PCB Rx?

[Lincoln]

Back in town for a break in Trans Canada jaunt. Tried to restart hot tub, but GFCI kept tripping. By process of elimination, I’m pretty sure the problem is in the spa controller PCB. But Gecko, the manufacturer, will not supply a new circuit board; wants me to buy a whole new (pricey) controller. Might it be possible to diagnose and repair the offending circuit(s) on my present PCB instead? Can anyone at VHS help or teach me how to go about that? Many thanks.

[mike]

Starting here, a good general start would be to do a detailed inspection of the component you think is a problem. Disconnect the power and look closely at all the components, looking for any burned components, puffy capacitors, or anything that might indicate a problem. Make sure you do this while the unit is not powered.

Also what would be useful is to try to figure out what is happening exactly when it is popping the circuit. Is a pump trying to engage, is a heater turning on, or is it just immediately when you power up the unit?

If you want to post detailed photos here, some of us with experience like this can help try to identify suspect components.

[Lincoln]

Hi, Mike –

Thanks for the tips. Can’t ID anything suspicious at first glance, but
that’s likely due to my total inexperience. Circuit repeatedly popped
immediately on startup with everything connected. So I disconnected
everything, one item at a time: first the heating element, then the
control switching panel, then the pump.

By the time I got down to the pump, I’d hear a couple of clicks and
then, after 2-3 seconds, it would still trip. Removed and checked all
fuses; seems OK. I’ll re-check capacitors, but saw no conspicuous
problems at first glance. I’ll also send a pic of the circuit diagram
on the inside of the controller housing.

When I disconnect the ground wire it no longer trips, but pops again
if I reconnect it. Here’s a pic of the PCB labels. I’ll try to zoom in
for more detailed pics of the board itself.

Pardon my naivete, but is there some way (multimeter or something) of
testing individual circuits within the PCB?

Many thanks again.

[Jarrett]

Lots of pictures of the controller and PCB would help