It has been a while since I updated my blog. Things have been quite crazy the past few months, but now I am back alive writing more blogs sparingly.

The first thing I want to share about is an update to my previous post that talked about how to control the Orbit 62035 valve. There have been a couple of missing pieces there which I would like to clarify. First, I found that a MOSFET cannot reliably control that valve. I am not sure why, but it may have to do with the on-state drain to source resistance. But using a MPSA14 (NPN darlington) works, and it requires a base current limiting resistor, so I’ve updated the schematic as below. Second, I was reminded that two kickback protecting diodes are needed to protect the transistor from the inductive current from the solenoid, so those are also added. These are the two main changes. The circuit below has been tested to work. Feel feel to leave comments.

• Eagle schematic can be downloaded from here.