Valves Not Operating

[wyone]

I posted this in a different forum as I am not sure which is appropriate. But I thought ti might apply here as well. 🙂

First I have to say I LOVE the sprinkler control!

I do have an issue however, not the fault of anyone but me though. I had some people working in the garage and they damaged the sprinkler zone wires. I did not realise it, but they short the wires going to zones 6,7 and 8. Now they no longer operate. I suspect the triac is shot, but I am not sure how to test it. I do know that I can manually still control the system, and it says that the zones are operating, but they do not switch to allow power to the zones. I am an electrician, so do have some skills that way. But not sure where to get replacement parts, or exactly which parts may be damaged, just the triacs or the diodes as well?

I did write to Ray to see if he had any ideas, but being the weekend, I thought maybe one of you electronics guys might be able to help me in the meantime. There is a Radio Shack in the mall, but well as most Radio Shacks go they have limited parts anymore. If I knew a part number and location of which triac was which I would try replacing them. I am not sure if installing MOVs on the zone wires might prevent this in the future or not. As the wires were all shorted together I am thinking that MOVs would not help.

So there is my dilema all you experts out there. Any help you can give me to get my system up and running again would be MUCH appreciated. Of course the fact that we are leaving for a week long vacation on the 25th makes it even more urgent.

Thanks in advance!

[Ray]

Hi,

I replied to your email last night. Just for the record, the DIY kit uses MAC97 triac. It’s a pretty common component (unfortunately you can’t find these in Radio Shack — as a side story, last time I walked into Radio Shack and wanted to buy some MOSFET, which I know they have in stock, the guy working there asked me: what’s a MOSFET?) Anyways, you can get these from Mouser.com or Digikey.com.

[Author]

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