I’m replacing a Hunter Pro-C with a Rachio Pro Series (8 Zones) Controller. Below is a picture of the current wiring setup and you will notice that there are 2 wires connected to Zone 4 & Zone 5. I think this setup is called “piggybacking” and is supported by Hunter controllers. I know Rachio only supports 1 wire per terminal but just looking for anybody that have done this wiring setup on their Rachio controller without any issues. Thanks.
I’m doing it right now with two smaller runs as I’ve currently got 9 zones, but an 8 zone controller… As long as each individual wire is a relatively low power draw (<200ma), it’s easily done (and generally invisible from an Rachio app perspective unless you’ve got the valve monitoring add-on).
Rachio doesn’t recommend it, but acknowledges that it happens. Upside is that you can push more water per time unit, and the downside is that you lose the ability to customize the zone settings for the “piggybacked” zone.
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@ggp0216 - Here is where you can run into trouble with your environment. If there is a master valve (or a pump start relay) (I believe you do as it is the black wire), the reduce water hammer option is selected in the Rachio app and the Rachio app is running zone 4 and starting zone 5. There could be a total of 5 solenoids being activated and this may be over the Rachio power budget, especially with the in-rush current being higher than the holding current when zone 5 kicks in.
The better option is to buy the 12 zone version from Costco or the 16 zone version from Rachio and have each zone independently run. As @Scythe pointed out running multiple zones at once will lead to one zone being suboptimally watered whether using the Flex Daily or Fixed type schedules.
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Agree with @DLane. I could have justified putting in an 8 zone, but convinced myself to put in 16. I am sure glad that I did as I will almost have it full soon unless I decide to put in a second controller.
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I would buy a 16 zone. You might wish you did later. I should have the first time.
I doubled upsome valves onto one zone with good success, but only valves closer to the controller. The DC voltage did not reach the longer runs with enough current to reliably open the valves. It is dependent on the gauge and length of wire. I have a large yard.
Trial and error will help you determine what will work for you, but it can be done.
I’ve successfully piggybacked 3 zones into 1 on my Rachio for years. But like @DLane mentioned, that combined with a MV AND water hammer setting would most likely cause some issues.
Just to update this thread. I went ahead and connected the wires just like what have it on my Hunter controller. Everything is working fine so far. Valve Monitoring on the zones where I have 2 wires connected (Zone 4 & 5) shows a higher number than the other zones. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I will still replace it with a 12-zone Rachio 3 or 16-zone Rachio Pro in the near future. Thanks again for the feedback and comments.
Zone 1 - 155mA | Good
Zone 2 - 155mA | Good
Zone 3 - 161mA | Good
Zone 4 - 284mA | Good
Zone 5 - 294mA | Good
Zone 6 - 161mA | Good
Zone 7 - 158mA | Good
Zone 8 - 158mA | Good
If you’re doubling up on zones 4 & 5, then I’d expect to see roughly double voltage numbers compared to the other zones (since two wires are pulling amperage when those zones are active), which is what you’re showing here.
TL;dr - values look as I’d expect. Nice work!
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I just started doing this for a specific reason. I have two valves watering my front lawn. As the lawn area has been altered and sprinklers have been moved, Zone 1 supports 6 nozzles while Zone 2 support a single nozzle. Zone 2 overlaps an area of Zone 1. All areas should receive the same amount of irrigation. All are now K-Rain rotary nozzles. I also have Valve Monitoring on. (Note there is no master valve or pump start relay.)
Old setup was to water Zone 1, then Zone 2. This led to a very long run time to cover this area (almost 4 hours plus soak times).
After reading several topics on this issue (including using a separate relay), I just stuck the Zone 2 wire into the Zone 1 terminal. I then did a quick run of three minutes to verify all nozzles ran properly. They did.
Upon enabling Zone 1 I was alerted to the Valve Monitoring being out of range so I reset the baseline and it is now at 487 mA. Previously this ranged from around 220 mA to 280 mA, so the current draw basically doubled. (Note that I don’t know if nearly 500 mA is actually too much.) All valves are old Genie / Irritrol valves, most with solenoids a decade or two (or three) old.
I haven’t yet done a full irrigation run as I’m also chasing multiple leaks (under maple tree roots [Oh, JOY!!!]), but, as mentioned, the preliminary run went fine.
Cheers to all,
GAJett
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