Switch in old system

post by ptbrown811 on Jul 11, 2023

I just bought a home and plan to upgrade the existing irrigation system. Which, as it turns out, is somewhat complicated. For some reason he wired a switch to be able to go between the Rainbird and an old Rachio 1. See picture here.

I think it could be as simple as taking a photo of the Rainbird (that’s what is in use now, the Rachio doesn’t seem to work) disentangle the switch and take it (and the Rachio) out, and install the wires that went into the switch into the Rachio 3. Seem correct?

post by Thomas_Lerman on Jul 12, 2023

Wow!!! Do you know the purpose, was it so one could flip the switches and have the Rain Bird control all the zones (or a subset) and the other way, Rachio??? I would do as you said in cleaning up the “mess”. I probably would suggest first making sure all the zones are working, possibly taking all sorts of pictures, labelling wires, and making wiring diagrams (this might be the most important to me). If you post them, we probably can help be another set of eyes.

post by DLane on Jul 12, 2023

@ptbrown811 - What @Thomas_Lerman said! Label, photograph and diagram. Without seeing what the terminal strips look like the the semi-open box and the connections to the switches my best guess is that the switches are switching the common wire to one or the other system for a group of zones.

Also, it looks like the battery in the remote end of the Rain Bird sensor is dead as there should be a battery level indicated on the face, or the power is off to the receiver.

post by ptbrown811 on Jul 16, 2023

Thanks to you both for replies. Heading in now to do it. Will first move all the wires from the Rainbird to the Rachio 3, make sure it’s working, then disassemble the switch.

post by tmcgahey on Jul 18, 2023

Wow, that is either the most complicated mess of an irrigation I’ve ever seen, or an engineering marvel. I’m not quite sure…

I’m with the others, label, take lots of pictures, and try to trace where wires are going to see if you can figure out a purpose of the switches and whatnot.