Title says all. This is an ongoing issue and the controller has been replaced once before. After being unplugged all winter, I plugged it in a couple weeks ago. It booted and connected immediately. But since then, it has twice gone offline, with all LEDs off and unresponsive to any buttons. Unplug it and plug in again and it boots right up and connects.
This MAY be a WiFi issue? My system is a TP Link WiFi 6 three-router mesh but when it works…. it works. A WiFi issue should never cause it to crash / shut down, right? So this morning, I turned on the IoT network (2.4GHz only) and connected the controller to it. So far, so good but it has only been a couple hours.
As a side note, in the process of resetting the WiFi, I ran into an issue I have run into before….. Configuring the controller’s WiFi with an iPhone will usually fail with an “unexpected error” message after selecting the AP and entering the password. Doing the same steps with my old Android phone always works perfectly.
After speaking with support, Rachio is sending a replacement controller (my second replacement) but I am not optimistic this is a long term solution so I am looking for collective wisdom from the group here….. Anyone?
Interesting thread. It seems to me that it is much more likely that when the controller goes offline with no LEDs, it has CRASHED and does not include a watchdog timer to reboot itself. There does seem to be some correlation between WiFi and crashing. In my case, I have moved it to an isolated IoT AP that is 2.4GHz only (but still part of my mesh) and so far it has not crashed. Yet.
The “power supply” appears to be a simple 120VAC to 24VAC transformer with no active components. As such, it is unlikely that it would shut off and only restart if unplugged and plugged in again. Plus, mine has crashed while hibernating, with much lower load on the transformer than while powering a valve during watering.
I have this issue every year from May through June, except last year when it happened for longer. I leave my controller on year round and no issue staying online until May/June. And it’s offline right now, which is why I’m commenting. Here’s one of my comments about it last year: my comment and my comment
