Hi - My US Solid 1" Ball valve ran great last 2yrs with an old Irritable controller. Nov '22 I changed to Rachio ran ok 2-3 weeks… then zone fault emails started. Took 3-days to replace my US Solid… brand new US Solid, still broken. Rachio Support suggested select Well or Pump start relay - didn’t help.
I’m so lucky I found this community - I have same symptom Rachio shuts down 50% of time. I’m a EE and firmware programmer. Spent today testing current & voltage, trying many resistors. Gene above is correct I agree! Likely Rachio firmware monitors current, sees US Solid Super-Cap in-rush charge current spike as short circuit, shuts down, pulses red and sends Zone Fault. And US Solid drops to ~0Amps after ball turns 1/4 turn like 2-3sec. Compare to solenoid would draw continuous current. So as Gene says need 2nd resistor in parallel with valve to maintain minimum current.
Today I tested with R=30ohm in series and R=500ohm parallel - series reduces in-rush surge and parallel maintains 50milliamps continuous after ball stops rotating. I used 1Watt 500ohm resistor - but power = I x I x R 0.05 x 0.05 x 500 = 1.25Watts. Gets too hot to touch I’ll change to 5Watt this week. With 2-resistor workaround I tested cycle-startup 10 times all success, no Zone Fault emails. For series-resistor 1W should be ok only passes current for 2-3sec while ball rotates.
Best fix would be if Rachio would add another Setting for “US Solid Ball Valve” in future rev… then Firmware should not read in-rush current as short-circuit and not look for continuing current.
On June '22 Comment above from FPUIG: I suggest use this workaround - add Series & Parallel resistor. Should make Rachio useable/functional with US Solid. I’ll update next a few weeks if I have any change.
Thanks!
–Arnie