Mother's CH is controlled by a Potterton EP2000.

For some time she has been complaining about the boiler locking out,
etc. (and it does, and I know what to do to get that resolved). Today I
had a revelation. The flaming unutterably stupid EP2000 has a battery.
Any disconnection from mains, however brief, results in immediate loss
of time and program settings. I think you can guess the connection...

Have now ordered battery.

Nothing whatsoever seems to indicate a battery failure to an ordinary
user. It is a fairly odd Varta 3/V150H thing so cannot easily drop out
to the shops to get one.

What a horrible controller. You need to shove a screwdriver up
underneath to release the controller from the wallplate. Then, though
you can see the battery, you have to prise it out with a screwdriver.
Final insult, even at that point, there is no obvious marking as to
which way round to re-fit the damn thing.

--
Rod

On May 24, 4:44*pm, polygonum wrote:
Mother's CH is controlled by a Potterton EP2000.

For some time she has been complaining about the boiler locking out,
etc. (and it does, and I know what to do to get that resolved). Today I
had a revelation. The flaming unutterably stupid EP2000 has a battery.
Any disconnection from mains, however brief, results in immediate loss
of time and program settings. I think you can guess the connection...

Have now ordered battery.

Nothing whatsoever seems to indicate a battery failure to an ordinary
user. It is a fairly odd Varta 3/V150H thing so cannot easily drop out
to the shops to get one.

What a horrible controller. You need to shove a screwdriver up
underneath to release the controller from the wallplate. Then, though
you can see the battery, you have to prise it out with a screwdriver.
Final insult, even at that point, there is no obvious marking as to
which way round to re-fit the damn thing.

Battery is usually to keep controller going/from losing settings
if there is mains failure & nothing to do with anything else.

On Fri, 24 May 2013 16:44:10 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

Mother's CH is controlled by a Potterton EP2000.

For some time she has been complaining about the boiler locking out,
etc. (and it does, and I know what to do to get that resolved). Today I
had a revelation. The flaming unutterably stupid EP2000 has a battery.
Any disconnection from mains, however brief, results in immediate loss
of time and program settings. I think you can guess the connection...

Have now ordered battery.

Nothing whatsoever seems to indicate a battery failure to an ordinary
user. It is a fairly odd Varta 3/V150H thing so cannot easily drop out
to the shops to get one.

What a horrible controller. You need to shove a screwdriver up
underneath to release the controller from the wallplate. Then, though
you can see the battery, you have to prise it out with a screwdriver.
Final insult, even at that point, there is no obvious marking as to
which way round to re-fit the damn thing.

Isn't that a wire-ended NiMH battery that needs soldering?
Used to be commonly found on PC motherboards before lithium coin cells
became popular.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On 24/05/2013 18:37, Graham. wrote:
On Fri, 24 May 2013 16:44:10 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

Mother's CH is controlled by a Potterton EP2000.

For some time she has been complaining about the boiler locking out,
etc. (and it does, and I know what to do to get that resolved). Today I
had a revelation. The flaming unutterably stupid EP2000 has a battery.
Any disconnection from mains, however brief, results in immediate loss
of time and program settings. I think you can guess the connection...

Have now ordered battery.

Nothing whatsoever seems to indicate a battery failure to an ordinary
user. It is a fairly odd Varta 3/V150H thing so cannot easily drop out
to the shops to get one.

What a horrible controller. You need to shove a screwdriver up
underneath to release the controller from the wallplate. Then, though
you can see the battery, you have to prise it out with a screwdriver.
Final insult, even at that point, there is no obvious marking as to
which way round to re-fit the damn thing.

Isn't that a wire-ended NiMH battery that needs soldering?
Used to be commonly found on PC motherboards before lithium coin cells
became popular.

Funnily enough I could find the PCB version of the battery at Maplins
not too many miles away - and that is, as you say, with wires at the
ends. But for the EP2000 it is a flat ended thing like a square cross
section C-cell but somewhat shorter.

--
Rod

On 24/05/2013 18:23, harry wrote:
On May 24, 4:44 pm, polygonum wrote:
Mother's CH is controlled by a Potterton EP2000.

For some time she has been complaining about the boiler locking out,
etc. (and it does, and I know what to do to get that resolved). Today I
had a revelation. The flaming unutterably stupid EP2000 has a battery.
Any disconnection from mains, however brief, results in immediate loss
of time and program settings. I think you can guess the connection...

Have now ordered battery.

Nothing whatsoever seems to indicate a battery failure to an ordinary
user. It is a fairly odd Varta 3/V150H thing so cannot easily drop out
to the shops to get one.

What a horrible controller. You need to shove a screwdriver up
underneath to release the controller from the wallplate. Then, though
you can see the battery, you have to prise it out with a screwdriver.
Final insult, even at that point, there is no obvious marking as to
which way round to re-fit the damn thing.

Battery is usually to keep controller going/from losing settings
if there is mains failure & nothing to do with anything else.

That is exactly the problem. Every time there is even a tiny
interruption to supply, it loses time and program settings. This is an
issue ON TOP OF THE BOILER LOCKOUTS.

What was lost in communication from my mother was that there were two
issues. I thought the boiler was not coming on because it had locked
out. It was actually not coming on because the programmer didn't know
what time it is nor was it retaining any program settings.

--
Rod

On Fri, 24 May 2013 18:48:23 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

Funnily enough I could find the PCB version of the battery at Maplins
not too many miles away - and that is, as you say, with wires at the
ends. But for the EP2000 it is a flat ended thing like a square cross
section C-cell but somewhat shorter.

Is there any room in the case to fit a battery holder?

On 24/05/2013 22:18, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
On Fri, 24 May 2013 18:48:23 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

Funnily enough I could find the PCB version of the battery at Maplins
not too many miles away - and that is, as you say, with wires at the
ends. But for the EP2000 it is a flat ended thing like a square cross
section C-cell but somewhat shorter.

Is there any room in the case to fit a battery holder?

Nice idea. But no chance. Given that it has recharging circuitry, the
controller might be a bit fussy about the battery/ies.

'tis ordered now, and on its way. :-)

It is like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/VARTA-V150H-.../dp/9792378154

But without the pins.

--
Rod

On Fri, 24 May 2013 22:23:10 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

It is like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/VARTA-V150H-.../dp/9792378154

HFM!?

But without the pins.

The pins add about a tenner, iwt.

On May 24, 6:51*pm, polygonum wrote:
On 24/05/2013 18:23, harry wrote:







On May 24, 4:44 pm, polygonum wrote:
Mother's CH is controlled by a Potterton EP2000.

For some time she has been complaining about the boiler locking out,
etc. (and it does, and I know what to do to get that resolved). Today I
had a revelation. The flaming unutterably stupid EP2000 has a battery.
Any disconnection from mains, however brief, results in immediate loss
of time and program settings. I think you can guess the connection...

Have now ordered battery.

Nothing whatsoever seems to indicate a battery failure to an ordinary
user. It is a fairly odd Varta 3/V150H thing so cannot easily drop out
to the shops to get one.

What a horrible controller. You need to shove a screwdriver up
underneath to release the controller from the wallplate. Then, though
you can see the battery, you have to prise it out with a screwdriver.
Final insult, even at that point, there is no obvious marking as to
which way round to re-fit the damn thing.

Battery is usually to keep controller going/from losing settings
if there is mains failure & nothing to do with anything else.

That is exactly the problem. Every time there is even a tiny
interruption to supply, it loses time and program settings. This is an
issue ON TOP OF THE BOILER LOCKOUTS.

What was lost in communication from my mother was that there were two
issues. I thought the boiler was not coming on because it had locked
out. It was actually not coming on because the programmer didn't know
what time it is nor was it retaining any program settings.

--
Rod

If you are getting lockouts as an unrelated problem, it's likely a
dirty flame sensor. May clean up or may need replacing.
Ideally you need to see a lockout occurring to determine the exact
cause. Other than that, a good boiler/burner clean out and hope for
the best.
The intermittent faults are the worst to determine.

On 24/05/2013 23:41, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
On Fri, 24 May 2013 22:23:10 +0100, polygonum
wrote:

It is like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/VARTA-V150H-.../dp/9792378154

HFM!?

But without the pins.

The pins add about a tenner, iwt.


Simply a convenient picture!

I did not pay that much! The ones with pins are available at Maplins -
those without are both generally more expensive and, IME, less easily found.

--
Rod