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Home > Archive > Home Repair forum > July 2005 > Sprinkler controller problem - Irritrol Rain Dial RD-600
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Sprinkler controller problem - Irritrol Rain Dial RD-600
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| Peabody 2005-07-16, 4:25 am |
| My neightbor has a lawn sprinkler system using a Rain Dial
controller. The controller won't turn on any of the five valves.
I switch the controller to Run/Manual, swtich to a specific
valve, put run time that valve and hit the Manual start button.
Instead of turning on that valve, I get a flashing OFF. According
to the manual this indicates the solenoid is shorted or there is
some other electrical problem.
However, I get the same result on all valves, and it seems unlikely
that there is a problem with five valves located in different parts
of the yard. It seems more likely to me that something is wrong
with the controller itself - a transistor ror diode blown, or
something like that.
Another indicator is that the display flashes all the time, which it
didn't do before.
The battery seems to be ok - the time is correct, and the battery
measures 8.7V on my meter. That should be close enough, I would
think.
I guess I'm hoping that someone else here has seen this problem and
knows what causes it.
Would it be safe to send 24VAC directly to the valves? The current
wiring is: one hot (?) wire going to each of the five valves, and
one wire that appears to be a common neutral or ground - this one
goes through a rain gauge switch. (I shorted across the rain gauge,
but that didn't help, so that's not the problem.) If 24VAC sent to
a valve's hot wire and the common neutral makes it operate, then
that should mean the controller is the problem. If that doesn't
work, then there is some other problem out underground somewhere.
Any ideas?
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| Tony Hwang 2005-07-16, 4:25 am |
| Peabody wrote:
quote:
> My neightbor has a lawn sprinkler system using a Rain Dial
> controller. The controller won't turn on any of the five valves.
>
> I switch the controller to Run/Manual, swtich to a specific
> valve, put run time that valve and hit the Manual start button.
> Instead of turning on that valve, I get a flashing OFF. According
> to the manual this indicates the solenoid is shorted or there is
> some other electrical problem.
>
> However, I get the same result on all valves, and it seems unlikely
> that there is a problem with five valves located in different parts
> of the yard. It seems more likely to me that something is wrong
> with the controller itself - a transistor ror diode blown, or
> something like that.
>
> Another indicator is that the display flashes all the time, which it
> didn't do before.
>
> The battery seems to be ok - the time is correct, and the battery
> measures 8.7V on my meter. That should be close enough, I would
> think.
>
> I guess I'm hoping that someone else here has seen this problem and
> knows what causes it.
>
> Would it be safe to send 24VAC directly to the valves? The current
> wiring is: one hot (?) wire going to each of the five valves, and
> one wire that appears to be a common neutral or ground - this one
> goes through a rain gauge switch. (I shorted across the rain gauge,
> but that didn't help, so that's not the problem.) If 24VAC sent to
> a valve's hot wire and the common neutral makes it operate, then
> that should mean the controller is the problem. If that doesn't
> work, then there is some other problem out underground somewhere.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>
Hi,
Then logic tells me, something is wrong with power supply.
Tony
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| Peter Wells 2005-07-16, 12:25 pm |
| I'm no expert on sprinklers so do as you will with this info.
Have you put a voltmeter on a solenoid to see if it is getting power?
According to RainBird their solenoids are 24VAC so you should be able to
power them directly.
Also some installations have a master valve that is in series with the
individual zone valves. If you have one of these, sometimes marked MV on
the controller, it may be bad. You should be able to open the valves
manually to test the plumbing.
Good luck,
Peter
"Tony Hwang" <dragon40@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:wYZBe.1963560$6l.1471302@pd7tw2no...
quote:
> Peabody wrote:
>
> Hi,
> Then logic tells me, something is wrong with power supply.
> Tony
| |
| William Brown 2005-07-16, 12:25 pm |
| I'm not familiar with that brand, but I had not dissimilar problems with
mine when the backup battery died, so I would check that.
Peabody wrote:
quote:
> My neightbor has a lawn sprinkler system using a Rain Dial
> controller. The controller won't turn on any of the five valves.
>
> I switch the controller to Run/Manual, swtich to a specific
> valve, put run time that valve and hit the Manual start button.
> Instead of turning on that valve, I get a flashing OFF. According
> to the manual this indicates the solenoid is shorted or there is
> some other electrical problem.
>
> However, I get the same result on all valves, and it seems unlikely
> that there is a problem with five valves located in different parts
> of the yard. It seems more likely to me that something is wrong
> with the controller itself - a transistor ror diode blown, or
> something like that.
>
> Another indicator is that the display flashes all the time, which it
> didn't do before.
>
> The battery seems to be ok - the time is correct, and the battery
> measures 8.7V on my meter. That should be close enough, I would
> think.
>
> I guess I'm hoping that someone else here has seen this problem and
> knows what causes it.
>
> Would it be safe to send 24VAC directly to the valves? The current
> wiring is: one hot (?) wire going to each of the five valves, and
> one wire that appears to be a common neutral or ground - this one
> goes through a rain gauge switch. (I shorted across the rain gauge,
> but that didn't help, so that's not the problem.) If 24VAC sent to
> a valve's hot wire and the common neutral makes it operate, then
> that should mean the controller is the problem. If that doesn't
> work, then there is some other problem out underground somewhere.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>
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"Peabody" <waybackKILLSPAM44@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:wyXBe.53737$FP2.10927@lakeread03...
quote:
> My neightbor has a lawn sprinkler system using a Rain Dial
> controller. The controller won't turn on any of the five valves.
>
> I switch the controller to Run/Manual, swtich to a specific
> valve, put run time that valve and hit the Manual start button.
> Instead of turning on that valve, I get a flashing OFF. According
> to the manual this indicates the solenoid is shorted or there is
> some other electrical problem.
>
> However, I get the same result on all valves, and it seems unlikely
> that there is a problem with five valves located in different parts
> of the yard. It seems more likely to me that something is wrong
> with the controller itself - a transistor ror diode blown, or
> something like that.
>
> Another indicator is that the display flashes all the time, which it
> didn't do before.
>
> The battery seems to be ok - the time is correct, and the battery
> measures 8.7V on my meter. That should be close enough, I would
> think.
>
> I guess I'm hoping that someone else here has seen this problem and
> knows what causes it.
>
> Would it be safe to send 24VAC directly to the valves? The current
> wiring is: one hot (?) wire going to each of the five valves, and
> one wire that appears to be a common neutral or ground - this one
> goes through a rain gauge switch. (I shorted across the rain gauge,
> but that didn't help, so that's not the problem.) If 24VAC sent to
> a valve's hot wire and the common neutral makes it operate, then
> that should mean the controller is the problem. If that doesn't
> work, then there is some other problem out underground somewhere.
>
> Any ideas?
Might be a high impedance connection in the wiring. Mark all of the wires,
take them apart and try one at a time, manually. I will bet that all of the
commons are tied together if so that could be the problem area.
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