On May 4, 5:56*pm, Steve Barker wrote:
On 5/4/2012 3:40 PM, genius wrote:
SNIP

it all boils down to how much current do the remote valves require or
pull? *You should be able to find the specs on the mfgr website. *24ga
won't carry much current. *But i can't imagine it needing to be 14.
Most the rainbird installations i've seen have used 18ga or so. *Some
18/8 thermostat cable may do the trick.

--
Steve Barker

+1


I originally wired up my front & back yard sprinker valves using a 14
gage wire.
I had a bunch of nearly used up 500' rolls and wanted to make sure
there was no voltage drop.

The each run was about 35' to controller location......basement, which
was a really dumb idea I had back in 1980.
Some time later I moved the controller to a more sensible location
(back yard patio).

In 2008 I redid some of the sprinkler system and was doing some
crawlspace work as part of the job.
I decided to run the properly sized wire, in the proper way and
settled on 18-8 thermostat cable.

I didn't find 18-8 thermostat cable at Home Depot so I bought it
online.
After the fact I discovered that Home Depot sells burial-able
sprinkler wire in all sorts of flavors.......
but they stock it in the plumbing dept (sprinklers) not in
electrical.....doh!

I installed a run of a cable to each valve manifold (35', 40' &
55').
The valve actuators are Champion CL-100-B's
The solenoid current:
In rush .59 amp
Hold .33 amp

I think I calc'd voltage drop at in-rush for the 55' run at about .5
volt (2%)

Everything has been working fine since 2008.

cheers
Bob