How to Wire Sprinkler Valves to the Timer

It can seem like a difficult task, but it is as a matter of fact pretty easy if someone tells you how to do it. You will need a pair of wire strippers and a small screwdriver.

Where to Buy the Right Wire

Ac Adapter

The first step is to buy the right wire. Sprinkler wire is sold at hardware stores and sprinkler contribute stores. If you need a lot of wire, it is good to shop at the sprinkler contribute store. Sprinkler wire is an 18 gauge wire.

Number of Strands

A shoreline is the same thing as one wire. You should get one more shoreline than the amount of valves being used. For example, a seven valve ideas would use an eight stranded wire (eight wires).

Solenoids

There is one solenoid per valve. Each solenoid has two wires already linked to it. Pick one wire from each solenoid and twist them tightly together. It doesn't matter which solenoid wire you pick.

White Wire or base Wire

It's an unwritten rule that the white wire will be the base wire. Stick by this rule to prevent obscuring by others working on your system. It's called base because it is used on all valves. The white wire will be hooked up to the large bundle of solenoid wires. For example, if you have four valves there will be four solenoid wires and one white base wire all hooked together with a wire connector.

Pick your Colors

Once the white wire is linked to one wire from each solenoid, pick any color you wish and connect it with a wire nut to the other solenoid wire. On a four valve ideas you might pick blue, black, green, and red for each valve and run the white wire to each valve as well. In total, for four valves, you will need five strands of 18 gauge sprinkler wire. Keeping track of colors will help you know which timer hub will turn on which valve.

Run the Wire Back to the Clock

Take the wire to the timer. To get wire into the garage, it is helpful to use a hammer drill and some foam sealant nearby the wire hole.

Hooking Up the Timer

You will need a small screwdriver for most timers. connect the white wire to the final that says C. connect the colored wires to the added terminals. It doesn't matter what order the colored wires are installed. You may want to have the wires in a determined order for your convenience, but it's not required. For example you may want hub 1-3 to be the front yard only.

You will also need to hook up the power. connect the power pack to the ac terminals. If you are using an outdoor timer, make sure you have a pigtail instead of an ac adapter.

Final Tip

Most contractors use silicone filled wire nuts. The ideas is that they keep out water and make the relationship last longer. However, many landscapers disagree. The silicone keeps out water but interferes with development a good tight connection. For this reason, we recommend using regular wire nuts. The extreme wire relationship is a regular orange wire nut in a grease filled cap. They are made for direct bury and somewhat over kill for sprinkler boxes, but if you want potential they will do an awesome job.

How to Wire Sprinkler Valves to the Timer