Rachio Gen 3, Zones stopped working

Hello all. First time post on the community. I finally got my yard looking fantastic for an upcoming wedding in my yard in July, when 3 of my zones just stopped working. The Rachio 3 controller is less then a year old and has been functioning perfectly. I manually checked all 6 valves by manually starting them. I power cycled the controller. I restored controller to factory settings and tried to set it back up. Same zones aren’t functioning. I have contacted Rachio for help, but haven’t heard from them. I suspect a faulty controller. What do you think? I love my Rachio controller and think it is superb to all other types, when it is functioning. I am not sure whats is happening with customer service since there is no way to contact a person and I am manually starting my zones to keep my yard alive. Thanks for the input everyone!

@skyfly71 - it is interesting that three zones would fail on the controller. Has there been any digging or planting in the yard that could have cut the zone wires? As the zones are watering when they are manually activated, that takes water pressure/source out of the possible error domain.

A way to test the controller is to swap the wires from a zone that is working and one that is not working. Then manually run both zones. If the zone that was working and was moved to a non-working zone and it still works then I’d look at wiring, connections and solenoid on the still non-working zone. If the zone that didn’t work now works and the previously working zone doesn’t work, then I’d suspect the controller.

If a volt/ohm meter is available then test the resistance down the non-working zone lines (when disconnected from the Rachio) and back up the Common line. I believe the expected value is around 26 ohms.

Welcome to the community.

DLane, Thanks for your input. So here is where I am at. I did as you suggested, and switched a working zone with a zone that was not. I activated the previously working zone on the Rachio app and the previous non working zone started up. I then replaced the wires back to their original configuration. Previously, I had checked all zones with manual starts at the valve box. I also powered down the Rachio and also reset to factory settings and tried set back up. I actually have 4 zones not working and 3 functional.

@skyfly71 - was the previously working zone attempted when it was in a previously non-working terminal?

Depending on which model of Rachio (8, 12 or 16 zones) one can move the non working zones to a new terminal and in a pinch double them up on a working zone (may need to increase time due to lower water pressure and this won’t work on Flex zones).

Out of curiosity, which zones are working and which zones are not working?

I’d also test each of the four zones that don’t work with a working zone to make sure that zone’s wiring and solenoid are ok?

Are the non-working zones disabled in the app?