I just installed the rachio V2. Going through the setup no zones are working. I pulled out the volt meter and I see 30vac on every channel. I moved the common to another terminal and same thing. Does not make sense and that would mean all of my valves should be turning on. Need some guidance. Stations worked fine on the old rainbird.
@Jcmondelli7 - welcome to the community. Some quick questions about the setup.
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Is there a master valve in the system? If so, is it connected to the M terminal on the Rachio AND configured in the application?
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Is there a rain sensor in the system? If so, it is wired in-line on the common wire (and has it been raining recently)? Or is it connect to the Sensor Ports on the Rachio?
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How long ago did the stations work on the old Rainbird?
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Does a zone water if a valve is manually activated by turning the bleed screw?
Hi, there is no master valve but I did have tgat setting on in my phone, found it while troubleshooting and turned it off. I just have 1 common and 16 stations.
No rain sensor
The stations worked for 15-24 minutes each depending on the area it waters.
Yes if bleed screw is used the station waters. I think I will hook up to the old rainbird just to make sure they still turn on.
Why would I have 30vac on all Stations? Also not sure if this is of importance but I have 4 stations jumpered together and a relay at the valves because someone cut some wires and that was my sprinkler guy fix. So each time that station is turned on, the relay cycles to next station. That is only the case on 4 zones.
@Jcmondelli7 - I think I understand what you’re talking about on the jumper wires. Posting pictures of both ends would confirm that. However, if you use a Flex Daily schedule it may not water every zone every time which will cause the relay in the field to get out of sync with what the controller is trying to do.
You can query Rachio Support and they have access to values from the controller that I don’t that shows the current load going out, which might give a clue.
The solenoids are 24 VAC - correct? There are some DC solenoids out there that are not compatible with Rachio.
I haven’t gotten to the point of setting up the watering schedule but you’re absolutely right I plan to run all those one after the other so they stay in sync with that relay you understand what I’m talking about. They are 24 vac valves.
I opened a support ticket, is that what you are talking about with querry support?
@Jcmondelli7 - Yes, opening a support ticket is what I was talking about querying support.
If a zone waters when the bleed valve is opened, then we know there is water pressure in the line (that has been a problem for others), so we may be down to electrical. If none of the zones work, then I’d be looking at the common wire. Can you measure resistivity from using the common wire and one zone to see if there is continuity.
Thank you for all your help. I started looking at the common wire and a crimp I put on it was not making a connection. Fixed that and everything started working. Not sure what the 30vac was about, still seeing that. Might be an issue with my fluke. Thank you!!!
@Jcmondelli7 - Thanks for posting the resolution to the problem. Have fun with your new Rachio. I think you will need to stay with a fixed type schedule as a flex daily can opt to not run a zone depending on the field reservoir level - which would mess up the four zones on the field relay. If you get the wiring fixed or I think there are intelligent solutions that will know which zone to run, then you could run a flex schedule and get the full power of Rachio.
Are these relays Doublers or something else?
How many good wires from the controller are there at the 4 stations and how many other stations are close?