Rachio unable to power the sprinklers

I am replacing Rain Bird e-9c with Rachio 3. Like suggested I tested everything before replacing. All 8 zones were working. Now none of the zones are working. I removed the Irritol system and connected the white wire from irrigation system directly to the C port of Rachio. Still no luck :weary:. I then noticed one of the sprinklers on zone 1 spitting little bit of water. Not sure if Rachio is able to send enough power to the system to start watering?

Rachio support has been non responsive for 4 days. Looking for help from community. Thanks.

Few reason do come to mind, lets go down the line:
First of all, did you remember to turn on the master valve setting within the app during the setup?
In case you are using a pump start relay, can you take a picture of that relay & it’s model number?
Finally your white common seemed to be much shorter and was installed with a wire nut.
Did it come out easily or did you have to pull hard? Where you able to straiten out the end of the common wire?

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Where is the small brown wire that was in Com slot in the original controller?

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Hi Gene. Thanks for your prompt comments. I do not remember doing anything on the app for Master Valve. Can I go back and set? How?
I am not sure if I have a pump start relay. I will look for this.
You have a great eye for details! You are right the white common wire fell slightly short, but I unscrewed the box and brought it closer to the cable. Also it is plugged in properly. No issues there.

That was just coming from the Irritol. The thicker white was connected to white from Irritol. Then the brown from Irritol was connected to COM. I believe since the rain sensor is not critical, it should be okay to connect white from sprinkler system directly to the C on Rachio.

@ac09, you can find the master valve setting under controller settings on the home screen. From there go to Advanced wiring(M terminal). I believe their are 3 choices Master valve, Pump start relay, or neither.

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The setting looks correct. I didn’t have to make any changes.

This get back to whether or not you have a relay installed on your system, per @Gene. If so, you will need to change the setting accordingly.

Thanks for checking your master valve setting. I’ve asked about possible use of the pump relay due to some models requiring a high current to operate. If you find where the black wire is used / attached to, let us know.

One more observation I have is that your old wires seem to have oxidized quite a bit. Within the photos you’ve shared, they look black at the ends. Oxidation is a source of resistance within the system and can lead to significant voltage losses, I would try disconnecting the white, black and one of the zone wires and cleaning the ends with alcohol or sand paper in case alcohol is not enough. See if you can get the ends to be of a nice copper color you see next to the wire insulation.

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