On May 4, 2:40*pm, genius wrote:
Hey all,
I am trying to move my sprinkler controller (an Orbit digital job
about 4 years old) to a more convenient spot in the garage. *It has
very thick, I would guess 12 gauge, wire going from the valves to the
controller box. *Is that the required thickness? *I was thinking if I
used cat5e, there's 4 twisted pair so I can get a unique colored wire
to each of my 8 zones * That would make reconnecting the wires after I
extended
in 25' or so of cat5e, to the timer quite simple since I know which
wire would be which zone. *I googled all over and it looks like
minimum 14 gauge for underground use. *Since I am above ground and in
a garage, can I use the cat5e even though it's 24 gauge?
TIA

Hey Everyone, thanks for the all the ideas. The main reason I wanted
cat 5 was that when I ran it around the garage I would have a single
wire with 8 cores vs 8 exposed wires that I woul have to tie together
or run through PVC. If I can find some of that 18-8 wire, I will use
that since I am all indoors and not going to bury anything.

As for the this system and it's nuances, I believe it's about 40 years
old and I've been in the house 6 years. There's no exposed
manifolds. I had to rent a line locator and dug a ton of holes to try
to find the scattered valves in the yard. 2 of the valves were
covered with 1/2 a beer can, 3 valves were covered with some pajama
bottoms or sweat pants. The main turn on/off for the system is 6'
down in the front yard and I just had that bypassed since the valve
was getting extremely difficult to open/close . They used 1" line for
the sprinklers and valves but used 3/4" line to the backflow
preventer. So whoever installed this system seems incompetent to me
and their use of the thick 12g wire I have no explanation for but it's
there, it works and I don't see a reason to not use it.

Thanks again!