I laugh and think - Solenoid Valves

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news:a9605e2f-eade-474f-8895- snipped-for-privacy@y5g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

Peter Costello.

GB

A 1" Richdel/Irritrol solenoid with an AC coil should cost about $20-$25. The 12v DC coils for these are usually the latching type - a pulse with one polarity opens the valve, a pulse with the reverse polarity closes the valve, requiring an H- bridge or dual-pole relays to control each valve. The catch, as you've found is that the DC latching coil costs $30-$40, which is bloody expensive compared to a 1" valve, however the same coil is used on much more expensive valves, such as 2" units.

If you are not running high flow rates, why not hack one of the previously-mentioned Holman tap-timers - they sell a $20 2-knob version which has a neato motorised ball valve. The catch is the fluid path, while straight, is only about 8mm diameter - fine for drip irrigation but probably not for sprinklers or pop-ups.

What do 1/2" garden retic solenoids cost? They are AC - perhaps drop the voltage down & run off DC??

Hmm, Peter Costello.. known associates. Now what was I going to do this Saturday?...

Hi Poxy, and thanks,

I would hack a tap-timer, but common sense suggests that a 12vDC solenoid should be available, but not at $AU75.00 (unless you wish to rip-of people)...

Thanks again Poxy for the great ideas though.

BTW, Please excuse the rather strange topic. I was thinking of the lyrics of a long-gone Australian group - Anyone know what the song/ group is?

Could be economies of scale.

At one stage, Twainese bicyles were shipped to USA, then reshipped to Australia,

No cigar sorry Rodney. Maybe more like this...

any good ?

Rats, I could have handled a nice Cuban. know the song, the lyrics bring back memories of middle Australia, well penned, but the topic not particularly palatable for those who started in brick veneer suburbia.

I have had many years life with these 24v ac solenoids (daily watering). I deliberately ran one off a 12vdc solar irrigation project knowing that eventually the core would polarise and solenoid wont pull in properly. Those $18 24 ac solenoids lasted 2 years before failing on DC. I replaced the solenoid with another but this time I reverse the leads every couple of months or so. Been about two years on DC no failure yet. I did plan to buy a cheap mini car inverter and run a 240/24v xformer to feed solenoids AC in future anyway.