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Opensprinkler valves4/27/2023 Hence the question.ģ) If the lines indeed are broken, it’s going to cost me about $2500 to re-do the entire wiring setup so I’m thinking if wirelessly activated valves exist in the market today that I could integrate into this setup.ġ) I don’t think so - your contractor may be referring to driving the solenoids with 24V DC, but OpenSprinkler DC is specifically designed to drive the solenoid with an impulse voltage to engage it and then use a low voltage (7.5V) to provide holding current. Is this true? I did read the article on how this works and it makes sense but I figured I’d ask the community for empirical input.Ģ) Given the large lot size we’re on (2 Acres) with the controller sitting at the far corner and the valves themselves located by the sprinkler zones, would there be any loss of Voltage/Signal given the large length of wire between the controller and valve? AC travels better over long distances vs DC. Did some troubleshooting, 3 had burnt out solenoids (Hunter SRV/PGV 1″) and 6 have the line itself broken (sigh).ġ) The contractor mentioned that by driving these valves via DC may shorten the lifespan and lead to more burnt out solenoids over time. Once installed, about 9 out of the 20 zones did not work. Not wanting to re-invest in that and to appeal to the tinkerer in me I decided to go with OS3.0 system (DC). Our existing Hunter Hydrawise system caught on fire but we caught it in time. I suspect it actually hit nearby but came in through the sprinkler wiring. Long story short, we live in the Dallas area and got hit with lightning. new to the forum so appreciate any and all input However, with a pump it will continue to run if you're using the MV connection to run the pump motor and all that pressure has no where to go.Hello All. With an open solenoid, the controller cannot sense this and it will continue to run that zone though nothing happens. The controller was $110 at Lowe's, the solenoid was $11.īTW, the shorted solenoid read 2-3 ohms and a good one was around 42 ohms. I know this since I was showing them how to troubleshoot. Since they didn't know anything about irrigation controllers they replaced the controller with a different Rainbird model, but this one would shut the entire controller down until the zone was removed from the program or the wire was disconnected. The Rainbird ESP controller displayed an alarm for zone three and all the other zones continued to work. Just this week I fixed my neighbors irrigation by replacing a shorted solenoid. Most newer controllers will indicate a short and not damage the controller. Is the controller hand built or an ancient factory made one? Can you post a picture?Ī shorted solenoid will rarely, if ever, cause an in line fuse to blow. I think they eliminated the resistors on later versions. I think a 1A should be sufficient.Ī 2.2 ohm resistor is in series with each output but it doesn't limit the current to a reasonable value and burns up for shorts making a mess of the circuit board. A typical zone is about 0.22A so the fuse seems like overkill. I separated the pi power so the fuse just feeds the zone outputs. This powers the raspberry pi circuit board and the zone outputs. The system has a 2A fuse in the 24VAC input. How does this protection work? It seems some use more sophisticated means that just a fuse that opens. From what I have read it is not uncommon for a valve to fail with a short or low resistance and some controllers will report it.Īre most commercial controllers have some sort of short circuit protection so the controller isn't damaged by shorted valves? This controller is weak in this area and I have several zone outputs that are bad. My question is about protection from shorted valves. One of the reasons for it is I have a lot of zones and this is easily expandable. I have a diy sprinkler controller (opensprinkler) that is networked and has some nice features.
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