Skip to main content

Sprinkler Controller

Looking through the kitchen window this morning, I noticed that the basil in the garden looked a bit wilted. I also noticed that the ground looked rather dry for a day that the sprinkler should have run in the morning.
The first thing I thought was that I, or someone, had turned the sprinkler system off and forgot to turn it back on. So I went to check it in the garage.
I was greeted with the view you see in the picture. The same view I had seen once before. The last time it looked like this was when lightning had taken out the first sprinkler controller. I was not happy.
I wondered if perhaps the wall wart had gone on the Fritz. It felt warm. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. No response from the controller. I checked the fuse, no problem there. I checked the specs on the wall wart. It was 24v AC. That means it was exactly the right supply to drive the sprinkler valves. I jumpered the wires for the garden zone. It turned on. I set a timer in the house so I would remember to turn it off.
This was good news for the wall wart, and bad news for the sprinkler controller. I was sure it was burned out. I started wondering if I could make my own controller from my left over robot parts. I wondered how much it would cost to buy a new controller. Checking online, I found a few under a hundred dollars. So I was not as worried. Under a hundred wasn't too bad. Certainly cheap enough that I didn't have to worry about reinventing the wheel with robot parts.
But first I was going to see if there was anything obviously wrong with the unit that I might be able to fix. I unwired it and took it off the wall in the garage. I started taking it apart. I undid the screws on the back, and prepared to pop off the cover and look at the circuit board. Then I noticed a RJ11 (phone-type) connector on the side. I wondered what it was for, so I looked around online. I saw a few references to a remote control for the system. I also stumbled across the full manual for the sprinkler in PDF format. I was wondering if it listed the pinouts on the RJ11. I read through the manual and hit the troubleshooting section. It said that for a dark display you may have a dead battery and not hooked to the line power. I knew I had it on line power before, so it being a dead battery didn't make sense.
Still, I decided to check the battery anyhow. I did the tongue test. It seemed like a good battery. But I could tell it was the battery that came with the unit a number of years ago. So I got another battery. I plugged it in, at to my surprise, the LCD display turned on! I tried plugging in the wall wart. The AC-power missing icon went off. It seems the unit has to have a good battery or the unit doesn't work. Or perhaps it had glitched and it wasn't until I disconnected all power and put on new power that it was happy. Well, I hooked it back up, and reprogrammed the system. It seems to be fine now.
Whew. I prefer being able to fix it with a little time than having to buy a new unit!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1000 Greatest Movies

Found on Misanthropic-Tendencies From the NY Times - The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made I've highlighted the ones I've seen from the list. As it is a big list, I've set it to be hidden. I've added some favorite quotes to ones I've seen. Show/Hide the list below A À Nous la Liberté (1932) About Schmidt (2002) Absence of Malice (1981) Adam’s Rib (1949) Adaptation (2002) The Adjuster (1991) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Affliction (1998) The African Queen (1952) L’Age d’Or (1930, reviewed 1964) Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, reviewed 1977) A.I. (2001) Airplane! (1980) "I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue" Aladdin (1992) "Poof! Whaddya want?" Alexander Nevsky (1939) Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1975) Alice’s Restaurant (1969) Aliens (1986) '...In space no one can hear you scream.' All About Eve (1950) All About My Mother (1999) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) All That...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hiking Blodgett Peak 12/25/2005

So Christmas day Sunday, but we don't do Christmas. And a day off Monday. No real plans until Sunday evening for Channukah. My toe finally feels well enough for a hike. Blodgett Peak has been calling to me for months - especially since I learned there was a geocache on top. So I get up a bit early - early for a day off from work - and head out for a hike. I don't know how far I'll get - but I want to at least get to the top of Blodgett Peak. I've got about 8 geocaches I can try for, depending on how I do. A couple are up in Pike National Forrest, past Blodgett Peak. It is slower going than I expected. I spend more time than I wanted looking for the first 4 geocaches - I only found 2 of them. The trail is Icy and muddy. It is not a great trail - it is not well prepared like the trail going up Pikes Peak. It is very easy to lose the trail - subtle paths seem to go off in many directions. In many places, the trail seems to go up very steep, loose gravel. Step...
2 comments
Read more

I Voted, Colorado

Voting is different here in Colorado than it was back on the East Coast. In New Jersey, and I remember it was the same basic things when my parents voted in New York, the voting was in a mechanical voting booth. You would go to a desk and sign the big book. The would give you a sheet of paper. You would take the paper over to a voting machine. An assistant would take the paper and put it somewhere on the side of the machine. You would pull a big mechanical handle that would close the curtain behind you. Then you would flip the levers to indicate your vote. After, you would push the big handle, which would record your vote, reset the levers and open the curtain. Here in Colorado, the beginning of the process is the same. You wait on line and sign the big book. I went with my wife, as she dropped her car off for service. At first she was going to vote before she dropped off her car. But she called me to tell me the line was an hour long. After I picked her up at the shop,...
8 comments
Read more