Gen 2, 8 zone wiring question

Hi. I’ve removed an old sprinkler system and taken a picture of the zone wiring (attached). I’m a bit confused because I have seen the common wire is generally always white. Which wire is my ‘common’ because On my wiring, zone 4 is white. And… is the red ‘pump’ wire to be attached to the ‘M’ slot on the rachio? Any help on the wiring configuration into my 8zone 2nd gen rachio would be gratefully received.

@Tinner - welcome to the Rachio community.

Thanks for posting the pictures as that helps a lot.

Yes, the red wire on the Irritrol MV/Pump terminal goes in the Rachio M terminal. Then one needs to configure that option in the app.

Many times white is the common wire, but it doesn’t have to be. My guess is the green wire that goes to the Earth Ground terminal is the actual common wire for the valve solenoids and should be in the Rachio C terminal. I think the green wire should have actually been placed in the VC terminal. There is no other wire to choose from as the 24 VAC red and yellow wire won’t transition to the Rachio.

If you ran a quick test before the Irritrol was disconnected and all the zones worked, you should be good to go. An ohm meter or continuity tester between a zone line and the green wire would confirm this. As will a working Rachio system with the green wire in the C terminal.

Post back with any success or issues and I’ll bet someone in the community will chime in.

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Thank you so much DLane. I have done as you suggested, and it’s working great. Kind regards, Steven.

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