I want to add remote control to my sprinklers.
The present control box will be set to disable its control of the sprinkler valves, but its triacs will still be connected to the valves.
I will be using triacs with opto-isolated gating to turn each solenoid valve on/off using the 24VAC in the present control box.

Can I connect each of my zone wires to the same zone screw terminals in my present control box without causing a problem?

In other words, can I connect the outputs of two triacs to the same valve when one triac is gated off and the other is gated on, without damaging anything?

 

In general that should be okay. You should probably be sure that both triacs aren't turned on at the same time, however.

 

Thanks for your help!

I'm curious. What would be the problem with turning them on at the same time? If they were mechanical switches there wouldn't be a problem. So is there an electrical effect that I need to be aware of?

 

Thanks for your help!

I'm curious. What would be the problem with turning them on at the same time? If they were mechanical switches there wouldn't be a problem. So is there an electrical effect that I need to be aware of?

Well, if the source for both triacs are the same (phase) then there should not be a problem.

 

It's the unknown that is causing caution here. We can't actually guess exactly how the device is built, so we try not to steer you into a mistake, and consider that as probably the best result we can hope for.

 

Thanks to both of you!

I understand the caution and appreciate your concern.
Believe me I am easing into this because I don't want to smoke the box!

 

This is a couple of ways your machine might be configured.
These might not be all the possible ways.
The goal here is to try to think of all the possible ways and tell you something that won't make any of them smoke.