Rachio not connecting to Wifi

post by robl45 on Apr 28, 2024

Hi,

I just picked up a Rachio 12 zone from someone that said it was never used. I try to connect to wifi and it won’t connect. Did they sell me a defective one? I see it in the app, but it will not connect to any wifi networks, I just get an unexpected error occurred, try again. I tried with personal hotspot, with my normal network and I even setup a guest 2.4 GHz network.

post by robl45 on Apr 29, 2024

Holy Moly this is ridiculous, I had to dig out an old iPad of my sons to get it to connect and now I’m at work the next day and its sitting on the app saying not connected.

post by tmcgahey on Apr 29, 2024

Buying a used controller, who knows…

Usually, the biggest issues is that the serial number is locked to a particular persons email address and needs to be cleared. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it or not…

post by robl45 on Apr 29, 2024

No it needed an old version of iOS to connect. This was never used before. Now it’s disconnected as apparently many people have dealt with. Hopefully this is not an ongoing issue.

post by tmcgahey on Apr 29, 2024

Take what you read on here with a grain of salt, and remember that people come to forums like this when they have issues…
I’ve installed, or helped install over 30 controllers for myself and friends and family, starting with the Gen1 8 years ago, to brand new Gen3 just a couple weeks ago, and never had an issue with any of them across a number of different Wi-Fi networks, cell phones, app versions, etc…
That being said, there was a point in time where there was a firmware mismatch with some of the newer phones. I guess there was a chance this controller could be in that batch since it has never been fired up.

post by robl45 on Apr 29, 2024

Yes the firmware supposedly updated when it connected. But it needs to stay connected. I think is something I can run to see if it’s getting blocked that provides a code or something.

post by robl45 on Apr 29, 2024

Got home and solid blue bar on Rachio. Should have been connected. App was saying offline. Touched the Rachio white big button and now it’s online again.

post by robl45 on Apr 30, 2024

Currently still online while I’m at work, I did tell my network which is 2.4 and 5 on the same SSID to only allow the Rachio to connect at 2.4. Not sure if that is making a difference.

post by tmcgahey on May 3, 2024

What gen unit is this? That certainly could be your fix. Some of the mesh systems that share the same SSID across 2.4 and 5 networks can cause issues with devices that are only capable of connecting to 2.4, which G1 and G2 units are.

That being said, I still have a G1 in service that has worked flawlessly on a Netgear Orbi mesh, and currently on a Unifi mesh network.

post by robl45 on May 3, 2024

Its a Gen 3. I know it is supposed to work solid on both, but since I switched to 2.4, its been totally stable, even reconnecting when the network went down and reconnecting when I switched modem from the cable company. Its on a 3 mesh TP-Link Deco X55 system.

post by Pi4 on May 11, 2024

I am having the same issue. Came home & discovered my entire yard is dying! Have spent 2 days now trying to ‘fix’ this. No override button to just manually start it in the meantime. Very annoyed.

post by SkidawayRick on Feb 15, 2025

The 2.4GHz only has apparently worked for me - I theorize that the unit was trying to switch from 2.4 to 5 whenever it thought one signal was stronger. Restricting the switching forces the unit to just wait out brief drops in wifi.