How long has your saltron mini controller lasted? Troubleshooting

[Mdragger88]

As I sit in my spa awaiting my faulty saltron mini cell replacement I now ponder the question, “Is the problem actually my control box?”
For those that are long term users of the saltron mini - how long did the controller last for you?
My controller is 3 1/2 years old, my most recent cell that was roughly 19 months old started throwing the low salt error intermittently. I tested the salt & it was fine so like a proactive spa owner, I ordered one July 14 from spa depot. It came several days later, I plugged it in, it ran a 1 hour cycle with plenty of chlorine gas bubbles
The next cycle came & went - no problem
The next cycle I got the (- - hr) on the display. This means there’s a bad connection/short circuit or the cell isn’t in the water. Checked connections etc. nothing visually seemed wrong so I disconnected it & put my old dying cell back in. Old cell behaved just as before, intermittent production & intermittent low salt light. But now it is giving me the ( - - hr)error sometimes
Contacted spa depot whom advised me rather quickly that it was a warranty claim & to take it up with solaxx. Which I did immediately, went through the claims process etc.
It’s been a month & a half- still no cell
Many calls & emails to solaxx to follow up with multiple reassurances that they are sending me one & I will be emailed tracking info but no joy so far ...
I am already out $150 so I really can’t afford to buy a whole new system which is the only way to get a controller to test my theory. Nor can I afford at this time to just get a different brand of system.
I am contemplating my options as I manually chlorinate for the meantime.
Any advice on how to proceed in troubleshooting my controller or dealing with Solaxx would be great.

 

[Newdude]

I got nothin Sis. Have some well wishes tho.

 

[Mdragger88]

I am going to comment on their Facebook page today, apparently I am not the only one with the warranty replacement problem.
Funny thing is my old cell was bought directly from solaxx & it came in like 3 days. If I just had my $$ back I could have just bought another one & be looking at chlorine clouds right now!

 

[Taylor1584]

I am going to comment on their Facebook page today, apparently I am not the only one with the warranty replacement problem.
Funny thing is my old cell was bought directly from solaxx & it came in like 3 days. If I just had my $$ back I could have just bought another one & be looking at chlorine clouds right now!

If you purchased it on a credit card you may be able to make a claim through them. Most CC these days automatically extend the warranty or if it's a dud deal with the company and take off the charge. Good luck. I am looking to purchase one for my new spa. Not sure if I should go the Salton route or not.

 

[Mdragger88]

I have been very pleased with the system until now. My other cells have all lasted a long time (18 months or more). The controller is in good shape despite it living on my patio in partial sun & weather. I have a feeling it is still fine.
Quite honestly I feel like spa depot should have just refunded me/replaced the cell. But I guess since it worked for 2 hrs they decided it was a manufacturer’s problem.
I just dealt with a credit card extended warranty claim on a computer (literally at the same time) so I really didn’t want to have to go that route so soon. Next time I will purchase through Amazon- returns are super easy if there’s a problem, even if solaxx or spa depot is still the seller.

 

[Taylor1584]

I have been very pleased with the system until now. My other cells have all lasted a long time (18 months or more). The controller is in good shape despite it living on my patio in partial sun & weather. I have a feeling it is still fine.
Quite honestly I feel like spa depot should have just refunded me/replaced the cell. But I guess since it worked for 2 hrs they decided it was a manufacturer’s problem.
I just dealt with a credit card extended warranty claim on a computer (literally at the same time) so I really didn’t want to have to go that route so soon. Next time I will purchase through Amazon- returns are super easy if there’s a problem, even if solaxx or spa depot is still the seller.

thanks for the feedback, trying to decide which one to buy for my first ever hot tub.

 

[Mdragger88]

Update!
I was literally opening the chat box on the solaxx website to be a squeaky wheel & noticed I had an email…

Hooray
Praying this thing works when it gets here!

 

[Newdude]

Is it coming from a far away country? Anytime I order something that does, the stateside shipper will have a simular status update that they are ready when the package gets to them. A slow boat going around the horn of Africa may not be arriving to be handed off anytime soon.

But. This is different as you have the TFP Army rooting for ya.

 

[Mdragger88]

My last one directly from solaxx shipped from florida.
The literally just made the label - fingers crossed the guy whose job it is to put the label on the package & set it out for the ups worker does his job

 

[Mdragger88]

Update—
It came, I plugged it in, no joy
Got the (- - hr) message
It will show hrs with no lights while it’s figuring things out (as it normally does) , then I hear it click & instead of low/high/normal lights the( - - )comes on.
There was mention of a fuse in the saltron retro manual & the power supplies look almost identical except that one is bigger so I decided to open it up & investigate.
Nothing looked burnt out/broken/out of place, no spiders or anything like I thought I might find- nothing… It was clean as a whistle in there.
I find it hard to believe that I have 2 brand new dud cells so my only next course is buy a power supply. I did find that they sell them separately- in the end I will have paid $50 more that way but maybe I will have an extra cell now. The saga continues…

 

[Mdragger88]

Ok- update 27..
I got frustrated & decided to
“gently tap ” the power supply

Voila… clouds of beautiful chlorine gas bubbles!
I did lots of wiggling before but I was mostly concentrated on the cables. I know tapping the thing every time I want chlorine isn’t very practical or convenient so …
I have also ordered another gently used system from a nice lady on fb marketplace for a song that should ship out Monday. At which point I should have 4 cells (2 new, 2 used) & 2 power supplies to work with.

 

[dan1333]

Glad you got it figured out, and now you have plenty of supplies to last you for a long time!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Definitely pull the power supply apart again and have a look at all connectors and printed circuit boards under magnification. A simple jewelers loop is very effective at looking at solder joints on surface mount components. You might find something obvious like a cracked connector line, a swollen capacitor, or a loose wire. If it’s in a good spot, sometimes defects like that are fixable with a little bit of careful soldering. Worth a look.

 

[Mdragger88]

Definitely pull the power supply apart again and have a look at all connectors and printed circuit boards under magnification. A simple jewelers loop is very effective at looking at solder joints on surface mount components. You might find something obvious like a cracked connector line, a swollen capacitor, or a loose wire. If it’s in a good spot, sometimes defects like that are fixable with a little bit of careful soldering. Worth a look.

There’s a removable board on top of the keypad area but everything else looked so good I didn’t remove it & check the connections/components underneath. When I get the “new to me” one in I will be opening her back up for sure as that’s the area the love taps seem to work on.