Converting from Richdel 412PR with a well. Will it work?

post by Kppjm on Jul 14, 2019

Hello all. Just wondering if anyone has experience upgrading from an old controller like my Richdel 412PR, and if so whether it worked. I have a well for irrigation, and my controller looks like these pics. Would Rachio work for my situation? Thanks in advance.

post by DLane on Jul 14, 2019

@Kppjm - welcome to the community!

Should be a straight forward conversion. I don’t see a pump start relay for the well. So move the zone wires 1-11 to Rachio 1 - 11 and then the common wire (C) to C on the Rachio and configure.

It looks like there are 11 zones that are running on two different schedules. Easy with Rachio. I didn’t have this unit, but I had a very old (1994?) Rainbird controller that I moved off of.

post by Kppjm on Jul 15, 2019

Thank you for the welcome and the information. The part about the pump relay wiring is what confused me when I was researching the Rachio support notes, because Rachio noted that I would damage the controller if connected without a relay. But then I could not find the wiring for a relay and was wondering if I needed one. Sounds like I don’t which makes things easier, so I’ll give it a go. Thanks again.

post by DLane on Jul 15, 2019

@Kppjm - I’m guessing the well pump has a small pressure tank and the pump is activated by a pressure switch when the water pressure in the pressure tank drops to a set level. So no need for Rachio to turn on the pump, which is what a pump start relay is for.