Connecting Hunter Rain Clik Sensor to Rachio 3 (solved)

New here but I wanted to share how I was able to connect a Hunter Rain Clik Sensor to my new Rachio 3. This is the Costco 12 zone unit. I kept the Hunter Rain Clik Sensor from the previous setup.

YMMV…This worked for me: First, the wiring diagram offered by Rachio for connecting the Hunter Rain Clik Sensor to the Rachio 3 is correct. Begin by twisting the white wire from the sensor together with one of the yellow wires from the sensor - it appears that it doesn’t matter which yellow wire you choose. Then follow the Rachio diagram: White/Yellow from sensor to VAC(-); the other Yellow from sensor to VAC(+); and Blue from the sensor to S1. The Orange wire from the sensor is not used.

I had it set up this way for a couple of days and it still wouldn’t work…Here’s what I did that seemed to make a difference:

  1. Go into Controller Settings on the Rachio app. On mine, under Advanced Wiring (M Terminal), Master Valve was checked on by default. I turned that off because I don’t have a master valve.

  2. In messing around with this connection it’s easy to have ended up checking both the S1 and S2 boxes under Accessories > Sensors. Go back and make sure you’ve checked only the S1 if you’ve wired it like I did.

Additionally: I sprayed some water up onto the sensor from a garden hose. This activated the sensor and I was able to confirm this by seeing Rain Sensor Activated in the history list. On the Hunter Rain Clik sensor, you can press the Bypass button on the main unit (mounted by your Rachio), and do a history check. In Bypass mode, it should indicate Rain Sensor Deacitivated. Press it again to turn off the Bypass and the history check should indicate Activated. This is a quick check of the overall circuit, and does not rule out testing via the little button on the outside sensor itself when the sensor is dry.

This may or may not help you. I wanted to give a little back to the forum because I was able to learn from some other posts and topics here, and it seemed that this issue was not always followed to resolution.

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Thanks for sharing and welcome to the community!

:cheers:

I did the exact steps that you did and got my rain click working too… This turned out to be the hardest part of the entire installation.

After that I studied up on Rachio’s flex daily schedule with “weather intelligence”. It is absolutely amazing and is much more proactive than the rain click. I have had time to watch it at work for months and there have been a couple of hiccups but all in all it has worked to save much more water and money than rain click ever did. The fact that weather intelligence uses weather forecast versus reacting after the fact really does the trick

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Agreed. I’m using both, Weather Intelligence as primary, and the Hunter Rain Clik as a backstop.

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I have the same rain sensor and have verified my wiring and settings. However, whenever I turn sensor 1 on in the app, the sprinklers won’t run. Any other ideas?

I’m concerned about the red wire you have connected to “C”…does your system work if you omit the rain sensor altogether? Here’s a photo of mine for reference.

Ok this is weird. My unit appears to be different from yours, although mine is supposed to be version 3. You have two common wires on the left of your unit, but I only have one. The second on mine is on the right where the red wire is located. But yes, the unit works fine if I don’t activate the rain sensor in the app.

Yes…I’ve got the Costco 12 zone version, but essentially the same thing you have.

What’s your Master Valve setting? And what’s your S2 setting?

Both off.

How about when you set the rain sensor to “bypass?” When all is working correctly, setting it to bypass should allow it to run.

I don’t see where to bypass the sensor. Is that in the app?

The Hunter Rain Clik sensor has a bypass button on the front of the unit you mount on the wall inside. Press it to bypass the sensor to see if your system will come on.

Yes, bypassed rain sensor and system is running. What does that mean? Maybe the sensor is bad?

Consider checking out the sensor itself - the unit hanging off your roof - May need resetting.

I have wired mine exactly as others but the sensor red light dims in and out, we did have rain but even when i click on bypass the green light flashes on and off and red light goes dim in and out, any ideas please

Have you checked the sensor itself? Make sure it has no spider webs and the inside is clean. Also, pics are worth a thousand words it is difficult to troubleshoot w/out them.

I have the same problem with mine. I just installed my Rachio 3 8-zone and connectd up the Hunter Rain-Clik as per the instruction above and the Rachio kb I found on their support site. When the sensor is connected it states the sensor is wet and disables all schedules. Pressing the bypass button enables the schedules. I know the sensor isn’t wet, so is there something else to check on it?

These instructions seem to be exactly right - blue to S1, white and one of the yellow wires to -24V, and the other yellow wire to +24V. The magic is being able to operate Rachio when the Rain-Clik is NOT bypassed. With bypass off, you need to have the Rain-Clik indicate “sensor dry” - a GREEN light - to test Rachio with it. You NEED that green light, because it always seems to be red (“sensor wet”) when you power up Rachio. The answer is in the Rain-Clik operating manual… to get the green light with a dry sensor, you need to:

  1. Wait 10-30 minutes for the remote rain sensor to ping the indoor relay that it is “dry”, or…
  2. Get a ladder and visit the outdoor sensor, find and push the signal “reset” button on the top of the part nearest the roof.

With Rachio powered and powering the Rain-Clik, and with a green light, you can tell (or finish telling) Rachio about the rain sensor accessory you’ve added. Everafter, with the light green (dry), you can bypass the Rain-Clik or not and Rachio does its thing. With the light red (wet), you MUST bypass the Rain-Clik if you want Rachio to water.

If the rain sensor is wet (red light). Otherwise, you don’t need to bypass the sensor (it’s “not wet” - green light) and will not interfere with Rachio operation. That’s the way you want to use it (un-bypassed), or you might as well remove it.

Ok I know I am jumping into an old tread but it is directly applicable to a problem I have with my Hunter Rain Clik. The status light is always red (wet). I am never able to turn it green (dry) even by resetting button on transmitter outside. Any thoughts on what my problem may be? I am beginning to think the transmitter itself may be broken??