Any new or 3rd party flow sensors?

Archive
1

I would really like to get a flow sensor for my Rachio but can’t justify dropping $300+…

Has anyone tried any other flow sensors with success with Rachio and is there any plans to support some cheaper flow sensors? I know there are some to be had under $100 and thats more my target.

Thanks!

1 Like
2

Hey @jake21-

We have not started supporting any additional sensors. Do you mind telling me what sensors you may be interested in that are in the $100 price point?

McKynzee :rachio:

3

I think the question I would rather have asked is, could Rachio possibly add a “Custom Water Sensor” option into the programming/app that would allow the end user to use whichever water sensor they would like?

Reading around it seams that many water flow sensors are very basic in how they relay data. Its a simple Pulse on the wire every time a given amount of liquid passes through the sensor. That is where we would need the option to tell Rachio how much liquid passes through the sensor per pulse.

Thanks!

4

@mckynzee is there a list of currently supported sensors?

5

Hey @ghctim-

Here is the list of supported sensors: http://support.rachio.com/article/459-flow-sensors.

@jake21, This is a really interesting idea. I’m not entirely sure if it is possible, but it sounds like it should be. I will run it by our hardware team and see what they think…

McKynzee :rachio:

1 Like
6

To piggy-back off of the ideas presented so far: I would like to be able to assign a particular flow sensor to specific zones. I have 2 valve boxes, each with 4 zones and their own main supply line. I would like to add a flow sensor to each supply line since a single flow sensor would not work. If I could assign zones to a sensor then a number of possibilities open up.

First, it can be determined if a flow sensor is working properly. If sensor 1 is assigned to zone 1 and no sensor data is received or sensor data from sensor 2 is received (assuming two sensors are installed) then an alert can be sent to the user letting them know the sensor is not functioning correctly or is not properly assigned.

Second, the flow data for each zone can be displayed and color coded to indicate where the data was derived from (e.g., red if no data received for a run [perhaps only in the calendar view], green if from the sensor, or blue if from the formula base estimate). Also, adding a bar graph view to each day of the calendar will give an over all picture of when the system was ran and how much water was used per zone per day. This is particularly useful to me since one of the zones is connected to a pond auto-fill valve. I may turn-on that zone for 30 minutes, but water will only flow if the float on the auto-fill value opens. The formula base estimate will not accurately estimate the water usage in this situation without a flow sensor.

Third, a flow rate or total volume limit can be set for each zone to provide warning or alerts if that limit is exceeded, plus an option to automatically shut-off [or a choice of actions, such as alert only, shut-off and alert, etc] that zone can be set. This is like those Life-Lock commercials: “Why only monitor if you can take action?”

Forth, if you can enter the cost of water in your area, then you can estimate costs and $$$ saved.

What is the current status of the flow sensor software. Looking at all of the forums it appears the flow sensor software is still in beta? Thanks.

Walter

2 Likes
7

Hi mckynzee,

It looks like all of the sensors listed on the compatibility list are over $100 most are in the $400+ range…