Having an issue with 2 of my zones both these 2 zones are the only zones in the front yard. The system wouldn’t turn on this year so I figured the solenoids had gone bad like in the past. I got new ones and replaced but still same issue. The zones work manually, but not on the timer. I’ve tested at the timer/controller and I’m getting 29 VAC to both zones. Also did an OHMs test and it was good as well. Went out to the 2 valves and unwired everything and tested the common and hot wire and showing exactly 29 VAC as well. Wired up the solenoid to the hot and common and the voltage drops to 0. Tried it with the other solenoid and exact same thing thing. As soon as I remove the solenoid it pops right back to 29 VAC. I pulled the solenoids again and put 3 9v batteries in parallel and both solenoids pop and activate as they should. Next thing I’m going to run a common and hot hot wire directly from controller on top of the ground to the solenoid tomorrow morning to see if that works, if it does I guess I’ll be trenching this weekend, but if any of you pros have ever seen this before and have any pointers it would be much appreciated as I’m tired of banging my head against the wall.

Thanks.

Your wiring to the solenoids have problems. What you are seeing is under load the voltage drops indicating a poor connection somewhere. You might try swapping those solenoids with a different zone to rule out your controller.

Though your 24vac transformer may show good voltage, it may not handle the needed current. Pull a solenoid and see if it will operate it at the controller. If it doesn't, direct wire it to the transformer and see if it will drive it. That should tell you if it is the transformer, controller or wiring. I agree with Pauluxy that it is likely a bad connection in your wiring.

Yes, I think the wires might have gotten nicked in the yard somewhere and I’m getting the 29V then as soon as a load goes through the wire it drops to nothing. Which is why I’m going to wire it directly tomorrow on top of the ground. The solenoids do work wired directly to the controller and they’re only about 2 weeks old so I know they’re good. Thanks

I am confused. If they work manually the wiring and solenoids are working. Manually to me means you can turn a zone on or off right now from the controller. Also not likely your going to have 2 different zones go bad at the same time with solenoids and or wire to each zone. The timer is a controller problem.
To verify move the 2 suspect zone wires to zones that the timer does work

You sure you have the timer programmed correctly for those 2 zones? Any way swapping the wires will confirm this

Sorry when I say manually I mean if I turn the solenoid a 1/4 turn at the valve it’ll turn the zone on.

I have 3 different zones in the back yard that work on the timer no problem. But the back manifold and the front manifold are located in two different areas so I’m guessing that the front wires might have gotten nicked or something. Come to think of it I did put in a fence I might have nicked the wires when I was digging because the fence goes right across the wires to the front.

So you’re measuring AC but opened them with DC? Did you buy DC solenoids when you need AC solenoids?

Negative

These are the ones I bought.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bi...9wcYEAQYASABEgLrZ_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is why you run 2 sets of wires when installing irrigation systems and I learned this the hard way as well. You can rent a cable trencher or simply use an edger to easily run new wires to the solenoids so it’s a pretty easy fix with a few cold beverages.

When I was younger I remember caring about watering grass. My last few years before retirement I was content if I didn’t get an overgrown lawn warning from code enforcement

You’re on the right track with your troubleshooting..it’s most likely wiring damage between your controller and the valve. Your idea about trying a new wire on top of the ground would be easy enough if it’s not too far from the controller and you have wire or don’t mind buying some.

If you have other valves currently working properly off this controller that pretty well eliminates it as the issue (although it’s possible with some controllers to have a bad module than only affects some zones)

If you confirm the wiring problem and you know where you might’ve knicked the wires you could check there for damage prior to trenching all the way back to the controller, possibly just repair it there rather than have to run all new wires.

For the guys who are following along confused here.. manual valve operation means physically opening a valve by either quarter turn on the solenoid or operating the bleeder screw..if you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s probably best you don’t mess with your sprinkler valves.

Testing solenoids with 3-9v batteries is a common trick, even pro grade hand tools for this purpose use 9v DC power. 27v DC will activate an AC solenoid for testing purposes. A single 9v battery will make a solenoid “click”. DC latching solenoids are special and to be used with battery powered controllers (like the Hunter node), they use some kind of mechanism to stay open when activated by DC voltage, whereas a normal AC solenoid only stays open when energized by the controller sustaining 24-28v AC

Then its best to isolate the suspect problem to test. Take the wires off the controller and measure the voltage at the the terminals. Compare readings with zones that do work with there wires off. If good leave the wires off at the controller and take the wires off at the solenoids so both ends open. Measure for continuity or ohms. Should be open. Then connect one end of the wires together and read continuity. Should read a dead short or zero ohms. Any high readings means wires are bad

Thanks for the good info.

I ran and bought a cable tracker (tone & continuity) tester this morning. I get tone at the controller and then tone at the junction box where the sprinkler wire splits to back and front manifolds and get tone at the front manifold with and without the solenoid attached to the wire. Also checked the continuity with solenoid attached and it came back green on tester. I know the solenoids are good from the 9v test but I took the solenoids off and hooked them directly into the controller on both stations and turned them on and they’re functioning as they should so it’s not the controller that has been completely ruled out.

So I’m getting 29VAC at the wire with no solenoid attached and getting tone at the wire with and without solenoid attached but for some reason once the solenoid is attached all voltage drops. I’m no electrician but if I’m getting voltage and tone the wire should be good. This is driving me crazy lol.

Probably about to go grab a long run of wire and just hard wire the station on top of the ground just to rule that out.

Any other ideas would be appreciated thanks.

That's weird...pull a valve you know works from another station...put it in the housing you're having troubles with. I know the valve is new but could be possible something is screwed up with the new valve OR put the valve you're having troubles with in a zone that is working now...both would be my next steps before I strung new wire across there.

Good luck...I hate sprinklers

Edit - I'm no expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express many months ago

Have you check ohms (resistance) as Blanked suggested? Suggest doing without the leads shorted at one end and then again with leads shorted. Open should be a VERY high number and shorted should be near 0 ohms.

If both above tests pass, suggest running a new wire above ground and see if that fixes it before going through the trouble of burying it.

Before the above tests, suggest testing using the controller in the manual mode to turn on and then the timer mode to turn on. If you have a rain gauge attached in the system it should NOT work in the timer mode when rain gauge is full (likely with all the rain) but should work in the manual mode. Of course this does not explain why the other zones do work but would check anyhow.

What is the brand and model of your controller?

Note: Anton seems to have much more knowledge than I so just adding a few suggestions/clarifications.

If you can't get it figured reach out to JMAN on this forum. He's a guru on this stuff. He fixed mine this spring by just showing up and threatening the system For some reason my sprinklers healed themselves when I went to show him the issue.

But seriously.. the man knows his stuff.

The valves work fine when turning them on manually, it’s definitely an electrical issue. I put the solenoid directly to the station on the controller and they came on as they should. Hooked them back up to the wires outside, not screwed into the valve, and turned the station on again to see if it would come back on like it did when it was wired directly to the controller and nothing. So it’s something to do with the wire itself. I hate sprinklers too, seems like every single year there is new issues with them or have to replace heads.


I did the first ohms test which came back fine, but haven’t done one with open wires yet, I’ll do that now and report back.

I’ve tried both timer and manual from controller neither work, also no rain gauge and I have a jumper on my controller where the rain delay gauge goes.

Rainbird SST600i is what I have for a controller and it’s about 3 years old.



That’s how I am with computers I can walk in the room and all the sudden they work fine for the users, but sprinklers are not my thing. I might have to reach out to someone but I’d bet a new wire ran will fix the issue.

Getting 1.5 ohms with it open and 111.3 ohms with the solenoid attached.

What are the ohms with the wire disconnected from the solenoid and the controller? Need to isolate just the wire not connected to anything. Then do the open test then the short test.

So I dug up what I thought was the wire for the sprinklers that got hit by the guys that put in my deck, but it must be for an old system or something because there was 0 power to it at all. Buried that back and just went ahead and ran a new cable across the ground and hooked up both solenoids and ran a cycle and both zones worked as they should. Problem has been solved and now I just need to bury the new cable.

Thanks for all the help and ideas guys.