Retrofit Control System

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Step By Step Actual Replacement

A New C-5 System Complete

	This is an OLD control box. Parts were becoming extremely expensive to repair. Just the pcboard replacement for this box costs as much as the complete C5 kit.
	First, turn off power at main panel and secure panel so no one is able to accidently turn power back on. Then drain hot tub. This unit is a ONE pump system. The water leaves the pump on the right, through the heater, and into a discharge manifold on the left. In principle most spas are build like this. There may be one or two more jet pumps on some larger models.

Remove old control. This example the new and old heater are both 15" long which is common.

In this example you will see a heavy electrical conduit with wires on the lower left. This example the spa is operating on 230v. On some smaller models the spa may be running on 115v. This will be CRITICAL to know as you install the C5.

The heater in this example is 15" so the new heater will fit perfectly

This spa didn't have a proper sized existing temperature housing. Drill new hole in shell (we include instructions). About 6-8" below water level is good.

Install new housing purchased. The new sensor housing is a dry well housing so the temperature sensor doesn't touch the water.

Drill this hole somewhere on a flat surface close to the equipment.

In our example we used the C5 with a corded heater. The old heater placement was about 8" above the floor of the control platform. Using the corded heater made installation a breeze.

The generation of the new C5 was the opposite of how the old control box sat. The incoming power in the old box cam into the box from the left. In this install the power enters on the right.

Recently the manufacturer of the C5, realizing most designs the power comes into the box on the left, reversed their setup. If we had the new generation box the power would come into the spa on the left like it originally was. ALL shipments now include the new style with power coming in from the left.

The circled area is the new temp housing we installed above. Once the housing is installed the new dry well temperature sensor slides into the housing. The opposite end of the sensor cord has a simple plug into the side of the control box.

If you power you spa with 110-120vac, you need to wire the incoming power the following way:

a. The white/neutral wire connects to NEUTRAL on the board.
b. You must install a "jumper" wire the same guage as your white wire and jump between Neutral and Line 2.
c. Your black/hot wire is connected to Line 1

NOTE: Notice the 120v circled in red. By default the transformer 2 line plug is plugged into the 240v socket. Move plug from there to 120v for the spa to operate correctly.

If your power is 220-240vac, as shown, the white/neutral wire is connected to the NEUTRAL lug on the board.

The Red/Hot 2 wire connects to the Line 2.

The Black/Hot 1 wire connects to the Line 1.

NOTE: By default the red circle plug is plugged into the 240v socket. This is correct. No changes when you are operating on 220-240v.

NOTE: If you do NOT have a white neutral wire its because none of your equipment is 110-120v. So you disregard the White/Neutral incoming shown.

The internal white/neutral wires connected to the Neutral lug apply 110-120v to each different component.

The white/neutral wires connected to Line 2 lug apply 220-240vac to each component it serves.

To understand, each white wire has a color line to identify which component it serves.

As you received the C5 you see 4 white lines go to Neutral and 2 Line 2. By default because its the most common hot tub setup these white wires will apply 230v to Pump 1 and 2. IF you have a 115v motor you MUST move the white line from Line 2 to Neutral. Failure to move will likely permanently damage your motor.

If you are operating on 115v, move the 2 internal white wires on Line 2 to Neutral. If you look closely at both the wires connected to Line 2 you will see an extra post on each. When you pull off the connection from the board you will see you can piggyback the one of the wires already on Neutral by pulling the neutral connection off, move the Line 2 connectin to neutral, and piggyback the wire.

KEY To Understanding the importance of Line 2 and Neutral

As pictured, EVERY component white wire connected to Neutral will get 110-120vac IF you have 4 wire connection. If you only have 3 incoming wires, Red/Black/Green, you can NOT have any 110-120v components. You must have 4 incoming wires to have any 115v components. That said, any wires connected to Neutral will either apply 115v to that component or -0- volts. Any wires connected to Line 2 will apply 115v if you have 115v incoming (not common) or 230v if you have 220-240v incoming.

Again, it critical to match the white wires to the voltage of your components.

Sensor/Cord Install

A. The pressure switch cord or flow switch plugs into this socket.

B. OH Sensor Cord. The overheat sensor plugs into this socket.

C. Temp Sensor Cord. The temperature sensor plugs into this socket.

D. Topside cord. The topside cord plugs into this socket.

The T7s and T8s have TWO program levels. The first, PL1 sets your spa for the way you personally want it to operate. See the manual for that.

The second level, PL2 is CRITICAL program level because it identifies to the C5 what your particular components are. This programming is what we will explain.

The Three buttons you will focus on are AUX, +, and -. Aux will get you into the PL2 and + and - get you through the levels.

Programming the T7s and T8s

Note Topside Manual pages 10-13

> Press and hold AUX button until it beeps and you see PL1 on screen.
> Immediately Release and Push again the Aux button and hold.
> When the screen says PL2 release and press - button.
> The screen will say 1-1 or 1-2. As noted on page 11, this tells the C5 board to know what Pump 1 is. By default the board is expecting only ONE jet pump and its 2 speed. If that is your configuration then you don't need to change anything. If you have Two Jet pumps and pump #1 is 2 speed, press the + button and the screen should go to 1-2. That is a 2 speed #1 jet pump.
Press the - button and it will save and go to level 2.
> 2-1, 2, or 3. 2-1 is for one jet pump systems. 2-2 is when Jet pump #2 is one speed and you the topside to say HIGH when you turn on jet pump 2. If rare applications the #2 jet pump is 2 speed so you set it to 2-3.
Press the - button and it will save and go to level 3.
>Level 3 is for spa with a THIRD jet pump OR Air Blower.
Press the - button and it will save and go to level 4.
> Level 4 gives you 5 choices. Most spas are either operating on 50a gfci circuit (most common) or 115v cord with gfci protection. Level 4 tells the C5 what power you are operating. What level you set the unit at determines what components will be turned off when others are on. 4-1 which is the most common tells the unit to heat even if jet pump 1 and 2 are on but TURN OFF HEATER if you have jet 1, 2, and 3 on. WHY? Simple. You wiring can only handle so much current. If you operate too many components at one time it can damage components because the voltage/amperage is sufficient OR damage your wiring. Both are costly and either can cause a fire.
Since wiring a hot tub with 6 guage wire and 50a gfci circuit is most popular, almost everything can work at once. Less wire size or ability of the circuit, you can tell the C5 to keep you safe and protect your house/hot tub.
Besides 230v 50a circuit being popular, the second most common is a 115v 20a circuit. If this is what you have chose 4-5
Press the - button and it will save and go to level 4.
> For most you can skip this level to the 5-1, most common. For those with a circulation pump that runs 24/7 you have other choices. But those are not common choices.
Press AUX to save and return to standard readout.
You are good to go.

Making it work for you

Normally you can ignore programming the PL1 until you want. These are all enduser preferred setup. Let review what you can do.

Heater Mode: The C5 allows you to operate the unit on Standard (Stnd) or Economy (Econ). Economy does NOT mean the spa will be somehow more economical but that it won't heat. The purpose is if you are going out of town or not using your spa it will save the cost of heating a spa but still clean/filter like normal.

System Time: Set the unit to your local time.

Filter Cycle 1 and 2: You can set when, how often, and how long. The default is 2 hours/twice a day. For most this is fine but you can change as desired.

Purge: An excellent feature if turned on is the C5 will turn on pumps/blower to move all water it can through the system. If minimizes stagnant water in piping that can happen with this feature.

Time Display: You can either have it on or off.

Beep: Turn beep on/off as you desire.

Temp Lock: You can turn this feature on to hinder someone changing the water temp.

Toggling. You can flip the digital screen if you want to read from a different viewpoint

This is an OLD control box. Parts were becoming extremely expensive to repair. Just the pcboard replacement for this box costs as much as the complete C5 kit.

Sensor/Cord Install