Zones wont turn off?

Hi,

I recently swapped from the R2 to R3. the R2 was working fine. I just rewired the R3 with 3 zones and a MV.

For some reason i can start zones, but they do not stop?? (this happens to all 3 zones).

The only way i can get them to stop is if i either unplug the rachio, or disconnect the common, or the specific zone wire. this is very strange? Does anyone know how to fix this?

Hey @sunnydays!

Would you be able to share a photo of your wiring? Even better if you have a photo of your Gen 2 wiring as well :slight_smile:

:cheers:

ive just tried both again, and its happening with both controllers? I think it might be the valves themselves? Is that normal though, for them all to go bad?

It definitely could be the valves themselves! I would say the most common issues I see when zones won’t turn off is that the wiring is off or the valves are stuck open. Both fairly easy to troubleshoot and fix :slight_smile: You can try and DIY fix stuck valves, but a lot of people prefer to contact a Pro.

great, the valves do close, when I manually close them on the valve dial itself?? so i dont think they are physically stuck??

Hmm… I’m not the best at irrigation system troubleshooting so I’m going to ping @DLane and @Gene in case they have any ideas. It’s worth it to double check that the wiring is solid as well - do you have photos of the setup that you’d be willing to share?

@sunnydays are you using the original power supply included with Rachio or have you had to buy a new one, perhaps because you needed 220V support?

What you are describing sounds very similar to a situation where a direct current (DC) supply is used, Rachio only supports alternating current (AC) supplies.

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@sunnydays - Pictures help a ton! I’d ask for you to take a picture of a valve and it’s solenoid along with the Rachio like @laura.bauman asked. Any other information you can provide may give @Gene or me a hint/clue.

My initial thought was DC based solenoids, but I threw that out when it was mentioned that they were working on a Rachio Gen 2. By chance were the solenoids replaced?

Do you have access to a volt/ohm meter? If so, voltage reading coming out of the Rachio would be interesting along with resistivity down a zone line and back through the common wire.