Irrigation oddity

[Arctic Fox]

With all of the rain in the area, I currently have my garden irrigation turned off.

Yesterday there was a very brief power cut - less than a second - and I heard the irrigation start up (zone 2).

I assume that the timer works by sending a pulse of electricity to a solenoid which opens the valve, then a second pulse to close it at the end of the allotted time, but how would a power cut (and maybe a small power surge when coming back on) do the same when the timer is in the OFF position?

I ask because, not being here full time, I don't want my irrigation to be triggered by a power cut (or lightning, as has happened once before) while I am absent.

Thank you

[retiredguy123]

I don't know why your sprinkler system operated even though it was turned off. But, if it is the standard Hunter controller, there is also a power transformer (small black box) plugged into an outlet located inside of the panel where the Hunter controller is located. If you unplug the transformer, you will cut off all power to the sprinkler control system. That may be a better way to turn off the system when you leave town.

[Arctic Fox]

I don't know why your sprinkler system operated even though it was turned off. But, if it is the standard Hunter controller, there is also a power transformer (small black box) plugged into an outlet located inside of the panel where the Hunter controller is located. If you unplug the transformer, you will cut off all power to the sprinkler control system. That may be a better way to turn off the system when you leave town.

Thank you, retiredguy123, but I do want to keep the irrigation operational while I'm away - just working on the timer, not when SECO decides to put it on.

However, since we have no grass, your suggestion might be a good fall-back position.

[Troy8432]

The Rachio 3 smart irrigation controller offers 8 zone control via your smartphone. The Rachio 3 also evaluates numerous local weather predictions and automatically decides not to water if significant rain is predicted. It also adjust seasonal watering amount dependent on winter, spring, summer and fall.

If you add a rain sensor in addition to the rainfall prediction, it will control the irrigation in a proactive (weather prediction) and reactive (actual) manner.

Since the Rachio connects to your WiFi, you can control from anywhere.

Bottom line, it saves money on irrigation and provides control when away. Win-Win for cost and good option for a snowbird.

Cost is approximately $200 on Amazon and 1 hour to install.

[retiredguy123]

The Rachio 3 smart irrigation controller offers 8 zone control via your smartphone. The Rachio 3 also evaluates numerous local weather predictions and automatically decides not to water if significant rain is predicted. It also adjust seasonal watering amount dependent on winter, spring, summer and fall.

If you add a rain sensor in addition to the rainfall prediction, it will control the irrigation in a proactive (weather prediction) and reactive (actual) manner.

Since the Rachio connects to your WiFi, you can control from anywhere.

Bottom line, it saves money on irrigation and provides control when away. Win-Win for cost and good option for a snowbird.

Cost is approximately $200 on Amazon and 1 hour to install.
Okay, but I am not sure it would have prevented the incident described by the OP. Also, some snowbirds don't maintain wifi in their house when they are away.

[Neils]

I ask my neighbor to allow my thermostat and sprinkler to connect to his wifi. Give him $20.
Win win for us both

[Neils]

With all of the rain in the area, I currently have my garden irrigation turned off.

Yesterday there was a very brief power cut - less than a second - and I heard the irrigation start up (zone 2).

I assume that the timer works by sending a pulse of electricity to a solenoid which opens the valve, then a second pulse to close it at the end of the allotted time, but how would a power cut (and maybe a small power surge when coming back on) do the same when the timer is in the OFF position?

I ask because, not being here full time, I don't want my irrigation to be triggered by a power cut (or lightning, as has happened once before) while I am absent.

Thank you

You could buy a small ups (uninterruptible power supply) that many computers use. Best Buy, Amazon, or Wal Mart have them. Plug in the little sprinkler power transformer to that.
The sprinkler system should not be impacted by any more short power blips

[Girlcopper]

Okay, but I am not sure it would have prevented the incident described by the OP. Also, some snowbirds don't maintain wifi in their house when they are away.
Its not that expensive to maintain if youre only using it for this while away

[CoachKandSportsguy]

You could buy a small ups (uninterruptible power supply) that many computers use. Best Buy, Amazon, or Wal Mart have them. Plug in the little sprinkler power transformer to that. The sprinkler system should not be impacted by any more short power blips

Correct response! Modems should also be on a UPS as well for continuous readouts to remote cellphones. Small UPS are worth their weight in gold for remote home owners. . .

network guy

[Catalina36]

No, there are no pulses of electricity. The timer sends a steady voltage to a solenoid to open for how many minutes you have the zone set for. After the timed minutes the timer turns off the voltage to the solenoid. With the timer in the off position the sprinkler system should not have started up. Electric spike or not with the switch off it should be OFF. Perhaps your timer is defective and needs to be replaced. I do not like the Hunter timer that came with the house. I did not find it user friendly to operate. Up north I have a Orbit 6 station timer. Easy install, easy to operate. Cost is about $45.00 and works great . I installed the Orbit timer here and couldn't be happier. Simple and easy to operate.

[Arctic Fox]

Electric spike or not with the switch off it should be OFF. Perhaps your timer is defective and needs to be replaced.

Thank you, Catalina36

The unit is 20+ years old so it may be time for a new one, although otherwise it works fine.

[Arctic Fox]

You could buy a small ups (uninterruptible power supply) that many computers use. The sprinkler system should not be impacted by any more short power blips

Thank you, Neils

I shall look into this

[retiredguy123]

If this problem only occurred one time, why not test the system by turning the power off and on a few times to try to replicate the incident? It could have just been a one time occurance. If the timer works fine, there is no reason to replace it.

[wm_farrell]

All good advice. I've been in the industry 40 years. Seriously consider a WiFi smart controller. I use the Netro brand at my place. Saves tons of money.

[Clearlink]

It has a battery backup in the control box. Usually 9 volts

[rogerk]

The battery back up works but the battery does need to be changed. I replace it at the same time as I replace the smoke detector batteries and the battery in the garage door opener outside the garage.

Very cheap insurance! I got stuck once no key and a dead battery in the remote. The car was in the garage.

[Summerhouse]

We had a Hydrawise controller installed. Yes it requires WiFi which we have through Spectrum. We notify them when we head north and they switch us to seasonal. This backs off the cable but leaves the WiFi on.
We can monitor and adjust our irrigation, our Nest thermostat, a few lights, and camera(s).
We found this provides great peace of mind when we are north.

[davephan]

The controller should not have turned on after a power loss, when the controller was turned off, unless maybe the backup battery was dead and the controller was poorly engineered.

The best sprinkler controller for snowbirds, or anyone else is an Orbit B-Hyve 12 zone controller. It’s only about $100. They have models with less than 12 zones, and they are a little cheaper. But it’s better to have more zones than you need just in case you ever want to expand your sprinkler system in the future. After I bought the B-Hyve controller online, I saw that Lowe’s sold the 12 zone B-Hyve controllers in their stores.

The B-Hyve sprinkler controller is the least expensive WiFi controller, and the best choice. I’ve looked at all the other WiFi sprinkler controllers, and the Orbit B-Hyve is by far the best choice. You can program and monitor it with an app on your cellphone or computer. The B-Hyve controller knows about the weather forecast and can put the system on automatic rain delay. The water bill savings will quickly pay for the sprinkler controller. Switching to the Orbit B-Hyve controller is a no brainer!

I installed two Orbit B-Hyve 12 zone controllers back in my Minnesota house. I had 24 zones setup in Minnesota, because there were many gardens on the one acre property, and looked like a small arboretum. When I moved to Florida, I immediately replaced the old Rain Bird controller, that was working, but wasn’t a WiFi controller, and wasn’t aware of the weather forecast, with an Orbit B-Hyve 12 zone controller. I only use 6 zones, but I have more capacity if I want to install more zones in the future for better lawn coverage or drip systems.

The WiFi problems are easy to fix! Buy an Internet sensing power switch from the 5G Store online. They cost about $100 to $150. The Internet sensing switch automatically pings sites on the Internet. If your cable modem or DSL modem needs to be power cycled, which needs to be done periodically, the Internet power switch power cycles your Internet modem box automatically. You never have to call someone to drive to your house to power cycle things. You can also manually remotely power cycle things, like camera systems.

Poor WiFi coverage in your home is also easy to fix. The WiFi signal from your cable modem or DSL modem is weak. Buy an Access Point device, which costs about $150. I use a Ubiquity access point device. The WiFi signal will then be strong all over your house, and property around your house. Make sure to configure your WiFi to WPA2, and use a complex, but easy to remember password to keep your WiFi secure.

Make sure to also have a WiFi thermostat, especially in the house up north. It’s mandatory that you know if the furnace quits working in the winter, in the house up north! If a problem occurs, you can get an alert on your smart cellphone.

[john352]

With all of the rain in the area, I currently have my garden irrigation turned off.

Yesterday there was a very brief power cut - less than a second - and I heard the irrigation start up (zone 2).

I assume that the timer works by sending a pulse of electricity to a solenoid which opens the valve, then a second pulse to close it at the end of the allotted time, but how would a power cut (and maybe a small power surge when coming back on) do the same when the timer is in the OFF position?

I ask because, not being here full time, I don't want my irrigation to be triggered by a power cut (or lightning, as has happened once before) while I am absent.

Thank you

I am a retired control system engineer with 40 years of experience. My home in The
Villages was built 16 years ago and it has a Hunter sprinkler control box mounted inside the garage. In the bottom part of this box there is a 9-volt battery that provides power to the controller when the 115 V power feed to the box is disrupted; as a minimum that battery keeps the electronic time-of-day clock running inside the box. Until I read your post, I had forgotten about this battery, and today I replace my battery. Homeowners, who will be out-of-town for long periods of time, should make sure that the backup battery in their sprinkler controllers is not several years old. (Some newer versions of sprinkler controllers may not have backup batteries.)

The control box sends power to individual solenoid valves to turn on the water to each zone. I am 99.99% sure that the solenoid valves are not-pulse on pulse-off; while the 115 V power to the system is lost, all the solenoid valves would be off.

If the backup battery in your control box was dead when you lost 115 V power for one second that might be the cause of the erratic operation of your system when power was restored.

[retiredguy123]

It has a battery backup in the control box. Usually 9 volts

The battery back up works but the battery does need to be changed. I replace it at the same time as I replace the smoke detector batteries and the battery in the garage door opener outside the garage.

Very cheap insurance! I got stuck once no key and a dead battery in the remote. The car was in the garage.

My Hunter Pro-C controller has an optional 9 volt battery, but the only thing it will do is to allow you to program the controller. It cannot be used for watering, and it is not even needed to maintain the clock and calendar settings. Apparently, the only reason for it is to allow the builder to set the watering schedule without house power. Here is the Hunter explanation from their manual:

"Connect a 9-volt alkaline battery (not included) to the battery
terminals and place in the battery compartment in the front
panel. The battery allows the user to program the controller
without AC power. Watering will not occur without AC power.
Since this controller has non-volatile memory, the program clock
and calendar will be retained during a power outage even if no
battery is installed."

[stebooo]

Of course if you unplug you won't need it when you return. No grass

[Arctic Fox]

If the backup battery in your control box was dead when you lost 115 V power for one second that might be the cause of the erratic operation of your system when power was restored.

Thank you, john352. Worth a try - I have a spare battery and it was several years ago that I replaced the one in the control box.

[retiredguy123]

Thank you, john352. Worth a try - I have a spare battery and it was several years ago that I replaced the one in the control box.
See Post No. 20. If your controller is like mine, the 9 volt battery doesn't really do anything related to the watering operation. It only allows you to program the unit.

[jarodrig]

See Post No. 20. If your controller is like mine, the 9 volt battery doesn't really do anything related to the watering operation. It only allows you to program the unit.

Yep, that’s all it does...... and it keeps your programming intact IF the power goes out.

But, the back up battery WILL NOT RUN your irrigation system when the power is off !!

[Arctic Fox]

the back up battery WILL NOT RUN your irrigation system when the power is off

Thank you

john352's point was that if the battery were dead then it might be causing the controller to behave oddly

I have no idea why that might be, but I have no idea why the irrigation started up when the controller was OFF, so I'm going to put in a new battery just in case it helps