Tone's Notes

After loosing the LCD display on my old sprinkler system controller, I decided to go with a networked replacement.

The Ware Brothers 1016 Controller was completely painless to install. My old system used a master valve and 11 zone valves. Configuring the system to turn the master valve on in conjunction with one or more zone valves was simple.

Three things could be improved in the quick start documentation:

1.      The “power” switch on top of the unit must be switched left to use default startup parameters and switched right to use configured startup parameters.

2.      When entering the initial IP address on the System setup page, it wasn’t immediately clear that I could type over what appears to be static text to change the IP address (must click Save).

3.      Only devices 1 through 9 can be used in conjunction with other devices. I had to swap my master valve with my zone 1 after wiring things up for the first time.

Here are some pictures of the unit.

The chipmunks got into the electronics of all four of our HVAC compressors which was not good for them or the electronics. After removing the nests and electrocuted chipmunks, replacement parts were needed.

Our original HVAC contractor installed InterTherm compressors nine years ago. InterTherm became Nordyne, Nordyne became Gibson, and today nobody I can find is terribly interested in servicing just the electronics. I found a great link here for tracking down new names for old HVAC manufacturers.

Chuck Laverty Plumbing & Heating is one of the larger groups of HVAC contractors in the area but their company policy is that they don’t work on compressor electronics. They’d be happy to replace the units. Would I be interested in scheduling an appointment three weeks from now? I think NOT!

So I took a parts-is-parts attitude to the project, pretended to be an HVAC contractor and found a local wholesaler (Bell/Simons in Worcester) who was willing to track down replacement parts. This almost lead to an order, but I found it hard to confirm I was really getting what I needed while maintaining the illusion of being an experienced HVAC contractor.

Here’s a brief review of the “electronics” required to control a HVAC compressor.

There are three components: contactor, capacitor, and anti-short cycle timer (also called a delay on break timer).

The contactor is a single or dual pole relay that turns power on or off to the compressor and fan motors. The compressor does the actual work. The fan keeps it cool. The contactor is controlled by a low voltage signal from the thermostats inside the house. Usually 24 volts.

The capacitor is a heavy duty oil-filled capacitor that evens out the power going to the motors. It prevents damage to the other components due to large voltage spikes when the motors start and stop.

The anti-short cycle timer guarantees that the motors get a recovery period after having been turned off before they will turn on again. Just as voltage spikes aren’t good for the components, being turned on and off rapidly isn’t good either.

The final solution was found by googling for the part number of the contactor. This lead me to the PartsGuy.com website. At last I had a resource that confirmed that this isn’t rocket science. There aren’t really that many possible parts and the specifications are all fairly similar. Within a few minutes I was able to order exact replacements for the contactors and equivalents for the remaining parts. As an additional advantage, the replacement for the anti-short cycle timers is now a solid state unit instead of the circuit board with discrete components on it, many of which the chipmunks found tasty enough to eat.