Jumping back in

[James Sentman]

I am slowly figuring out just what you’re up to and what you need :) 

I personally don’t think the solenoid valves are as reliable as they should be as they can get their tiny insides clogged or burn out a solenoid and then leave you dried out (and in your case standing there with a shovel and a LOT of digging to consider) I have no knowledge about how such farms manage their setup but it seems like there might be no cheaper recourse than the super expensive devices you mentioned initially. With difficult access to the valves you can’t use the cheap ones since they are cheap and therefore prone to failure. But then you know that ;) I’m just thinking out loud ;)

If you have enough control wires to them, or have the ability to bring them up to a new control box above the actual vault the valves are in then in my totally not in your shoes and only just now beginning to grasp the issues you’re facing opinion I really like the directly connected ball valve actuators. They make them at every reliability level. They also make them that are not just strapped onto the level for the existing ball valve but that come with their own valve as part of it. I thought that is what I sent a link to rather than the cheap ones that you screw to the valve lever already in place but I also had the other in the email at some point so I don’t know ;) I recently ordered myself one of these: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XWG6ZLS/

to experiment with for turning off the water to the house if a water sensor goes off while we’re out of town. It has a reasonable MTBF that I’m not against putting it into that service as I have fairly easy access to it just have to pull the fridge out in the garage to get to where it has to be. Unfortunately the only 2” device they sell is a solenoid valve for $150 so that doesn’t help at all.

If you can find a ball valve actuator like that which you like I can help setup a bit of electrical hardware that will turn the output from whatever irrigation controller you decide to use into the proper output for controlling the valve. If it’s a polarity reversal one like what I ordered or the 3 pin version like some others it can be done for a small extra cost. The downside is that a 24v (or whatever) that is always on will be needed in whatever vault or control box you install those in to run it. So don’t consider that a huge barrier to getting it working. Thats fairly simple I think I can find an inexpensive commercial product to do it if you can get the power to the box or vault. Drop me a note off the list if you find an actuator that you want to experiment with. Otherwise I think you’re stuck with the expensive solenoid valves.

> On Oct 22, 2019, at 11:21 AM, Chad Gard <chad at holeinthewoodsfarm.com> wrote:
> 
> The big thing is reliability.  To access any of these things, I need to dig a really big hole.  Big enough to get me (and I'm not small...), a ladder to climb in and outwith, and room to work.  By hand, because I don't have a backhoe (I'd rent one to install a system, but not to fix a single broken valve).  That's a lot of digging.  I had a fitting fail this spring.  Ground was still frozen to about 18".  Also, very compacted, because it was crossing a tractor lane.  Took me 2 1/2 days to dig the hole.  So, something to avoid :)
> 
> Something like this looks like a possibility:
> https://www.amazon.com/HSH-Flo-Electrical-Position-Feedback-Motorized/dp/B07D9ZL2JT/ <https://www.amazon.com/HSH-Flo-Electrical-Position-Feedback-Motorized/dp/B07D9ZL2JT/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=2%22%2Bactuated%2Bball%2Bvalve&qid=1571757544&sr=8-16&th=1>
Thanks,
 James


James Sentman                       http://www.PlanetaryGear.org		http://MacHomeAutomation.com




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