removed my hunters 900i 20-yr old controller,-
recd amazon Rachio 3 8 zone-
took a bunch of pics of old controller-
replaced hunter with rachio-all wires matched up ( i didnt install the old rainsensor wires as i dont think those work anyway-
web app install good, setup web zones 1-8-
blue led on, and flashes when it “thinks” a zone is going !-
hoped for the best !
but, cant “quick run” anything, and setup simple schedule for this am, but didnt run at all
what should i do before i contact customer support-
thanks !
First, see if you can operate a valve manually, by loosening the bleed screw or by turning the solenoid about 1/4 turn counterclockwise. If no water comes out, there may be a (manual) main valve that’s turned off, or your system may have a master valve that you didn’t connect or enable in the controller.
If you still have trouble, post pictures of old and new wiring and maybe we can help. Do you have a multimeter for tracing wiring issues?
stuart
many many thanks for reply
i used the hunter 9001 for almost 20 yrs, and it has a wire into its “MV” for master valve,
so i know it had one, and also used a rain sensor that i dont think works, so i didnt
connect those wires to rachio
i took wiring pics of old controller, and pics of wiring for Rachio 3 yesterday
seemed “pretty easy”
see attached pics of all, including Mater Valve setup in Rachio !
i do have multimeter, but not the best on picking right options
if you hace the time and interest ( thank you again) i would allow
“facetime” to my cell 913-568-6027 !
you may also sign in to my rachio account-
signon mscherrer7@gmail.com, password novarachio1
If my memory serves me well, some rain sensors go between C and RS and the zones’ common moved over to RS. If that is the case, you might have the wrong wire to the new C. I am seeing to (maybe) translucent wires and a white wire going to the old controller. What I see on the new controller looks like one of the translucent looking wires. Do you know where the three wires are going? I would guess the white one might be the one you want going to C.
One way to use your multimeter to help diagnose this would be to measure the ohms between 1 and the three wires discussed above. The following link discusses this:
Thanks for the note
sorry for my pic ! the circle on the “C” wire is actually tape I put on to not confuse the
the wire(s) of your left circle ( which is my rain sensor that I am NOT installing)
that old controller “C” wire is what i am using as a “C” wire in the rachio3
That would take us back to previous comments. Which rain sensor was hooked up previously? I just looked up one sensor and the way that one gets wired is the C goes to the rain sensor and the other end of the rain sensor gets hooked up to the common for the valves. In other words, if no rain is detected, the “switch” is turned on for the valves to work. If rain is detected, the “switch” is turned off.
Do you know which wires, for sure, go to the rain sensor?
The link would help you to figure out which wires go to a zone valve using the multimeter.
the second picture is me with my multimeter ( may have on wrong V setting-
using same connections as the Rachio
i assume my 2.9 is really 29 if i pick the right multimeter setting
i dont know yet what that means !
Mike
I presume you mean the first picture. That looks like you might be right about it being VAC. The original link I posted shows how to test a valve in Ohms. One lead would be what would be the wire that would (but is not) connect to zone 1 and the other to a common wire (none are connected). If you get 0, then that probably is not a common wire. I would test all three and report back.
