57894 4-Station Outdoor Swing Panel Sprinkler System Timer

I took a chance and I bought this irrigation timer from Amazon to fix a timer issue that I had with my irrigation system. I sought advice from Chuck on the Orbit Support team as to whether this Orbit 4 station timer model 57894-20 can replace a faulty mechanical Intermatic timer on my existing single indexing valve, 3 zone lawn sprinkler system and the logic to use when setting it up. I emailed their support and received a reply in 1 day -- I also called with a follow[on question and Chuck picked up the phone on the 2nd ring! He was very informative and willing to help get me going! Great customer service experience!. It's programming is simple yet effective and does all that I need a 4 zone timer to do (In my case I actually only needed to set up 3 zones --> hint: you just don't set up the 4th zone and the timer skips it). Pro: - Seems well made and of good quality - easy set up - the panel swings out of the way to access the wiring - Plug n go -- I ran a 2 conductor, 18 Gauge thermostat wire through the cinderblock and mounted the unit in the garage away from the elements and simply plugged it into a 110V outlet (you could also wire it for ourdoor use if so desired) - operation - helpful and timely customer support - Fair price for what you get Con: - A slight negative is that you have to hold down the up or down arrow to get to the start time that you want (the clock time change starts slow and while it does speed up, it still takes a while to get from the default 12pm to the start time you want. If you set the start time for 4 zones your finger will get tired -- luckily you only have to do this process when initially setting up the timer. Not a show stopper but an area for improvement. - Uses a CR2032 battery to hold memory -- would be nice if there was circuity built in to remember the time in a power outage scenario - You get a fold out paper with quick start info -- good enough for most straight forward installs, but there was not a lot for one off kinds of situations like mine -- The manual is online in .pdf format but again, did not answer my unique question. If it helps others, here are my existing components, irrigation system operation (from a non technical layman's perspective :-} and question to Orbit: Single Hydrotex 4000 Indexing Valve (covers 4 pipes) What looks like an Irritrol 205 Series Valve with flow control knob (shows " richdel " on the valve relay, but label is worn away) Original intermatic mechanical timer model T8845PV 24 hr, 1r day skipper and transformer with bad timer unit (sprinkler system works when timer is operated manually) but wanting to replace with an Orbit 4 station timer model 57894-20 rC upc 046878578944 that i purchased Operation: Using the mechanical timer - fully operational if manually turned on and off - Timer is bad * when the mechanical timer switches on, the relay triggers the valve to open and the flow of water rushes into the 4 chamber Hydrotex 4000 Indexing Valve, flowing through an opening in the round rubber washer and the water flows to that zone. * When the timer turns off, the valve blocks the flow of water and the water drains out of the Hydrotex 4000 Indexing Valve. * When the timer switches back on the rush of water seems to pop a springed plunger in the Hydrotex 4000 Indexing Valve and the rubber stopper ratchets over and positions the hole over the next pipe zone. * When the timer turns off the water drains out and the cycle continues on the third and fourth pipe (zone) My question was: Can you wire this Orbit timer to control a single relay/valve that controls the Hydrotex 4000 Indexing Valve? If yes, how is it wired? The answer was simple and worked flawlessly: [email protected] "Our timer can be used with your indexing valve. You connect one wire from your valve to "common" and the other wire to "sta 1". You only put minutes on (aka program) station 1 of our timer. You use 4 start times with at least one minute between the time one turns off and the other one starts. If you need further help, please call us at 1-800-488-6156, option 1 then option 4 (7am-5pm MDT/Mon-Fri). Thank you, Chuck Technical Support Orbit Irrigation Products, Inc."

I replaced a Toro timer that I've had for 20 years. It started to operate eratically, but can't complain about the service life. Started looking for like brand replacement but nothing appealed to me. I found this Orbit unit, good price, features I wanted, and I have other Orbit products that I like, so I gave it a chance. Arrived quickly, installed easily, programing was straightforward. I used the Toro rain sensor from previous setup. Note, the sensor has to have normally closed contact to work with this timer. One function I'm having to adjust to is the manual operation of the system. The Toro timer would cycle thru any program, say 4 zones by simply pressing "manual" twice, and the first zone in that program would start. Pressing "next" would cycle to the next zone in that program, and so forth till all zones in that program were cycled. This was handy for checking sprinkler function or blow out in the fall. The Orbit timer requires each zone in a program to be manually started, which requires a lot more button pushing. Maybe someone knows a way to do this like the Toro, which was much easier. I haven't found a method though. Updated 6-2024 Regarding manual operation: I found that if I set the "budget" value to a minimum number of 10%, I can run a full program through a cycle at the budget % setting. This is useful for checking the system or blow out.

Works great on backyard sprinklers. Easy controls to set off and on start times.

Installation was easy. I used this to replace a 6 station orbit controller. This one has three programs (A, B and C) which is nice, so I can setup an extra watering program. You can select days of the weeks, duration of each station, start times, etc. Once you assign a station to a program (A, B or C) you can set the start times. You can have up to four start times. Then you just set your run time for each station (i.e. 5 mins or whatever). My setup has stations that are bubblers for large plants and stations that are sprinklers for the grass. This allowed me to put all my grass sprinklers on program B and all the bubbler stations on program A and then I can run program A and B everyday to water all the plants and the grass. I have three bubbler stations that run at 4 mins, 3 mins and 4 mins on Program A. I have 5 sprinkler stations that run at 5 mins, 4 mins, 4 mins, 4 mins and 4 mins on Program B. At 8am Program A runs. At 8:30am Program B runs. At 8:00pm Program A runs and at 8:30pm Program B runs... everyday. The plants and lawn are happy. I can use Program C for stations that I occasionally manually water... like an extra watering Program for hot days. Other people might use Program C as a third grouping of stations. A nice touch is this controller has two common lead connectors so if you run separate wires, like if you have stations in different locations, you don't have to tie your two common wires together and shove it into a single lead connector. The outdoor box is nice as it protects the controller from wind, dust, and rain (although I would not count on it being waterproof). Also nice is the normal electrical cord you plug into an outdoor socket. The transformer is inside the box and you don't have the giant transformer brick to plug in at the electrical socket. The screws and anchors to mount it into my outside stucco wall were included and worked fine. I pre-drilled holes for the anchors and placed the anchors in the hole and the screws tightened up just fine without pull out of the wall. I only use 8 of the stations, but I wanted room to expand in case I end up irrigating my side yard or some other project. Overall, it is a pretty decent irrigation controller for the price. If you need advanced features like Wifi or sensors (temp, soil moisture, etc.) (although you can connect a rain sensor) or complex programming (like variable run times on single stations or whatever) then this is not your controller. You will need a more expensive model with those features. But, for a basic controller this works well. I only wish you could setup different run times for single stations, like if in the mornings you wanted to deep water and at night you just wanted to lightly water or something.

very good

Easy to install and has excellent instructions.

Whilst Orbit timers are the bees knees, and I'll definitely be getting another one, do not buy this product if you live in a country with a 230 v system. It will only work in a 120 v system. Bang and smoke when I plugged it in. Orbit customer support are pretty good, but why would Amazon ship a US only device to the UK?

Good

Works well nothing fancy but it works! The simplicity is what I like!