Bee not controller solenoids correctly.

[Stuart]

Hi Folks,

I have a couple of home gardens with drip lines, connected to Hunter valves which have Hunter Latching DC solenoids in them.

The solenoids were being controlled by a Toro DDCWP (http://www.sprinklertalk.com/manuals/toro/ddcwp_manual.pdf), but the screen is dying so I am looking to replace it.

I purchased an OpenSprinker Bee, but I can’t get it to control my solenoids properly.

I have done some experimenting and connected up the old DDCWP controller, and found that when it ‘closed’ a valve it did so by telling the solenoid to extend the small rubber plunger at the bottom on the solenoid.. When it opened the value it retracted the plunger.

I am guessing that this seals and unseals a opening in the valve that allows the water to flow. It works perfectly with the DDCWP.

I found with the Bee the behavior was reversed. When the Bee powered on it retracted all the plungers, allowing water to flow. When I started a zone it would extend the plunger, sealing the valve.

The solenoids have two wires – Black and Red. All the Black wires are commoned and the red wire is connected to signal.

Any thoughts or advice on what I should be looking at next here?

Kind regards,
Stuart.

[Mike]

I don’t have an OSBee or your valves but couldn’t you just reverse the wiring to the valve to reverse the polarity?

Mike

[Ray]

The polarity on OSBee is as follows: valve’s red wire should go to COM, and black wire should go to an individual zone port.

[psmedley]

For the record, seems the polarity on the Opensprinkler latch is the same as Bee – ie valve’s red wire should go to COM, and black wire should go to an individual zone port.

[Ray]

Yes, that’s correct. Thanks for pointing that out, we will add that to user manual.

[Author]

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