Question
I have a rainbird controller. It has been working fine for years, but this summer it stopped working.My sprinklers come on if I turn the "valvles" in the front lawn on, but I cannot get to controller to control the sprinklers. Please help? is my contoller bad? Even the manual cycle does not work. What is the connection b/w the "valves" (located in the front lawn, on the ground) and the controller. If I open the valves, the sprinklers come on, but I have to turn them off manually.

Answer
The connection between the valves and the controller is the wires.  But start looking at the controller.  Does it have power?  Check for a blown fuse, probably behind the circuit board.  Make sure all the wire connections are good, both at the controller and at the valves.  If you redo them, use waterproof wire nuts.  Pay special attention to the common wire which is most often the white one.  Make sure it is connected securely to the valves and the controller.  Also try resetting the controller, by removing the power supply and any battery backup for 3 minutes, then reconnect the power and reprogram the controller.