Hi all - Rachio newbie here, upgrading from a PITA B-Hyve.
I have my Rachio 3 and an Everydrop 1004-EX on the way to arrive here next week.
Everything is ready except I seem to be completely unable to find a 50 foot length of 18/2 or 16/2 shielded twisted pair direct burial cable? I am located in the interior of BC in Canada and have spent hours trying to find a source for this cable at a reasonable price (I don’t need 100/500/1000 feet). From what I can see, Paige P7162D (or armoured) is the gold standard, but can anyone help me with with a retail and/or online place to buy that or something equivalent in Canada? Any help greatly appreciated!
Well all I could find quickly was a 50 foot length of SHAWFLEX 2PR 16AWG 300V CSA INSTRUMENTATION CABLE CIC TYPE TCBCD 90C WET/105C DRY XLPE ISOS SHIELDED SUN RES DIRECT BURIAL. Super overkill I am sure, but cheaper than buying a 250’ or 500’ reel of something smaller.
The cable you need is frequently called “Toro signal cable”. Most irrigation supply stores (not the big boxes) can get it for you by the foot.
Paige P7162D (SiteOne’s part no. 180096TH), 16AWG 2-conductor plus drain, shielded
Toro Communication Cable 7162D (SiteOne’s part no. 162STR), 16AWG 2-conductor
should be available somewhere in Canada. Contact the superintendent at your nearest golf course for some help. Just don’t use thermostat wire or anything else non-buriable.
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Thanks! As I noted, I had determined that part number, unfortunately had not been able to locate anyone online that could supply it at a reasonable price or in a smaller quantity. As I also noted yesterday, I did get something that should work, it is just way overkill for what I need. I really thought one of the online irrigation stores in Canada would have something, but I guess there isn’t enough demand?
How much are you looking for? Really… visit a golf course. 20-50’ is nothing to their requirements.
Thanks @JBTexas - I already bought a 50 foot length of the cable described above on eBay and should have in a day or 2. If for some reason it doesn’t work out, I will try a golf course. Appreciate the tip.
Not exactly the best, but I just used landscape lighting wire. My wire isn’t run near anything that would cause noise, so didn’t really worry about twisted or shielded.
I’d wonder how you’re going to waterproof the flowmeter wiring to low-voltage braided junction. If it comes together, post a picture.
The wiring will all be in a valve box, with the flow meter. The 1" line feeding the valves is only about 4" below the surface, so the flow meter will be inside a valve box. I will just use gel-filled wet location wire connectors to connect the flow meter lead to the shielded pair of 16 ga wires I will use in the cable.
As I was investigating this job, I noticed what I thought was a small valve box under the landscape fabric about 4 feet from where the cable running into the house to the irrigation controller went into the ground. When I moved away the crushed rock and exposed the “valve box”, I found the previous homeowner (I hope it wasn’t a contractor) had “spliced” the valve control cable, used regular wire connectors, and then put a Folgers coffee container over top. The connections were corroded to hell, I am amazed it was still working. So I ran new proper 9 conductor cable to the valves to replace the two 4 conductor thermostat wires they had run to the valves. That spot will now become the location of the new flowmeter, all inside a proper valve box.
Your lawn doesn’t deserve you! Sorry about this discovery, but it sounds like you’re certainly going to make a difference. Good luck. Send us a picture of your installation when it’s done! Keep your photo here for posterity.
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Here is the end product - the bare copper wire at the bottom is connected to the 3 drain wires from the signal cable and a 4’ rod pounded into the soil, the valve cable splice is on top. All with waterproof wire nut connectors in a NDS PRO Valve Box - 12" x 17" x 6"
I meant to order a box without tapered sides, so it is a little tighter than I had planned 
The blue thing at the bottom right of the box is an ant bait trap as I was getting swarmed when I was sitting on the gravel doing wiring. 
All seems to be working beautifully!
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