Solenoid Manual Control question

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MrFloratam

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I'd like to have a button in my living room that I can press to activate my front yard sprinkler zone. I'm tired of people letting their dogs poop in my yard and this is the easiest way to chase them off. After finding that the remote setup for my Rainbird ESP-M controller is $500, I'm looking for a cheaper route. I decided the easiest thing to do is run wire, bypassing the controller, with 24 volts (from a separate source) directly to the solenoid, tapping into the connection already in place. This will be controlled with a button in the living room. I press the button, 24 volts goes directly to the solenoid and turns on that zone until i let go of the button.

My question is this: will exposing the controller wires (that are currently attached to the solenoid) with 24 volts do any damage to the controller?
 

Dj2

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I like your thinking. Will you be looking out the window 24/7?
 

MrFloratam

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I like your thinking. Will you be looking out the window 24/7?

No, but when I see dogs on my lawn I can't get to the controller fast enough.


They make sprinklers with motion detectors to scare away deer. With a couple of those you won't have to keep an eye out ever.

Yeah I've looked into those. It would mean buying one, then having to run an additional hose across the lawn. I'd rather just be able to turn on the the whole front yard with the push of a button.
 

Ankhseeker

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Darn! wish I had thought of that! Get a remote controlled relay and you can keep the remote at your chair. Those motion sprinklers work great. we use them for deer.
 

MrFloratam

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Darn! wish I had thought of that! Get a remote controlled relay and you can keep the remote at your chair. Those motion sprinklers work great. we use them for deer.

I was thinking of the remote idea. I can get a 120 volt plug in remote for pretty cheap, I would use this to control the 24 volt transformer that sends signal to the solenoid. I still need to know if supplying the solenoid with voltage (essentially back-feeding the controller with voltage) will harm the controller itself.
 

Lone Star Charles

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I don't know whether placing a 24v source across the solenoid will backfeed the controller or whether it will harm the controller even if it does, but it might. What you might do is to add a DPDT relay into your circuit so that when you supply the voltage to the solenoid it also drops out the controller wiring. I can think of a couple of simple circuits that would probably work well.

By the way, I like your idea. It's better than a Daisy BB.
 

MrFloratam

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I don't know whether placing a 24v source across the solenoid will backfeed the controller or whether it will harm the controller even if it does, but it might. What you might do is to add a DPDT relay into your circuit so that when you supply the voltage to the solenoid it also drops out the controller wiring. I can think of a couple of simple circuits that would probably work well.

By the way, I like your idea. It's better than a Daisy BB.

I'd considered the relay as well. It's really the best way to guarantee that the voltage won't go back to the controller. However if the controller won't be harmed then it's just extra work.
 
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