Sprinkler zone stays on

12 years ago

Hi guys,

My first post here.

As the subject says one of my zones stays on and wont shut off. Its not a solenoid problem nor a diaphragm issue. I think my problem may be a unique one. I have two timers. One controls two zones the other controls four zones. The 4 zone timer stopped working and the 2 zone one is actually a 6 zone timer with the other 4 unused.

So I connected the wires from the 4 zone timer to the other one, making use of all the 6 stations, and connected the common wire (the white one) to the "common" on the timer. So now I have to common wires connected to one timer. I am not sure if this is even acceptable.

Now when I turn on the electricity to the sprinkler system, one of the zones turns on and stays on. When I turn the electricity off it shuts off. So I don't think there is anything wrong with the valve.

Sorry for the long post but what seems to be the issue here?

Thanks,

Raghu

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Comments (5)

lehua49
12 years ago
Sic,

What do you actually do when you say you turn the electricity on to sprinkler system? Can you cycle through the zones manually from the controller? What is the brand and model number of the controller? Your wiring description of going from two controllers to one seems to be okay and it seems you understand how to do that. So some testing may be all that is needed. Are you still under warranty? There are others that may chime in that are more versed at this than I. Hope they do. Aloha
mike1059
12 years ago
It sounds like a problem with the circuit board of the controller sending a continuous signal to that one zone. Depending on the type of controller you may be able to replace the board or if it is a newer one such as a rain bird or hunter you can replace the whole faceplate module.
sicsic6
Original Author
12 years ago
Sorry for the late reply (I was on vacation). When I say turn the electricity on, I mean I turn it on (or off) at the main. Initially the 2nd zone was staying on. Just to narrow down the issue further I swapped the wires for zones 2 and 3 on the timer. Again zone 2 stayed on. That ruled out a problem at the manifold (is it called the manifold?). So I doubt if its the solenoid or the diaphragm. As mike1059 suggested, its probably the circuit board. When I connected the two timers (the original setting) - one with 2 zones and the other with 4, things were back to normal, which suggests I cannot connect two commons to one terminal at the timer.
buterbn
12 years ago
Are you certain both white wires are commons? If the controller isn't malfunctioning, chances are the second white wire is not actually a common. Check the valve boxes to see which color wire is actually the common. Some installers use the green wire as a common and use the white for a zone wire.
mike1059
12 years ago
have you tried turning the power on with the problem zone dissconnected from the clock. Also, if the terminal is bad it may be possible to connect your two lowest volume stations to one terminal if you have the flow rate available.