Re: lawn sprinkler control unit repair

[pak <eckerpw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Understand, one more question or two, if I find that there is a short
in the solenoid, is it  best to replace the  valve or can I repair?
Does the control unit need to be powered up to check for shorts?

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:47:23 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>The gelcaps are plastic tubes filled with a waterproof gel. You stick
>the wirenutted connection into the gel and close the top. That keeps
>water out of the connector. There may already be corrosion in the
>wirenuts so replacing them (cutiing back the wires beyond the corrosion)
>will give you a clean, tight connection.
> To check for shorts from the control box, put one test lead on the
>common terminal and then touch the other lead to each screw terminal. If
>you read 0 ohms there's a short in a solenoid.
>
>From:pak
>eckerpw@xxxxxxxxx
>
>> OK, got the valve box all cleaned out. There are 5 valves, each with a
>> colored wire and a black wire which I guess is the common. All the
>> connections in the valve box that were under dirt are just connected
>> with wire nuts, but all wires seem intact and still connected. The
>> fuse in the control box is blown.
>> The advice here  was to check all connections and then waterproof with
>> gel caps. Can some one explain how gel caps work or what I do with
>> them? are wire nuts sufficent for this application?
>> Also George suggested " measure that solenoid at the control box to
>> verify that the resistance is comparable to the other solenoids, I
>> think in the range of 20-50 ohms. (Put ohmeter between
>> common and valve when watering is not active.)
>>
>> Could you explain that a little further? I assume all the control
>> valves are soleniod operated. Not sure how to measure soleniod at
>> control box. Am I looking to see if one of the valves has shorted out?
>> Need a little more qdvice on the trouble shooting path.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Paul
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 18:53:51 -0700, "AZ Woody" <Reply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I saw one (don't recall the brand) that would also go completely
>>> brain dead if the backup battery went bad.  But it sounds like you
>>> should clean out around the values as a first step...
>>>
>>>
>>> "pak" <eckerpw@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>> news:d0ll61hgdvlb5qoagpu3cft9r6jefkca31@xxxxxxxxxx
>>>> it's a Hydro Rain HR 6000-1, not sure how old
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 22:55:01 GMT, "Jack Ak" <akjack@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> What is broken?  A device model number might be needed along
>>>>> with failure symptoms.  My local OSH store carries parts
>>>>> for the Lawn Genie controller.
>>>>>
>>>>> "pak" <pak.ecker@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>> news:24gl61d0gcnnrpalfsb0m3jo7pf0alhmdh@xxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>> Wondering if this is the right group to ask questions about
>>>>>> automatic sprinkler system control unit repair?
>