A fault message appearing on your timer or phone means that your B-hyve device is detecting a short in one of the station wires or solenoid attached to the B-hyve device. Typically this will happen with older valves or if you have multiple valves attached to one terminal of the B-hyve device.

Our devices only allow a certain amount of amperage output of each terminal, and if that limit is surpassed, a fault will be triggered and your B-hyve device will stop sending voltage out to prevent the timer from damaging itself.

This can be caused by a bad solenoid, crossed wires, or a short in the wire itself.

First, we need to identify whether the issue is with the B-hyve device. Remove the wire from the terminal that was mentioned in the fault message, along with the common wire associated with it, and run a quick 1-2 minute cycle on that station. If you don’t see Fault on the display, then the fault will be in the solenoid or wires. If you do receive the fault message while the wires from that terminal are no longer connected, then we know the B-hyve device is at fault. If that is the case, then use this link to request a replacement.

If the B-hyve device isn’t the issue, you would want to test the solenoid by connecting a different solenoid on the valve that was mentioned in the fault message. Alternatively, you could also test with a multimeter.

If using a multimeter, test between the common wire and the zone wire of the zone in question. You should get 20-60 Ohms Ω. Every manufacturer’s valves will have a slightly different reading. If the ohms are less than 20, the solenoid that operates that valve is defective and will need to be replaced. If the reading is above 60, there is a wiring issue. If you read 0 ohms, it is likely a cut wire. You can test another zone wire and if you get the same reading of 0, it means that the common wire has been cut.

You can also perform a continuity check to test the wires. You’d test between the common and a numbered valve at the timer, and the benefit of this test is that it’ll test the wire and the solenoid. You should get a 0 reading and oftentimes a beep. On the multimeter, look for the Ω and )))) symbols.

Once this has been resolved, you should be able to connect your wires up again and run the system. The “Fault” message should now be gone.

If you are seeing a “P” or “Pump Fault” then the troubleshooting is a little different. Please click here for help with that fault.

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Tags: bhyve, troubleshooting, UndergroundTimer, Voltage, wiring