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Let's talk about Rain Sensors in the common questions that people may have
I've got a Mini Click Rain Sensor here hooked up on the wall connected to a
Pro-C controller
and the rain sensor the basic idea is that when it gets wet
it has discs inside that expand
and when the discs expand it opens the circuit on the controller
thus giving you your sensor off message
the basic parts here is the Rain Sensor
it's two wires that run out
to it from the controller
you've got a rain sensor bypass and active switch
and inside the controller is where the two wires hook up to the two sensor
terminals
very important if you want to utilize the rain sensor to have the rain sensor
switch in the active position
if you're in bypass
it would ignor any input from the Rain Sensor
so one of the common questions is you know it rained last night and my sprinklers came
on this morning
what's going on I just installed the Rain Sensor and it's not working
one of the reasons that may not be operating is the bypass switch is in the
bypass position
you want to make sure that it is in active wasn't bypass the controller was
ignoring the Rain Sensor
two inches four inches of rain it does not matter it's not going to turn the controller
off so you must have the switch in the active position
now the second easy check for that solution
is to make sure that when you installed
the rain sensor you remove the chrome jumper tab which connects the two sensor
terminals
these rain sensors are called normally closed circuit
so when the controller comes from the factory it has a small chrome jumper tab
that connects the two sensor terminal screws together
in lieu of a Rain Sensor
if you install the Rain Sensor two wires out to the sensor you leave the jumper
tab in their this sensor can get wet the the discs can expand and open the circuit
all day long
but at that chrome jumper tab is still in place the circuit will never open
so you want to make sure that you move the chrome jumper tab
now one of the other common questions
is
my display says sensor off all the time if your controller always says sensor
off
one of the things that you want to look at
is remember this is just an extended circuit
it goes out to the sensor and it comes back
the wires that leave the controller
if those are damaged or their cut
that means the circuit is open
the disc might be getting wet and swelling an opening and closing himself but
if he's not connected all the way back to the controller
that two wire circuit is now open and there's your sensor off message
first thing to look at it as well as says answer off that's going to bypass
there's the controller work normally if it does you know controller is good to go
and you have to look at the rain sensor circuit
if it still says sensor off when you're in the active
position
you can locate the chrome jumper tab
that you pulled out back in the day
re-install it and remove your two wires if you don't have the jumper tab you can
take a small piece of wire three or four inches long
get rid of your sensor wiring and simply install a jumper wire from sensor to
sensor terminal
to complete that circuit
to complete the loop
once your jumper tab is installed
and you go over to active
that means you're circuit is complete and the sensor off message should go away
really it's just a basic circle
circuit out to the sensor and when the sensor gets wet the discs expand
and it opens up that circuit
causing the sensor off message in the display
if at anytime you want to test it
just go to the sensor and hold this button down
what you're doing is you're manually opening the circuit
and you should get off sensor or sen off in your display
when you release it should go back to the current time a day
so here's how to actually test the fact the sensor is working once it's already
installed
on Hunter controllers you have two ways to turn a zone on
but you may have just installed the sensor and you think I want to test the thing to
make sure it works
there's two ways to operate a station the first way is under manual single
station
the other way to operate a station is under manual all stations
this controller has a manual all station here with the right arrow
the manual single station feature is just for one station only
now here's the key part
under manual single station
it will always water
no matter what you do with the sensor
you can write out and try to push the button interrupt the watering
on manual single station it will always water and never be interrupted
the only way that you're going to interrupt water with your Rain Sensor is
under manual all stations
so get a manual all station on your dial that feature you wanted a manual all
stations
and you'll want to make sure that you've got a couple of stations with runtime
there
just go back to the run position and that will start the entire program
that mimics a regular pre-programmed start
and the Rain Sensors should interrupt during mid watering
the manual all stations are programmed if you go to manual single station in that
is a single command at that one station you turn on and it will always turn on
so if you do manual single and you go to your sensor if it's not going to turn it
off
so to test the sensor
you'll go to manual all stations
and in this controller we're going to use the right arrow to access
that feature
by holding down the right arrow and station one is running
now we have a program running
if I go to the sensor hold down the button
and you'll see the word off displayed in the screen
by letting go of the button
they will go back to running that station