wiring PCI cl280 chiller

tigre44 · Aug 12, 2018

Can someone tell me how the temp controller should be wired. The controller has 10 connections and I should only use 6 of them. Currently the controller works in reverse its signals to heat when I want it to cool. I have switched around the wiring but so far has not fixed the problem.

Crabs McJones · Aug 12, 2018

Perhaps @Brew12 can help? Hes the electrical guru

not sure about chillers but worth a shot

Brew12 · Aug 13, 2018

Crabs Mcjones said:
Hes the electrical guru

Umm... the electrical gru. I have minions!

tigre44 said:
Can someone tell me how the temp controller should be wired.

Can you tell us what type of chiller and controller you have?

tigre44 · Aug 14, 2018

Brew12 said:
Umm... the electrical gru. I have minions!

Can you tell us what type of chiller and controller you have?

It's a Pacific coast imports chiller cl280. The controller has no Id but it is a heat and cool type

Brew12 · Aug 14, 2018

tigre44 said:
It's a Pacific coast imports chiller cl280. The controller has no Id but it is a heat and cool type

Not even a brand name on the controller?

Can you post a picture of the electrical connections?

tigre44 · Aug 14, 2018

Brew12 said:
Not even a brand name on the controller?

Can you post a picture of the electrical connections?

I don't post post pictures very well hopefully this comes through OK.

Brew12 said:
Not even a brand name on the controller?

Can you post a picture of the electrical connections?

I don't do pictures very well hopefully you can make sense of this. The bottom picture probably tells the best story, Thanks for your help!!

Brew12 · Aug 14, 2018

That isn't much to work with, but let's see what we can do. I cannot find any wiring information on the internet so this may not be easy but I feel we can get it.

Is the bottom (gray) cable the power supply in?
Are the smaller black wires the temperature probe?
and
Is the black cable on top the power to the chiller itself?

Does this unit have a plug that goes to a heater, and if so, is it connected?

tigre44 · Aug 15, 2018

Brew12 said:
That isn't much to work with, but let's see what we can do. I cannot find any wiring information on the internet so this may not be easy but I feel we can get it.

Is the bottom (gray) cable the power supply in? The top blk cable is power in I'll call them 1 &2

Are the smaller black wires the temperature probe? The sm blk wires go from the controller to 110v transformer as blk and blk then out of the transformer to connector as red and red then out of the connector as red and blk to compressor I'll call them 6 & 7
and
Is the black cable on top the power to the chiller itself? The gray wire with wires red and white go from the controller to the chiller inlet/outlet box. I assume this is the sensor probe.

Does this unit have a plug that goes to a heater, and if so, is it connected?

Does not have a heater plug. This is a controller that PCI sent me when the original went bad its been a while but I don't believe the original had a heat option.

dstienmann · Aug 15, 2018

Throw that junk controller out wire it on all the time and run this code! you need just the red code mainly the Defer And Min times to keep the chiller from wear and tear thats what the controller was doing,

I ran with a similar Chinese controller on my 1/2HP penguin Chiller ever once in a while it would fire back up after using the controller it came with, random error sometimes and not kicking on, So i got tried of the reliability and let the apex take care of it

Fallback OFF
If Tmp_In > 77.3 Then ON
If Tmp_In < 77.1 Then OFF
If Output ReturnPump = OFF Then OFF
If TmpOut < 74.5 Then OFF
If ChlGPH < 100 Then OFF
Defer 002:00 Then ON
Min Time 005:00 Then OFF
If Output Mainfold = OFF Then OFF

tigre44 · Aug 16, 2018

dstienmann said:
Throw that junk controller out wire it on all the time and run this code! you need just the red code mainly the Defer And Min times to keep the chiller from wear and tear thats what the controller was doing,

I ran with a similar Chinese controller on my 1/2HP penguin Chiller ever once in a while it would fire back up after using the controller it came with, random error sometimes and not kicking on, So i got tried of the reliability and let the apex take care of it

Fallback OFF
If Tmp_In > 77.3 Then ON
If Tmp_In < 77.1 Then OFF
If Output ReturnPump = OFF Then OFF
If TmpOut < 74.5 Then OFF
If ChlGPH < 100 Then OFF
Defer 002:00 Then ON
Min Time 005:00 Then OFF
If Output Mainfold = OFF Then OFF

Thanks but I don't have an apex.

dstienmann · Aug 16, 2018

HAve you changed the controller from heat to cool in the settings, Does PCI provide a sheet with the default settings on those controllers

tigre44 · Aug 16, 2018

No wiring diagram or sheet with default settings. I can get both heat and cool settings lights to come on but will not activate the unit except to heat that's why I think I have it wired wrong but so far switching the wiring around on the sensor has not solved the problem. Something I'm doing is not right or something is just plain bad i.e. sensor or controller

Brew12 · Aug 16, 2018

tigre44 said:
No wiring diagram or sheet with default settings. I can get both heat and cool settings lights to come on but will not activate the unit except to heat that's why I think I have it wired wrong but so far switching the wiring around on the sensor has not solved the problem. Something I'm doing is not right or something is just plain bad i.e. sensor or controller

Sorry, I've had a busy 2 days. Haven't given up on this.

Do you have a meter that can take resistance readings?

Dr. Dendrostein · Aug 16, 2018

tigre44 said:
Can someone tell me how the temp controller should be wired. The controller has 10 connections and I should only use 6 of them. Currently the controller works in reverse its signals to heat when I want it to cool. I have switched around the wiring but so far has not fixed the problem.

Ive serviced various models of chillers. The commercial chillers have schematic and tech support. Most aquarium chillers dont.
You need to get a hold of manufacturer and have them email you schematic and hopefully it's a real detailed one.

Dr. Dendrostein · Aug 16, 2018

tigre44 said:
No wiring diagram or sheet with default settings. I can get both heat and cool settings lights to come on but will not activate the unit except to heat that's why I think I have it wired wrong but so far switching the wiring around on the sensor has not solved the problem. Something I'm doing is not right or something is just plain bad i.e. sensor or controller

Is chiller plumb to aquarium. Installed?

dstienmann · Aug 16, 2018

dstienmann · Aug 16, 2018

Have you let it set 5-10min on

tigre44 · Aug 17, 2018

dstienmann said:
Have you let it set 5-10min on

Yes

tigre44 · Aug 17, 2018

Jomama said:
Is chiller plumb to aquarium. Installed?

I have it plumbed return pump side stream to sump balance return to tank

tigre44 · Aug 17, 2018

Jomama said:
Ive serviced various models of chillers. The commercial chillers have schematic and tech support. Most aquarium chillers dont.
You need to get a hold of manufacturer and have them email you schematic and hopefully it's a real detailed one.

PCI is out of business. When I got the new controller several yrs ago nothing was sent with it. I tried to wire it as the old one but it has never been right.