Controller crashes after 5 minutes activating sprinkler

[leofar]

My controller operates fine and connects to the internet with no problems but seems to have a power issue. After activating a sprinkler about 5 minutes it freezes and the LCD goes blank (but stays lit) and it is unavailable to the internet. It doesn’t matter if I go from one sprinkler to the next, after that amount of time it stops. I have left it on about 2 months since I assembled and had no problems programming it or accessing it but had that problem only when I activate a sprinkler. If I unplug and replug it resets and works fine again. I assume something related to power. Maybe a resistor in the wrong place? My firmware is 1.8.2. My power supply is 24vac 1250ma that I took from previous sprinkler valve controller.

[Ray]

Can you unplug the valves (either by unplugging the common terminal or the station terminals) and test again? It’s possible that the crashing may be caused by defective solenoid (also see the previous thread on this board). The other possibility is that if the ambient temperature is high, the resistance on the PTC fuse may increase significantly that blocks the power supply. If that’s the reason, I suggest replacing the PTC fuse or simply solder a wire across the two pins of the PTC to bypass it.

[Craigus]

Hi Ray,

Sounds like the same problem COsgood and I are having… viewtopic.php?f=9&t=80

I am going to try removing the PTC and replace with a link as suggested as I also notice you removed it in 1.42u.

Should I also connect D3 to ground rather than RT as per the 1.42u schematic?

Cheers,
Craig

[Craigus]

Just ran it for a 15min program after removing the PTC and it now works a treat!

Maybe the PTC is getting too hot with my transformer running at 28VAC (27 when driving two valves). The two valves only draw 4.7ma though so seems fine.

Cheers,
Craig

[Ray]

Cool, that’s good to know. Thanks for trying this out.

[leofar]

I tried to change the transformer, that didn’t work. I bridged the fuse and it appears to have worked. I did a cold run without any attachments and then a complete cycle of just a few minutes on each station and everything seems to be working fine.

Thanks for your help.

[Author]

Posts