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No Power to Controller
I appreciated all the earlier help on my valves so I'm back with another problem.
At my Rainbird ESP-6 Controller, I get a power off notice. Power appears to be good to the until as the ground fault is set and the rain sensor is working. I've pretty much ruled out lightening.
The transformer (?) gets real hot so I am also reading that as power is available to the unit.
Where do I go from here?
Many thanks,
Bob
Do you have the dial set to "Run" or "Off"?
If it's off, maybe your rain sensor could have just a little water in it, Or one of the wires inside of the controller panel could have slipped out of place.
Look around, let me know what you find.
Also maybe try to replace the fuse, it could be burnt out.
Thanks,
Alex
Thanks for the response Alex.
Switch in correct postion.
Rain sensor cleaned and working.
Blowing fuses as fast as I can put them in there....
Bob
Bob,
Do you have the correct power to the controller? Do you have the correct fuse? Check in the manual to see if you are using the right fuse.
Yes on both. It's a 1.5 amp fuse...the original was the one that blew first after two years. The 1.25 amp option is scratched out by the installer.
Power is same as it always has been.
Thanks,
Bob
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Bob,
Do you have the correct power to the controller? Do you have the correct fuse? Check in the manual to see if you are using the right fuse.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
..any more ideas?
thanks~!
I have the same controller, and my transformer never really heats up. You could try to replace the transformer. If that doesn't work or you may want to replace it.
Alex and others (?)....
I went the route of putting a new controller in place (got a pretty good deal) and the system "almost" works now. It runs zones 1-2, Zone 3 errors, and zones 4-6 are okay. Checked the controller by moving zone 3 wire to another post and it errored there too so the new controller is okay.
I can turn on zone 3 with power on the system by backing off the valve solenoid a turn or two manually. Can't get it on any other way.
The pump start relay does open momentarily and close as the controller moves to zone 3, errors, and moves on to zone 4 automatically.
I'm also concerned that the transformer in the new unit seems to be running pretty hot with the system on...almost too hot to the touch and rainbird (and Alex) tells me that is not typical.
Any more help available, please???
Bob
Edited by - Bob H on May 28 2003 7:32:49 PM
Now that you say your soleniods/valves aren't working, I think you could have possibly gotten struck by lightning.
What kind of valves do you have? Are the wires pig tailed? When I say pig tailed, I mean curly in a pig tail fashion, get it? hehe
Let me know what you find out.
Alex... I don't want to talk myself (or you) out of the possibility of a lightning strike, what is there besides the controller that could have failed at this point (and recall it's been replaced) ?
I just went out and yes, all the solenoids have pigtails above them (including the one I replaced a few months back). It's just the one zone that is not working unless I turn it on mannally by backing off the solenoid as well.
My original problem of "no power" has been removed by the changing of the control box.
Pending a response here, I had also turned the unit to "off" and even with the rotary switch at off, the transformer stayed real hot so I've now openned the cb to take power all the way off the unit. No sense burning up something....
Re: the possible lightning, wouldn't I have lost more? Wouldn't a solenoid or two be blown? I have above ground lighting on the same circuit and they are fine and no cb's were ever opened which I would have expected from lightning...but again, I can't rule it out...there are just no signs that it happened.
I dunno.... appreciate the ideas.
Bob
Edited by - Bob H on May 28 2003 8:30:02 PM