Zones vs Schedules
First, I wanted to echo all the comments about zone level determination vs. schedules. I am going through all the steps to understand each zone (even measuring output with cups), and would prefer not to have to create a schedule for each of my 10 zones (the zones in my yard and inherited system are not at all uniform - slope, sunlight, or output).
Shower Time
I also am currently having issues with scheduling as I need the sprinklers to be done by the time the family gets up to shower, but also want to run at the ideal time for my area which is early morning. In order to achieve this I need to have the schedule start time earlier than ideal to ensure it is always done by shower time.
I tried breaking into multiple schedules hoping that would shorten watering times by running schedules on different days (a strategy I have used in the past), but the schedules all end up running on the same days so seems to have no impact.
So I am left now scheduling at a time that is probably too early (the middle of the night) to ensure system is always done by shower time.
I think an ideal fix would be to have an option to run a schedule that ends at a certain time vs. begins at a certain time. That way when Rachio adjusts the watering time, the schedule would start earlier or later, but always hit the most ideal early-morning run time.
If there is an approach for handling my shower issue that I am missing, please share!
If you were using flex scheduling and want/need each zone to run individually, please continue using it.
This is definitely something we understand is an issue and are working on. At a later date we will support end times. We are currently rebuilding our scheduling calendar to support this and other features.
Good suggestions though. I imagine that some of the recommendationsmay be difficult undertakings for the Rachio crew, but nonetheless good ideas that will be immense value added items.
While I’m new, and I am not reading 100 posts on anything, I have to echo what I hear from many. Please keep flex. As needed (or every other unless it rains/will rain) isn’t that much different than the dumb timer I had last week. Flex is SO much more of an elegant, efficient, and smart watering solution. Without any history or even opening a valve, I’m set to water less than HALF of the time I was scheduled with As Needed under the Flex Schedule I just set up. I’d much prefer this being standard and the As Needed be available to those that can’t/won’t have time to put in the time.
I have not read every post but have read a large number of posts in this thread. I just received and installed my unit on Monday so I don’t have any experience running flex schedules but liked what I had read. I compared the major players in this market and chose Rachio because I liked the mobile app better than the others that had similar features.
The main thing I wanted in a smart irrigation system was something that I did not have to think about and I feel that is not the case. Being a smart system I would think it should water when it believes my lawn needs water and not water when my lawn has received plenty through either irrigation or rain. Sounds like the WAN schedule no longer takes evaporation into account and the only smart thing it does is skips a watering based on precipitation in the previous 24 hours. If that is incorrect please let me know.
If I’m correct I feel “As Needed” is a misleading name. It should be called automatic schedule. All it is doing is using the information I put in to create a schedule but it doesn’t adjust from that schedule, which would be as needed. Here is the problem I’m afraid of. My “As Needed” schedule is set to water every 4 days right now. The next watering being on Saturday. There is rain predicted on Sunday which I would hope a smart controller would then not water or water less. Come Sunday if I get no rain I don’t believe the system is going to adjust and will wait till the next scheduled cycle leaving 8 days between my lawn receiving water.
I’m currently disappointed with my purchase and hoping someone can provide information to make me believe Rachio is still a smart irrigation controller.
@dcook23, go to a Flex schedule and I highly doubt you will be disappointed. When it’s runnning Flex, it’s VERY smart. Check out this category on Flex Scheduling.
Just setup a Flex schedule using the web app. Didn’t think I could setup Flex since I was not using it prior to the 2.5 release. Thanks for sharing that.
Check out Linn’s post which is a few up from mine which links to all the details you need about flex. The web app to setup flex is at https://flex-app.rach.io/
@dcook23 To answer your earlier question, WAN does use actual ET and precip to predict whether you can make it to the next watering. That’s what we called Climate Skip. What it doesn’t do is shift watering days. It also doesn’t give you the pretty moisture graph, which has generated a lot of confusion around how smart it actually is If you are fine with the idea of a flexible schedule, then keep with Flex. As @franz has mentioned, we’re working on something that we think will make everyone happy
brad, it is more precise to say that WAN uses historical weather averages, but WAN with the climate skip option uses live weather station data to calculate ET and skip WAN cycles. My suggestion to any Rachio user that wants to use live weather data, is to use it in a flex schedule. WAN schedules have too many limitations, discussed already.
dcook23 - Rachio is a smart controller, but as you found out, as needed is really just a fixed schedule with seasonal adjustments. Try playing with Flex schedules, use the Flex web app. If you are worried about drying out your zones, reduce the allowed depletion until you see if your zones are set up accurately.
Is there a mistype. You said you loved As Needed throttling duration. But the guide you have excerpted which is an excellent for the desert, says you never adjust duration, only frequency as the root zone that needs to be dampened when it is dry doesn’t change from season to season. But how often you dampen it does.
@garmanmd Good catch. I did mean intervals in that sentence so I updated the post. I do have a recollection of getting slight adjustment to durations on AS NEEDED, but that was a while back. Maybe I’m not remembering that right ? The durations certainly don’t change on Flex, which is what I am using now.
Can the new schedules (non-Flex schedules) have a button to force recalculation of duration?
I tweak root depth, area as we have been making changes to our lawn. Each time I change one of these attributes, I have to delete existing schedules that include that zone recreate them.
Would it kill you guys to add a button (Say “Refresh”) in schedule info page to redo the calculations based on currently set zone attributes?
@Videoguy I think that’s a good improvement for WAN. For WAN schedules, the idea was to fine tune durations instead of digging into the complexities of the advanced zone settings. If you want to alter the frequency of watering you can use the crop coefficient:
You may want to try flex if you prefer to fine tune advanced zone settings.
If you are fine with the idea of a flexible schedule, then keep with Flex. As 