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Water pump starting for a second or two and stopping

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Vlad_Haidan
29 Jul, 15:31
Regardless if it’s a boost or a scheduled watering the water pump only runs for a second or two and stops.
Not sure what to do from here.

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Paul S
29 Jul, 23:15
Hi Vlad_Haidan,
Is this a new install or a running system suddenly stopped, also which control unit & pump type are you using?

You could try,
Remove the supply water pipe from the solenoid valves. aim away from anything and try a manual water, if pump keep going the control unit & pump would seem okay, if pump still starts and stops, I would check all the settings on the control unit and the App, ( Tom from another post with a similar problem found the float switch setting was "on" and should have been "off" this setting is found in the control unit settings, not the App )
Regards Paul

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Chris
ADMIN
30 Jul, 08:47
Hi Vlad - if the pump outlet is open ( as Paul suggests, first test with no valves or drippers ) then a short pumping time is most likely to be the control unit doing a "fault shutdown", which is detecting high power consumption.

This can happen when a mini pump is potentially about to fail. If you have a pro pump, the control box might be shutting down a little cautiously, in which case on the control box settings ( via the device dashboard, not the web app ), turn the "pump fault shutdown" feature off.

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Vlad_Haidan
08 Aug, 09:29
Hi all, Thank you for your suggestions. I have a pro pump and I tried multiple setups, but nothing seems to work and now I lost all connection to the unit, cannot get to it anymore. It tries to come to life from time to time, but not sure what is triggering it or what is not working.
I would like to bypass the battery and put it on mains or a larger battery to see if that is the issue but not sure how to do that, open to suggestions if anyone has successfully tried this.

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Paul S
08 Aug, 10:49
Hi Vlad,
As it’s hard to get to the plug pins, I made a test lead up using a pump extension lead, fuse, ( for safety ) and a couple of crocodile clips to test on a car battery. ( see in photos )

If you are running online are you able to view the battery is still in the green?

Regardeds Paul

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Vlad_Haidan
08 Aug, 16:03
Thanks Paul, I can try to create something similar, not sure if I'm skilled enough. The unit came back to life today with the battery red. I assume somehow the solar panel cannot provide enough energy to the battery or the battery itself is not holding a charge long enough. Has anyone tried to replace the battery so far or added a larger solar array to charge the battery faster?

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Paul S
08 Aug, 16:35
Hi Vlad,
What I would do is turn off all watering in Zone 1 & 2 for a couple of days and let the battery build back into the Green then turn both zones back on, I think the pro pumps are well engineered and fairly reliable.
I also think the maximum you can go is a 10 watt solar panel on these battery’s, If you have mains nearby Harvst sell a mains charger which will bring the battery back up on dull days, I got one last year when we were not getting enough sun.
I feel the battery’s are replaceable, but don’t know if Harvst would sell you one or whether they would want to fit it for you, I see they now do a repair service.

How old is your control unit.

Regards Paul

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Chris
ADMIN
11 Aug, 09:30
Hi Vlad - I see your control unit is from 2021, our launch Kickstarter campaign. It is likely that the battery will no longer hold charge ( they do have a limited lifespan ), and it's an old model which we don't do any more. We can upgrade you to a newer unit, and we do recommend the 10W solar panel too. I can do a control unit and solar panel for £100, which is essentially this part: link without the water valves. That will get you up and running with the latest equipment.


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