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replacing an Imperial Valet timer

njitgrad

Unregistered

1

Tuesday, November 6th 2012, 4:49pm

replacing an Imperial Valet timer

I think its time to replace my relic Imperial Valet timer. My irrigation guy told me he could install a digital timer in the spring for $150 using the existing wiring.



Is this a DIY job? If so, what kind of timer would be compatible with the existing wiring?

Wet_Boots

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Posts: 3,599

Location: Metro NYC

2

Tuesday, November 6th 2012, 8:44pm

Does your system have Imperial brass zone valves? If the answer is "yes" then you don't get a new controller for $150.

njitgrad

Unregistered

3

Wednesday, November 7th 2012, 10:16am

Quoted from "Wet_Boots"

Does your system have Imperial brass zone valves? If the answer is "yes" then you don't get a new controller for $150.
I have no idea. Can you elaborate?

Wet_Boots

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Posts: 3,599

Location: Metro NYC

4

Wednesday, November 7th 2012, 2:22pm

It has to do with whether or not the zone valves on the sprinkler system are compatible with modern controllers. Imperial made good valves, with solenoids that happened to draw about three times as much power as a standard solenoid of today. Nearly all modern controllers will perceive a perfectly good Imperial solenoid as being a short circuit, and will shut down the zone, giving you an error message on the controller display.

So, if you have no idea of where the zone valves are, to check on this, you get technical, like any good NCE alumnus would. You get a multimeter capable of reading AC current, and see what the solenoids in your system are actually drawing.

njitgrad

Unregistered

5

Thursday, November 8th 2012, 1:56pm

Quoted from "Wet_Boots"

So, if you have no idea of where the zone valves are, to check on this, you get technical, like any good NCE alumnus would. You get a multimeter capable of reading AC current, and see what the solenoids in your system are actually drawing.

That's funny. Unfortunately I only took enough EE courses to meet the graduation reqmts for my curriculum. And we're talking over 20 years ago. I'm thinking at this point that this is definitely not a DIY job for someone like me. 8)

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 3,599

Location: Metro NYC

6

Thursday, November 8th 2012, 6:04pm

You could get a clamp-around ammeter (#95683 - not the cheaper one) at a Harbor Freight store and see what you can read for current draw.

This is still assuming you can't find any of the valve boxes so you can bring back a valve photo.

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