Brink Flair 400, E103 Bypass General Error

[Russdl]

F*ckety f*ck.

 

I've just changed the filters in the MVHR and after switching it back on all seemed normal but I've now got the little spanner symbol and 'Error E103' on the MVHR display. The full message is:

 

Error E103

E1200

Bypass General Error

 

The manual makes no mention of E103 but has the following to say regarding the E1200 code:

 

 

Does any one know anything else about the E103 code?

 

Does anyone know how I get at the Bypass to see where it is and what it is or isn't doing?

 

Any other pearls of wisdom will be gratefully received as well.

 

[Russdl]

Looks like I may have found the answer to my second question, and I don't even need to brush up on my French 

 

 

[Russdl]

Crikey! That was easier than falling off a log. No obvious signs of impairment though so I guess I’ll just give it a quick clean (it’s not really dirty) bung it back in and hope for the best. 
 

[ProDave]

I think the video showed the bypass unit being replaced with a new one, not the old one put straight back.

 

There can't be much to it, a motor to move the flap and a switch to show the controller that the flap has moved?

 

My guess is (like my different make mvhr) at power up tt closes then opens the bypass, checking for the feedback from the switch that it has moved, and of not flags an error.

[Russdl]

Agreed Dave. Turns out I’ve found the problem. 
 

 

That little bit of plastic has broken off the bypass flapper thingy allowing the motor to rotate without moving the flapper. 
 

I shall superglue it back together, actually I’ll probably superglue the flapper to the motor, I don’t think the flapper needs to be removable from the motor. The only good thing is how easy it is to work on this Brink. 
 

[ProDave]

That looks like a weak design, so anything you can do to beef it up a bit would help.  I would perhaps be looking at some type of metal sleeve or strapping to go over the repair.

[Russdl]

Clearly the motor has rotated, probably during the power up after I’d cleaned the filters, but the flapper was stuck so the motor broke out of the plastic moulding. What ‘stuck’ the flapper is the mystery. 
 

 

[Russdl]

1 minute ago, ProDave said:

That looks like a weak design, so anything you can do to beef it up a bit would help.  I would perhaps be looking at some type of metal sleeve or strapping to go over the repair.

It certainly does and certainly is. I just can’t fathom why there would be any resistance to the flapper moving. 

[ProDave]

Probably a good idea once fixed to operate the bypass from time to time to discourage it from sticking again.

[Russdl]

I’ll keep an eye on that but I’m sure it’s been opening and closing a fair bit over the summer, I generally just leave it to do its thing but if I select ‘night ventilation mode’ I’m pretty sure selects the bypass open, I’ll have to check the manual. 
 

Anyway, all glued up so I’ll chuck it back together and hope for the best, if it fails I think I’ll get a flapper thingy 3d printed because I don’t suspect Brink we’ll sell me just that little bit. 

[Russdl]

Back up and running, fault code cleared.
 

It’s a real mystery. It does a lot of moving during power up, half open, half closed, fully open, fully closed finally reverting to fully closed (or the other way around, but a lot of moving nonetheless).
 

I’d add a video but it’s too big, is that 2MB limit a new thing? Or have my pictures/videos got bigger??

 

[Russdl]

B*ggery b*llox. 

 

Well, it looks like my repair has failed. I’ll have to dismantle it in the morning to confirm. 
 

I wonder if it’s a software issue and the motor keeps trying to turn in the same direction after the flapper has reached its movement limit??

[Russdl]

Well there certainly has been some strange bypass behaviour according to the available data.

 

More 'opening' and 'closing' than I would have expected to see before it went nuts around lunchtime of the 26th and decided to thrash itself to death. It looks like my glue repair took a bit of a beating before finally giving up the ghost and shuffling off this mortal coil 3 days later.

 

 

 

 

[Russdl]

👋Calling any Brink Flair MVHR owners 👋
 

Could someone send me an image of the ‘Status Bypass Valve’ (like the ones I posted above) from a working unit so I can compare and contrast? Thanks in advance. 

~~~

Advice from the original supplier “just replace the bypass, they’re cheap as chips”.
 

Which is all well and good, but why it failed in the first place seemed to be of little interest to them. To my mind I fit the brand new, cheap as chips replacement and it fails in exactly the same way in a few months/years time so what’s the point. 
 

I’ve got a fair few months to mull this over as I don’t think summer will need bypassing for a while, the unit is reassembled with the bypass closed and the bypass motor disconnected. So all’s good at the moment.
 

I think. 

[Jolo]

That's really strange, what's being reported in those graphs!

 

It seems that bypass open is zero, closed is 1, and I've no idea what 128 or 255 could mean -- why would it even have a numerical Y-axis?!

[Russdl]

34 minutes ago, Jolo said:

It seems that bypass open is zero, closed is 1,

 

Something like that it seems, but the labels don't indicate 1 and 0.

 

35 minutes ago, Jolo said:

and I've no idea what 128 or 255 could mean

 

You and me both! I suspect it's 127.5 at least then 255 makes some sense as it's 2 x 127.5 but apart from that who knows whats going on?

 

38 minutes ago, Jolo said:

why would it even have a numerical Y-axis?!

 

Good question. Well phrased. Deserves an answer!

As you seem to be located in the land of Brink manufacture, could you go and knock on their door and ask them to explain themselves.

 

As far as I'm concerned the frequent flipping from 0 to 128 to 255 and back again is completely abnormal behaviour and must be some kind of software glitch. At this time of year I wouldn't expect to see the bypass move at all so even the early trace of 1 to 0 and back again strikes me as odd.