Moving over from a SkyDrop system, (going to buy a Rachio 3) and need to add a 5th station to a box that only has wires for 4.
Have read about “Wire Sprout” (station doubler wiring kit) and wonder if it will work and/or physically fit with a Rachio 3?
Thanks!
Mark
Anyone? Anyone? Buehler??
Can’t believe I’m the first and only user to encounter the need of using a “doubler” of some sort? How about any of the Pro installers here who do this stuff daily?
Buehler?
=;-)
Took a look at your doubler, but it will not do what you expect. It can’t add a 5th station to a 4 station controller, rather it can add an addition station to a wire bundle that would otherwise be a wire short.
Primary use of such a system is a repair of a broken wire, so that a one wire (+ common) can perform a function of two.
The idea of such system is not new, and does not have to be limited to two zones. Rains bird, if I’m not mistaken, makes two wire based systems which can handle hundreds of zones using this technology.
Hi Gene, thanks for your reply.
I may not have been as clear as I could be; my Controller has 16 stations and I only have 13 so no problem there.
My problem is I need to add a valve (a new station) in a box far from the Rachio controller (too far to run another wire), that only has enough wires serving it for the current 4 valves, but not my new needed 5th one.
I’m looking at this WireSprout doubler on Amazon which is supposed to be able to allow you to drive two stations independently on one set of wires. It has enough sales and reviews to make me confident it can do its job on 'standard" controllers – my big question, and reason I’m posting here, is hoping it can do it within the Rachio system, seems like it should, but was just hoping for someone further down the path than me that might have tried such a solution.
Hope that is clearer and makes it easier for folks to advise me.
Thanks,
Mark
It should work for what you are describing. Whereas you are adding an addition zone to a remote valve box which is currently using all the wires that are running to it. I can’t find a speck on internal power consumption of that particular model, but I cannot imagine it is higher than a standard valve. As far as the controller is concerned, these devices should be next to invisible, Rachio should work just fine with them.
Gene,
Thanks for looking, fingers crossed, will post back results once I get it.
Thx
This thread was a life saver for me!! I was on the brink of ordering an outdoor enclosure and calling out an electrician so I could add a 7th valve to my system. It would have cost a fortune to have a 9 wire cable run over/under/through the house from the controller to my valves.
Got the Wiresprout. Install took maybe 20 minutes at most. Works like a charm after switching two wires so the zone outputs on the controller operate the right valves.
The wiresprout modules fit neatly under the Rachio cover plate and inside my weather proof junction box.