Question
timer
I have a Richdel 446PRi control box. It must be about 16 years old, which I think is pretty good usage! We just had our sprinklers turned on 2 weeks ago and the system was working fine (all zones fired just a few days ago). Today, I went to manually start a zone and the heads didn't pop up - nor did they with all of the other zones. The timer has power and everything seems to be functional. I've repaired wires in the ground boxes on one or two zones in the past few years, but this has never happened. An irrigation guy came out and without doing much told me that the timer should be replaced ($415) and I should get a rain sensor ($215). Could it be something else other than the box? If not, what would you recommend as a replacement? I've lived for 7 years without a rain sensor, so I don't necessarily need one but could be swayed. It doesn't seem particularly difficult to change out (cut power, label wires, remove, and reassemble) so I would think I can do it myself unless there's some reason to let a "professional" do it?
Thanks!
Kasey
AnswerHey Kasey, is this guy using a "gold plated" controller? First of all you do not need a rain sensor and second of all a excellent controller should only be about $150.00. Installing a controller is very easy, you can do it yourself. First of all, on the controller you will notice the terminal strip where all the field wires are hook into the controller. One will be marked C for common and the others will be marked 1,2, 3 etc. When you take off the old controller, simply mark the #wire you take off especially the C (common) wire, and when you install the new controller you will hook the wires up to the same #'s on the new controller. I would suggest a "Irritrol" Rain -dial controller it comes in a 6 station model just like your old controller. The reason I recommend this controller is because it is easy to program and it should last a long time. You can do it, let me know if you have anymore questions, thanks and have a great day.
