My client has asked us to install his new gen 2 Rachio. Here in SW FL we mount them outside. He also purchased the weather proof protective box, and my question is:
Do we plug the transformer directly into an outside electrical outlet? Other boxes I have seen and used like this had a 110V pigtail coming out of the box, to plug into the outlet. Then there was also an outlet inside of the box to plug the transformer into.
Wicked summer weather in SW FL. Anyway, will the transformer plugged directly into an outdoor GFI outlet OUTSIDE the box hold up?
Our outdoor enclosure does ship with a plug inside the box. You can connect a power cord with pigtail to that plug inside the box and then connect the transformer into the plug inside the box. The enclosure doesn’t ship with a power cord, so you’d need to provide that. Please let me know if you have any questions or need clarification.
Brad, would you have any pictures or illustration’s? I’m out of town, and this is a new one for my technician. So, the way I understand you; there is an actual outlet inside the box, and you just run the loose wire end of the pigtail into the outlet box, inside the Rachio box, and wire it up. Right?
Boy a few pics, or illustrations would be great. He said there was no room in the box for the transformer to plug into an outlet??
I’m actually working on an article with pictures to clarify this. In the mean time, here are a couple shots that I think will help explain what’s inside the outdoor enclosure. Note that the enclosure is upside-down in these pictures so you can see the outlet better.
Enclosure with power cord coming in and ready to be connected to the outlet:
@ThompsonIrrigation I think you need to plug the adapter into the GFCI you mentioned is present. Similar to the steps I took.
Refer to those instructions here:
After mounting the outdoor enclosure, I plugged the adapter into my outdoor “and” covered GFCI outlet (located about a foot below where my Rachio Gen 2 is mounted). The wire from the adapter pokes out from underneath the small hole beneath the cover of the outlet. I ran the wire into the outdoor enclosure via the same hole I ran my zone wires into. I had a lot of slack in the adapter wire, so I gathered them up into loops within the enclosure and tied them together. Then, I plugged the adapter wire into the power outlet of the Rachio Gen 2, Next, I installed the Rachio Gen 2 (naked - without its supplied cover) into the outdoor enclosure being sure to pull through the zone wires through the hole in the bottom of the Rachio Gen 2 and attaching them appropriately. By about this time, the Rachio Gen 2 was nearly done in its power up and WiFi setup process.
If you have direct power (no plug) for the Rachio Gen 2 (or the one you’re replacing), then you’ll place the adapter inside the outdoor enclosure with the direct power lines getting connected within the small box inside the enclosure (located in the bottom left corner).
Brad, how did you secure the power cord / pigtail so it does not pull of of the box when tugged? Also, I could not find an outdoor rated power cord / pigtail – let us know if you found a suitable one.
Franz, it would be super nice if rachio provided the enclosure with the power cord / pigtail preinstalled so the average consumer could easily install without any wiring… Many of the existing outdoor controllers have a power cord to plug into a GFI outlet including the Orbit controller that I’m replacing.
We’re working up a support article on this, but I don’t think it’s up yet. Here’s the strain relief bushing:
Here’s the power cord I used:
I wasn’t able to find a cord with pigtail that explicitly stated it was for outdoor use. This one is pretty heavy duty, though. Let me know if you have any questions.
