Initial issue was the controller drawing high ampage and running the battery down quickly, also having to set calibration and flow rate very high
1. issue with a Flowmaster (3 digit, three button controller) with a Shurflo 6.4l/min pump. Pump was 3.5 yrs old.
2. Current draw was 8A. Battery flat by lunch time. Pump replaced.
3. New pump uses 3A. Flow turned up to 80, cal set to 80. Bypass controller ok. New battery but no change.
4. Bought new pump (shurflo 5.2lt) and new controller. Works ok. (But old controller does not).
At first it sounded like there may be a restriction in the system, not a full blockage but maybe a restriction like dirt lodged in a joint or a mismatched fitting. Air in system can also restrict flow and increase high current draw (but air can be forced out over time and given how long the problem continued this seems unlikely).
Another common misconception is that people need a very powerful pump with a high flowrate. But a 5l/min is usually more that adequate, because the flow is restricted by the DI vessels, the bore and length of the hose and the jets on the brush. It is more important to have sufficient pressure to overcome these restrictions, 60PSI is usually adequate but most people use a 100PSI 5l/min pump which is perfect.
The controller was returned to us please see below response from the design engineer.
Conclusion
The controller was returned to Spring (Europe) Limited. The controller was tested and found to be working quite normally. Perplexed our test engineer handed the unit to our Technical Director and designer of the V9 controller.
The unit was then tested on our wet rig at various flowrates and pressures. The current draw was then compared to a known good unit and no difference was found in the either the current draw or the ability of the unit to drive the pump at each given pressure. At no time could we get the current to 8A. The maximum we achieved was 5.5A at 125PSI.
NOTE: You must measure the current to the controller (i.e. in either the RED or BLACK wires) but NOT to the pump (i.e. in the BROWN or BLUE wires). This is because the inductance of the pump (and the voltage spikes) will cause a faulty meter reading, often appearing higher than it actually is. The controller is designed to shut down with an 'OC' message if current remains at 7.5A or above. This is to protect the controller from damage. If you do not see and 'OC' message the controller must be taking less than 7.5A.
We know that when fault finding things can get confused. And we completely believe that what was happening at the time. But in testing the unit here, unfortunately there seems to be very little wrong with the controller.
Is it possible that:
1. There was a restriction in the line that has now been removed. This could be down to some dirt, or even changing a mismatched fitted to increasing the jet sizes in a brush or a change of brush with bigger jets?
Commonly we have had problems with:
- People using jets that are too small e.g. 1mm instead of 2mm. This restricts flow, builds up pressure in the system and makes the pump work harder than it has to. This could account for the 8A draw.
- Dirt in the brush of the jets. Same problem as too smaller jets.
- People using a bad combination of fittings that restricts water flow to the hose, pole and brush. Again this restricts flow, builds up pressure in the system and makes the pump work harder than it has to
were any of these changed before trying the new controller?
2. Are the connections to the controller from the battery as short as possible?
Are the connections from the controller to the pump as short as possible?
This is because the longer the wire the greater the volt drop. For instance you could measure 12.5V at the battery but only measure 11.5V at the controller when the pump is running. This is because of the losses in the wiring from the battery to the controller.
Remember that:
Below 11.5V the controller flashes 'BAT' warning that the battery is low.
Below 11.0V the controller shuts down to protect the battery. This is because the battery manufacturers recommend that a battery is not run below 11.0V, because you risk permanent damage to your battery if you run your pump below this point.
BUT if you connect the pump directly to the battery it will work fine. It is just that you may well damage the battery (shorten its working life) if you do this. If we didn't have this feature then may complain that we are damaging batteries.
3. The connections to the controller need to be good. We recommend you keep the connectors supplied already connected to the unit, which have been tested. If you change these you risk making a poor connection. This may mean a greater volt drop and result in the same problem as outlined about when the wires are too long.
4. Is it possible that more than one thing changed at a time? This can mean that a fault gets missed or lost as it is masked.
One sure way to test this is to send the controller back and see if it is still doing the same thing. If the controller works then the fault may have gone. If the controller does not work then we would like to talk to through on the phone and do some fault finding to see if we can learn any more about the system.