Teardown and Repair of a Insoma Water Timer

Water timers are nifty devices that can water the lawn at set times or keep that vegetable garden from turning into a dustbowl. When [electronupdate] timer refused to output water …. Teardown and Repair of an Insoma Water Timer.

When [electronupdate] timer refused to output water on any of its three outlets, he did the right thing. Instead of angrily checking the warranty on the sodding thing, he tore it apart to attempt a repair. As expected, the design of these devices is quite straightforward.

Three solenoids control whether an outlet is open or closed. A control board also handles the user controls and display. There was no obvious sign of damage, and the PCB was potted in a white substance that should have kept out any moisture.

A quick check with a battery revealed that the three solenoids also worked just fine, so the cause likely was somewhere on the — potted — PCB.