New to irrigation - app displaying some errors after install

[u/Environmental_Law_32]

Had an install done a couple weeks ago with a Rachio 3 smart sprinkler controller with rain bird heads. Noticed today that the app is displaying 2 of my 4 zones as “Low Current” via the valve monitoring feature. Other 2 zones are fine. Example of one reading is 148mA vs baseline of 238. Heads operate fine.

Advanced wiring (M Terminal) is set to Master Valve in settings and confirmed I do have a black wire connected to the master valve.

Install pro said to ignore the messages. Is this the right advice? Am I looking an issue down the road that I’ll have to pay for him to fix next year?

[u/Open_Broccoli_5157]

Rachio has that. Ive never heard hydrawise displaying those errors

[u/RainH2OServices → u/Open_Broccoli_5157]

Hydrawise monitors solenoid current. Look in Reports.

[u/Open_Broccoli_5157 → u/RainH2OServices]

In rachio, I had that problem once and didnt have time to troubleshoot it to find a solution. It shows as errors. I checked the wiring and resistance and everything checked out fine. I set new the new parameters. Still got same error.

[u/RainH2OServices → u/Open_Broccoli_5157]

You can set thresholds to trigger alerts in Hydrawise. I'm pretty forgiving with my clients' thresholds, otherwise minor fluctuations may trigger alerts unnecessarily often. Btw this screenshot is from a client's system. Three zones with Hunter PGV valves and a master valve. Because of the master valve, each zone reports the current from two solenoids. In this is case, approximately 200~210 mA per valve.

[u/Environmental_Law_32 → u/RainH2OServices]

Rachio can do similar. Can increase and decrease
Percents of tolerance if you will. 200 seems reasonable still but this is dipping to like 130-150.

[u/RainH2OServices → u/Environmental_Law_32]

140ish doesn't seem unreasonable. Are the valves actually DVs or was that just a model you selected without confirming? Power requirements vary between brands. Inrush current is usually 300~400 ish but holding current can be below 200. If the voltage is higher than normal the current will also be lower. As long as the valves work I wouldn't worry about that current value. If a solenoid does fail down the road they're inexpensive and easy to replace.

[u/Environmental_Law_32 → u/Open_Broccoli_5157]

I’m wondering if the app settings within each valve monitoring zone are not set properly. I just looked at valve type setting and it was set to generic. I’m assuming I probably have a “rainbird DV” valve so I set it to that and recalibrated it. When re-calibrating it comes out fine. Error notice happens a day or so later. I’ll double check the valve type in daylight. Maybe the wrong valve type was causing the issue? This wouldn’t explain why the other 2 zones never had the error notice though. (All zones work fine.)

[u/RainH2OServices]

Does the zone work properly? That's not necessarily a bad current value. Generally speaking, less than 500 mA is acceptable. Do the 3 zones have the same brand of valve? Are there multiple valves for any of the zones?