Just activated my Gen 3 from standby mode for the winter, all zones were working last year, now all zone working except zone 1 and 2
Please help
@mkashlan - the issue is probably not with the Rachio controller, but with the valve/solenoid or wiring to those two zones - assuming there is not a separate water supply to those two zones. This can be verified by temporarily swapping zone 1 and zone 3 wires. The zone that was previously on 3 should still work when zone 1 is run - this would prove the Rachio terminal is fine. Find the valve boxes for those two zones/valves and check the solenoids. If one has access to an ohm meter then when the wire is disconnected from the Rachio run a resistivity test down the zone line and back on the common wire - there should be a circuit and somewhere around 20 Ohms. If there is no circuit then there is a wiring problem or the solenoid is broke.
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Thank you
I did the swap, and you were right the controller is not the problem.
How can I identify which valve/solenoid belong to those two zones and how to fix it
or should I hire help
Thanks
@mkashlan - if one doesn’t know where the valves are in the system, then a professional may be needed to trace the wires and find them. Many valves are installed underground and they have a 4 inch round green cover over them. If a valve cover is found, then there is a way to manually activate the solenoid valve (depending on the model). This should show which valve goes to which zone. If the valve doesn’t water when manually activated, then I’d be looking to make sure water is reaching that valve.
For a wiring test, one can disconnect the suspect zone wire from Rachio and using a volt/ohm or multimeter test the resistivity down that zone wire and back through the Common wire. If there is about 25 Ohms of resistivity, then the wiring is good. If there is infinite resistivity (e.g. an open circuit), then the wire has been cut or the winding in the solenoid is broken.
Was there any digging in the yard between the shutdown of the system last year and the start up?
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No digging
I tried to follow your instruction with the avometer, The two zones that is not working has zero to 1 resistance
See photo of solinoid
@mkashlan - I believe if those solenoids are turned about a quarter of a turn counter clockwise the valve should activate. Does water come out of that zone? If not, check the water supply.
I also can’t tell if those wire nuts are water resistant or not. One might want to check those connections and clean any corrosion off and replace the wirenuts with something like this:
When doing the resistivity test, at least the zone wire should be disconnected from the Rachio to get a valid reading. One can also disconnect the Common wire to make sure. The resistivity reading seems too low.
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