Skipping a wire input on the controller

post by Guffdude on Jun 28

I replaced my valve manifold two years ago and connected the valve wiring sequentially on the controller. I have very good water pressure at my home and due to the drastic drought restrictions currently in place in Colorado, I want to combine two valves to run on one zone on my Rachio controller. Assume the colored wire for Valve 1 is blue and Valve 2 is red. I plan on wiring the blue wire at the valve box to both Valve 1 and Valve 2 to control the valves simultaneously. I will disconnect the red wire at Valve 2. Can I then remove the red wire from connection 2 at the controller and leave that position empty while leaving the existing wires in connections 3 and above? Do I need to move connection 3 to connection 2, and 4 to 3 etc. Will the controller continue to operate the valves in connections 3 and above properly? Thanks for any advice on this. I am doing this because I want to finish watering before going to bed and the water running to the valves can be heard in the bedroom and disturbs our sleep.

post by Guffdude on Jul 17

I took the two wires at the controller and put them in the same connection. Then I disabled the old zones that were in their own connections. Worked fine. Slightly lower coverage so I changed to a greater length head. Just fine.