Troubleshooting: Testing power to a sprinkler valve.

In this video a sprinkler system has a station that is not watering. The first troubleshooting step is to isolate where the problem is. This video shows how to test the power to the valve and determine if the valve is faulty or if the problem is something else.

[AustinApologue]

11 years later ... video is SUPER helpful, thank you!

[quinnrasta]

@iScaper1 I rewired all my valves, I had a total of 11. Going through the process of turning the valves on from the control box, only 10 zones popped up my ALL my sprinkler heads. I soon realized that one the zones was not connected and apparently the previous owner had rerouted the sprinklers through another valve. I fixed a crack in the PVC prior and guess "I reconnected the valve to no where" Thank you for your quick response. I am definitely a subscriber!

[LawnProAdviceTalk]

Kerry your the man, I do this for a living and I know a pro when I see one, take care and keep the videos coming !

[bonsummers]

I bet your comedic skills are legendary.     Most likely you'd only have to change out the solenoid, not the valve.

[Iscaper]

If you're getting 27V to the valve your wiring is fine, the problem has to be in the solenoid. Power from timer is AC not DC. Try opening the valve manually to check if it will open and close without power. Make sure flow control isn't tightened down if the valve has flow control. Valve should work if you replace the solenoid.

[Iscaper]

Yes, the controller must be sending power to the valve. In this video I turned the power on from the controller to the valve in question and then tested the voltage.

To locate shorts in timer wire you need the ability to put a tone on the faulty wire with a line locator. Line locators work good most of the time but they aren't infallible. If I have that repair in the future I will do a video on it.

[Iscaper]

You'll have to put time on one of the stations that you want to use the wire from at the timer. Then manually start that station. Next go to the valve box and undo the common wire. Finally put the black probe from your tester on common wire from the timer and the red probe on the station wire you just started. You should get 24-29 volts on your reading. This will confirm the wire is good. You can do the same test on the other two wires.

[susanbrowder]

Thanks to this video and others you have done I was able to clean 9 valves in 3 different junction boxes and locate a bad wire connection to the common wire.

[quinnrasta]

@iScaper1 I will be doing that this weekend, I pulled out the survey to my property and will be doing a detailed mark up of each sprinkler and zone on my computer, great tip. You have a lot of videos that I will be looking at in the very near future. Thank you very much!!!

[Iscaper]

It's a Craftsman 82312. I would check voltage to the valves instead of ohms, you want between 24-29VAC. I believe the tester does have an ohms setting if you want to check resistance.

[JoseRivera-hlve]

You make it so easy for me to understanding isolating a problem.

[Iscaper]

AC volts. My tester has 2 settings, 600 Vac and 200 Vac. I use black probe on common wire and red probe on station wire.

[Iscaper]

Good point, a solenoid is another way to do some troubleshooting if you don't have a volt tester.

[Iscaper]

@quinnrasta
One good trick is to take a piece of paper and write down which color on the timer goes to which valve. Ex: Station 1 is red and runs rotors along west fence, station 2 is blue and runs front spray heads. This way you know which station on the timer is running which valve in the yard. This speeds up troubleshooting when needed but only works as long as there hasn't been a splice and color change in the wiring by the previous installer. Thanks for watching.

[Iscaper]

A multi-tester is pretty cheap, $10-30 and can be used around the house also. It's handy to have one. With it you can quickly see what voltage is being put out by the timer, plus you don't have to shut the water down. After testing the timer you can take it to the valve box and test the timer wires to see whether there is a break. You can't do this with your solenoid example.

[kool]

You could mention if the system should be on or not and you can say what setting the multimeter is on, those were the two questions I had before your video and the same question I have after watching your video

[Iscaper]

I've used them for years with no problems. They're not one size fits all. You can buy a 15VAN for 15' areas down to a 6VAN for 6' areas. In between that there are also 12VAN and 8VAN nozzles. If you have an area that is say 120 degrees where a 90 degree nozzle won't cover and a 180 degree nozzle covers too much, a VAN nozzle can be adjusted precisely to that area. Finally a 15VAN nozzle adjusted to 180 degrees has the same precipitation rate as a 15 series MPR nozzle.

[GregScavezze]

Wouldn't you just change the solenoid and not the whole valve?

[Iscaper]

If you have a single valve in the box it is not a good sign that you have 2 white wires and 1 red coming in. It could mean there is a splice somewhere. Splices can drive you crazy because if they go bad it's hard to find them without a wire locator.

Before you bust up the concrete do some more testing on the wires to see if you can isolate the problem. If all else fails buy a length of timer wire and run it to the valve above ground, connect to timer and valve and see if the valve works.

[BigDaddyB]

The timer must be sending power to the valve you are testing at the time. Granted, it is assumed but if you are making an instructional video all steps should be included instead of assumed.