Hayward SP3400VSP drive failure

[Nakita1]

My Hayward SP3400VSP installed March 2014 has suffered the dreaded drive failure. I am not willing to purchase a new drive unit given the poor reliability and high cost. I am considering controlling the pump motor with a VFD controller, Hitachi has a nice one for around $200 (NES1-015SB). Has anyone done this successfully?
Any idea where I can find specs on the SPX3400Z1ECM motor?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[JamesW]

It's a Century motor. Maybe check with them for the correct drive. However, they will probably tell you to use the Hayward drive.

 

[tstex]

Nakita,

I too feel your pain, but if you had this installed in March 2014 and only had ONE DRIVE failure, you are WAY better off than many, many others. I'm on my 3rd Hayward 3400VSP and about 2-3 controllers in less than 3 yrs...this pump is pure junk, very unreliable and very expensive to operate and Zero peace of mind.

If I were you, I would check out all the Century products and find the best thing you can in moving the gallons per hour you need and replace the whole pump. I think when you start mixing and matching components on proprietary products like Hayward, you're a$king for immen$e trouble.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you find?

 

[Nakita1]

I decided to repair my drive unit. I found an excellent video on youtube by Mark Kash.
Mark Kash - Bing video

Mark does a great job of walking you through the process. You will need a good soldering iron, a rubber mallet and flat head screwdriver to get the case open, some desoldering braid, Silicone Heat Sink Grease and a heat gun.

The silver solder is very difficult to remove, it requires a lot of heat. With the pump stalled error, almost a certainty the chip in the video is the issue. I bought the replacement at Digikey online for $25. Repair took about 10 hours of labor spread over 2 weekends. Hopefully this new version of the chip is more durable than the previous edition which has been discontinued. The Pump is working great after repair.

 

[tstex]

Nakita,

Good for you. Wow, 10 hrs to replace the chip. Was the majority of the labor spent on removing solder? If not,,where did you spend 10 hrs?

When you say the old chip is obsolete, where did you learn or read this? What new firmware or other is on the new chip that you suspect it will be more durable?

Thanks & keep us posted,
Tstex

 

[Nakita1]

The chip is a power chip that basically is the pulse width modulator that, in conjunction with the microprocessor turns your 1 phase, 240 VAC into 3 phase, variable volt/frequency to control the speed of the motor.

Didikey shows the original part number as discontinued, the new part number has a -2 after it.

The labor comes from the disassembly of the drive unit and desoldering 32 solder points, all silver solder. Approximately 16 joints are high voltage components that sink the heat away, and make the desoldering difficult.

Next, You have to apply heat to soften the glue and pry the board away from the chassis. I strongly recommend you watch Mark's excellent video prior to attempting this. I also recommend putting it back together with traditional lead solder if you have some.

Mark did not mention putting new heat sink grease on the power components, but this is absolutely required.

If you have to repair one of these, I'll give you any advice I can. Good luck.

 

[tstex]

Thanks again...It doesn't sound like a DIY for anything that either doesn't have the proper equipment and/or the backgrd using the tools you outlined. But, I bet after you do 4-5 of these you would get pretty good and cut that time down to 2-3 hrs...

Great job, tstex

 

[Nakita1]

Probably, I went very cautiously, double checked everything. If I have to replace it again, should only take about 2 hrs since the board is no longer glued in, and the lead solder will come off easily. The only real "tech"skill is soldering. I used desoldering braid to remove the old solder. This step is the time consuming step. Still glad I went for it, and worse case, I would have still needed a new pump. Only risk was $50 in parts and materials, an two wasted weekends if it didn't work.
Also, if you don't know how to safely work around high voltage, stay away or learn first. Otherwise, death is a possible outcome.

Did you replace yours with a different brand? If so, what did you get and how is it working?

 

[luboxing]

I have replaced the chip once but it failed again in 2 year. Just bought a Huanyang VFD (same as in Mark Kash's video) to drive the motor and am having great success. It runs much cooler if you tweak the parameters to the motor.

 

[tstex]

how old is your pump? How much did the Huanyang VFD cost ? Thanks

Merry CHRISTmas to all !!