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lightning

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kythao

New Member

Posts: 2

1

Wednesday, May 19th 2010, 11:25pm

lightning

Hello!
I am new to this forum and have no previous experience with sprinkler irrigation. Last Friday, lightning blew the transformer to my controller. It was a Hunter Pro-C and I am pretty sure that my controller is dead. All the wiring connecting the values to the modules had black marks on the outside. The transformer left a back patch on my wall. Trying to save some money, I bought a new one, a Hunter Pro-C Conventional. I followed the instruction and connect all the wires back to the right modules. There is power to the new controller. Test shows that the zones are watering on the monitor but the sprinklers are not popping up and there is no water come out or leaking out. Occasionally, when just turn on a zone, I could hear some sound from the sprinkler like water is try to go through, but nothing happen after that. Does this mean I need to change all my values or the wiring to the values? Do I need to get profession help from here out or is this some thing that I can try to fix? Thank you so much for any input.
Ky

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

2

Thursday, May 20th 2010, 9:40am

Do some resistance testing. Lightning also can damage solenoids and field wiring.

kythao

New Member

Posts: 2

3

Friday, May 21st 2010, 11:56am

follow up to lightning

Thank you so much Wet_Boots for the recommendation.

I did the Hunter Quick Test and Test program with no error reported. I also checked the electrical current toe the wires and they were okay. I did discovered that a pipe to one of the zones broke. That may be the reason for the sprinklers not working.

I was wondering if the lightning somehow caused the pipe to break or was if the new controller caused the break after I test the new installation? Thank you.

HooKooDooKu

Supreme Member

Posts: 683

4

Wednesday, May 26th 2010, 12:41pm

My first thought is just a bummer of a coinsidence.

For starters, it should be impossible for a controller to break a pipe. The only thing the controller does is operate a sealed selinoid that opens a piolet hole in the valve. The valve itself uses mechanical means and water pressure to actually open the valve.

As for the lightning, I wouldn't think a strike at the controller could cause pipe damage... not given that the pipe is plastic, and surrounded by soil. But then having said that, lightning is such a huge uncontrolled burst of raw energy, it could do anything. After all, if lightning struck the controller, the lightning could travel down the wires to the valves, and then through the pipe itself trying to get to ground. After all plastics are not non-concuctive, they are just VERY LOW concuctance (extreamly high resistance). But extreamly high resistance faced with extreamly high voltage can still result in current flow. But if it was the lightning, then because the primary pathway would be through the control wires, I would expect damage at the valves (especially at the selinoids) before seeing damage to the pipe beyond.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

5

Thursday, May 27th 2010, 1:57pm

Lightning can do whatever it wants to. If it can blow holes in your roof, bursting a pipe is no big deal.

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