Village Marine Water Maker Help

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mijmoto

Veteran Member
Joined
May 17, 2016
Messages
41
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Rincon Feliz
Vessel Make
Kadey-Krogen 48 North Sea
Hi All,

We have a Village Marine Squirt 600 GPD water maker aboard our trawler. I have done numerous "improvements" to make the compact unit more serviceable and it works pretty well. My current problem is the control board. It is automated, so once starting it goes through a trial period waiting for the water quality to get under a preset value. The controller never sees the value required to cause the product water solenoid to close so never provides RO water to the tank. This problem can be overridden by manually closing the solenoid. I always divert the product water to my galley sink for testing so once the salinity test shows good water I change the valves to divert from the sink to the tanks. This works just fine but I am hoping to get back to the automated functions from the pilot house as before. I have found that the circuit board will intermittently work but too much trial and error when I just want to make water. I have found boards to replace the controller for $1,300 plus and am reluctant to pour more money into the water maker. I have spoken with the Village Marine guys and they think the problem is in the controller. Has anybody out there had any experience repairing the board or found a better source for boards? Kind of shooting in the dark but we can at least make water. Jim Rincon Feliz, currently in the Rio Dulce.
 
I have had some minor luck. I pulled apart a chart plotter and found a corroded ribbon cable.

I pulled a board out of a heat pump and found a faulty transistor. Worked great for 3 months and then more components on the board failed.

Pulled apart a board and found three board traces damaged. Was able to solder a wire jumper reconnecting the traces. Again, was short lived before another component failed.

Other than the faulty ribbon cable I’m not having much success.
 
There are many people online that repair circuit boards. They repair the boards by testing each component and then replacing. I've had several various boards repaired. Usually around $100 + shipping. None recently.
Do a search.
 
I found and purchased a used board on Ebay. Hoping it works and if not then of to a board repair person. We can't be without a water maker. Thanks for the thoughts. Jim
 
If it does in fact work, I’d still send the old one out for repair as a spare.
 
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