So I put two valves on one zone, not including the master. Additionally, I had the waterhammer feature on. Last night I moved from zone 4 to zone 5 (the zone with two valves), and the sprinklers never came back up. I checked today, and there’s an ‘open’ fault on all the zones included on the same common wire as the overloaded zone (common includes the master valve). The zones associated with a second common all read normal.
So, I think it can only be two issues - the common wire somehow got fried. Or the Rachio controller itself was partially disabled by a power jolt. It feels like the former, since that common seems to not produce power - but honestly I’m not sure how that would have happened.
Rachio can safely run 3 valves together. The water hammer feature runs two zones simultaneously, so you had 4 valves attempting to run, which might have overloaded the unit. @gene is a bit more of an expert when it comes to the internals of the Rachio units and what they are capable of, and what harm may have been done…
@RyleyA22 - If it was because of too much current draw, then the unit should have just had a brown out. Are the two common’s on different Rachio terminals?
Get a multi-meter and test the resistivity down the common line for zones 4 and 5 with an associated zone line, when both wires are disconnected from the Rachio terminals to prevent a back-feed or mis-read. I think the resistivity should be in the 25 - 30 ohms range.
If you need to run two valves on zone 5, it can be done with an additional 24 VAC power supply and a Single Pole Single Throw relay. Use the relay to control the power to the valves with Rachio providing the current for the relay coil to activate it.
How long has this setup been working without issue? As @DLane has mentioned, it’s hard to overload the controller as it will simply disable the outputs thinking that something is shorting, or a restable fuse would trip protecting the circuit and causing a brownout.
If you are seeing an open fault, than the fault is likely at the valve box. I would check the wirenut for the commons and make sure everything is secure and free of contaminants.
