My valve controller went bad, so I bought a new one. It was controlling 3
valves/stations. They're located about 15 yards from the controller. Coming
out of the ground into the controller were 3 black wires connected to
stations; 4 red wires, one connected to common, the other tree had their
ends wrapped with electrical tape. In addition there were two white wires
that were capped together. As I was threading the wires out of the old
controller, the tape came off the ends of two reds, so I have three reds
with bare copper connector at the end. I installed the new controller (a
Champion) and got power to it. But the sprinklers won't activate in either
program or manual mode. I've checked the voltage across the stations and
common in the controller, and it's 24 VAC. When I check continuity from any
black to any red, I get an open circuit. When I check continuity across any
two blacks, I get 40 ohms, which I believe is what the resistance across a
solenoid should be.

I went into the vault and dug around. I found the two white wires, but I
can't find where they are coming from. (I really don't think they are
players, since they are capped off.) I found a connector that has one
solenoid wire coming in, and a wire coming out. I couldn't dig down deeply
enough to find where the other solenoid wires are going. I've followed the
wires from the controller back to the earth, and can see nothing amiss about
them.

So summing up: the valves were all working, i.e., opened when power got to
them before. I cannot see that there is anything that I messed up when I
disconnected the old controller. (BTW, I reconnected the old controller the
same way I am trying to hook up the new ones, and it does NOT activate the
valves.)

With these clues can anyone guess as to what my problem might be?

Thanks.

Ken

Ken Kast wrote:
My valve controller went bad, so I bought a new one. It was controlling 3
valves/stations. They're located about 15 yards from the controller. Coming
out of the ground into the controller were 3 black wires connected to
stations; 4 red wires, one connected to common, the other tree had their
ends wrapped with electrical tape. In addition there were two white wires
that were capped together. As I was threading the wires out of the old
controller, the tape came off the ends of two reds, so I have three reds
with bare copper connector at the end. I installed the new controller (a
Champion) and got power to it. But the sprinklers won't activate in either
program or manual mode. I've checked the voltage across the stations and
common in the controller, and it's 24 VAC. When I check continuity from any
black to any red, I get an open circuit. When I check continuity across any
two blacks, I get 40 ohms, which I believe is what the resistance across a
solenoid should be.

I went into the vault and dug around. I found the two white wires, but I
can't find where they are coming from. (I really don't think they are
players, since they are capped off.) I found a connector that has one
solenoid wire coming in, and a wire coming out. I couldn't dig down deeply
enough to find where the other solenoid wires are going. I've followed the
wires from the controller back to the earth, and can see nothing amiss about
them.

So summing up: the valves were all working, i.e., opened when power got to
them before. I cannot see that there is anything that I messed up when I
disconnected the old controller. (BTW, I reconnected the old controller the
same way I am trying to hook up the new ones, and it does NOT activate the
valves.)

With these clues can anyone guess as to what my problem might be?

Thanks.

Ken



Where are your valves? Not exposed in the vault?

What I would do is to disconnect all wires at the controller and measure
continuity.

If working the way you describe you should measure a resistance from
three of the black wires to one red.


The resistance between those three blacks should be twice what you
measure between one of the blacks and the red. Each black has a coil to
the red and there would be two coils between blacks.

You say you see only resistance between blacks. Appears that the red
common is open.

Black---------------------------
Coil
Black-----------------Coil |
| |
Black-------------Coil | |
| |
Red-----------------------------

The valves are exposed in the vault, but all I have are the leads coming
from sealed connectors on the solenoids and disappearing into the soil
below.

I show an open circuit between the various reds, and between the blacks and
the reds, when everything is disconnected. Since two solenoid "hot" sides
show a resistance, I'm guessing that they in fact have commons commoned
somewhere in the ground. And it seems that none of the reds is bringing a
common to the box. The think is, unless I had rotten bad luck, I can't see
what I could have done to disrupt the common that was there before I started
my rehab effort.


"Rich256" wrote in message
...
Ken Kast wrote:
My valve controller went bad, so I bought a new one. It was controlling 3
valves/stations. They're located about 15 yards from the controller.
Coming out of the ground into the controller were 3 black wires connected
to stations; 4 red wires, one connected to common, the other tree had
their ends wrapped with electrical tape. In addition there were two
white wires that were capped together. As I was threading the wires out
of the old controller, the tape came off the ends of two reds, so I have
three reds with bare copper connector at the end. I installed the new
controller (a Champion) and got power to it. But the sprinklers won't
activate in either program or manual mode. I've checked the voltage
across the stations and common in the controller, and it's 24 VAC. When I
check continuity from any black to any red, I get an open circuit. When I
check continuity across any two blacks, I get 40 ohms, which I believe is
what the resistance across a solenoid should be.

I went into the vault and dug around. I found the two white wires, but I
can't find where they are coming from. (I really don't think they are
players, since they are capped off.) I found a connector that has one
solenoid wire coming in, and a wire coming out. I couldn't dig down
deeply enough to find where the other solenoid wires are going. I've
followed the wires from the controller back to the earth, and can see
nothing amiss about them.

So summing up: the valves were all working, i.e., opened when power got
to them before. I cannot see that there is anything that I messed up when
I disconnected the old controller. (BTW, I reconnected the old
controller the same way I am trying to hook up the new ones, and it does
NOT activate the valves.)

With these clues can anyone guess as to what my problem might be?

Thanks.

Ken

Where are your valves? Not exposed in the vault?

What I would do is to disconnect all wires at the controller and measure
continuity.

If working the way you describe you should measure a resistance from three
of the black wires to one red.


The resistance between those three blacks should be twice what you
measure between one of the blacks and the red. Each black has a coil to
the red and there would be two coils between blacks.

You say you see only resistance between blacks. Appears that the red
common is open.

Black---------------------------
Coil
Black-----------------Coil |
| |
Black-------------Coil | |
| |
Red-----------------------------

As you can see from my diagram you will have continuity between blacks
even if the return is missing. But it will be the resistance of two coils.

Somewhere quite close those leads from the solenoids must connect to the
black and red wires. I am very surprised they are not visible. In mine
the valves and all wire connections are above the soil.

This is especially necessary on mine because the wire harness connects
to another set leading to another vault and set of three valves about 40
feet away. Total of six stations.

I think it would be worth the effort do dig down and find out where
those solenoid wires connect to the blacks and reds. I don't think it
could be more than a foot or so.

What brand valves?
Mine are Rainbird like these.

http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/pr.../dv_series.htm

And note that the coil resistance is 38 ohms.

Ken Kast wrote:
The valves are exposed in the vault, but all I have are the leads coming
from sealed connectors on the solenoids and disappearing into the soil
below.

I show an open circuit between the various reds, and between the blacks and
the reds, when everything is disconnected. Since two solenoid "hot" sides
show a resistance, I'm guessing that they in fact have commons commoned
somewhere in the ground. And it seems that none of the reds is bringing a
common to the box. The think is, unless I had rotten bad luck, I can't see
what I could have done to disrupt the common that was there before I started
my rehab effort.


"Rich256" wrote in message
...
Ken Kast wrote:
My valve controller went bad, so I bought a new one. It was controlling 3
valves/stations. They're located about 15 yards from the controller.
Coming out of the ground into the controller were 3 black wires connected
to stations; 4 red wires, one connected to common, the other tree had
their ends wrapped with electrical tape. In addition there were two
white wires that were capped together. As I was threading the wires out
of the old controller, the tape came off the ends of two reds, so I have
three reds with bare copper connector at the end. I installed the new
controller (a Champion) and got power to it. But the sprinklers won't
activate in either program or manual mode. I've checked the voltage
across the stations and common in the controller, and it's 24 VAC. When I
check continuity from any black to any red, I get an open circuit. When I
check continuity across any two blacks, I get 40 ohms, which I believe is
what the resistance across a solenoid should be.

I went into the vault and dug around. I found the two white wires, but I
can't find where they are coming from. (I really don't think they are
players, since they are capped off.) I found a connector that has one
solenoid wire coming in, and a wire coming out. I couldn't dig down
deeply enough to find where the other solenoid wires are going. I've
followed the wires from the controller back to the earth, and can see
nothing amiss about them.

So summing up: the valves were all working, i.e., opened when power got
to them before. I cannot see that there is anything that I messed up when
I disconnected the old controller. (BTW, I reconnected the old
controller the same way I am trying to hook up the new ones, and it does
NOT activate the valves.)

With these clues can anyone guess as to what my problem might be?

Thanks.

Ken
Where are your valves? Not exposed in the vault?

What I would do is to disconnect all wires at the controller and measure
continuity.

If working the way you describe you should measure a resistance from three
of the black wires to one red.


The resistance between those three blacks should be twice what you
measure between one of the blacks and the red. Each black has a coil to
the red and there would be two coils between blacks.

You say you see only resistance between blacks. Appears that the red
common is open.

Black---------------------------
Coil
Black-----------------Coil |
| |
Black-------------Coil | |
| |
Red-----------------------------