Rain Bird Sprinkler Zone Problems

16 years ago

I have a Rain Bird 7 Zone system with an Electronic Controller and have been trying to solve this problem going into the second year now. The system will go into a mode where zones 2, 3 and 5 will not open up. All others will work. I had to isolate whether it was the controller or the valve itself and from my test it seems like the problem is at the valve but all three valves would not go bad at the same time. I can take a valve that works, say valve 1 and move it to the #2 slot on the controller and that valve will open without any problems. That confirms the #2 slot on the controller is sending the signal but when connected to the actual #2 zone valve it just will not open. Same with 3 and 5.

The only pattern I have noticed since first trying to isolate this problem is seems like there is some moisture that gets down into the valve box for the ones not working and after a few days of not working they dry out then start working again. Then they won't work again for another few days.

Tried working with the original installer of the system but by the time he gets around to taking a look at them they have been inactive for a few days, thus dried out and starts working again. The problem just keeps repeating itself.

Any ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks

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Comments (3)

jasper_60103
16 years ago
I had a leak in my valve box and I was surprised the system continued to work while completely under water.
Anyway, I discovered the water supply connection to the valve was leaking. After the leak was fixed, its fairly dry in there.

My point is, can you determine the source of your water in the valve box? It seems by keeping it dry in there, the system works fine.
ted123
16 years ago
If you are comfortable using a volt meter take and check the ohms on valve solenoids that don't work. you should be getting around 25-40. If it shows 0 or a very high number then the solenoid has gone bad. If you don't have a volt meter that is fine take the solenoid off of the valve that is working and put it on the valve that is not working if the solenoid is bad then it should come on but if it is bad then there shouldn't be any change, unless the wires are bad.

Here is a link that might be useful: do_it_your_self_web_site
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rhythmtim
15 years ago
I have a hunch that the wire's insulation is nicked, and that when the soil is saturated, it creates a short to ground. The volt meter check should be done with the area both wet and dry; I suspect you'll get a reading over 500 ohms when wet. It doesn't sound like the valve box is actually flooding and creating a short there, but bare wire nuts or exposed wire can cause the same syptoms.

The solution is to fix the nick, which can be difficult to find, or replace part or all of the wire run. If your sprinkler guy has a wire tracer, he can mark out the wire path, I doubt that the nick will show up. (There is a device called a Pulser that can find ground faults, but few people have access to them. Some irrigation suppliers rent them out.) Once the wire path is marked, check it to see if you may have done any planting or digging along the path. That would likely be where the problem is. If that's not it, you'll need to run new wire.