Intermittent Autopilot error

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with my Autopilot. It will be working fine for a few hours at a time but then it gives either the "low amps" or "check cell" warning.

I don't think its the cell because I have 2 of them and have changed them and cleaned them and it still gives the same error. The salt level is about 3500 ppm. I thought it could be the power cord, so I cleaned it out and made sure the connections were dry, but still after a few hours I get the flashing warning light.

One thing I noticed is that I get fluctuating readings on the control panel when I run the test program. For example, sometimes it will read 29 volts and sometimes 18 volts, sometimes 6.0 amps and sometimes 2.9 amps.

My questions are: is it actually running normally when the light is not flashing, or is it just that the warning light will only flash for a certain time period and then turn off?, could a bad fuse be causing this?, is a bad power cord the most likely cause?

The Autopilot control panel itself is 12 years old and the power cord is about 3 years old. My first power cord lasted about 9 years.

rcenturion,

What AutoPilot model do you have? What is the water temp? Have you confirmed the salt level with some other form of testing? Does your FC look normal? Low? High? You're readings look odd. I had the same warning signal a few weeks back and found that the water temp combined with salt level was the issue. I'm thinking you are not in the same boat as you're in a nice temperate climate.

My crazy guess at this moment is there's something wrong with the control panel board and/or with the cables. 12 years is quite a while. I'll see if I can get another member here to help.

You may want to post your current numbers along with your pool size, type, etc... Just in case.

thanks

I have the DIG-220. Water temp. is currently 86-90 degrees. The salt reading on the control panel has been out of whack for a couple years now even though I replaced the tri-sensor cord. It reads about 6400 ppm all the time and I know its inaccurate because it was still reading that level even after the pool was drained this past winter for repairs and did not have much salt in it at the time. The 3500 ppm salt reading is what I got at the pool supply store and also myself using salt test strips.

Free chlorine was very low, less than 1, and the pool was getting green algae, which is when I realized there was a problem. The pool is about 15000 gallons.

How old are your cells? Are they fairly new?

At this point, I've contacted Josh Ulfers who is in the industry and is awesome with trouble shooting. He's also a member here and has been extremely helpful with some issues I've had with the 220.

For now I would dump in bleach/chlorine to get your FC up. 1ppm definitely isn't enough especially now that you're seeing algae.

the cells are each between 2 and 3 years old

the green algae is gone now and the free chlorine reading today was between 1 and 2 ppm, so it appears to be producing some chlorine at least some of the time. I added a gallon of chlorine last week to help clean up the algae problem.

At this point, I don't know if I'd rely on your SWCG to keep FC up at the level you need. Adding a gallon of 8.25% bleach only raises your FC by about 6ppm. Not knowing your CYA level, it may not last. You may need to add more.

Here's a link to contact AutoPilot direct with your issues, http://autopilot.com/contact, plus there are some quick links that may offer some help. Sorry I'm not able to help you much with your issue.