Autopots can work very well with soil. I still use them in summer for veggies that way. Make sure that your pots are big enough to feed the whole grow, or at least close to it.
With salt nutes, I had salt buildup too often for my tastes in autopots. I always got a decent harvest, but got fed up with having to flush late in the grow when things went sideways a bit. Top irrigation works better for me with salts, and coco is less hassle for me than soil. So now it is coco and Jack's for this old bugger, at least it is indoors for our favorite plant. The autopots are relegated to veggies outdoors in the summer, and they do a good job there. Have a look at my sticky on troubleshooting the autovalve, you might get some helpful hints on operating them. I'll see if I can find a link and add it here for you.
No luck, it seems that the sticky on autovalves has dissappeared, at least I can't find it. That is a shame, it had good information.