I have a Gen 2 controller which I have been using with five zones.
I have completed some work in my back yard and today connected the two new zones in positions 6 & 7, with the common wire for these two valves connected at the far right end of position 8. As soon as I powered the controller, both of these zones came on even though I still have them disabled in the Rachio app. I power cycled the controller, and the behavior remained… I took the wire from one of my working valves in zone 4, connected it to zone 7 and it immediately turned on also. I took one of the wires from the two new zones and connected it to position 8 and it works as expected (enable zone, ran manually, then stopped, all as expected.)
I am suspicious that I have a faulty controller, and that positions 6 & 7 are somehow getting an “open” signal constantly, rather than behaving per the configuration in the controller.
Has this been encountered before? Are there further troubleshooting steps I can take? I have a backyard full of new plants that need to be watered very regularly as they take root, and I would like my Rachio to take care of this automatically for me. Please let me know any suggestions!
@rgreenberg2000 - I don’t remember seeing this behavior in stalking the community forum for a year.
Were zones 6 and 7 configured in the application when this behavior was seen (not sure if disabled meant not configured)? If zone 6 and 7 existed in the application, I might manually run each zone with nothing connected to see if that would reset the zone. Then, I might delete zones 6 and 7 and re-add them if there is still an issue. If zones 6 and 7 didn’t exist in the application I might create them to see if that fixes the problem. I agree that the controller shouldn’t have been providing power to those zones. If you have a multi-meter you can test to see if there is voltage coming out of those ports - set it to AC and to a scale that will display 24 volts.
A temporary solution would be to put both new wires in zone 8, the Rachio controller can power two zones at once. The downside is that both zones will get the same watering and the water pressure will be reduced - which will impact the amount of water put out (precipitation rate) which will need to be compensated for in the zone setting.
If you email support@rachio they have access to some controller diagnostics (current on each zone) that may help identify if there is a problem with the controller. If there is a problem, the controller should still be under warranty as it comes with a two year warranty and I’m sure Rachio will get a replacement to you PDQ.
Thanks very much for your reply. Unfortunately, none of the suggestions you gave have altered the behavior with anything connected to position 6 or 7.
I am communicating with the Rachio support team as well, so hopefully either more luck with their diagnostics, or a replacement controller.
BTW, I was already running both of my new zones out of position 8, so at least I can run my watering programs (and I have enough water pressure to run both zones simultaneously.) Thanks for that!
Yes, I’m confident that working with support we’ll either get it fixed, or replace it. Hoping that we don’t have to try the factory reset as a last ditch, though I guess if I got a new controller I’d have to re-program that one too!
Thanks, McKynzee. Yes, the support team is in agreement that there is some sort of fault with those terminals, so they have a replacement being processed already.
Hey, folks. Just to close this one out…Great support from the Rachio team quickly provided a replacement Gen2 controller, and, as expected, it is working perfectly on all seven of our irrigation zones. Thanks to the Rachio team!
