Always showing 26 volts across common and pins 1-8

[snoman_stl]

I have a question on the Voltages on the Board for 1-8. With the 24VAC connected the COM and pins 1-8 always show a 27 volt AC across them. Shoudn’t they only show voltage when the program has that zone active. If so any thoughts on where my soldering might have went awry?

LCD is good and the programming runs properly indicating a changing character on the board when the appropriate zone is turned on….. ❓

[Ray]

Two things to check:
1. make sure your transformer outputs AC voltage, not DC. it’s sometimes confusing what ‘ac adapter’ means. strictly speaking, sprinkler transformers are ac-ac transformers (i.e. outputs AC voltage), whereas most other adapters (like USB, laptop adapters) are ac-dc transformers.
2. can you connect an actual sprinkler solenoid to test? where there is no load, the multimeter may pick up stray voltage (which appears as if the station is active). the stray voltage should be gone if an actual load is connected.

[snoman_stl]

Thanks for the pointers Ray. I do have a 110 AC/ 24 AC converter ( i double checked AC). I will go and get a solenoid and check the second item

[snoman_stl]

thanks again. Even though the voltage was measuring constant the OpenSprinkler worked as designed. thanks for the help and a great kit to work with.

[bgonderi]

I ran into this same situation (voltage read on all outputs even when off when system was not connected to valves), but luckily had previously read this thread so was not concerned. Might be something good to mention in the build directions, however, as it seems an “obvious” thing for people to try to test (and an unexpected result).

[Author]

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