SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

Hello, I'm having trouble getting my sprinkler system going this year. When I turned it on to run each zone manually the first zone turned on no problem. Then when I went to the next one the same zone turned on again. As I progressed through the rest of the zones, occasionally new ones would turn on but the first zone always turned on as well. The first zone turned on for every zone, while a few others wouldn't turn on at all. I have never worked on the wiring for irrigation although I am experienced at fixing broken heads/lines. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ok Any suggestions on how to fix it? Sorry I'm a novice when it comes to wiring?

thanks for ur.....help?

I'm having a similar problem except only zone 1 (Rainbird ESP-6TM) comes on no matter which zone is selected. I've checked the voltages and, regardless of which zone is selected, only zone 1 is getting voltage so I don't think this would be a valve problem. Has my controller gone bad?

These are all just ideas, things you can try.
If you can, switch zone wire one with another zone wire, like 2, and see what happens:
If zone 2's wire comes on while connected to zone 1 terminal and 2 stays on with every other valve, you could assume you either have a bad circuit terminal 1 or controller is bad. If you find this, and you have empty space on your circuit board and your timer has capacity to run more zones, you can probably take zone 1's wire and put it on an empty terminal. You would then turn zone 1 off in your program and reprogram for its new terminal.
If zone 1 comes on and stays on while connected to zone 2's terminal, you could assume something is wrong with the solenoid or wire on zone 1.
Make sure your bleed screw on zone 1 is tight. Unscrew and rescrew solenoid. You may also try reseating the diaphragm although that might not be the issue.
You can also check the ohms of all of your solenoid wires by measuring at range 200 between the common and each valve terminal. Good solenoids are 12-60. Bad 0-6. Anything over 60 could be a bad/corroded wire. 200+ wire break.
Good luck boys!