Lawn Irrigation – Connect 4 Rain Bird Valves to Hunter X-Core Computer

I am still in the process of converting my existing Hunter lawn irrigation system. From the current 3 sprinkler circuits with 4 sprinklers each, I will build 6 circuits. I will then install 3 sprinklers per circle.

For the blasters, I have so far relied on models from Hunter. My 1st valve box is also a Hunter product.

Now the 2nd box is to be installed. Here, however, I rely on solenoid valves from Rain Bird. Rain Bird, like Hunter, is one of the top dogs in the irrigation equipment market. Price-wise, the valve box was even a little more interesting than Hunter’s box.

The new Rain Bird valve box

The new valve box is equipped with 4 solenoid valves from Rain Bird. Furthermore, in addition to the water inlet, there is also a water outlet which can be shut off via its own water tap/slide valve. A 6th outlet at the water distributor is currently still closed.

So that I can control the 4 circuits centrally via my irrigation computer, the solenoid valves must of course be connected to the computer. Currently, I use an irrigation computer from Hunter.

This is the Hunter X-Core 801 model. This allows 8 zones to be controlled separately.

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Preis inkl. MwSt., zzgl. Versandkosten

Zuletzt aktualisiert am 5. December 2023 um 18:45 . Ich weise darauf hin, dass sich hier angezeigte Preise inzwischen geändert haben können. Alle Angaben ohne Gewähr. (*) Bei den verwendeten Produktlinks handelt es sich um Affiliate Links. Ich bin nicht der Verkäufer des Produktes. Durch einen Kauf über den Link werde ich am Umsatz beteiligt. Der Preis ändert sich für dich jedoch nicht.

Of course, it was exciting to see if the Rain Bird solenoid valves would work smoothly with the Hunter irrigation computer.

But why wouldn’t they? Both the Hunter solenoid valves and the Rain Bird valves run on 24V.

And practice has shown that it works.

The video of the installation

I recorded the installation of the Rain Bird valve box and the connection of the solenoid valves to my Hunter X-Core irrigation computer in a separate video.

Connecting solenoid valves to the X-Core computer

As with the Hunter valves in the first valve box, the solenoid valves are connected via 2 cables or wires each. One wire is the ground connection and the voltage is applied to the other wire.

The ground cable from all valves can be clamped together again. Here, one wire is sufficient for all ground connections to the valves.

WAKO clamps, for example, are suitable for splitting the ground cable. The 2nd wire in each case must then be connected to the marked one on the watering computer.

So for my 4 valves I needed a control cable with at least 5 single wires.

Programming the Hunter X-Core is the next step. I have written a separate entry on this.

In my playlist about automatic garden watering I have already posted a lot of videos about my garden watering. On my Youtube channel you can find the videos of my many other projects.