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

hello, I have recently restored a sprinkler system after about a year of being turned off. The controller is a rain dial rd900-ext and has 6 stations but I am currently only programing 1untill fix the rest of the heads.

The problem I am experiencing is that the sprinklers only work sometimes. Meaning when I just use the controller they will work one minute then on the next scheduled time it will not work. I currently have it set to turn on at 5 am run for 10 min then again at 9 pm and run for 10 min. The problem persists even when I turn the sprinklers on manually from the controller. It won't turn on then I will go back later and it works fine. I can always turn it on directly from the valves but I wish the controller would work all the time.

I don't believe it is the valve because when it is working everything is fine but when it isn't I can not get water to any of the stations. Could this be a wiring issue? Not really sure how to check with a multi meter so any help would be appreciated. Any ideas on trouble shooting would also be helpful. Thanks.

Quoted from "timbo1"

Sounds like a Clock issue. Try switching the infected zone wire from your clock to a different zone. If that doesn't work, if you have a dial to switch to a different type of watering menu such as daily or bi-weekly. try switching to that. If you determin that it is not the clock. Than check wiring connection at clock and at box. If there is a complete break in the line, most likely none of the zones would work. Therefore you shouldn't need to meter it. If all this fails, your Valve is mosy likely defective. Goodss Luck

Thanks for the response. I will try what you mentioned. A new symptom happens sometimes when I try to turn on the sprinklers manually from the controller they will pop up but only stay on for a second then turn off. Then they will not work intill later that night... Weird but I will try the settings and see if it is the clock. Thanks again.

Alright!!! Figured it out as I was lookin through the wires I turned on the system and it didn't come on so I wiggled all the wires untill voila one turned them on. Turns out my "vac" wire did not have a good connection so No voltage was gettin to the timer and/or valves. So I snugged it down and now it works perfect. Thanks for your help!