Hi Dave,

As you have more than 2 common wires, please use wire connectors to do the wiring and see if it helps.

You can test your controller through the following steps:

Please check the wires. Are they loose or disconnected from the slots? Please also check the common wires and the master valve if you have one. If you believe the wires are correctly installed,  please check if there is a main valve/faucet that is turned off manually. 

To test if the controller is working properly, use a multimeter (AC voltage mode) to test the voltage between the common wire and the zone wire when the zone is active. Normally the voltage should be between 24V and 28V.

You might also want to check whether there are shorted zones or open zones. You just need to use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the common wire and each zone (remove the wires from the slots before testing the resistance). The normal reading would be 20-60 Ohms. If the reading is less than 10 Ohms then you might have a shorted circuit in the solenoid and if it is larger than 80 Ohms you might have an open circuit. 

Please let us know if it works. You can also send us email to support@netrohome.com and we will have our technician look into this issue.