Tinkering with Electronics

 A few years back I posted about the difference between an Easytouch 1 and 2... basically the Easytouch "revision 2" is a newer hardware revision but uses the same exact board and components as the Easytouch 1, except for the microcontroller which has 128k of flash instead of 64k.  This means you can update a revision 2 board with the latest 2.x firmware versions.  You can see the original article here . Since posting that article, I've wanted to swap the microcontroller on a "V1" Easytouch with one that will make it a "V2" Easytouch... I finally did it and it works!  Figured I'd document the process in case anybody else felt like tinkering... To do the swap, my first step was to get a microcontroller with 128k flash... I had an Easytouch V2 remote with a bad keypad, so I cut it open to grab a donor chip. The indoor, outdoor and wireless controllers all use the same microcontroller but they have different firmware. The reason I used a donor chip wa

I bought a used Easytouch PSL4 system online that came with a universal outdoor controller (uoc) and a universal indoor controller (uic)... and since I needed an Easytouch 8 uic for my test bench, I figured I'd try and hack the PSL4 unit into an ET8. I knew the outdoor boards use the same basic hardware across all versions but I'd never bothered to look at the indoor controllers.  I took apart the PSL4 and laid its main board side-by-side with one from an ET8 indoor controller... predictably, they both had the exact same hardware.  So how does it know it's a PSL4 or an ET8? Here's the Software Revision of the unmodified PSL4 uic Sometimes it's just a simple matter of swapping firmware, but hardware designers often employ a hardware-based means of identifying the version, which then dictates what features the software allows.  In the case of the indoor controllers, the main boards are exactly the same - no different resistors or jumpers - but I did notice s

Communication issues are among the most common problems people run into with their Pentair pool equipment.  The following problems can be caused by faulty communication: pressing a button on a remote or indoor controller does nothing  an Intelliflo pump won't run the schedule screenlogic can't control the system communication timeout errors show on the intellitouch indoor panel an Easytouch wireless remote or indoor panel shows "No Comm" The good news is finding the cause of these problems isn't rocket science and involves no black magic. The first thing you need to know is that Pentair systems use an RS-485 interface for serial communication between connected devices, operating at 9600 baud (8/N/1).  If you're familiar with the RS-485 standard you can skip the next section, otherwise I'd recommend giving it a quick read to get the gist... RS-485 Basics Unlike serial interfaces that have separate Transmit (TX) and Receive (RX) wires, RS-485

I am frequently asked if the firmware on a particular Easytouch system can be updated so that a particular fix or feature can be taken advantage of.  The answer to that question is "it depends on whether you've got an Easytouch 1 or an Easytouch 2" .  Say what?! Pentair don't advertise the Easytouch systems as a 1 or a 2 but they are currently on their second hardware revision.  The first revision is referred to as the Easytouch 1, and the second is - you guessed it - the Easytouch 2... but what is the difference and why would you care? First, a smidge of background... the Easytouch (and Intellitouch and Suntouch) equipment uses the Motorola 68HC12 family of microcontrollers, now made by Freescale.  Pentair uses the MC9S12A derivative which is basically an HC12 with some performance enhancements.  The first Easytouch version, the Easytouch 1, used the MC9S12A64 which has 64 kilobytes of flash memory for storing the program or "firmware" that the boa

If you run into a situation where a valve or auxilary circuit on your Pentair pool controller no longer functions at all, don't despair!  Assuming the required electrical connections are good, the fault isn't caused by a programming error, and you're trying to control the valve or aux circuit at the outdoor panel (and not using screenlogic or a remote), you may just have a blown relay driver chip... these are cheap and easy to replace. Aux circuits AND valves are actually controlled by relays which are either on-board, or in the load center.  The aux relays are the large-ish 2" x 1.25" Omron devices that are bolted to the load center/enclosure, while the valve relays are the smaller .5 x .25" relays that are soldered onto the outdoor control board (or personality board for Intellitouch). Valve relays on an Intellitouch personality board They're all 24vdc relays, which means 24 volts dc is required to "energize" their coils.  The micro-controller

I was sent a Pentair Intellitouch Indoor Control panel from a gentleman who said the controller showed nothing on the display, made all kinds of noise, and got so hot that it browned the white plastic base.  He was worried it was going to catch fire! When I received the unit the first thing I did was a visual inspection.  Nothing was immediately obvious so I connected it to my bench power supply and turned it on... upon power-up it beeped, screeched, and the on-board 5 volt regulator (U8 in the bottom right) got very hot.  The preset 1/2 amp current limit kicked in almost immediately, making the voltage drop under 5 vdc so the board couldn't control the piezo speaker (hence all the beeping and screeching). These units typically draw around 140-180mA (depending on your led/lcd brighness settings), but this one instantly cruised past the 500mA limit.  The over-current condition was a clear indication that there was a short somewhere.  A more thorough inspection was in order, and afte