Astral Pool Fabtronics Viron P320 Pool Pump Failure - Customer Service & Spare Parts Experience
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2024
- I have been trying to repair my Astral Pool Viron P320 pump for a few days now and i have been getting nowhere, Astral Pool and the circuit board manufacturer Fabtronics will not assist with parts. Astral Pool parts do not sell to the public, and Fabtronics would not sell to anyone but Astral Pool. Astral Pool retailer/sales have indicated that they wouldn't replace the board, but rather the whole control panel/module itself, but couldn't give a cost, they were much more interested in selling a brand new pump. This pump is only a few months out of it's 3 year warranty and cost over $1700 AUD. The equivalent is now the Viron Xt which is $1300-$1800 depending who you talk to/where purchased etc - i was offered a $500 discount off the retail price if i came and picked one up this afternoon - There must be some MASSIVE mark-up on these products.
Our pump was repaired 3 times under warranty and has now gone again , so that's approx 2.5 yrs between controller boxes dieing. . Plenty of hoops to jump through to get warranty . Both pump and chlorinator
we're constantly braking down.
Changed to Onga variable pump new for $850 instead of viron at $1700.
Also changed to Autochlor chlorination and cell.
Much better setup and heaps less maintenance, had to clean austral cell monthly.
Hey bud hope your pool is going .
Now you are absolutely correct, the service is poor cause they want your money.
It's hyw robbery, and you know what if you ask your mate this he'll agree.
I call this picticurar company " The Too Hard Team "
Now many companies hire companies who make it fail and last only this amount of hours service 🙄
Now that is part of the problem of land fill problems in our world 🌎 our home ????
Plastice ect .... it starts another discussion.
Very well explained thank you 😊
This was pretty helpful - my viron is making a loud noise all of a sudden and your video helped me to understand how to go about fixing it.. I think I need a new bearing or two My model is an older P280
Thanks for the comment, let me know how you go with them, I have basically had to resort from buying new old stock of the entire control panel assembly.. for the sake of one PCB.
I have exactly the same issue. Local supplier said I can only buy a complete control unit for $733aud plus postage. I think we all need to give Astral pumps a bad review. It won't help us but maybe save some other poor bastard getting shafted.
Thanks for the video. same problem, pump just over 4 Years Old. Blew house fuse no lights on pump display, probably the PCB board. Clearly a product issue with the PCB boards should last a lot longer. Did you or anyone on this thread find a supplier of the PCB board ? If I cannot get the part and I have to buy a new pump it will NOT be an Astral.
Thanks for your video about this pump. Have you found a solution to fix that PCB. I am in a similar situation and was wondering if anyone had gone to the trouble of re-engineering the PCB through a company like JLPCB. That way others could get replacement boards made for a fraction of the price. For me I have decided to go with a new pump and get my electrician brother to take a look at the old one.
I have had a similar problem. My pump is just about 6 years old and I just had the flange joining the motor to waterend replaced. It had corroded away. Now the display gives an motor stuck error. I tried to get it serviced locally and they could not help and advised to get another motor. The motor shaft turns OK and when I try turning it on I get various noises likes it is trying to start. So I strongly suspect it is my controller circuit. As a result of the previous breakdown I purchased a second new motor. When I found I could repair the original Viron I reconfigured my set up so I have (had ) separate pumps for the filter operation and one for the in floor cleaning/ heating operation. I have a solar PE system so I am not so concerned about saving power, so I would like to skip the Variable speed part of the controller and just run the pump on a single speed. I am interested in finding information about the circuitry of the Viron so I could simplify the circuit.
I’ve got a slightly larger pump but the issue seems very similar…blown two capacitors. It will be a shame if I can’t fix it or get parts
Thank you, I am located in country NSW and have two failed 5 year old Viron pumps where the power boards have failed and and the motor and pump are ok, but Astral have insisted that I purchase the whole electronic assembly P/N 21483 for $693.40. The thermistor failed on the PCB and appears to have taken out some other components, but with two similar failures this is poor design and should be replaced under warranty. I am of the view the Viron products are rubbish and and have replaced it with a CTX 400 which is a 1.5hp simple capacitor start pump which costs a fraction of the price and will be more reliable. The Viron is probably motor efficient but it will take a lot of electricity to be $693.40 and the pain in the ass is not worth it. Alfred
I discovered that mine wasn't running and displaying a high temperature error. I switched it back on and it briefly ran before switching off again. Now it doesn't even switch on anymore.
It was 6.5 years old so difficult to say whether it was due to an electrical issue, being water starved, exposed to sun or a combination of any of the aforementioned.
@@trv076 Unfortunately not. I ended up replacing the pump.
Mate, what was the outcome of this? I just had my P320 die on me and im thinking im having the exact same issue as yourself. 3 years 2 months old! Not entirely impressed. I find it ironic that on Astrals website about their pool pumps that it says they have an expected life of 7 years. Anyway, trying not to purchase a whole new unit if i can avoid it. Thanks
Had to buy another pump, tried to repair, changed caps, mov and more components. Ended up buying a reconditioned one locally. Apparently there not as great as they are made out to be, and there is a few direct fit variable speed options that are cheaper and better.
Statutory warranty, it's a pump that costs 3-4x what a standard pump costs so the life expectancy should be greater. My P600 is playing up however it's around 5 years old and although the motor is still fine replacing the bearings and other parts add up to be a fair amount of $$ and the circuit boards could always die which I just can't replace making it probably worth buying a new pump.
Literally had the same issue with my pump, control board died, despite all the Fabtronics labels and part numbers inside, the best I could find was to buy the entire electronics unit brand new..... All that because a small $1 component went pop, likely due to a poor design somewhere.
Hi wonder if there was an outcome. I too have one thats burnt out. Fabtronics are under license to manufacture for Astral and not allowed to sell to anyone else. Did say that if i gave him the damaged part numbers he'd gladly supply them. Cant get part numbers of components as there burnt to the point they caught fire. Cheers
I didn’t get the same outcome from them, I ended up buying a whole remanufactured unit.
@@thatdiychannel7070 Fabtronics were purchased by Fluidra after your original post, so there may have potentially been a change in their supply policy
Can you tell me what the black and blue disc resistors codes are (bottom left corner near power leads)? My pump has blown here and I'm having same issues. If you have codes/disc part number I may be able to repair too. Thanks
Hi, this has JUST happened to me, Literally yesterday! 20th February and I found this video while troubleshooting. Have you had any luck. I know where you're coming from. Astral are terrible to deal with. Everyone says support local Aussie made and yet Aussie company's screw over local customers all the time!. Did you have any luck with the pcb? were you able to get a replacement without replacing the whole unit? Just checked my warranty and it is exactly 2 months out of warranty TO THE DAY!!
That’s unlucky mate, no luck with them, they wouldn’t sell to me and I had to go through 3 different places in the supply chain - ofcourse each adding costs etc.. I tried to replace components from element 14 and RS components, resistors, thermistors etc all the stuff that was found to be toast on the board. Still no good, I just bought a hood second hand unit and installed it with a warranty.
So wrong when a part breaks down they don't talk to you or expect you to buy a new pump, like saying I have leaves in my pool, so now have to buy a new pool.. Looking to buy a new pump right now ie XT320 but now reconsidering an alternative.
Just had same issue 7 years old never missed a beat. Went out for swim this morning to find the circuit breaker tripped . Reset it & zero display motors fine so I guess boards goosed.
From the looks of it 7 years is a good run.
I have a problem with the backlight not working, any idea on how to fix this?
Same issue just happened to me, 3 November 2021. Going to call my pool guy to pick his brain. To top it off our robot cleaner died last week and waiting to hear back from the manufacturer. Waiting for the third thing to break, you know how shit happens in threes!
I’ve had two die in 9 years burnt out board and motor. Replaced with a Heywood.
What was the outcome ?
Did you ever have any joy mine has just done the same ?
Has anyone got wiring diagram for these? Where my neutral comes in, it’s burnt the first component. Think it’s a capacitor??? But need details to get replacement part. Help
Mine has died gradually too. The pcb screen isn’t working properly and it works for about 10 minutes and stops working for a day.
This has just happened to me also, though the Viron P320 Evo pump is 11 yrs old. A $5 capacitor failed and has fried the circuit board. They (Astral) want $850 for the new replacement part. A new P320 XT pump is $1850. Like you they won't sell me just the failed circuit board.
Shame you didn't threaten legal action. Australian consumer guarantee laws trump manufacturers warranty. Consumers have rights under the consumer guarantees and can make a claim for a problem with a product under the consumer law, regardless of any warranty.
Mine has flickering display and is giving BSUC error. Try to turn on but turns off in a second. What could be wrong? Can anyone help please
My pump is just 3 weeks old and got wet and the control board got water in it. Obviously the control panel wasn't sealed properly . Astral won't cover this under warrantee as they said it should have been undercover. it was installed by their dealer and never was an issue. No where in the manual does it say it must be undercover.
They are rated at IPX5 and this means they can be light pressure sprayed by a hose.
this is the rudest not helpful company and all I can say is avoid them at all costs, they don't care about consumers they are just frustrating.
Im talking to NSW for trading . Ive sent a letter of demand to them already
Oh noo mine just died aswell, astral are extremely hard to deal with
Mate ... what's you do? Edit this video and tell us.. cheers
Hi everyone. If you're having trouble with this pump and live in Australia I may be able to help. I've repaired a few of these controllers now, they have design flaws that render them prone to failure. As long as the PCB hasn't been completely blown up and burnt out (like many are), it's possible to repair. Many of them end up with backlight failure, I'm not able to get replacement display's but the components for just about everything else are available. Ex Avionics engineer with over 25 years experience here. Reach out if you need help.
are you able to service P600 boards as well?
@@darrellaldridge9686 Yes, of course Darrell. There are many versions, all of which have typical and not so typical faults. If you provide an email I can make contact with you and we can go from there. I have electronic components in stock, the specialty ones though will take about 6-8 weeks to come from order though if it's needed. For the labour hours I put in, it's a cheap repair. I always send pictures and quote first.
@@darrellaldridge9686 Yes of course Darrell. Send me your email and I'll be in touch.
Same problem with my p320, how can i contact you Mr Smith?
@mrsmith7835 are you still doing those repairs?
We have exact same issue. Can you use this pump without the control board, directly? How can it be wired directly to work as a fixed speed pump.
You would need something that would be able to drive this Three Phase BLDC motor, like a High Voltage Hobby ESC, or a VFD that can do a High frequency with a soft start.
FYI Astral ( FLuidra) own Fabtronics
Yep mine just died looks like the same problem.
any update
Yep mine just dies as well
@2:06 that looks like a capacitor
Astral pool, its almost like April fool.
astral pools have been nothing but helpful every time ive had an issue and replaced under warranty
The problem is simple,astral gear in general,is garbage.