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

I have a system that is probably 30 years old.

A lawn accident ( well it was no accident, grass grew to high, we wacker decimated wires to valves. )

So there are 4 Valves. A - B - C - D

Rainbird. The valves are 2 rainbirds, and some brand I can't recognize ( the writing is worn off ).

2 have screw in solenoids, 2 have what looks like a black hexagon cap attached to a piece of plastic.

Originally one solenoid had short leads, so whoever wire this used a wire run of the same kind of wire used from the control box to the valves, some other wires. IT was a mess.

So I simply got another solenoid with longer wires. I removed the auxilary wiring and wired everything like so.

A - B - C - D ( 1 wire ) - to white
A - B - C - D other wires to the 4 wires that I identified on the controller.


One wire when I connected sparked ( ouch...) But that is the only one that works. And this valve keeps running even with all wires disconnected.

The B valve acting on it's own. The D valve will come on from the panel when I put it in manual. The other two valves
don't work at all.

So what am I missing here? This can't be that hard. Any advice on troubleshooting.

I'd call my local priest for an exorcism, but I'm not sure how he would respond.

Thanks.