Dolphin not running, belt hard to turn in one direction

by Roman
(Tucson, AZ)

My dolphin was working fine. Recently when I put it in it runs one direction, goes up the wall, then goes the other direction and stops. I looked at the tracks and belts and they look fine. When I turn the belts the drive turns smooth in one direction, but is difficult in turning the other direction (i here grinding and it's hard to turn). Is this normal with all dolphins as far as turning smooth one direction? I don't know whats going on. The yellow propeller is turning and everything else looks good. Any help?

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Jul 04, 2019
Rating
starstarstar 		Still a problem on newer Dolphin models
by: 2HotInOrlando

I purchased a Dolphin Triton Plus in May or June of 2016. Our relationship was rocky from the start. During our first month, all my robot wanted to do was hump the drain covers and occasionally the corner of a stair or swim out in my pool. I found it very frustrating to put the robot into the pool, start it, then return 3 hours later to find it had been stuck on a drain almost the entire time. I could push it off with a pole, or pull it off with the cable, but it would always find it's way back to one of the drains, usually in under 10 minutes. What was the point of a robot if I had to babysit the entire time? I researched solutions to my problem, and I really didn't like any of them.
Clips that attach to the bottom of the robot. There weren't any for my model at that time, and it seemed to me that the clips might introduce problems of their own.
Discharge port vectoring devices intended to push the robot off the obstruction using the water being discharged from the impeller. This didn't seem well suited to my bi-directional robot, as half of the time the thrust of the discharge will be in opposition to the robot's direction of travel, and may negatively affect the robot's ability to climb.
Then there were rings. Think of them as ARDA (American Robots with Disabilities Act)Compliant ramps for your pool robot. They help your dumb robot, probably designed in the last millennium, climb up and over Those pesky newfangled VGB compliant drain covers which have been the law of the land since December, 19 2008. These unattractive, poorly made rings of low quality plastic are available in a range of colors carefully chosen to stand out in any pool, as well as a light blue that is never available at any store, anywhere, anytime, ever.
Ultimately I fabricated my own rings out of clear acrylic sheet raised 1/2" off the bottom of the pool allowing small debris to pass beneath, and the robot to safely make the once perilous journey above.
After that, I guess you could say the robot and I entered the "honeymoon" phase of our relationship. We did it at least 3 days a week, and on some days we even did it more than once! (We cleaned the pool. Just to clarify.) It went on like that for almost exactly 2 years, then something changed. The robot seemed to move more slowly at times. Sometimes it would work normally and run the full 3 hours. There were also times when it would stop a few minutes after starting, with a debris in filter fault. The robot became less reliable and I was back to babysitting. I noticed that one side of the robot seemed to be doing most of the work, while the other side only turned some of the time and at a slower rate. Armed with this new information I decided to consult the vast online library of helpful troubleshooting information available at Maytronics.com. Useless!
After pulling the unit out of the pool I flipped it over and tried to move the belts manually, and found that one side was very difficult to move. I removed the side covers and found no debris that could cause a jam, and that all bearings turned freely. The thing that was binding was the drive shaft coming out of the black box in the center. Using a 1/2" socket wrench I turned the shaft back and forth for a while to loosen it up, then replaced the drive pulley, the belt, and the side cover before pushing the roller back into place. I returned the robot to the pool, started it and it was once again running normally, but only for a short while. Soon it was back in the "sometimes I work, sometimes I don't" routine from before. A few days ago I took off the cover and the belt hoping to loosen it up again, but it seemed much stiffer than the last time, and doesn't seem to have resulted in the slightest improvement. Searching for answers has brought me here. I didn't even know the black box in the center could be opened. Has anybody with this problem opened the box, and if so what was the cause of this shaft binding issue? Is it a relatively easy/ inexpensive fix? I'm at a point where I have nothing to lose. It's out of warranty, and it seems less and less likely to function with each attempted use, and it isn't heavy enough to use as a boat anchor.
Aug 08, 2017
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Same issue as above
by: Anonymous

Does anyone have an answer for this?
Jul 28, 2017
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Sounds familiar!
by: Sally

Did you get this resolved? I seem to ve the third person asking so I guess not! If you did, could you say what was the problem? Motor or power pack?
Jul 17, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Dolphin not running, belt hard to turn in one direction
by: Anonymous

Did you solve the issue?
Jul 04, 2014
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Same issue
by: Anonymous

Did you manage to resolve this? I'm having a similar issue

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