on the web to see what the sensor looks like, but all I can find is a sensor that appears to be a pool water & air combo. Is that how this sensor is configured?

Oh, and I live in central VA, so freeze protection is a requirement in early spring & late fall.
poolguynj
14 years ago
The water and air temp sensors are the same but they are brand specific. Jandy has theirs, Pentair has a different one and Hayward has theirs.

Scott
just-a-pb
14 years ago
Scott,
An temp sensor just changes resistance, so how would it matter which way the wires go. As far as cutting the wires, this makes no measureable change. Most of the better controllers can be calibrated anyway.

Buck,
you may have a loose connection, that would cause it to read cold.
mikethepoolguy
14 years ago
Ive put Jandy sensors on Aqualogic before - no problem. I would assume it will work the other way. The Aqualink specifies red/black terminals but this is still 4th grade stuff. Just turn off the breakers first!
poolguynj
14 years ago
I prefer to keep from mixing different brands of sensors. They are of different values.

Also, changing calibration points of reference on a controller can and does make it difficult for the next guy to work on a system. Few residential pool owners maintain service logs.

When I first learned how to on these systems, I was specifically told not to shorten the leads. This was from factory reps. I would love to shorten the leads if I knew it was ok.

I do admit I don't know why they told me not to shorten them. I also know that coiling the excess does produce increased impeadence of an AC signal. DC signals aren't that effected.

I don't remember if thermistors are polarity sensitive but I think that they are, hence red and green should not be swapped.

Scott
Rack Etear
14 years ago
"An temp sensor just changes resistance, so how would it matter which way the wires go. As far as cutting the wires, this makes no measureable change. Most of the better controllers can be calibrated anyway."

The compool TS-5L sensors used on all systems up to the 3*** series were directionally sensitive.

"When I first learned how to on these systems, I was specifically told not to shorten the leads. This was from factory reps. I would love to shorten the leads if I knew it was ok."

I dont know who told you this, I have been shortening them from day 1 and never had any issues w/ it.

"I do admit I don't know why they told me not to shorten them. I also know that coiling the excess does produce increased impeadence of an AC signal. DC signals aren't that effected."

Hypothetical, I have coiled valve operater wires in jandy and intellitouch boxes for years, and I rarely have problems with controls that dont require processor replacement.
poolguynj
14 years ago
Good to know that shortening them has little or no impact. Thanks for sharing that tidbit.

Valve actuators use a 12 or 24V DC signal. Coiling the excess does not have an appreciable impact on the signal strength.

Recalibrating a controller's sensitivity to changes it's temp sensors undergo as they age makes it hard for the next guy to work on if he doesn't know it's been done before. You and I will catch it but the tech that comes after us may not have as much experience and think he's got a bad board. I've seen it happen more than once.

Scott
Rack Etear
14 years ago
"Recalibrating a controller's sensitivity to changes it's temp sensors undergo as they age makes it hard for the next guy to work on if he doesn't know it's been done before. You and I will catch it but the tech that comes after us may not have as much experience and think he's got a bad board. I've seen it happen more than once."

Every controller I have installed needs a minor tweak in calibration to match my thermo-couple.

If the next guy is too stupid to figure out that he needs to calibrate the temperature.... I guess tough luck for him.

Vavle actuators are actually 24VAC not DC.

They dont drive off a signal, its either power on, or off.
poolguynj
14 years ago
Racket,

Pardon my brain fault. Your right wrt the 24VAC.

Scott

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