Could I use a Hunter Rain sensor with Rachio3

post by Sangol on Jul 31, 2020

Hi,

I just brought the Rachio 3 controller. I would just like to know could I use from my old hunter sprinkler controller I had a rain sensor, which is basically an open and close switch could I use that with this system? If yes, where would I connect it, to the, C and to the S1? Since this does not use a power supply

post by DLane on Jul 31, 2020

@Sangol -

A - Yes Rachio supports the Hunter wired rain sensor.

B - Rachio specifies the wiring as S1 (or S2) and 24 VAC -. Don’t forget to enable the rain sensor option in the app.

There is a support article that documents the connections for hard wired rain sensors for each Rachio generation.

post by Sangol on Jul 31, 2020

DLane, Thanks again for your reply. The one I have from Hunter is just a plain two wire sensor where the cup is on top by the gutters and when it fills with water it shorts out the two wires so the switch becomes normally closed. There is no transformer for power, so where do I connect these two wires?

post by DLane on Jul 31, 2020

@Sangol - Rachio is compatible with Normally Closed (NC) rain sensors - which most of them are. What has been described above is a Normally Open (NO) connection. No harm will be done hooking it up to Rachio electrically - it will operate in the inverse of how a rain sensor should. So confirm that the existing rain sensor is a normally closed version.

post by JBDragon on Jul 31, 2020

Generally they are supported. Have to turn on support, and connect correctly. Follow the directions. I thought about getting one, but in the end, figured it was pointless. I have my own Weather Station up on my Roof. An AcuRite 5 in 1. The weather data is getting reported to 5 places, one of them being the Weather Underground which is what the Rachio 3 is using for PWS reports. So I just picked my own weather station. Since it can report how much water is falling, so it knows it’s raining, why have some other rain sensor? Even if you don’t have your own, you may have others near you which is close enough anyway. But again, maybe having your own Rain sensor is needed for you.

post by Sangol on Aug 1, 2020

Thanks for all the help.

post by RPostWVU on Aug 2, 2020

I just wired a RainClick to my Gen3. 1 wire on VAC- 1 wire on S1, set the settings in app for rain sensor on S1 to match. The only place I see the status of the sensor is in the “History”.

post by JBDragon on Oct 12, 2020

Again, I don’t see the point of even using some type of Rain thing attached to the Rachio. It’s the whole point of having local weather stations to tell the device if it’s raining. I already had my own weather station on the roof of my house that was also already reporting to a number of weather services. So it was an easy pick for my Rachio. But there are a number of others around me, more so now than just a few years ago.

So long as the weather stations know that it’s raining. If it’s mist, or very short rain, not to trigger that it’s rained, it’s not enough for the grass anyway.

post by RPostWVU on Oct 20, 2020

For me the local weather stations aren’t all that accurate (particularly the forecasting). In the timings when the rain comes right around the time the schedule is triggering, sensor would save water.

post by kd4cw4679 on Apr 7, 2021

You should be able to go from More on the home page to Controller Settings then Accessories. Sensor Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 should show rain sensor. If not, choose the sensor it is wired into and enable it and select type rain sensor. On the Hunter Mini Click, I can press the little button on top of the sensor. The history will show a rain delay being set while the button is held down and cleared when you let it up.

post by kd4cw4679 on Apr 7, 2021

I am using the rain sensor because the nearest weather station is about 5 miles away and there might be times when we get rain while a few miles away they get no rain. I have my rain sensor set at 1/4". Of course if it rains where the weather station is and not at my house I might miss a watering cycle. I can live with that.