Sprinklers. Part III

I decided today that it was too much work to pull a whole new cable through the conduit, so I cleaned up the crappy connections as best I could and rewired new solenoids.

One valve is very picky (I htikn it is not working right). it doesn't like the new solenoid at all; it stays on even with no voltage applied to it. So, I used a reasonably good old one and it's happy. I made a big silicone sealer ball around the splices and will rebury them tomorrow.

Another thing I've learned is that it is bad system design to have a majority of the distribution pipes higher than the valve they are attached to; most of system 7 is 3 or 4 feet above the valve height and so when it gets turned off the backflow struggles against the pressure. That's why there's so much water there; it dribbles out of the backflow valve for a few minutes. I might want to install an in-line valve on the slope and let that valve's backflow handle the majority of the pressure.

What do you think?

Alan

Sprinklers, Part II.

I went back to basics this morning. I checked the individual voltage levels on all 5 signal wires at the point where the cable comes out of the ground. The controler has individual circuit switches for off/on control; in theory, there should be no voltage on any other wire if the corresponding switch is off. Well, I was detecting a lot of "stray" voltage on supposedly off circuits when I powered each one on (one in particular).

So, now I know why circuits 7 and 8 always come on together. But, what is the root cause? I am now very curious because while I was digging up the dirt yesterday I came across a broken piece of plastic conduit with some Romax in it.

I spied a junction box on the side of the garage that looked suspicious, so I opened it and sure enough, there was a run of sprinkler cable and some Romax. Back over to the valve "farm" and a little digging with the trowel - bingo! The cable is coming out of the broken conduit. Well, that's not so great because of the water getting in there, but at least I know the answer now. But, wait! There's more! Turns out the sprinkler cable was cut off by whoever cut the conduit. There is a 3 foot piece of matching cable spliced into the long cable run. But the wires are bare. No wire nutes, no protection from the water or the dirt. Bare conections. Well, no wonder the voltage was leaking! So, now I have to decide if I want to run a new cable from the j-box and repair the conduit to something a little more environment-resistant or not. I want to do it right.

Good thing Memorial Day Weekend is coming.

I've spent the day wrestling with my sprinkler system. I have a timer-controlled system that in general is very good. It has 8 different circuits; 3 in the front and 5 in the back. The 5 in the back are all in one group along the back side of th house; reasonably easy to get to.

They've been in there for a while, though, and I am now having to replace backflow vales and control solenoids. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get official "Richdel" (the anufacturer of the sprinler valves) replacement parts - I end up buying "generic" solenoids from Home Depot. They are the same form factor but the mechanical interface to the valvel body internals are slightly different.

I had some problems today replacing a couple of solenoids and backflows. The wiring is getting a little weak; the PVC covering on the solenoid wires is soft and puffy. Add the fact that the grease cups the wire nuts are in are breaking down and this means the solenoids don't fire when the voltage is put to them.

So I was trying to replace solenoids by simply removing and replacing, but it wasn't working. I finally dug out the wiring harness and wrote down all the circuit wire colors and I'l re-wire the whole mess tomorow. Fresh wire, fresh grease cups, a whle set of solenoids. Should be fine.

Also, the cats have taken to their cat beds finally; they were both in theirs this afternoon when I came up there to see what they were up to. Eventually Fig stretched out and was laying on the carpet with his rear legs still inside the bed. Very funny.

I have had reason to think about my mortality again recently.





I ride a motorcycle to work a few days a week. One's perspective on the world is different when the only thing between you and the pavement is a leather jacket and a fiberglass helmet. One day last week I rode onto the freeway on-ramp using the car pool lane. The metering lights were on; I could see the reds and greens from the other two lanes' metering lights for the single-occupancy vehicles. The red light in the car pool lane metering light was inoperative, but the green light worked. I rolled up, waited for the green and took off.



The next day I drove the car and had to use the single-occupancy lane immediately next to the carpool lane. The carpool red metering light was still inop. Much to my amazement and then creeping horro, a huge delivery truck came barreling down the carpool lane and blew through the light - as if it was not an inop red but was in fact not metering at all. Mind you, there were 5 or 6 cars in the single-occupancy lanes whose lights were working and being obeyed by the various cars in the lanes. So, obviously this guy was of limited intelligence; he was unable to decide that maybe he should assume the light is burned out and to stop and wait for his metering green light.



If this guy had been behind me the day before, I would have been a hood ornament. Not injured, dead. Period. I broke my own rule about cell phones it he car and immediately called the highway department to report it and tell them why i was upset about it. They had the bulb changed Monday (I reported it at 4:45 PM on a Friday, so I consider that a pretty good response).



This weekend I was driving on the interstate and witnessed a car spin out and bounce off the center divider It then bounced back into the traffic lane perpendicular to the lane itself. The chaos of the car spinning out of control and the dust and smoke from tires created a 0 meter visibility area for 20 meters or so around the car. The traffic was heavy to begin with, so there was no doubt an ensuing set of collisions due to this person's mishap. I was on the opposite side of the freeway, so I was not effected, but I was shook up because IF I had been on that side and involved with that guy when he went out of control I may not have been able to respond quickly enough. At the speeds we all normally drive on that freeway stretch, my reaction time would have eaten quite a bit of my available manuvering space.



I again broke my rule and dialed 911. I was put on hold for over 5 minutes before I hung up in disgust and no one from the California Highway Patrol 911 office ever called me back. I have no doubt that other people were calling in the accident, but the fact that I was put on hold for more than a few seconds was galling, to say the least and for 5 minutes was inexcusable.

So, ejp and Jerry have relocated to La Jolla. I went down there Saturday night to see what's up. I got there about 7:15 PM. They were still unpacking and assembling IKEA furniture they'd bought that day. I hung out, saw the place (nice ocean view) and then we went to dinner with some other folks.



I commented to ejp that he manages to score aces every time he moves. Usually you have to move once or twice before you figure out where the right place is; he and Jerry nailed thisonethe first time out.



Received an out-of-the-blue email from someone I knew in high school so we've traded a few emails back and forth. A little weird at first but it's cool.



Went to the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana on Friday night to expereince the fist of a series of "Songwriters Roundtable" episodes. Joe was MCing and had another musician friend appear with him. It was not as strong a showing as I was hoping for but there was enough good moments that he'll do at least one more.