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

Went to fire up the system for the first time in a new house, and nothing. Here's what I know:

1. I can manually activate 4 out of 5 zones (the 5th zone I am unable to find the valve).
2. I have correct voltage at the controller. I do not seem to be getting any voltage at the solenoids.
3. I found the wire coming from the rain sensor was cut (I'm guessing unintentionally). I connected it back up and still nothing.

What's odd is I have no idea where the rain sensor is wired to. The controller does not appear to support a rain sensor, and the wire coming from the sensor definitely doesn't terminate at the controller. The only thing I can possibly think of is somehow the sensor is wired to the valve box that I am unable to find, but this doesn't seem likely because there's a valve box about 5 feet from the sensor, and the wire is not in there either.

It seems like the issue may be with the rain sensor, but that's just my uneducated guess. Any suggestions on how to find this missing valve box, and how to figure out how this sensor is wired?

If you don't have sensor terminals on your circuit board, most likely your sensor is wired into the common. It wouldn't be wired to valve box. There could be an active/bypass switch on your board that would allow to bypass the rainsensor. Many recievers have this bypass button on it that can be pressed to disable the sensor to allow for timer watering. You need to check ohms resistance as well to make sure solenoids are good and communicating with timer. Good solenoids read 12-60 at range 200. Do you have 5 zones for sure connected to your circuit board terminals? Can you run your auto program?