Unit seems to be working, but no zones activate

@Max - well we know that the water is turned on to the system, since it comes out when the valve is manually actuated. And the Rachio device thinks it is working. So, the error domain appears to be limited to electrical. If there is 24 VAC across the C(ommon) and zone wire when running the respective zone, then the problem could be either not enough amps to activate the solenoid (Rachio support should be able to report the amps going out the zone) or not a complete circuit (wiring) from the Rachio to the solenoid. If the connections are wirenutted in the valve box, I’d also see what current is reported across the wires out at the respective valve box to see if the current is getting that far.

Another poster finally figured out that something had “eaten” through one of the wires and that was causing it not to work for them.

We are slightly limited here because this is a Gen 1 controller, and they do not report the amps in their zones terminals :frowning2: But since @Max has a voltmeter, we can do some testing! Check out step two on this article for tips on isolating the potential electrical issues.

For a Gen1 isn’t one of the troubleshooting steps to separate the Rachio from the back plane/wiring and then re-seat it?

Hooked it up, (Rachio 2) ran it several times now it doesn’t work. Wiring is solid, unit online and shows its activating the solenoid (blue blinking light), but not one of my zones will produce water. App says its running. Moved common to the other common input , still doesn’t work. I can manually turn each solenoid still get no water. I have no master valve. Help?

@Bama61 - when you say you “can manually turn each solenoid” does that mean at the actual valve box in the ground. If so, that would mean there is no water pressure in the system. Is there a cutoff valve that has been closed?

If the “manual” above is using the buttons on the Gen 2 to select a zone and no water comes out, then if you have access to a valve in the ground try manually activating it to see if there is water pressure in the system.

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There is water in the system. When I refer to manually I mean using the manual control on the Rachio. I am going to hook the Rain Bird back up to see if the system will work again.

@BAMA61 - That will be a decent test. If the Rain Bird doesn’t cause the valves to dispense water when activated then it may be a wiring problem, e.g. cut field wire. The other thing that would impact all zones would be something with the common wire/terminal.

Do you have access to a volt meter?

Yes

@Bama61 - then you can check and see if there is 24 VAC present between the C(ommon) terminal and the zone that you’re trying to manually run. Also using the voltmeter on the ohm setting the resistivity (when not connected to the Rachio) can be tested between the common wire and the zone wire. If there is infinite resistivity then there is a break in the wire somewhere.

I had the same issue. For me the solution was to not only enable the Master Valve/Pump in the app as suggested by others but to redo my wiring. I was using an older system where the Black wire was connected to P(ump) slot. I finally connected this to the M slot in the Rachio and now everything works.

Figured it out. Hooked up the Rain Bird again and it showed the stations working. I had voltage. So, I started all over again. I went back to step one and looked at the water supply. The Irrigation water valve was not in the open position. I opened it and started the sprinklers, wallah! I changed back to the Rachio Gen2 and it worked. As I stepped through the stations I found on station three there was o water coming out. A Closer look showed water coming out of the ground where the Fiber cable had ben installed. You could reach into the hole and put your finger through the busted PCV pipe. Looks like the internet installer broke the pipe when they were installing and didn’t tell anyone. I never checked station 3 to see if it worked when it was functioning, always assumed it had. I am guessing the cable guy turned off the water supply thinking it was going to leak. All is well in realville now.

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@Bama61 - Thanks for posting what the solution is. Always best to check the easy things first (the valve).

Make sure your existing water/rain sensor is removed and capped off. If you have one like mine, with the cardboard washers in it, you can just unscrew the cap enough times that it will never shut off the system again.