How to connect Hunter wireless rain sensor to HD-12
- The sensor has 3 wires: blue/white/orange. Hunter's manual says blue/white wires are used for "normally-closed" sensors and blue/orange for "normally-opened" ones. Which wires should I connect to HD-12 and where do I connected them?
- This knowledge-base article (link) shows a diagram where the 2 wires from a rain sensor are connected to the right side of HD-12 for "software control over the sensor". The HD-12 that I bought doesn't have any connectors on the right hand side matching what's shown in the diagram. How do I connect?
- What does "software control over the sensor" mean? What "software" and what "control"?
Thanks.
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Hi Chip,
1. You can connect any of the 2 proposed versions from the Hunter's manual. From the device,web or mobile app, you can set the rain sensor to normally closed or open. For example, choose the blue/white wires and on the RainMachine device, see if the Rain Sensor is set to "normally closed"
2. Please refer to the Rain Sensor article, we have updated it with a picture for the Rain Sensor pins from the right side.
3. Software control means that you can enable/disable the rain sensor from the device, web or mobile app. In the next version, you can configure a rain sensor to snooze the device for an user defined time after the rain has stopped.Thank you,
RainMachine Team. -
- I found the pins but without a "connector" of some kind how do I connect the wires to the pins? If I go to RadioShack, what kind of connector should I look/ask for? I don't want to unmount the RM and take it with me.
- In the mean time, if I connect the blue wire to the first 'C' terminal and the white wire to the second 'C' terminal, does this work? I understand I won't be able to control the sensor via the software.
- I assume rain sensor support requires Beta v.4.0.888?
Thanks,
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Hi Chip,
1. You can use a standard 2-pin connector, like the one used for On/Off control in any PC or you can use the mating connector for the 6-pin connector from the RainMachine HD-12.
2. No, the rain sensor must be connected in series with the common wire. Please refer to the Rain Sensor article and you will see a diagram on how to correctly install the rain sensor.
3. Yes, you need to install the Beta firmware on your RainMachine HD-12 in order to have software control over the Rain Sensor. How to install the Beta firmware is explained in the Beta Channel Changes article.Thank you,
RainMachine Team. -
Christian,
I got a 4-pin connector that fits into the 6-pin slot on the right side of the RM. The blue and white wires from the sensor are connected to the two rightmost pins as shown in the picture. The RM is updated with beta firmware 4.0.900. However, "Rain sensor normally closed" shows up as unchecked in the web application ("Use hardware rain sensor" is not checked either). Swapping the blue and white wires makes no difference. Should "Rain sensor normally closed" be automatically enabled if a sensor is detected? Or should I manually enable it? If it's the former, how to verify the sensor is correctly connected?
Thank you,
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Hi, Chip
I see that the rain sensor is connected well, on the rightmost 2 pins from the connector. After installing the rain sensor, you need to manually enable it by going to
Settings / Restrictions / Rain Sensor. Here, please enable "Use hardware rain sensor" and "Rain sensor normally closed", in your case. Now, the rain sensor should be correctly installed and active.Thank you,
RainMachine Team. -
This doesn't work! I enabled the above two (and selected "After rain has stopped resume normal operation") and RM stopped watering! The web app showed "Rain detected by sensor" when it was 80øF all week. RM screen was a different story. It showed a big red banner that it was being paused for 1 day since rain had been detected (even "After rain has stopped resume normal operation" was selected!) This is too much. I gave up.
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Hi Chip,
Did your RainMachine detected rain right after you installed the rain sensor while there was no rain outside? If this is the case, it means that the working mode is not set correctly. Please disable "Rain sensor normally closed" and the notification should disappear. Now, the rain sensor should work correspondingly.
Thank you,
RainMachine Team.
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