Rainbird controller, none of the valves are working

Users who are viewing this thread

toddj

New Member
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Texas
worked fine all summer, did not use for past month and a half. tried it today and none of the (8 valves) work. Voltage to timer looks ok (29). Voltage to zones looks ok (also 29) although there is voltage to ALL of the zone whenever one zone is turned on. Not sure if that is normal or not or if that might be a symptom of the problem? Resistance to values is ok (30-40). I turned one solenoid manually and that zone came on, so water seems to flow as expected. With none of the zones working, I am thinking something with the controller, but those voltage and resistance measurements seemed ok. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
 

Valveman

Cary Austin
Staff member
Messages
14,599
Reaction score
1,296
Points
113
Location
Lubbock, Texas
Website
cyclestopvalves.com
There should only be power to one solenoid when one solenoid is turned on. There might not be enough voltage from the controller to pull in all the solenoids at the same time. Try disconnecting all but one and see what happens.
 

toddj

New Member
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Texas
There should only be power to one solenoid when one solenoid is turned on. There might not be enough voltage from the controller to pull in all the solenoids at the same time. Try disconnecting all but one and see what happens.

Thanks. To make it more interesting: I noticed that the jump wire is still present on the controller terminals for the rain sensor. Which confuses me since I had an RSD rain sensor installed at the same time the whole system was installed. So I walked over the rain sensor, and I see that the wire going into the ground is shredded, I guess by the lawn mowing service. I spliced the wires (red to red, black to black). I go back to the controller and voila all the sprinkler zones work again. If I take voltage readings, the zone that is on is ~26, and all others are just background low low low voltage.

At the controller, I see one black wire that dead ends to NOTHING, not connected to anything. And one wire that connects to"Zone 8." To be honest, I am not sure whether I have 7 or 8 true sprinkler zones.

But is connecting one (red) wire of the rain sensor to a random valve terminal a valid way of connecting a rain sensor? Is there any chance that that would work? Are there reasons that an installer would not connect the sensor wires to the Sensor terminals of the controller?

Thanks, I really appreciate our help. So I have the zones working again, but still puzzled on how this weird connection of the rain sensor fits in.
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks