I'm converting the original control circuit on a Jacuzzi Model 9200 spa to a Balboa 2000LE controller. The Jacuzzi pumps (Motor p/n 2552000, Make: Century) are 230V but only have three wires going to them, two lines and a green ground which is grounded on the chassis. The supplied cords for the Balboa controller have four wires, two lines, one neutral and a green ground. What do I do with the neutral? There is a white wire on the motor’s connection board and I’m tempted to splice the neutral to it but I want to make sure this is where it goes. Thanks for any help.

One thing I failed to mention is that these pumps are single speed which leads me to believe that the neutral might not be needed. The Balboa 2000LE can be used for two speed pumps also.

Whatever you do, DO NOT SPLICE any wire in that motor!

Those motors are single speed motors, this is why they have only three wires. A two speed motor will have four.

Second, you need to be certain that your controller is set up for single speed pumps. This should be dip switch 5 and 7. (Check the back of your front panel).

Then, your pumps should be connected using the white and black wires coming from the controller. Green goes to ground, the Red, needs to be taped back or clipped and taped.

Note, in a 230 Volt controller, with 230V motors, the white is not neutral, it should be L1. The black or red, (low and high speed), are L2 when switched on.

But of course, like many others, sometimes the red and black will be reversed, (which means that high and low speed will be reversed).

Now, if you get all of this up and running, and the pumps sound like they want to start up but they don't, (chuga chuga chuga!) then it's telling you that your common line (white from the pump connector), is connected neutral, and there's not enough voltage to get the motor to spin up to full speed. In that case, the white motor common line should be connected to L1.

Be sure to read your instructions completely that came with the controller

Thanks Page

I'll follow your directions to the letter!!

I didn't receive instructions with this controller. It was purchased as a rebuilt. By chance do you know where I can download instructions?

Thanks again.

http://documents.balboa-instruments.com ... non_m7.pdf

There you go... some should help, some won't. But it's basically the same thing just use common sense and post again if you have any more questions.

Hi Scott,

I'm a little concerned that you don't have at least one 2 speed pump. Most sytems work with 2 speed pumps so that low speed can handle heating and filtration. do you have a separate ciruculation pump??? This is kind of an important issue... I'd like to know a little more...

Barbara Langford...

Barbara

I just finished hooking everything up like Page suggested and it all worked great. Thanks Page.
The pumps are both single speed, unfortunately. I’m thinking about adding a circ pump later so the heater will stay on. The way it’s hooked up now the pump times out after 15 minutes. Of course I’m trying to bring the water up from 60 degrees right now. Once the water temp stabilizes it probably won’t be an issue. Thanks for the input.

Here’s what’s happened since last post. I knew something wasn’t right since the pump1 wouldn’t come on automatically when heat was need. I got out the multimeter and found out that when the call for heat was present that the white and red wire were 240V. I switch the black and red wire and taped back the black and everything works now. Pump 1 will come on when heat is needed and go off when the set temp has been reached. But there is something that still doesn’t seem right. The topside controller will turn on pump 1 when you press JET1 (red and white = 240V), if you press JET1 again then black and white make 240V. In this case of course nothing happens since black is taped back. If you press JET1 a third time and heat is not required, then the red LED on the topside controller goes out and there is no voltage going to pump1. This is not a big deal to me since I can just hit the switch until the LED goes out, but it seems like there should be a jumper or something so that JET1 could only be pressed twice for off and on. I have S5 on the DIP switch set to 1SPD and this seems to be working right since white is NOT neutral as Page explained to me before. Anyway everything is working very well but if anything seems wrong will one of you “experts” out there let me know. Thanks again. Scott

Well, dipswitch five IS the jumper you're looking for... hmmm, actually, it almost sounds like it's not figuring out that the pump is a single speed pump. EG, it's still controlling like it's connected to a two speed pump.

The normal sequence for a Balboa controller when you push the jets, is Low Speed, High Speed, and Off. The red is normally the one for low speed, which is what it's sending power to when there's a call for heat, and also when you push the jet button the first time.

Now, what I would do is power down (main breaker) the spa for 15 seconds, and power it back up. Check operation and see if it stays the same. If it is, then power it back down again, and change dip switch 5. Power it back up...

If the control is doing the same thing, then there's something wrong with the controller board not reading the dip switch settings.

Otherwise, if it has changed, and pump 1 doesn't run at all, then you need to revert to white and black on pump 1, instead of white and red. At that point, it should be working properly.

Right again Page! No mater what position I place S5 in the controller works the same. I contacted the person who supplied me the controller in hopes of getting a replacement. In the mean time I will just leave it hooked up the way it is so we can get little enjoyment from the spa. It’s been sitting dead for a while.

Just be sure that you've done the power down and power up sequence when changing the dip switches. I'm not sure if the program reads the settings once at power up, or continuously while in operation. Either way, you've covered your bases...