Why I like multi-strand.

[Mike Leary]

Looked at this one today, hopefully, it'll be a easy fix. I'll put the splices in a standard in case. At least the plumbers thought to spot a Texas jumbo so I could find the break. What freaks me out, is why do I have so much slack?

[DanaMac]

Was the break right there in the box? What caused it? Varmints?

[Mike Leary]

Was the break right there in the box? What caused it? Varmints?
A variety of such, called "plumbers". Ran a new water line without, as par, asking the client if there was anything in the way. :hammerhead: At least they spotted a pit.

[AI Inc]

Thinking thats not going to be your only splice . That slack came from somewhere.

[Mike Leary]

Thinking thats not going to be your only splice . That slack came from somewhere.

My thought, too. :dizzy::dizzy::drinkup:

[unit28]

plumbers got money

[Mike Leary]

plumbers got money

All it would have taken was a phone call, that's the trouble; if they'd called, we could have located the wire run and avoided this (what I think is going to be) a fuster cluck.

[FIMCO-MEISTER]

If you put your 521 on each end you can figure ahead of time what you are going to be doing. I'd slap my remote on and check the wires coming from the clock first before splicing that all together and then I'd use the checker on the other side going to the valves.

JUST MY 2 CENTS MAN....swoooooooo chu chu chu

[unit28]

what's this remote thing you speak of?

with all that slack...first
Hit the manifold boxes to see if there's any wires left attached to a solenoid.
Then send a tone from there to check what's happnin at the TX jumbo.
{continuity rules apply backwards}

But if I had a remote....sigh

[Mike Leary]

If you put your 521 on each end you can figure ahead of time what you are going to be doing. I'd slap my remote on and check the wires coming from the clock first before splicing that all together and then I'd use the checker on the other side going to the valves.

JUST MY 2 CENTS MAN....swoooooooo chu chu chu

And that is exactly what I'm going to do in the morning. I like to find where it's coming from and mark that run after proving it. :waving:

[Mike Leary]

But if I had a remote....sigh

Piker, get with it. :hammerhead:

[unit28]

Piker, get with it. :hammerhead:

If it were my baby..

I'd have the plumber come back and stand there,
while I ran around cussin at him as I'm chasing down wires.

[keepcuttin]

If I may Take this multi strand a bit further. When building a multi valvebox system do you run a single multi wire for everything? or multiple wires to the controller?
I had this thought as I was getting ready to head to Maine this am for a large system on the coast (17 rotor zones and 4 drip zones) And do you take the time to label and take notes as if you get the maint for the system?

[AI Inc]

I always run a single truck cable from the clock. We always use the same coler code for each zone.

[Wet_Boots]

And hell yes take notes while you run through the system.

[magna111]

I always run a single truck cable from the clock. We always use the same coler code for each zone.

There are different colors availlable for different packs of wire, 4 strand 6 strand 8 strand etc. We wire the clock alphabetily, black blue brown green... white is always the common.

I always try to wire the clock so the system runs in a logical order, side to side and front to back. One of my bigger pet peives about servicing other peoples systems is clocks wired with no thought put into it. You start them up and zone 1 is in the front, 2 is on the side, 3 is in the back then 2 zones in the front. You do all this extra running around, and its harder to predict where the next zone should be if there was a leak and it didn't come on right away.

[Wet_Boots]

There are different colors availlable for different packs of wire, 4 strand 6 strand 8 strand etc. We wire the clock alphabetily, black blue brown green... white is always the common.

I always try to wire the clock so the system runs in a logical order, side to side and front to back. One of my bigger pet peives about servicing other peoples systems is clocks wired with no thought put into it. You start them up and zone 1 is in the front, 2 is on the side, 3 is in the back then 2 zones in the front. You do all this extra running around, and its harder to predict where the next zone should be if there was a leak and it didn't come on right away.You'd think this was a great idea, until you get to your ten-conductor cable.

"Green is always zone four, you pooch!"

"Sez you, piker. Gray is ahead of green."

'You spell 'grey' with an E, sparky!"

"In your deams, Dan Quayle."

[hoskm01]

You'd think this was a great idea, until you get to your ten-conductor cable.

"Green is always zone four, you pooch!"

"Sez you, piker. Gray is ahead of green."

'You spell 'grey' with an E, sparky!"

"In your deams, Dan Quayle."
ROYGBV is a good start.

[Kiril]

One of my bigger pet peives about servicing other peoples systems is clocks wired with no thought put into it. You start them up and zone 1 is in the front, 2 is on the side, 3 is in the back then 2 zones in the front. You do all this extra running around, and its harder to predict where the next zone should be if there was a leak and it didn't come on right away.

So how do you recommend wiring it? Personally I wire turf zones first, then landscape beds, giving thought to application timing and exposure/runoff concerns. If it takes wiring a back zone right after a front zone to conserve water so be it.

[FIMCO-MEISTER]

Blue is always 6. Always has been always will be.

[Wet_Boots]

To be fair, I used alphabet ordering on some old installs where the controller's output wires weren't even close to BBROYGB

And note how you would wire in the Hunter Smart Port on the SRC, starting from the left terminal ~ Red, White, Blue

[Mike Leary]

Grabbed a bag of DBYs to make the repair this a.m., realized in time I should make sure I had power before the DBYS went in. Made some temp splices, checked for juice at the manifold, none. Ohm'd the solenoids, tho solenoids very seldom fail together, they checked out. Had juice at one side of the splice, so it had to be between the splice and the manifold, WTF? Pondering this, I realized the multi on the dead side was new, the colors were slightly different, that accounted for the extra loop they gave me. Hooked up the 521 and found ANOTHER break 10' away that no one had bothered to tell me about. They had run a shunt wire, spotted it in a Tex-Jumbo and the landscapers mulched over it. 26 DBYs later, system works. Moral? No one cares about the sprinkler guy. :cry:

[Wet_Boots]

Time and material payup and a cold one :drinkup:

[Mike Leary]

Time and material payup and a cold one :drinkup:

That's exactly the whole deal; I had this little voice in my pea brain saying," this is too easy".

[ARGOS]

Damn landscapers.

[magna111]

So how do you recommend wiring it? Personally I wire turf zones first, then landscape beds, giving thought to application timing and exposure/runoff concerns. If it takes wiring a back zone right after a front zone to conserve water so be it.

I was refering to when there is now obvious reason for you to jump from one side of the property to the other to the other.

As for situations where run off is a concern I would usually set it to come on once on the A for partial time, then again on the B for partial time. If it is the last zone on the clock then the B program will have an earlier start time then the A.

[AI Inc]

I use the most common type,
1 red
2 blue
3 green
4 yellow
5brown
6 black
7 orange
8 grey
9 tan
10 purple
11 pink
12 clear or light blue/ green wahtever the odd ball is.
then if more go to same colors with white stripes

[Mike Leary]

I use the most common type,
1 red
2 blue
3 green
4 yellow
5brown
6 black
7 orange
8 grey
9 tan
10 purple
11 pink
12 clear or light blue/ green wahtever the odd ball is.
then if more go to same colors with white stripes
Talk about anal, I just chose colors and make a field report of them.

[hoskm01]

Talk about anal, I just chose colors and make a field report of them.
Same here. I try ROYGBV to start, but then if you have two runs in the box, then you have to repeat, and so on... Thats what the test port is for in the controller.

[Wet_Boots]

The only 'perfect' arrangement, as far as ROYGBIV colors go, will be from ten conductor cable feeding a system of 8 zones or less.

[keepcuttin]

The reason I had posed the question was the site I started today is gonna be 21 zones 17 rotors and 4 drip. I was putting in 5 vb's and was planning on 2- 13 strand wire going into the ICC its nice to hear there are other people who still care about the service side after the install. Its next to the ocean so pics will follow......................:)

[Wet_Boots]

Buy some of those marking tape labels for the wires, if you want to cover all bases.

[Mike Leary]

That's why I only use 13-strand; to keep the colors the same as long as I can; won't make it to the clock, but it will be marked in the splice boxes.

[AI Inc]

Talk about anal, I just chose colors and make a field report of them.

No need for field report. I know by the color what zone is what anywhere in the system on all systems Ive installed.
Keeping things the same makes service much easier.

I also always make zone 1 the farthest from the controller and put em in a line from there.

[Wet_Boots]

Do not underestimate the ability of insulation colors to fade or darken over time. "Izzat blue or black?"

[AI Inc]

Yep , open a box and every wire appears black.

[keepcuttin]

On long runs of multi how many sleeve the wire? there is a few spots in this yard that there is ledge so i'm gonna sleeve the wire. There was one pull that I tried a wire & pipe pull and the jacket got chewed up. at least if there is a problem in the future I know there is not a break somewhere in the deep depths of the earth..........

[Wet_Boots]

I've pulled poly to use as a sleeve. works okay. One renovation, I saved time by using an existing poly line in an old system as a sleeve for wire.

[hoskm01]

Now thats thinkin! Why not?

[Wet_Boots]

I've proposed the concept a few times, to some homeowners' surprise. But with a manifold near a house, and a couple of zone pipes extending to a point you want to extend from, one zone line becomes the new mainline, and another zone line becomes a wire sleeve.

[Mike Leary]

Now thats thinkin! Why not?

Until some yahoo (like me) comes along for a re-do, and mistakenly cuts through the "sleeve" thinking it's a lateral. :nono:

[Waterit]

Until some yahoo (like me) comes along for a re-do, and mistakenly cuts through the "sleeve" thinking it's a lateral. :nono:

Did that yesterday. Wanted to add a zone to an existing system. Couldn't believe my luck - found an 1-1/4 that I thought was the main (multi-strand run under it, has to be, right?). Cut into it and sparks fly everywhere. Some nimrod ran the 220VAC dock line in the 1-1/4. Nothing better than a jolt of line voltage to start the day off. Burned my hand and I'll have to replace the hacksaw blade.

The real main was about 10 feet further over.

[hoskm01]

Did that yesterday. Wanted to add a zone to an existing system. Couldn't believe my luck - found an 1-1/4 that I thought was the main (multi-strand run under it, has to be, right?). Cut into it and sparks fly everywhere. Some nimrod ran the 220VAC dock line in the 1-1/4. Nothing better than a jolt of line voltage to start the day off. Burned my hand and I'll have to replace the hacksaw blade.

The real main was about 10 feet further over.
Oh man... 220. Lucky it wasnt worse.

You probably didnt need the jump start to the heart in the morning.