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

Hi there,

I'm about to start my sprinkler installation at the end of this month and I was hoping for a little wiring advice for the "common" connection between valves. The diagrams, explanations, and installation instructions say that this is a "daisy-chained" (a.k.a. serial) connection between valves. In my installation I have two valve boxes (each with three valves) pretty far apart, so in order to daisy-chain this exactly as in the installation instructions for the controller, I would need to run a single conductor wire between the valve boxes, from valve 3 to valve 4. Please reference the following diagram to see what I mean (this will look exactly like the diagram from any controller installation manual):



However it's pretty inconvenient to do this as I'm sure you all agree. I was wondering if I can wire each valve box in parallel, and serially between valves in the same box? Please reference this diagram to see what I mean:



So can I do this, or will something go wrong with the installation? I'm sure many people have encountered the problem of multiple valve boxes in distant locations. Even if you had two valve boxes side by side it seems sloppy to route a single wire between them to continue the serial "common" connection. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help.

Wonderful. Sounds like everyone (at least of the two responses) is on the same page. I wasn't sure exactly what is happening inside the controller with that connection versus the other connections (I haven't looked at a controller or valve internal wiring diagram) so I figured it was better safe than sorry. I plan to run the 2 x 4-Strand bundles to wire up all six valves as shown, plus an additional 4-Strand bundle to each valve box in case I ever need to double my capacity. This is probably overkill because with the current six valves almost every square foot of my yard will be watered by sprinklers or drip irrigation, but you never know, and it is much easier to put the extra wire in now rather than down the road. Thanks for the quick help!

P.S. Lowvolumejeff, I think if you click on the images you'll get a bigger view. The forum sizes them down to fit on the page but the link goes to the full version.