I have a dead field wire

Troubleshooting
1

First off I am happy to hang with you all. This is my first post. I have had my Rachio 3 for about two years and love it. This is not a Rachio issue but an issue with a dead field wire. I have two valves in one box, Irritrol valves to operate my drip system in Arizona, 4 others for the lawn… The black field wire is working but the brown field wire is dead. What are my options for using a double device or equivalent with the Rachio? Trying to avoid digging and searching for the break. I did a check directly with the Rachio and it is delivering 24V using a volt meter on the number 1/brown station output. I have 6 different controllers using the other wires. Thanks in advance… KT

2

Are you saying all zones work except for the one connected to the brown wire? If so, I would guess you checked the voltage at the controller, is that correct? If so, I would suggest before trying a doubler:

  1. Try the brown on a spare zone (or another zone that you know works) to rule out something gone wrong with that zone within the controller

If the above did not work:

  1. Double check the connection at the controller, making it the brown did not break or come loose
  2. Check the connections and wires at the other end (in the box connected to the valve). Those wires can come loose or break as well from the wire nuts . . . maybe pull on the wires going to the nut and see if they come out
  3. Test for voltage between brown and common with the zone turned on through Rachio
  4. If you have voltage, test the resistance (Ohms) on the valve itself
  5. If everything checks out, you probably will want to replace or otherwise re-seal the old wire nuts (I probably would at least replace)
3

Some members had success with wire “doubler” like WireSprout (link). These work by sending info on which input is active and redirecting power to appropriate output, allowing you to reuse the working wire to run two zones.

More on this here:

4

Thanks for the advice Thomas. I went through all the steps including switching to the good wire. The valve worked when doing that. The line goes from the side of my house to a station that waters my lawn and then back around to the front where the drip valves are. I found the brown wire spliced without a nut in the backyard box. I cut and respliced and added a WP wire nut. Though that didn’t help. Sigh… I just ordered a Wire Sprout and hopefully that will work. It’s a 20 year old system and I really should redo the whole thing. Thanks again… Regards, KT

5

Thanks Gene… I just ordered a WireSprout… Fingers crossed. KT

6

Sorry it was not something easily repairable. Hopefully the WaterSprout will work (I would guess it will).

7

Solved!!! The WaterSprout works like a charm and very easy to install… Thanks everyone!