Local designer, developer and supplier of wireless control systems for the irrigation industry, Remconix, now offers two new valve control units (VCUs) as part of its range of products.
A VCU is a wireless irrigation receiver, which is used in conjunction with a Remconix irrigation control interface or Remconix irrigation controller transmitter to provide a wireless switching system for irrigation valve control.
“The VCU 4Z and the VCU 2Z models have been launched after a four-month field trial period and are now in full production,” says Remconix spokesperson Mattheus van Emmenis.
The VCU receives instructions from the transmitter and activates up to four dc latching solenoids on the VCU 4Z model and up to two dc latching solenoids on the VCU 2Z model.
Both models are IP68 compliant, meaning that they are completely sealed against ingress of water and dust, and can be placed inside a valve box without the risk of damage due to flooding.
The models are low-cost units for applications where valves are more than 20 m apart.
A valve test mode, with which valves can be operated from the VCU itself without the need to operate a transmitter, and an auto-learn mode, with which the VCU learns the unique identity of the transmitter without having to set any dual in-line package switches, are just some of the features of these models.
Remconix initially only supplied wireless irrigation controls that were affordable to residential owners, but has since extended its capabilities to cover larger installations such as those required by commercial farming and industrial landscaping projects.
The company currently outsources the manufacturing of its products to a contract manufacturing facility, Sabertek, in Centurion, which bought a 50% stake in Remconix in January this year.
Sabertek is ISO 9001:2000 certi- fied and Remconix has installed custom-built test equipment at the Sabertek manufacturing facility, which is used by Sabertek to maintain logs of each product that is produced.