Hello rachio community. Love the info here. Jist purchased the belownitems. Need some guidance please.
Rachio 3
Orbit pump start relay 57009
Individual valves - orbit manifold for 3 zones
I’m guessing to start with the pump start relay. I’m no electrician but pretty sure this seems simple enough. Not sure which wires go where on the pump start from the old pump. I dont think I currently have a pump start relay, correct? See pics.
im hoping @DLane or @Gene are able to help. thanks everyone. i think i may have 220v though as well.
You are right that your photos do not show a pump start relay (besides the new one you’ve bought). Do you have a photo of your old controller?
I also want to confirm that your pump is dedicated to irrigation (how do you get your drinking water?).
The new pump relay would likely go where your old controller went. What is shown on the second image is a breaker box, a disconnect in case system needs to be serviced. I do not know if it is located up stream or downstream of the old controller, but in any case removing an old controller will likely create a break in the chain which will either need to be bridged with a wirenut, or your new pump start relay.
Thanks @Gene. This pump is just for irrigation. House still has a whole house well pump too, but not being used. Switched to city water. In the pics below, the middle box goes to the whole house pump (not being used). The far right box is the box going to the irrigation well pump.
The relay within your old controller is designed to run at 240V, so you were right to buy a new one. Good news is that you will likely be able to reuse the enclosure from your old controller.
With power off, you should be able to gut the old controller and put the new relay inside where the old one was. This way you don’t have to worry about removing the old controller box and replacing it with the unpainted plastic. There is tab on the top which is holding the timer board in place, unhook that and the old board should slide outward and up, though if you end up destroying the bottom tabs holding it in place, it is not a big deal (you won’t need it).
Your new relay has both “inputs” colored RED and both “outputs” colored black. In reality if you put both reds on one side and both blacks on the other, like it is done on the old controller, you can simply color match the reds and the blacks without worrying which one is input and which one is output (like it is done on the old controller).
Where are you planning on installing the Rachio controller?
Plan on putting it outside. 15 feet away on the same wall. Have the outdoor enclosure to place it in.
This pump start relay works with my setup? I’ve read where I need the hunter psr-22 because the pump is 240v.
Hunter psr-22 will be an overkill, and may even cause an issue with a high current draw from Rachio. Relay you’ve got should be plenty, as your old controller was using a very similar one, simply with different coil wingdings (your new one is designed to work with 24V, whereas your old controller was driving it with your full 220V).
ok thanks.
what to be sure i am wiring this properly so i dont loose any days watering.
On the old intermatic controller:
i understand the zone wires, as i will be wiring that up myself with new 18 guage wire from the valve controls. however which wire would go to C and M? i wont have any rain sensors or anything to start.
at the pump relay i have labels:
there are some wires not labeled in the old controller box. any ideas on those? you say to connect the red ones together and blk ones together. It seems to be that there are more than 2 red wires in the old box? forgive me as i am color blind so will be getting help with that portion. anyway you can mark on the photo which ones go where? Thanks again for all your help.
On your new relay there are two wires on their own side, they are both labeled 24Vac. It does not matter which one goes where, but one of them will be connected to C terminal, while the other to M terminal on your new Rachio controller. During the setup, make sure you specify that you have a motor / well during the setup.
When you gut the old controller, you will end up only with wires coming / going out the right hole, every other wire can be disregarded. You will have two red wires (currently connected to Neutral/Load 2 & Neutral Line 2), and two black wires (currently connected to Line and Load). There is also a green wire (currently screwed to the metal frame of the timer) which can be left disconnected.
As the new relay wired now, you would connect {L1 in} red wire to a black wire which is connected to a {Line} terminal on your current controller, black {L1 out} would be connected to black {load} wire. Red {L2 in} would be connected to {Neutral Line 2} red wire, and black {L2 out} would connected to {Neutral/Load 2} wire.
Alternative, if you see a difference between Red and Black, is for you to swap {L2 in} wire and {L1 out} on your new relay, this way you will have two black wires on one side, and two red wires on the other. In this case you would simply pair up red wires together (which one is which does not matter) and pair up black wires together (again which one is which does not matter) so that each of the Red / black wires from the relay would be connected to an individual red / black wire coming through the right hole of your old controller.
There are currently two pairs of Red and black wires in your old controller, one of each pair connects the relay of the old controller to the wire nut, those wires would be replaced with the wires from your new relay. Wire between the old relay / controller and the wire nut can be disregarded.
@Racng69 - thanks for the shout out to @Gene and myself. I’ll let Gene finish this as he actually converted his similar system to Rachio. I’ll chime in as necessary. I’m assuming the middle box is a breaker box as pictures of the left (Intermatic) and right (disconnect switch) boxes were included.
Thanks @Gene. I’m going to be working on this today and will let you know if I have any issues and when completed.
One more question, 12 guage wiring for the 24v going from relay to rachio?
@Racng69 - the connectors Rachio uses doesn’t support 12 gauge wire. See ->
18 gauge is fine, there is not much amperage (~300ma) that the wires carry so no need for the larger gauge.
Thanks @DLane,
@Racng69, as @DLane has mentioned, your regular sprinkler wires will work to drive the relay, factory simply used the same wire for cost effectiveness (same plugs, same equipment, etc…) there is no reason why your 24VAC lines has to be as thick as the power lines.
Thank you guys so much. Everything is up and running. Just have to hide the wiring and all complete. Went off without a hitch thanks to your guys in depth explanations.
Thanks again
Don’t forget to take the after photos 
Always great to see how everything ended up.
