I'd like to be able to turn on the water supply from a hose bib by applying power to a valve. I'd like to be able to plug this valve in (far from the water source) to a standard electrical outlet.

My hope is to piece together a make-shift irrigation system using my home automation stuff.

Is there such a valve?

A lot of irrigation valves are simple open when power is applied valves, powered by 24 volts AC.

There are standard irrigation industry AC transformers that accept line voltage in and deliver 'low voltage' 24 volts AC to the valve (or whatever).

So just hard wire the transformer to the valve, and switch the line voltage AC into the transformer.

Thanks! I'll look around.


Thanks, Aaron, but unfortunately those are mostly whole-house valves designed to attach to your main supply. They're super expensive because of it. I've definitely considered one, though. They make one with ZWave functionality, which means I could set up ZWave water sensors in places I might be concerned about flooding, and if they detected any water they could send the signal to shut off the whole house valve. Pretty neat. Sadly, the ZWave valve is about as expensive as those (around $500). I'll have to hold off on that!

Is this what you're after? They have a fairly high flow rate and will withstand mains water pressure. They're similar to a 12v version of a washing machine fill valve. Any decent home automation system should be able to drive a 12v 0.25A line, if only by a relay. I use these for various computer-controlled fluid mixing applications. They're cheap and reliable.

pca

Just make your life easy...

http://www.lowes.com/pd_159978-53852-27729W_4294612482__?productId=3713890&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

To answer your original question...

All (or nearly all) irrigation valves are 24 volt ac. Nearly all are normally closed (power to open).

For the old school brands (Champion, Rain Jet, etc...) you can buy 120 volt replacement solenoids, so you can run it directly from a electrical outlet (USA, at least, don't forget the GFCI). These valves, and the replacement solenoid, are pricy. Expect to pay $150 ish, way more than a 24v valve and transformer.

Pretty much any solenoid valve and transformer from the irrigation section of Home Despot or Lowe's will do what you want.

Very cool! And the price is definitely right. How would I wire one of these up? Is it possible to connect it to one of these for power?


Yeah, I've looked at the Orbit products. That would be the somewhat easier route, but by the time I invest in the models that can control multiple zones I might as well start looking at creating my own thing. After all, I'm trying to spend hundreds on a makeshift solution in order to avoid spending thousands to put in a real sprinkler system that I have to winterize and everything.

I'll look at the solenoid valve idea. Thanks!

To plug that solenoid of Mark's into your dangly thing, you'd need this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Volt-DC-0-5A...=item4861ad9766

The valve is directly wired to the transformer on the low voltage side. The mains voltage side of the transformer the plugs into that Zwave relay from Amazon.

Remote control activates the Zwave AC output. Transformer gets power and in turn feeds lower voltage AC to the solenoid valve. Valve turns on, water flows.

If you stick with generic sprinkler control stuff then you can use the commonly sold 24 volt irrigation transformers, some of which are rated for outdoor and water exposure. The 24 volt irrigation valves are usually rated for outdoor exposure and water.

The key to reliability is that the actual electrical connections on both the full mains voltage AC wiring and the low voltage AC wiring connections must be sealed against moisture and corrosion.

Corrosion happens fast in outdoor installations so sealing and intelligent installation are critical.

Winterizing a basic traditional in-ground irrigation system is not terribly difficult. I use a rather compact air compressor but a larger rental or borrowed unit makes the job go faster. Rig up a hose to adapt between the air compressor outlet fitting and the garden water hose bib feed connection.

Use the compressor to pressurize the feed-in end of the irrigation system, then open one irrigation zone valve at a time. The compressed air flow simply forces the residual water through the buried tubing and out the spray heads. The compressor just needs to have enough oomph and CFM to move water from all the low lying pipe sections and carry it up and out the spray heads.

Cycle through all the zones one at a time until only a fine mist is still visible from any of the heads. Cycle through all the zones once more to be sure. Shut the compressor off, you are done.

Disconnect the air hose and cap the water feed inlet until spring.

Here's a 120v sprinkler valve you can plug directly into the outlet.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IRRITROL-110V-205TF-1-THREAD-VALVE-FLO-CONTROL-205-/140341177036