How to Install an Orbit Rain Sensor - PlumbersStock.com

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In this video Eric Moses shows us how to install an Orbit Rain/Freeze Sensor. Rain and Freeze sensors work by cancelling watering times whenever it rains enough to justify not watering your yard. They will also shut off scheduled watering whenever it gets cold enough to freeze the water. This is especially handy in areas where early Fall or late Spring freezes can potentially damage a sprinkler system. These sensors are beneficial to both your wallet and the environment making them a clear choice for any homeowner.
Video Transcript:
Hello and welcome to today's installation video, today we are going to be installing a rain/freeze sensor from Orbit. The rain freeze sensor obviously has two major functions, number one it will turn off your sprinkler controller whenever it rains and it will also turn off your sprinkler controller whenever the temperature drops below freezing. This is advantageous on two different fronts. Number one when it freezes water in your pipes and sprinkler heads will expand. It can end up cracking your heads it will crack your pipes, it will lead to a lot of extra work and a lot of extra money fixing your sprinkler systems so it saves you big there. Number two is that it turns off your sprinkler controller whenever it rains. There is no logical reason as to why you should be watering your lawn and spending money on that when Mother Nature is footing the bill for you. So here we have all of our components spread out on the table right now. We have our rain sensor itself, right, this is the unit that does all of the magic. We have the wire that connects over to our sprinkler control box. We have the components that we need to mount our rain sensor. We have the instructions for installation which, hey, you should read before you get started and we have this nice pretty box which we're gonna throw away when we get done. All right, let's go get started.
All right, installation is simple enough, we're going to be mounting ours to our rain gutter, which is directly above our control box. And to mount that all we gotta do is we're gonna screw this to our rain gutter and slip our rain sensor directly on to it. As you can see there is not much to the mounting side of things, now that I've got my bracket on all I've got to do is slip this on and that's all we've got to do on this side of things now let's go down below and wire it up.
All right now as you can see we're here at our sprinkler box, we just open up the front and here we have all of our wiring in the back. Now our sprinkler box is a newer Orbit Sprinkler box and so it already has a section where we can directly wire our rain sensor into. However if you have an older sprinkler box it might not have this. However, even if you have an older box you can wire a rain sensor into your sprinkler box and there's a wiring diagram included with your instructions that will show you how to do just that. But ours, we had to clip our line because it was way too long. So we clipped this cable right here so that it would fit our box. It's just good practice not to have a lot of cable dangling out below our sprinkler box. We ran it underneath right through our punchout hole in the bottom of the box.

[@misheliz5732]

like the music in the video

[@paytonnlee]

Thanks!

[@stefanopozzi8470]

I have 3 wires coming from the sensor instead of 2. In particular I've also a blue one that it just 5 cm long. I have to connect it also? Thanks a lot.

[@networth8754]

What activates the FREEZE sensor? I understand how the rain sensor works by disk expansion, but I have not heard a good explanation of how a WIRED sensor is shut off when the temp drops.

[@02HDFXD]

I have my system running on a pump relay how do I stop the pump from running it only seems to stop the valve from opening?

[@victorial6314]

Looks like 'someone' needs to RUSH to Home Depot for a new drill!!!

[@robertpatterson8643]

😂

[@pklifter]

This might be a stupid question but do these have to be in direct rain or can they detect rain in the air. I was thinking about putting mine near my electrical box which which does not get direct rain.

[@stevemc2794]

+pklifter The rain falls into the sensor, making a stack of little disks swell up with water. This swelling pushes a plunger down tripping the switch.

[@victorial6314]

Curvy rain

[@victorial6314]

stupid autocorrect... DIRECT rain

[@martpierce7161]

I have the same sensor but I had to relocate by box. What type/gauge wire do I need to get? It will be simpler for me to extend the wire versus moving the sensor.

[@asfdasdful]

25 awg

[@Hoss_1966]

you should have showed how to wire it up if you don't have the sensor input on box

[@patrickacox]

I have one of these on a pole in the ground. My son hit it with lawn mower and broke the pole and top of the sensor. Is it hard to replace?

[@victorial6314]

Next time, it might help to plant it red so he can see it better. Not the most attractive but it's that or replacing it when he mowes the lawn

[@andrzejbudzynski9237]

These wires on the wall look terrible. You should use wireless rain sensor.

[@coldcoilinc]

Andrzej Budzyński I was about to say the same thing

[@sk7262]

cable management 101 - looks horrible - as the installer i'd offer a service to clean up the look and safety of exposed cables before posting a video like this - BACKYARD JOB

[@normanlaundry1090]

Up date your video by removing the installer's hand so one can see where the connection of the wires are made.

[@ThurstonHowell3rd]

Update your eyeglass prescription or get some new bifocals.

[@evangagezach]

"It's just good practice not to have wires hanging from the box".. As he has a rats nest of wires running in all directions down the outside of the house.

[@robertpatterson8643]

😂

[@JimPlunkett-gc8ly]

Crap doesn't tell you how to set the sensor tabs on the sensor, duh! 🤦