Question
QUESTION: On my Rainbird Timer SST-400i I now get a message that says, "Error detected, check wiring in zone #3.  The manual says this means valve short.  I don't know what that means.  Now when in auto my zones 1 and 3 run together getting poor pressure obviously.  Is this a wiring issue because it all looked good, or a valve issue?
Thank you very much for your advice.

ANSWER: Hey Kyle, it sounds like a wiring issue. If the solenoid on valve #3 was bad and was shorting out, it would not work at all. It sounds as if the #1 field wire and the #3 field wire are somehow touching each other, and that is why they run together. When you say the wiring all looks good, are the wires buried in the ground? More than likely it could be an issue with the wires underground. First check the connections at the valves themselves, and make sure you have it wired correctly. All the valves will have one wire from the solenoid to a common wire, and then the other wire from the solenoid will be connected to an individual wire dedicated to each valve. I would check that the hot wire for valve #1 and #3 are not hooked together at the valves.Good luck and have a great day.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The connection of the wires for the valves are in boxes.  The #3 and #1 wires don't seem to be touching that I can see.  The path of the wires to the timer runs under the house.  I'll probably re-check the wires at the timer and valves and then replace the wiring if I can't find anything else.  Thank you.

Answer
Hey Kyle, you might also want to take off the wires from the #1 and #3 terminals, and then turn #1 valve on and check your voltage across the common terminal and the #1 terminal and also across the common terminal and the #3 terminal and see if you get about 22 to 26 volts. If when you turn on #1 you should only get a reading across the #1 terminal, if you get a readingon the #3 terminal, then the controller might be the problem. Good luck and have a great day.