Wiring Assistance with Gen 2

Hi All! New to the community and needed help wiring up my new Gen 2. I just moved into this house 3 weeks ago so I’m not too familiar with the sprinkler setup but I do know that the sprinklers do work. I tried replacing the existing Intermatic timer with this new Gen 2 and once everything is connected, the app says the zones are running but no water is towing to the sprinklers. First time working with zones as my previous house only had one zone.

My setup:

  • Gen2
  • Indexing Valve
  • 2 zones (I only have 2 wires coming from valve)
  • City water (no pump)
  • Rain sensor

Any help would be appreciated!

You’re missing the common wire. Do you have a pic of the original controller? Normally each zone should have 2 wires. Of those 2 wires 1 will go to number 1 and the other to the C terminal. Same thing for zone 2, but common wires can be shared so most likely there is 1 common for both zone 1 and 2. I have a feeling one of those that you have going to the sensors is suppose to be your common wire.

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Thank you! I’ll try that and update :slight_smile:

@Carlos4927 - with an indexing valve there is only one solenoid. So move one of the yellow wires to the C terminal.

There are several posts where posters have replaced their indexing system with individual valves. Not too difficult to do.

Also, only use a Fixed schedule as a Flex Daily schedule will get out of sync with the zones and the indexing valve.

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Finally bit the bullet and upgraded the system!

image image

After wiring it up, for some reason, whenever I turn the main water valve on, water just flows directly through zone 1 without me even doing anything on the Rachio? When I try and turn zone 1 on/off, I hear the zone trigger but the water keeps flowing. Zone 2 and 3 work fine when I trigger them on/off. Zone 1 seems to be the only one with an issue. The only way to stop the water is to shut off the water at the main.

Stumped.

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@Carlos4927 - congrats on the upgrade. The valves have a manual way to open them and I’m wondering if the valve for zone one is manually opened. So rotate the solenoid or bleed screw clockwise until it stops and see if that works. Here are the steps for manually opening the valve -> Rotate the solenoid a half turn counterclockwise to activate the valve manually, if it is a model with a lever marked “on/off” at the base of the solenoid. The solenoid is the cylindrical device on top of the valve. If the solenoid does not have an “on/off” lever, rotate the bleed screw counterclockwise a half turn to activate the valve. This is a black plastic screw in the top of the valve below the solenoid

Thanks For the quick reply!
I’ll definitely try it tomorrow and post an update.

This time hopefully it’s not 4 months later! :slight_smile:

One quick question,

If I have city water coming in with no pump or relay and have a manual water main valve, do I need anything in the ‘M’ connector on the rachio?

Currently I have:
C,1,2,3 connected and a rain sensor on S1, SC

C is a combination of a single wire from all 3 valves with one single wire going to C
The other single wires from each valve go directly to each zone on the rachio.

If you’ve kept the original valve / back flow preventer from your old indexing setup, than it can be used as a master valve to serve as a backup for any of your zone valves (this way 2 valves will need to fail in order for your system to be stuck in ON / leaking mode).

Having a manual shutoff valve does not require anything to be hooked up to the M terminal.

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