Hi,

Our controller box is outdoors, away from the house (not even outdoors on a wall) and I'd like to have it moved indoors, probably to the garage.

How difficult would this be to do? I won't be doing it - either our handyman or someone else. But, I wanted to check and see what all is involved in getting this done. I understand that all the sprinkler wires come up from the ground and end at the location that the box is currently installed, so what would be required to transfer this setup to a different, indoors location?

Thanks.

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If the actual control valves and water plumbing come into it you are not going to want to move it.

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As far as I can see, only wires are coming up into the controller box. I believe the valves are spread throughout the front and backyards, usually grouped into 3s (there are 11 zones).

I'm wondering what would be involved in moving the wires to terminate in the garage rather than outside, I guess.

Depends how far it is from where it is, to where you want it. It’s basically running wire to the new location from the old location and mounting the control. Splicing the wires in a junction box at the old location and running the new lines to the garage. I had to redo mine because the wires were too short and I wanted to move the control box.

Since the valves are in different locations I would add a junction box and not run new lines from each valve, unless you have the money to do it.

Since sprinkler wire is usually low voltage it can just be buried under ground. So what’s involved? After installing a junction box, the wires need connecting and also need to be buried under ground. A channel/mini ditch for the wire will need to be dug from current location to garage. A hole drilled into your wall to get the wires into the garage. The wires need to be reconnected to controller.

Carm

Thanks! That's kinda what I was thinking but always good to have someone on the forum to chime in.

If it's just the controller to be moved - longer wires. Either splice what you have ( which is usually a recipe for issues down the road ) or new wires.
I would run low voltage wires thru a conduit or some kind of protection coming into the building where they might get stabbed by a shovel or subject to abrasion from a lawn mower or weed whacker, etc..

I never liked controllers outside, neither in the ground box or a box on a pole.

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I'm with billb, use conduit - buried six inches or so.

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I just saw this:

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Elgato Eve Aqua HomeKit Smart Water Controller

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Soldering the splices would be a good idea.

Would it work to get a Wi-Fi enabled controller, and leave it where it is? You could control it from a smart phone from anywhere.
I have a Rachio and it is wonderful.

Soldering is recommended and you would have to ask your handyman to do that along with heat shrink tubing. The soldering will make clean connections and limit a boatload of electrical tape/wire splicers/wire nuts.

As for wire damage, I’ve cut one line of low voltage outdoor lighting when reinstalling edging. Easy fix. As a precaution you can have it installed in conduit since it has multiple lines for the 11 zones. Shouldn’t add much cost to the total bill. The soldering probably will.

Quote
Ken Sp.
Would it work to get a Wi-Fi enabled controller, and leave it where it is? You could control it from a smart phone from anywhere.
I have a Rachio and it is wonderful.

Yes, I would like to do that, but with the controller being outside, the house wifi is barely within reach. Another reason to try and move the controller box into the garage - wifi reaches the garage pretty well.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll pass the info on to our handyman, esp. regarding the soldering.