See video for info on the Irritrol Remote Control system and how to wire it to any sprinkler timer.
Category Archives: Q&A
Why does my Rain Dial Plus say Opn/Open
Reply
I often get questions about what it means when the timer says Opn or Open. This message comes from the term ‘open circuit’ which means that the timer tried to turn on a valve, but the circuit was open, meaning a wire is disconnected, broken, or the solenoid is broken.
Typically this problem is caused by loose wiring or a bad solenoid. Examine the connections at the timer and at the valves, typically found in a ground box.
It could also be caused by a timer or a back terminal board problem. If your wiring looks good, you can send the timer and back terminal board to us for repair.
If you only have one valve indicating an Open condition, you can try swapping wires with another valve to confirm that it’s a valve or wiring condition. E.g., if station/valve #1 works and #2 is currently saying Open, then swap wires for #1 and #2. Then try to turn on the 1st and 2nd stations using the timer’s manual function. If the first station works and the 2nd station displays the Open message, then the problem is likely with the timer or backboard, send it in for repair. If however, you now see station 1 reporting an open message, then the wire connections or solenoid is bad. Solenoids usually fail shorted instead of open, but either is possible. You can check either with a
Check wiring and/or replace the solenoid using the information below.
- Solenoids are usually easy to replace, just turn the water off, disconnect the wires, unscrew the solenoid and replace it.
- You can get them from your local landscape supply store (E.g, SprinklerWorld, or other, but probably not HomeDepot or Lowes). They’re usually less than $20.
- If you want to pick up the parts first, take a picture of the valve to the store with you. They’ll be able to tell from the picture what solenoid you need.
- Just turn the water off, disconnect the wires, unscrew the old solenoid; then put the new one in, hook the wires back up, and turn the water back on.
For additional testing, you can follow some of the steps to test the transformer. Start with Check #3 on this page. If you’re able to operate the valve, you know the transformer, wiring, and valve are good.
We hope this helps, if so, consider making a small donation on our donation page; we really appreciate it.
Understanding the RD600 Irritrol Skip Days feature
Understanding Skip days, “—” for the days of the week, and what the skip day number means
Note: If you see — when you try to set the day of the week to on or off, or, it only changes between — and ‘off’ it means the timer is in skip days mode. Usually, the LCD also displays “skip days”. To turn off skip days, set the dial to skip-days and press the “-” button until it says off. Then you’ll no longer see “—” for the days of the week.
When in skip-days mode, the days of the week usually show ‘—‘, indicating that the skip-days feature is enabled and working. You can make an exception for specific days of the week by pressing +/- to change ‘—‘ to ‘off’. if ‘off’, that day will be excluded from the skip-days schedule. This ‘day exclusion’ feature is only available on newer models..
A typical use case for excluding a day is when someone is using skip-days to water every other day, but always wants to mow the lawn on Saturday. Setting skip-days to 2, and Sat to ‘off’ instead of ‘—‘ will ensure that the lawn is never watered on Saturday.
To fully understand the skip-days setting, read the information below:
Question: When I set the skip day number to 1 – does that mean it skips every other day?
Bill
—————
Hi Bill,
Surprisingly no, it doesn’t. The Irritrol RainDial RD600 Skip days feature is often misunderstood and difficult to understand, so thanks for the question. The short answer to your question is no. setting it to ‘1’ will water every day. This should help explain why:
The skip days function controls when a schedule will run. If you were not doing skip days, you would specify the days of the week you want the schedule to run by setting for example Tuesday to “ON” and the other days “OFF”. The timer would then run the schedule every Tuesday. In skip days mode you are scheduling the timer to run the schedule every # days where # is the skip days value.
I like to think of the skip days feature as having a daily incrementing counter that starts at 1 and goes to the number you specify and then repeats. E.g., for a skip days setting of 3, the timer’s counter would count like this: 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3. Whenever the counter matches the skip days number, the watering schedule will run. In this example the schedule would run every 3rd day. The term skip days is sort of confusing.
Instead of ‘skip days’, think of it as ‘water every # days.’
So if it’s 2, it waters every 2nd day, which is every other day: 1,2,1,2. If you set it to ‘1’, it waters every 1 day, which is ‘every day.’
Although I’ve answered your question, one may ask: How do I know what today is in the sequence of days? You determine that by putting the dial on ‘Today.’ It will show you the current number in the sequence. You can also change the number of ‘today’ by pressing the +- buttons when in programming mode.
E.g., if you have skip days set for 3 and you want it to water tomorrow, set ‘today’ to ‘2’.
I hope this helped, if it does, consider sending us a high $5, we’d really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Brian – aka the Irritrol RD600 Rain Dial Doctor for Irritrol timers
My 9V battery keeps dying, what does that mean?
When Irritrol RainDial batteries keep draining faster than they should (usually they last at least a year or more), it is a sign that the controller is failing, but has not failed completely.
As the parts fail they can degrade slowly and the battery ends up providing power to compensate. However, this causes the battery to drain faster, meaning it may last a week, or month instead of a year. Eventually you’ll have to replace it more and more frequently until even a new battery won’t be enough for it to work.
There’s no way to really predict when a new battery will not be enough to make it work. One thing is for sure: “you’re living on borrowed time.”
You can wait if you want, but it’s usually better to get it taken care now, otherwise Murphy’s law usually kicks in and it’ll fail right before you are headed out on a long vacation 🙂 They often are intermittent as they’re failing, so it will not water, but when you notice the dying plants, but when you test it, it’ll seem to be working. When it’s “on the edge of complete failure” it sometimes works, and other times not. The temperature often effects the behavior.
Irritrol RainDial timers are well made an with a quick repair can last another 10 years. Repairs are the core of our business and we’d appreciate it if you’d select us to do the it.
Why does my controller say P:On or P:Off
The RD600/900/1200-R RainDial Timers may display P:On or P:Off on the LCD.
This is one of the features in the new -R series of Irritrol sprinkler timers. It’s described in the manual in more detail but basically does this. The Sprinkler timer has a pump control signal that normally turns on when a particular valve is turned on. Most people I know don’t have a pump to boost pressure in their irrigation system so it’s not a common feature for the general urban irrigation system. If for some reason you did not want the pump to come on when a particular valve was on, you can turn it off.
You can change the P:ON/OFF setting by doing the following:
- setting the main switch to the Set-Programs position,
- Set the dial to the valve you want to change the pump on/off settings for,
- Press the Manual-On button. It will toggle between P:On and P:Off each time you press Manual – On.
If you don’t have a pump, it doesn’t matter whether you turn this feature on or off. If you do have a pump, you’ll know what to do.
If you’re not expecting this to appear on the LCD, you probably need to slide the switch to the “run” position instead of “set programs.”
How does this happen? Some people try to manually turn on a valve but accidentally have the switch in the set-programs position instead of ‘run’ when they add minutes.
I hope that helps,
The RainDialDoctor
What’s the difference between an RD-600 and RD600-R
Difference between the -R and regular series connectors.
- The RD600-R and other -R models have additional wiring to support a rain sensor. However, it is still possible to use a rain sensor on the older model. Enter rain sensor in the search box for more info on that.
- The biggest difference between the -R models and the standard model is that the -R model has a different size connector (20 pins instead of 16). There are adapters that allow you to convert between the two sizes. You can also do some jury-rigging to make them work, but it’s not a “clean” solution. Alternatively, you can replace the controller and the back-connector board at the same time, which avoids the connector mismatch.
- My favorite new feature of the -R series is the rain delay. If it rains today, you can go out and tell the timer to stop watering for 3 days, or however many you want to delay.
- One other key difference is that the RD600-R series saves the programming in non-volatile memory so even if the battery dies, the programming will be saved. The RD-600 will lose it’s programming if power is removed and the 9V battery is dead or missing.
Should I upgrade to the RD600-R series?
There’s no serious reason to upgrade to the newer series of controllers. The new features are nice, but not really necessary. The repair we do is solid and it will last a long time. Unless the controller is in bad physical shape due to extreme exposure to the elements, it’s usually better to fix it instead of upgrade.
Contact us or enter a question/comment on the Q&A page if you have more questions.
What to do if you can’t open the case door or lost your key
If you have an Irritrol RD-nnnn key and it won’t open:
There’s usually a plastic key you turn on the side of the case to open it. While you turn it and keep it turned, pull on the door; they sometimes stick closed a bit.
Usually when this happens, it’s caused by the door having a fair bit of friction due to dust or dirt.
Try turning the key clockwise enough that you feel some resistance and give the door slow pull. If that doesn’t work, sometimes too much pulling pressure prevents the key mechanism from turning. Try pushing the door closed more and see if the key will then turn a little more and try pulling on the door again.
If you don’t have an Irritrol RainDial key:
(Also consider borrowing one from a neighbor to get in. You can usually buy them on Ebay for a few bucks or call Irritrol directly.) If those don’t work, read on.
If you don’t have a key, you can usually get into the case with a slot screw driver. It takes some patience, but you have two methods to emulate the key behavior. The key is just a star-shaped gear that connects with another gear to lift the plunger from the hole in the case door.
1) find a screw driver about as wide as the hole, put it in and rotate it clockwise, trying to catch the teeth of the mating gear like the key would.
2) put the screw driver in the hole at a 30-degree position (about 1:30 on an analog clock) with the blade horizontal to the ground and lever it downward to about 3:00). the goal is to slide the driver into the grove of the inner gear and lever it it upward.
Forcing it open will often break the catch on the case, or the square loop in the door that it catches. Many used timers I see have the inner door “loop” broken so it doesn’t catch any more. There’s usually a lot of friction around the door that can keep it shut without even needing the locking mechanism to work.
To get a new Rain Dial key:
Most local landscaping supply stores (not big-box stores like home depot, but more like the landscapers supply stores that just deal with landscaping). They should have them as well. Ebay typically has them for sale.
If not, you can contact www.Irritrol.com – look for their customer service number and they may just send one to you for free.
I hope that helps,
Brian
Why is my sprinkler valve stuck on?
If you have a sprinkler valve that doesn’t turn off, or sticks on, the problem is most likely due to one or more of the following:
- The valve(s) are failing and it’s not a controller problem
- The controller is just programmed incorrectly with multiple unexpected schedules or start times.
- The controller is failing – causes strange behavior, seems to work, then does something unexpected.
It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what’s going on. The important thing to determine is if the timer is turning on the valve or it’s something else causing the problem.
The first two items below are for you to investigate, the last one I can solve for you.
Item 1: Next time the water is “on” when it shouldn’t be, turn off power to the controller, or remove the back ribbon cable (there are pictures of this on the rainDialDoctor website, see the Removal Instructions page)
This disconnects the controller from the valves, so if the valves stay on, it’s a valve problem, not a controller problem. Replace/repair the valve.
If you can’t wait for it to stick “on” again,
- Try manually turning on a valve and then turn it off. When you turn it off, the valve should go off within 10 seconds. If not, the valve may be a problem. Note that the valve itself should always be put in the ‘off’ position. The timer will over-ride it when it turns on the valve. This makes sense because if the timer were to lose power or be removed, you would not want all the valves to go on. Only turn the valve on at the valve box when you are testing it.
- Re-check the programming – all three schedules A,B and C. See Item 2 below.
If the valves turn off, it’s likely a timer or usually a programming issue. See the remaining items below.
Item 2: Go to this youTube video to learn how to program it or check the programming is correct. The training video is here: http://www.youtube.com/
Item 3: If the controller still seems to be causing problems, it’s probably just failing and needs to be repaired. Use the contact us page to send us more information and I’ll send you the repair details.
What if a RD600 valve is stuck on, won’t turn off, or comes on when it shouldn’t?
What to do if a RD600 valve is stuck on, won’t turn off, or comes on when it shouldn’t?
(This and all information on the RainDialDoctor website is copy-righted by Brian Keller.)
Note that this information applies to the Irritrol RD-600, RD-900, and RD-1200, but the concepts presented can be applied to troubleshooting nearly any irrigation timer.
This page covers the following main topics about valves/stations being on when they’re not supposed to be.
- How to urgently stop a flooding condition.
- Understanding how the timer indicates it has turned on a valve.
- When valves turn on when they’re not supposed to and:
- The sprinkler timer display does indicate a valve should be on
- Determine which schedule is causing it to be on by putting the dial on the valve number and look for A,B, C to appear on the display.
- The sprinkler timer display does NOT indicate a valve is on
- Proving that the timer is not causing the problem
- The sprinkler timer display does indicate a valve should be on
- More than one valve comes on at a time or another valve turns on before the previous one turns off.
- The scheduled cycle runs multiple times.
1. How to stop an urgent flooding condition.
If you URGENTLY NEED TO STOP THE WATER, turn off the timer. If that doesn’t work, then close the valves as shown on this page.
2. Understanding how the timer indicates it has turned on a valve.
Before you read further, it’s important to know if the timer has turned on a valve vs. when the valve is on even when the timer doesn’t “think” it should be on. Here’s how to tell the difference:
Read this link. to determine if the timer is trying to turn on a valve or not, then choose the appropriate topic below
3A. If the valve/station turns on when it isn’t supposed to and the display DOES INDICATE the valve is ON:
- The controller went through a reset or power outage or has inadvertently been programmed incorrectly and is now running the default program (set to every station @ 7am, every day for 10 minutes), see below for more details.
- Sprinkler controller schedule programming is often misunderstood; Please read the programming tips on this page. Even if you think you’re a pro, it’s worth a quick review 🙂
- The controller is failing – causes strange behavior, seems to work, then does something unexpected. Failing controllers typically cause valves to not turn on, so if they’re stuck on, it’s usually not the controller. If you believe it is, try turning off the controller’s power. If the valves stay on, the controller and wiring are not the problem.
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If you only see one number, you can confirm the timer is not causing the problem by waiting for both valves to be on, and then disconnect the wire on the backboard for the first of the two valves that are on. If you remove the wire and both valves stay on, then the first valve is faulty and not turning off properly.If you keep having to reprogram the timer, send it in for repair.
3B. If the valve/station turns on when it isn’t supposed to and the DISPLAY INDICATES THE VALVE SHOULD BE OFF (no number displayed):
- If it won’t shut off, it may be turned on manually at the valve (in the valve box typically underground) The valve itself should normally be in the off position so that it can be turned on by energizing the solenoid on top of the valve). If turned on, nothing can turn it off. Make sure the solenoid it tight (hand tighten snugly) and also check the pressure relief screws are tight and not leaking if you have them.
- The valve itself is failing and it’s not a controller problem, see below for more details and how to diagnose this. We have information on how to replace a valve here.
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It’s extremely rare (0.1% maybe) for the timer to fail in a way that it always is turning on a valve without an indication on the display, more details follow.
To prove the controller is not causing the problem:
Next time a valve is “on” when it shouldn’t be, turn the off power to the controller, or remove the back ribbon cable as shown below; this disconnects the controller from the valves.
Irritrol RainDial troubleshooting – removing the ribbon cable
If the valves stay on, it’s usually caused by a problem with the valve, not the controller or any electrical wiring problem.
If you do NOT see a number on the display and the water stays on after disconnecting the wire from the backboard or removing power from the timer, it is not a timer problem and the valve needs to be serviced.
This same troubleshooting method can be used when you have a valve turn on when other valves turn on. Remove the wire for the valve that you don’t expect to be on and see if the water stops. If not, then it’s a valve problem that can usually be solved by replacing the guts of the valve. See this link: https://raindialdoctor.com/how-to-replace-the-sprinkler-valve-guts/
If you can’t wait for it to stick “on” again,
- Try manually turning on a valve and then turn it off. When you turn it off, the valve should go off within 10 seconds. If not, the valve is likely the problem.
- Re-check the programming – all three schedules A, B, and C. See Item 2 below.
If the valve turns off, it’s likely a problem caused by the controller; plug the ribbon cable back in and:
- Check the programming (item 2 below). If you see a small number on the top of the LCD display, it means the controller has turned that valve number on. It should only do this if it’s programmed to do so. Check the time and programming to make sure they’re correct. If it all looks good, try the next step.
- Try resetting the sprinkler controller – link
- You’ve done all you can, the problem seems to be the controller; we can repair it. (Item 3 below)
4. If more than one valve turns on, or another valve turns on before the previous one turns off.
A little lag between one valve turning off and the next one turning on is common and usually not a problem. It shouldn’t be on for long though. This lag is usually due to slow operating valves.
In general, the sprinkler timers are intentionally designed to not turn on more than one valve at a time. This is done because there is usually not enough water pressure to turn on too many valves at once. If you are not intentionally trying to turn on more than one valve, then it’s probably due to one of the following:
If more than one valve turns on at a time, it is usually caused by one of the following:
- Incorrect programming. You may have overlapping schedule times where one schedule turns on a valve while the other schedule has on a different valve.
These problems are usually caused by a failing valve. To know, look at the display. If you see two numbers appear on the top row, it’s a programming problem; review all the scheduled programming and if needed, perform a factory reset and reprogram.
- Wiring problem: if you have wires crossed or shorted to each other, it could cause one valve to come on with another valve.
- Valves are failing: sometimes the change in water pressure that’s caused by a valve being on can trigger another valve to turn on. This is uncommon.
5. If a schedule runs back to back or twice in a row.
This usually is caused by overlapping start times. If another start time is reached before the timer finishes running the current schedule, it will start the schedule as soon as the prior one finishes. Check all programming on all schedules and when in doubt, do a factory reset (see DIY Troubleshooting page for more info.)
Note: If you repeatedly have problems with programming or times changing, you should send it in for repair. However, if you think you may have a programming issue, go to this Youtube video to learn how to program it; it’s actually pretty easy and the video does a nice job. It should apply to just about any model similar to the one shown.
The Irritrol RainDial RD600 series Training video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhHTeucdKgA
- Note that older timers will reset on a power outage to turn on every valve, every day at 7am for 10min. Double-check the programming has not changed unexpectedly.
- Day of the week or time of day – watch out for the subtle difference between the A and P in AM/PM. It’s the only complaint I have about the Irritrol timers.
If the RD-600 series controller still seems to be causing problems or is just acting strange, it’s probably just failing and needs to be repaired. This is VERY COMMON and likely the cause. I do this all the time and the success rate is near perfect, cost and time are reasonable.
Contact us for more information.
What does 5En or SEn on the LCD mean?
When is “Sen” normal to be seen on an Irritrol RainDial?
“SEn” or “5En” indicates SENsor. It is displayed when an (optional) external rain sensor device detects that it has rained. If you have a rain sensor and it is sensing rain, it should display “SEn” and stops the watering schedule until the rain sensor indicates the rain has stopped and water is needed again. It is normal and expected operation to see SEn if you have a rain sensor and it has recently rained.
What to try if you do not have an Irritrol RainDial or other rain sensor:
- Some back connector boards have a rain sensor selection switch that can be set to either Bypass or Active. Make sure it’s set to Bypass if you don’t have a rain sensor.
- If you have sensor connection screws but no switch, (and no rain sensor or you removed a sensor that’s no longer being used) there should be a jumper wire between the two screws. If the wire is missing you can just add a wire between the two sensor screw terminals. FYI: The switch on the board (if you have one) basically does the same thing as the jumper, it connects the two sensor terminals together.
The most likely problem:
If you do not have a rain sensor and get this message, it’s usually a “real” problem that will be intermittent and eventually get worse as time goes by and it’s hard to detect because the message may only appear when you are not looking at it.
It’s caused by a circuity problem that we frequently repair. Simply mail the controller module and back connector board to us and we’ll have it working better than new in no time.
(c) This material is copyrighted
How do I reset my Irritrol controller or reset it to factory defaults
On rare occasions something occurs that causes the processor to lock up. Sometimes the programming acts strange, or the clock even quits working. This would most likely happen when during power outages or transients.
The good news is that it rarely occurs and is easily fixed by doing the following, depending on whether you have an older or new model controller.
Follow the steps for either A or B below based on what timer you have.
A) describes what to do for Older timers (If it doesn’t work for you, do B)
B) for Newer timers
A) For older controllers: Perform a complete reset by: (note, this will delete all your programming)
- Remove the battery
- Pull off the ribbon cable from the back connector board (white or yellow board with all the screw terminals) by holding the gray ribbon cable close to the back terminal board and wiggling it off. It’s a press-fit connector that should be relatively easy to remove
- Wait 3 minutes or so for any residual power to completely drain from the unit. (Newer controllers do need a lot of time to discharge so it’s worth taking the time)
- Plug in the ribbon cable again (it should power up)
- Reconnect the battery.
- Reprogram the controller.
Note: The older model sprinkler timers will have default schedule which is something similar to:every day, 7AM, every station for 10 minutes. Make sure to go through all the station settings when you re-program the controller or your sprinklers may come on when you don’t expect them to. - If this doesn’t work, you may have a timer that has newer internal circuitry but the older case. Try following the steps below for the newer controllers.
It should start with a blinking 12:00pm and now work as expected; you can now set the time and re-program the schedule.
B) For newer controllers (Typically the -R models), you can restore the factory default settings by doing the following: (note, this will delete all your programming).
- Before you do this procedure, you should try doing the basic reset for older controllers first (see above). It may work, and you won’t lose your program settings.
- Set the dial on the current Time.
- Place the Function switch in the Set Programs position.
- Place the Program switch to select program “B.”
- With AC power connected, carefully disconnect the control module ribbon cable from the back PC Board by grabbing the ribbon cable close to the back terminal board and wiggling it till it comes off.
- Open the battery compartment and disconnect the battery.
- Press and hold the Manual button in and KEEP HOLDING IT IN while performing the next step.
- Reconnect the ribbon cable, then release the Manual button. Note: The display should now show 12:00 AM indicating the controller has reset. If it does not, repeat the procedure as necessary.
- Reinstall the battery.
- Reprogram the controller.
How do I know if it took the reset or not?
If the reset worked, the Time will say 12:00 and schedule A will have a default schedule of: Start time of 7:00AM, Every day (M-Su), all valve run times set for 10minutes. If you don’t see this then carefully re-read the steps and try again.
What to do if that doesn’t work
If you reset the controller and that seems to help, but it still behaves strangely now and then, it probably needs repair. The sprinkler timers tend to get intermittent before the completely fail. If you can’t get the reset to work, contact us about a repair.
Contact us – we’ll send you repair details.
Good luck,
Brian
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How do I remove the back connector board?
It’s always best to send the back connector board with the controller unit, and there’s no extra charge for working on it. Removing the back connector board is easy; you just need to keep track of the wires and where they go.
Use the steps below, or watch this video.
- Just loosen the screws holding the wires, slide them out, then simply remove 4 “Philips” screws that hold it into the case.
- Do not remove the entire case (it’s too much work), just the yellow or white connector board with all the screw terminals.
- Here are some tips on removing the back connector board
- Always disconnect power first, or at least remove the red and yellow 24VAC wires first and cover each end with tape so they do not touch each other or anything else while you work. This protects the transformer from shorting out
- Take a picture of the wiring or label the wires before you remove them, Use it as a guide when you hook it back up.
If you have any questions, just let us know.
(c) This material is copyrighted
Why does my timer say OF…?
Question: You just repaired my rain dial RD600 two weeks ago, reinstalled today, flashed 0F9, did a reset now flashing 0F1 alternating with the time. Any ideas?
Thanks,
David
Answer:
Hi David, That indicates that the controller is turned off for 9 days; it’s a rain delay feature. A RainDial button probably just got pressed accidentally while programming. It’s a handy feature to delay watering if it rains … you can read about it in the manual: http://raindialdoctor.
See page 24
Why is this flashing happening?
The number indicates the number of days to not follow any schedule (you would set this if it rained). To get rid of the rain delay feature, follow the steps below and change the delay back to 0.
see the following. (Important: Make sure to slide the switch to Run again when you’re done or everything will stay off).
How to I turn set or turn off the RD 600 series rain delay feature?
The Rain Delay enables the Rain Dial to suspend all automatic watering activity from 1 to 9 days.
- Place the Function switch in the OFF position.
- Press the +/- button to set 1 to 9 delay days (OF 1 – OF 9). (when it’s shows the current time, the delay is off)
- Place the Function switch in the Run position.
When delays are active, the display will flash, alternating between the current time and the number of delay days remaining. The delay day number will decrease each day until watering automatically resumes at the end of the selected delay period. Note:
To disable RD 600 series Rain Delay feature
At any time you can return the controller to active mode, repeat steps 1 and 2 to decrease the Rain Delay till it just shows the time, then the delay is off.
There’s an alternate way to set this delay feature shown below, but I would use the steps above instead.
- Place the Function switch in the Set Programs position.
- Turn the Dial to the Skip Days – Special Functions position.
- Press the Manual button (repeatedly) to display rd0 (Rain Delay = 0 days). If it says rd2 or another number, that number is the number of delay days currently set.
- Press the / buttons to select a Rain Delay period of 1 to 9 days or 0 to turn off the Rain Delay feature.
- Return the Dial to the Current Time position.
- Return the Function switch to the Run position.
Using Irritrol Remote Control with any brand of controller
This video shows how to use the remote control unit with an Irritrol controller and also how to use a wiring harness to connect it to any brand controller. This setup requires the Irritrol remote control modules and an Irritrol RD-xxx controller. I build a little adapter that allows you to clip into any system.
This is a quicktime video that shows the basic setup and how to hook it up. The wiring harness basically connects to the ribbon cable and wires up both 24VAC wires, and one of the sprinkler valves (In this case valve 6). I used an IDE connector from some old PC scraps I have around, otherwise, you can order the mating connector.
Here’s the video: sprinklerRemoteVideoSmall
Is the rain dial sprinkler controller broken, or is it a sprinkler valve problem? Basic Troubleshooting Steps
(This information and all information on this site is copyrighted by the rainDialDoctor)
Sometimes people suspect the rain dial sprinkler controller is bad. Before sending it in to get it repaired, or even worse, putting in a whole new system, test to see if the problem is with the valves. We do this by disconnecting the controller from the system and manually connect the valve wires to the transformer power.
Bypass the timer and check that the 24VAC transformer can turn on the valves directly by doing the procedure below. You basically touch the valve wires directly to the 24V transformer outputs instead of going through the timer:
- Unplug the timer’s ribbon cable from the back of box so it can’t control anything.
- Disconnect one of the valve wires (e.g., connected to terminal #1 screwed into the back of the controller box; just loosen the valve’s connection screw and slide out the wire)
- Take the wire and hold it directly on the right-most of the two 24VAC screw terminals (touch it for 10-15 seconds, long enough to notice if the valve 1 turns on or not)
(Note: don’t touch it to both 24VAC terminals at the same time. ) - If the Rain Dial Transformer and valve are good, the valve should turn on within a few seconds of touching the wire to the 24VAC terminals. If it doesn’t come on, it’s most likely a valve or wiring problem, not a problem with the rain dial controller.
- Additional things to try, just to be very thorough:
- Try repeating the process by touching the wire to the other 24VAC terminal instead.
- To eliminate the back-connector board from question, connect the wire going to the VC terminal to the left 24VAC terminal and the valve wire to the right 24VAC terminal. (You can put two wires under the screw and tighten it down.) If the valve comes on, the wiring and valves are good, contact us about repairing the controller.
- It’s also worth noting, that if you’re having trouble, try disconnecting every valve wire except one, this will help simplify things while troubleshooting.
Note, it is extremely rare for a valve to stay stuck “on” because of a bad controller. Valves stuck on are usually due to a valve problem, or a programming problem caused inadvertently by the user. If a sprinkler valve is stuck on, try disconnecting power to it, or disconnecting the Rain Dial’s ribbon cable from the back-connector board. If the valve stays stuck on, the controller is certainly not the problem. You can probably fix this by purchasing new “guts” (diaphragm, washers, etc.) for your valve from a good irrigation supply store. Tell them the RainDialDoctor sent you, and let them know we repair Irritrol RainDial timers. We’d appreciate it!
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