Irrigation controller/solenoid??

[Toy4x4]

The irrigation controller, an older Rainbird ISA 408, blew its fuse which I replaced. It blew again and according to the trouble shooting section in the manual, it points to 1)a short between "the" valve and timer (I think they meant "valves") or 2)a shorted solenoid on one of the valves.

I have more fuses so I was wondering, if I replaced it and then watched the screen on the timer to see which valve it blows the fuse on, if this would be the best way to see which one it is? There are four stations so I was thinking about this option vs undoing all the connections on the solenoids and testing each one individually. And I just though: if one has gone out, why not just replace all four now an avoid going through this again for a long while.

 

[paulo57509]

You can manually run each valve individually. If it's an individual valve that's the problem, the fuse should open when the timer opens that valve. You don't have to stand there and wait for the valve to time out. IIRC, you can press the manual on button and cycle through each valve.

Or you can test the valves at the timer with a VOM or DVM.

Remove each "+" and the common wire from the timer (remember where each "+" wire cam from).

Get your ohm meter and measure the resistance between each "+" and the common. You should be able to tell which valve the short is associated with.

FYI:

https://www.rainbird.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/2017-06/man_ISAseries.pdf

 

[Donald]

Figure out the bad solenoid.

Then get a smart timer like a Rachio.

 

[Toy4x4]

You can manually run each valve individually. If it's an individual valve that's the problem, the fuse should open when the timer opens that valve. You don't have to stand there and wait for the valve to time out. IIRC, you can press the manual on button and cycle through each valve.

Or you can test the valves at the timer with a VOM or DVM.

Remove each "+" and the common wire from the timer (remember where each "+" wire cam from).

Get your ohm meter and measure the resistance between each "+" and the common. You should be able to tell which valve the short is associated with.

FYI:

https://www.rainbird.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/2017-06/man_ISAseries.pdf

I just went through all the stations (forgot I could manually speed it up) and let each one run about a minute. The fuse didn't blow. A few days ago I moved the wires at the box where all the valves are and twisted the wire nuts just to make sure they were all tight. Maybe I "repaired" the fault???

 

[mk378]

Yes look for any frayed or bare wires in the box.

Generally you can ohm test all the valve circuits while they are still connected to the timer, as long as the timer is not plugged in.

 

[Toy4x4]

Well it blew a few days after that so I replaced all the solenoids. I believe it solved that issue, but I found a leak coming from one of the diaphragms so I replaced all four, too. A couple of them were not seated properly...oddly not the one that was leaking. Tested it and so far no leaks. I rebuilt all four because I didn't want the same issues to pop up x amount of time down the road and have to go through all this again. Crossing my fingers!