Installing lawn sprinkler valves to existing system. Main wires questions or suggestions.?
Question:On the wires leading to existing system I can see the main power lead. However all the other wires are different in color leading to existing valves. From the wire bundle two black wires (the only black wires) lead out to nothing and were left with no electrical end caps protecting. Manual says nothing on wiring valves. Any ideas on black wires? Or how can I splice in to existing system wires at valve point having one valve working at a time when system is operating? Am I going to have to get a new controler or run new wires existing controler?
Answers:
The wire that goes to all the valves is the common. The other color wires go to the other wire on the valves. One colored wire per valve. That is how the valve gets power. It is common to run extra wires when doing a sprinkler system. So the 2 wires that are not being used are there just in case you ever need them. So tie one wire from each valve to the common then the other wire to an unused wire. Just make sure that your timer is capable of handling the extra valves.
As long as you have an extra colored wire and your controller will support the extra valve, it will work. I am wondering why you have 2 black ones though, unless one of them has a stripe. Normally multi-strand wire has only one of each color.
To see a wiring diagram, follow the link below
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