U.S. Solid Motorized Ball Valve- 1/2" Stainless Steel Electrical Ball Valve with Full Port, 9-24V DC and 5 Wire Setup, Normally Closed with Indicator Lights Indicate Open or Closed Position

I cannot vouch for how long it will last, but it appears to be very well made. I am using it in the supply water line at my weekend/vacation house at the beach. My goal is to simplify draining the house for winter by making it possible to do it completely by gravity. This required me to reroute some of the plumbing and place the valve where it would have been difficult to get to if I had to operate it manually.Some people found the wiring confusing. Personally, I did not. However, please understand that I worked with industrial controls much of my career, and reading wiring diagrams is easy for me. A lot of people that had trouble have said that the manufacturer was very willing and helpful.I built a simple control panel with toggle switch and led indicator lights mounted on the wall over the recess where the old shut-off valve used to be. I'm powering the valve and indicator lights with a 12vdc 2A wall transformer. The toggle switch is an on-off-on (momentary on's with return to center position off). Seems to work very well.

I bought the 1 inch version to control a water feature on my pool. (US Solids model MSV00024.) As I later discovered, US Solids sells a variety of configurations. (See their website) This is the 5 wire version, which is the same as the 2 wire version, with the 3 remaining wires providing an indication when it is fully open or fully closed. The 2 wire version requires a DPDT switch (or relay) to control it. They do sell a 3 wire version, which would only require a SPDT relay, which is really what I wanted. (for a while I thought you could use 3 of the five wires to get what I wanted, but no.) I made the mistake of having the plumber install the valve, before I knew how it worked. I also designed my control system using a single SPDT relay. Eventually I was able to get it to work, and am happy. I added indicator LEDs which I don't really need, but since the wires were there, I did.The valve comes with double sided sheet on how to connect it. Unfortunately, the sheet covers four versions (two 2 wire, a 3 wire and the 5 wire). The second side covers the same versions, but in a different way, and there are minor inconsistencies between the two. The print is small and I had to use a magnifying glass to read it. There is inconsistency in abbreviations for wire colors, some times spelled out (in 2 pt type). In one place Y is used and another VW is used, I think both refer to yellow. Same thing with B, BU and BK. There's another place where for voltage it says "9-24V DC or AC/DC", whatever that means. The website does not clarify these issues. Would of been so much easier for me had they just covered the version I bought, not twice, and using bigger type.The wires are very small, maybe 26 awg, and that made testing hard, especially since it was already installed in with the other pool equipment. My fault for not bench testing before installation. In the end the YELLOW and BLUE wires control the valve, and the BLACK (common), RED (closed), and GREEN (open) wires give you feedback. To open or close the valve you reverse the polarity to the yellow and blue wires. And yes, it uses no power once in the fully open or closed position. I used 12v DC, I didn't measure the current, but 40 ma seems right. Takes about 5 second to open or close. I'm happy with it, and glad I bought it, but did not need it to be a brain teasing puzzle to decipher the install sheet. I write this review for others that may come down this road after me. I would easily give 6 points for the value, but -2 for the instruction sheet.

As an electrical instructor, I am always looking for a economical control device with practical applications. This valve so far is extremely nice. I’ve had no issues with the valve so far. The stainless steel threads were clean cut and as far as operation ot the valve, everything functioned perfectly. Opens and closes in approximately 10 seconds. Flow rate was great. Took approximately 1 minute to drain a 5 gallon bucket using gravity flow and a 1/2” valve. Will be using these valves in future class development using PLC’s.

The valve I got works fine to open. But when it closes, it turns too far and, after being closed for a few seconds, is open again, slightly. I've corresponded with customer service, but have not yet figured out how to adjust the stop point so that it stops turning once closed. My work around is to power it during the close operation for 11 seconds and then stop, but that's a hack. Besides being a hack, it also means that I don't get a "closed" indication from the circuitry in the valve. Customer service sent me a video showing how to adjust the stop point for a different valve, so while it was nice that they responded and tried to help, I still have this problem.

Valves work great and are cost effective. I'm using 4 of them in a domestic circulating hot water system . They aren't quite silent but are fairly quiet in the furnace room.I had an issue where one of the micro-switches came apart and the motor kept running. I sent a picture and explanation to the Seller, and I got back a response in 45 minutes! They offered to send me a replacement, which I received within the week.Bummed that I had a failure, but very pleased with their Customer Service.Recommended for functionality, price, and service.

I installed 12 of these valves for individual zone control on a hydronic heating system. The 5-wire control is great for positive feedback on valve position, and for low power consumption when not actively moving the valve. I found these to be very happy running at 12v. Switching noise is reasonable, about normal conversation level, and lasts for maybe 2 seconds.Of the 12 installed valves 5 are currently used for zones, and I estimate each of these has completed about 1500 cycles. I just had to replace one which failed, with the power unit tearing itself from the valve body (see picture). Given the placement of the valves this was definitely not due to it being hit or forced, and there was nothing inside the ball valve itself jamming it. Fortunately it was in a relatively easy position for replacement.In summary - when they work they're great, but don't bury one of these where you can't replace it, and consider keeping a spare on hand. Take the "estimated life expectancy" of 80-100k specified cycles with a grain of salt.

I am very like it