[jrjobe]

Thanks for the info! I installed a new solenoid yesterday afternoon and the timer finally ran through a complete cycle without locking up. I have no clue how long it had been since the last time it ran, but it was long enough that I may have to replace some plants. Hopefully the sage will come back though.

The pull-in current makes sense as to what was causing the PTC to trip every time station 2 tried to start up. I am going to look into your suggestion for the MOV. I don’t think the problem I was having was related to power surges, but at least it is something to add an additional layer of protection.

Thanks again…another cycle ran this morning and no issues 😀

[jrjobe]

I have been trying to troubleshoot it and this is what I have so far:

I ran a run once program and set each of the 4 stations for 2 minutes.

Test 1
Station 1: Good
Station 2: Bad – after about 30 seconds is when the text on the display went out
Station 3: Not ran

Test 2
Station 1: Skipped
Station 2: Same results as test one – Bad

Test 3
Station 1: Skipped
Station 2: Skipped
Station 3: Good
Station 4: Good

Test 4
Station 1: Moved wire to station 2
Station 2: Good using wire from station one (possibly a bad solenoid?)
Station 3: Good
Station 4: not ran – I stopped the test

Test 5
Station 1: Failed using wire from station 2

Test 6 (outside)
Station 1 Solenoid disconnected
Station 2 Solenoid Connected to Station 1 wire: Failed after about 1 minute

Test 7
Station 1 Solenoid connected to Station 2 wire: Passed

So after all this work and relocating the router and OpenSprinkler Controller, plus wiring inside the house, it appears to be a bad solenoid causing the Controller to shutdown for some reason. Off to Lowe’s I go. I’ll post up again once I get it replaced and test everything.

For what it’s worth for anyone who may be experiencing this in hot climates, I would go through similar procedures as above before relocating everything inside…unless you were wanting to do that anyhow to protect the electronics from the heat.

[jrjobe]

Thanks Ray! Looks good! I just noticed the picture where you were doing the voltage checks actually showed the multimeter in VDC 😆

The OpenSprinkler works AMAZING! Can’t believe how universal the programming is! Super easy to learn and definitely not near as confusing as the other two old controllers I have.

Very Respectively,

Josh

[jrjobe]

@ray wrote:

These voltages are too high. Something is wrong. Try to power the controller through USB (instead of transformer), and measure the VIN and VCC voltages again. Also, you can measure the resistance between VIN and GND, also VCC and GND, and see if there is any potential shorting.

Hi Ray,

Thank you so much for replying when you did. I definitely didn’t expect a reply until at least for a few days. I did what you suggested and everything measured as advertised. Tried a different transformer, same results. Completely baffled, checked the schematics, everything looked fine, so I went back through the testing instructions and realized that my tendency to take everything literally for what it says got the best of me. When the instructions said to test the leads on the transformer to ensure it measures no more than 28VAC, then it went on to say to check the voltage on VIN and VCC – it didn’t mention VDC, and I wasn’t thinking about the switching regulator outputting DC, not AC. So this whole time, I was taking measurements in VAC 😡 …using the correct setting, everything checks out the way it should. 🙂

Thank you again Ray for your help. Top Notch customer service! I will definitely order from you again when I am in the market for another OpenSprinkler 😀

Josh

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