I am an irrigation contractor, and with trepidation and some excitement have transitioned some of my clients to the Rachio. So far I am very excited about the possibilities. I am not ready yet to switch my clients over to Flex scheduling as I need to monitor a few landscapes before I complete trust Flex scheduling to handle their needs. I am using fixed schedules with all weather intelligence settings enabled. However I am not seeing this impact the watering frequencies at all, For example, I installed and programmed settings on a landscape recently when the weather was above 100 F for several days. I am tuned into an accurate PWS within half a mile. The weather shifted dramatically here, no rain, but over two weeks of well below normal temps (highs of 70 and below). I assumed that the watering frequencies would have changed with this dramatic decrease in ET rates. So far no change though. Do the fixed schedules frequencies in fact change when the ET rates vary from normal, or is it only when measurable rain is recorded at my input threshold? Really appreciating all the info this community offers.
It does, but it is on a monthly basis, if I recall, sorry I have not fixed in 2 seasons
If you want day to day adjustments, accounting, whatever you want to call it, flex daily is your ticket…it’s the bomb!
It estimates the et and when your soil moisture hits your mad, waters again. Seasonal adjustments are just nonsense if you think about it. If the soil could hold the extra water, why not put it out every time and adjust your frequency.
@Austen Welcome to the community. @plainsane by this time knows more than me and is spot on.
Here is some extra information regarding weather intelligence which applies to fixed and flexible monthly schedules.
http://support.rachio.com/article/284-weather-intelligence-watersmart
Note that flexible monthly are meant to be predictable so we only adjust frequency and duration at the beginning of the month. Climate skip and rain skip help them during the month adding a good degree of intelligence.
Flex daily schedules are fully dynamic and react each day to changes in weather (plus the zones have cool soil moisture graphs).
Here is some helpful documentation:
http://community.rachio.com/t/flex-schedule-guidelines-and-documentation/3799
Thanks for your replies, I am happy to note that my fixed schedule has been skipped four days in a row due to weather intelligence settings alone. It was so exciting to see that first notification that the watering had been skipped due to lower than normal ET rates and some rain! Of course I got several panicked texts and emails from my client who lives out of state in sweltering Sacremento, wanting to know why the irrigation wasn’t running! I carefully explained that this was why he bought a Rachio; I’ll have to slowly ease him into daily flex…