Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 02, 2011 5:25 pm Help!! Our retic has been working perfectly the last 5 yrs that we have lived at the house(which is 7 yrs old). We suddenly noticed that whilst our neighbours lawns are getting greener our front lawn is dying (dead)! when we checked our retic, Station 1 is not working, the other 3 stations are. We have not done any digging etc to disturb anything & when we googled "solenoid valves" we have came to the conclusion that there is a solenoid valve for each station and a master valve?? we can find, what we think is the master valve in our front flower bed, then the valves for station 3 &4 are in our garage, we have no idea where valve 1 & 2 are, 2 operates our front flower bed & 1, the front lawn. Does anyone have any ideas where these could be & why, there not with every thing else? Re: Garden Retic 2Jan 02, 2011 7:45 pm Yep. It would be the coil on the valve but best do some other simple checks first to make sure its not arse about. First thing would be check the controller is active on station 1. Chances are it is but use a low voltage test light from auto shop to check or better still is a multimeter set to the audible function. Set a manual run of station 1. Just touch the station one terminal and the clip of the test light to the common terminal. marked (Com) So the light should come on fine or if with a multimeter it makes a high pitch noise its all cool Then... Go to a proper retic shop and buy a valve finder or "chatter box". They are about $20 and will save your sanity To use them disconnect the Master valve wire. shove it clear of any terminals. Then disconnect station 1 and clip the alligator clip to terminal one and the other end of the chatter box to the wire for station one. Switch the controller to manual run for that station. the chatter box will pulsate the current and make the coil on the valve switch on and off rapidly creating a thud noise in the ground. Then Tonto will know if train is coming and that you have found valve one Now chances are that valve one makes no noise because it's stuffed. So station two valve will be very close by and I'd guess within a few feet. So repeat the chatter box test with valve two for the flower bed That should make a thud noise because you know its working So once you find station one valve you can see what type it is and go to a PROPER retic shop buy a replacement coil. Cut the wires from your buggered coil and take it with you so you get the right one. Hopefully they have one that suits your valve. There are loads of random valves that once stuffed you'd never find parts for. I hate replacing whole valve bodies in existing systems. It is a pain in the bum. You need to get a slip fix to rejoin the pipe unless you are lucky enough to have black poly off the valve If all else fails get the retic mob round at 3 million dollars an hour and they will find it in minutes with their thingo that sends a signal through number one wire and then they use a metal detector thing to locate the signal and ultimately where that valve is Re: Garden Retic 3Jan 02, 2011 7:46 pm Oh and to get the lawn coming good again don't fertilise! Seasol, Powerfeed but the most important will be Saturaid wetting agent and molasses every two weeks then use it every month or two. Your lawn will make next doors look like a joke. Fig Landscapes has produced an e-book and native plant index, available for purchase from their website. It's a great resource, full of inspiration and tips. Another… 1 12170 Our Bondi Greenwall was impressive from day one with advanced lush plants to provide a wow factor to this recently renovated living area. The boundary was less than 1… 0 15235 |