Maximum Wire Runs for Solenoid Valve Circuits (feet)

Charts & Tables Maximum Wire Runs for Solenoid Valve Circuits

(Conventional Irrigation Systems, one way distance)

For controller output of 24 volts (4-volt allowable drop):

	AMERICAN WIRE GAUGE (AWG)
Number of Solenoids per Circuit	18	16	14	14/12	14/10	12	10	8	6
1	782	1,243	1,980	2,432	2,841	3,151	5,025	7,962	12,376
2	391	622	990	1,216	1,420	1,575	2,513	3,981	6,188
3	261	414	660	811	947	1,050	1,675	2,654	4,125
4	196	311	495	608	710	788	1,256	1,990	3,094
5	156	249	396	486	568	630	1,005	1,592	2,475
6	130	207	330	405	473	525	838	1,327	2,063
7	112	178	283	347	406	450	718	1,137	1,768
8	-	155	248	304	355	394	628	995	1,547
9	-	138	220	270	316	350	558	885	1,375
10	-	124	198	243	284	315	503	796	1,238

For controller output of 26.5 volts (6.5-volt allowable drop):

	AMERICAN WIRE GAUGE (AWG)
Number of Solenoids per Circuit	18	16	14	14/12	14/10	12	10	8	6
1	1,272	2,021	3,218	3,952	4,616	5,120	8,166	12,938	20,111
2	636	1,010	1,609	1,976	2,308	2,560	4,083	6,469	10,056
3	424	674	1,073	1,317	1,539	1,707	2,722	4,313	6,704
4	318	505	804	988	1,154	1,280	2,041	3,234	5,028
5	254	404	644	790	923	1,024	1,633	2,588	4,022
6	212	337	536	659	769	853	1,361	2,156	3,352
7	182	289	460	565	659	731	1,167	1,848	2,873
8	-	253	402	494	577	640	1,021	1,617	2,514
9	-	225	358	439	513	569	907	1,438	2,235
10	-	202	322	395	462	512	817	1,294	2,011

Note:

For multiple solenoids in a circuit, they are assumed to be located within a few feet of each other.
Assumes that the "hot/control" wire and "common" wire are the same size. If the AWG is shown as 14/12, it means that the "hot/control" wire is 14 AWG and the "common" wire is 12 AWG.
The minimum operating voltage of the solenoid is 20 volts.
The inrush current of the solenoid is 0.400 amperes.
A 20% safety factor is built into the calculation to allow for brownouts, splice deterioration, solenoid aging, etc.