It looks like the white is going to the zones’ common with the red and black going to a rain sensor? If so, it is not quite the same wire-for-wire setup. Please take a look at which sensor you have and either let us know or take a look at Rain Sensors FAQ
Just purchased the home and have no idea which rain sensor it could be. Is the wiring as simple as plugging the white wire in the common and capping off the red and black?
Yes, that looks like a high probability to fix it without the sensor. If you wish and have a multimeter, we can provide information to double check. Well, the following link should help if you feel handy, How to Use a Multimeter for Irrigation | Home Guides | SF Gate, but like I said, it looks like the white is high probability.
and another way to double check would be looking at the other end of the wires in the sprinkler box to see what is hooked up. The white should be all wire-nutted to one wire of each valve.
I am not seeing the colored wires in the box, do you? I would probably suggest getting it working without the rain sensor first.
I am only seeing black and white that look as though they are wired in series from the first pump. Disconnected wires from rain sensor and used white as common with no luck. Then wired rain sensor into s1 and vac- no luck there as well. Our community has reclaimed water and am wondering if there is a master pump or something like that. Unfortunately I am very ignorant to 24v, and sprinkler settings, thank you for the responses.
What do you mean about the first pump?
I would try turning the knob on a valve 1/4 turn to see if the zone turns on. If not, then something before the valves are not on, such as a master valve / pump or main valve. I am guessing you do not have a master valve / pump as it does not appear to have the wires for either. Was it working with the other controller?
Yes everything seemed to be working fine before I tried installing the Rachio. Going to try the valves right now.
Just barely turned the handles and sprinklers came on full force.
It seems likely to be something with the wiring (maybe I got the white wrong). Do you happen to have a multimeter? And, do you know which Rain Bird controller you had attached?
Unfortunately I do not have a multimeter even though I may go pick one up tomorrow. Also the rain bird was trashed during the demo all I know, is that it was very basic.
Also just noticed a transformer mounted just above the sprinkler controller, could that be causing issue?
Just to make sure I am understanding, the wires coming off of the valves are black & white. These wires are wire-nutted to other wires and those are also black & white. Is that correct? If so, I wonder where they change from the colored wires to black & white.
Too bad the Rain Bird was trashed and you do not know the model number, but that is not the end of the world.
The transformer mounted above the sprinkler controller should not be an issue. Do you know what that transformer is for?
You should be able to simply move the white wire off the red wire, and onto the Rachio COM port. That’ll remove the sensor. Once working, wire the sensor back using the Rachio documentation.