I am replacing a two year old Hunter XC Hybrid that ran on a battery pack. I added an outlet to power my new Rachio… here is a photo of my old wiring and my new wiring. I go to run the system for the first time and I get a “zone fault” alerts and “may have wiring issues and cannot water until fixed”. What can I do? I really want to use my new system.
Does it get the error for each zone (if it allows you to try)? If it does not let you try, I might try disconnecting zones to try to isolate.
@Gwolf64 Did you have anything connected to 24VAC terminals on your old controller, or was it battery operated only?
If it was battery operated, this likely means your valves use DC latching type solenoids. Alas these are not compatible with Rachio controller (which is designed to operate 24V AC valves).
I do not know of any modern smart controllers which are compatible with DC valves, meaning that you’ll likely need to upgrade your valves, by replacing the solenoids with 24V AC versions.
Good news is that you’ll likely not need to replace the whole valve, simply unscrew old DC solenoids and screw in the new AC type replacements.
If you take a photo of the valves themselves, we can verify if you do (indeed) have DC or AC valves (due to your description, I’m sure they are DC).
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I think you are on to something!!! Here is a photo of my solenoid. Appears to be DC latching? What should I do next ? If I need to switch out the solenoid… which ones should I get?
Oops. Didn’t answer your first question. It was DC operated only.
Something like this should work:
https://www.amazon.com/Hunter-Industries-AC-Solenoid-606800/dp/B000678LYY/
You may find these in your local home improvement store. Simply unscrew old dc solenoids and screw these in their place. New wires would connect where old once used to, polarity does not matter.
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This worked exactly as explained. Thanks to all!
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