Hi everyone - I’m looking to replace a 20 year old Hunter SRC controller with a Rachio Gen 3 controller. I have three questions:
Where do the black and purple wires (4th terminal from the left) that currently go to RS terminal go in the new controller?
The first three terminal (first two are power and second is called R) have additional wires that are tied together in a nut (red, white and blue)? Should I do the same when wiring in the new controller? Also, where should these first three terminal wires go in the new Rachio controller?
Should the Grey wire currently going to Common (5th terminal) should go to C in the new Rachio terminal? I read somewhere that this might be the rain sensor and white wire (in question 2) is the common?
I would suggest making sure all of your zones work, label all wires, leave the image you posted, and post the new image if anything new fails.
It looks like you have a rain sensor attached to the 4th & 5th terminals and no master valve/pump. I suggest getting the Rachio working without the sensor as it gets hooked up differently. Many find that they do not use the sensor at all because of the weather intelligence.
Most of the time, you would not use the wires going to the first two terminals as those are power going to the Hunter. The only power input to the Rachio is through the barrel connector that is part of the supplied power supply which should be used if at all possible. If you cannot, let us know and we will help with more information. The extra wires and the wire going to ‘R’ (red, white, & blue) are for a remote controller which will not be used. The “remote” and the “dial / buttons” are your phone.
This is the “tricky” part. Of the two wires going to “RS” one is the valve common which should go to ‘C’ on Rachio. The other plus the wire going to Hunter ‘C’ are for the rain sensor. It is hard to tell off hand, but I believe the left (black) might be the valve common and the right (brown) might be the rain sensor. The way this sensor works on Hunter is that when it is raining, it “cuts” off the common, thereby “turning off the zones” while the schedule still continues.
Please ask if you have questions, run into problems, report back, etc.
@Behappy - I believe the red, white and blue wires are for the remote receiver for the Hunter. Those don’t need to be moved over to the Rachio. Same goes with the black power wires - do not move them to the Rachio.
Edit: I didn’t have time to finish the original post. Yes, many times the common wire will be white, but I recognize the red, white and blue wires as the colors that Hunter uses for their remote control receiver. I would need to see where the black and purple wires go on the fourth Hunter SRC terminal (RS) to make a proper statement on if and where they should go on the Rachio. One of these wires will be to the rain sensor and the other will be the true common wire that will go on the Rachio C terminal.
