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

There's probably a problem with the zone wire.

You could try moving the 4th zone wire at the controller to a slot that you know works and see what happens.

Is there a spare wire you can hook up in place of the zone 4 wire?

How difficult would it be to run new wires to the valves if threre's not a spare?

You aren't wiring two valves together are you? Some controllers can't handle that. Then again most can and that might be your solution if you have the water to run two valves at once.

Before you run new wires I'd like you to try something. Use both wires from a valve you know works and hook them up to the problem valve. Does it work?

what type of valve is it?

what type of controller is it?

what type of wires are ran the red and white one's or the thin multi color wires?

before you start digging there is a test to see if your wires are shorting out or grounding out.

get you ohm meter and set it to 10k or 200k what ever your meter has,

get a separate wire, enough to reach your grass, strip the insulation off about 4" stick it in the ground as deep as you can.

get the other side and strip it about 1/2" take that end to the controller

then take the wires to the zone that are giving you problems off of the controller, the zone wire and the common wire ( the white wire).

put the black lead from your meter to the wire that you stuck in the ground.

take the red lead from your meter and stick it on the zone wire.

if you read any resistance at all you have a earth ground fault. this means your wire has a nick in it and its touching earth.

now repeat these steps for the white wire as well, remember you testing two wires the zone and the common wires to the earth.

now to check for a short

take all the wires off of the clock

touch all the wires one at a time to each other with your meter.

example

white to red white to blue white to green

red to to blue red to green red to brown

work your way thru all the wires if you know what I mean. if you get a audible tone or you get an OL with some noise you have a short

If you do what I've suggested you'll be the testing the controller, valve and the wiring. You'll have your answer.

I would look around the yard for obvious areas that might have been dug up for prior repairs, before I ran new wires,

unless its a close run?

also, did you check if you had a splice box ? at your controller what type of wires do you have ? are they the same as your wires at the valves? if not you may have a valve box near your controller that has nothing but wire splices. if you do, check all your connections there first. make sure every connection is good. this box is usually under the controller if its mounted outside. if it's in your garage, the wires should exit the garage somewhere. follow the wires