I just installed my new Rachio 3. Zones 1, 2, and 4 run concurrently, but not well. I had this problem with my old Hunter controller. I thought the old controller was causing the problem. But the same problem occurs with the new Rachio 3. Zones 3 and 5 appear to run correctly. Can you help me?
Most likely you have miswiring to the valves. If you follow your wiring, you should see a common wire (often white) and a zone wire running from controller to valve box. The commons are typically all looped together. The other wire on each valve should go to the corresponding zone wire going to controller.
The reason zones 1,2 and 4 run poorly is due to the number of heads and the available water flow rate through pipe. If you run the zones individually, you should be fine.
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I will check the wiring.I checked the wiring with no obvious “miswiring”. I also checked the continuity of the wiring for each zone. They all measured between 26 and 48 ohms. I am having some landscaping work done, so we will see what the landscaper can find. Thanks @claykin for your help!
@TeachUPool - Can you check the resistivity between zone 1 and zone 2 wires, along with 1 and 4 and 2 and 4? There shouldn’t be any continuity between the zone wires. Just the zone wire and the common.
What happens when you pull the wire for zone 2 out of the Rachio, does it still run? How about if the wire is put in zone 6 (or an unused zone)?
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With help from @DLane and @claykin I was able to isolate the problem to the wiring. I have ordered a waterproof enclosure so that I can move my new Rachio 3 controller much closer to the irrigation valves. I will only need a few feet of control cable instead of the 50 feet I previously needed. Thanks again for all your help!
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