electrical irrigation systems

Need help on fixing wiring for electric sprinkling system. I'm putting in a new lawn and inadvertantly rototilled through some wiring. The problem is that I've got 8 wires coming out of the box (all color coded--and I DO know which color they are supposed to attach to) that are supposed to attach to 2 sets of 4 wires coming up from the conduit. The 8 are all different colors while the 2 sets of 4 are redundant colors (R<G<Y<B). If the black and yellow coming from the wall both need to attach to a green from the cunduit--how do I know which of the two greens to pick? And so on for each of the 8 wires coming out. Trial and error leads to way to many possible combinations. Any simple solution?

thanks,

Shaun

 

I assume you cut up the wires and need to splice them back. Most of the systems I have worekd on have one neutral wire (white) and a number of colored wires (one colored wire for each zone). The trick is to make sure you have the neutals separated from the others (check the color of the neutrals at the controller). As long as you have the neutrals identified you can splice the others together and then turn on each zone and see what comes on. Be aware that the original installer may have installed spare wires so check the number of zones in the system against the number of (non neutral) wires. Also make sure you use UL approved direct burial splice kits for your repair work.

Good Luck!

 

DWJ--thanks for the response--I did cut wires--accidentally. You mentioned checking the neutrals at the controller--how do I know which are neutral? The area that was cut was a "satellite" section--in other words not directly attached to main controller (or at least not close to it). It is on the side of the house far from garage (where controller is). Does that matter? And am still not sure how I'll know which of the two yellows from the conduit that the blue and red from the wall need to attach to--or does it not matter? Thanks for you help,

Shaun