Can you get the controller into the state where it is awaiting provision (2nd light blinking)? If not, try a factory reset. If still no luck, it’s a hardware failure and you should request an RMA.
With the second light blinking, does your phone see a Wi-Fi network named Rachio-xxxxxx (where xxxxxx are the last 6 characters of the MAC address)? If not (and your phone sees other networks ok), try a factory reset. If you still can’t see the Rachio-xxxxxx, it’s a hardware failure and you should request an RMA.
If you get this far, temporarily turn off mobile data on your phone and try to run the app to connect Rachio to Wi-Fi. If you fail, try from another device (if available, try iOS if you were using Android, or vice-versa). A tablet or an old phone without a valid SIM card should be ok for this.
If you still have trouble, post details of what goes wrong.
I finally got it to work. In addition to the steps you mentioned, I also had to shut-off the VPN in my phone. Once the Rachio says OK, then I put all the phone settings back. I’m glad to have Rachio back online.
Bought a house with 8zulwc. Unit was unplugged all winter so I guess the non-volatile whatever lost whatever program the previous owners had. I can force a zone to water, but only for 3 minutes which means for 8 zones, 30 minutes each, I have to push the buttons 80 times every 3 minutes. Why don’t I program the thing myself? The app doesn’t run on my ipad (ios 10.3.3: just shows a splash screen and then exits after 10 seconds). Maybe if the thing was able to see my wifi it wouldn’t be so non-automated? In the mean time it would be nice if I could just force a zone on and leave it on so I only have to get up and push buttons 8 times instead of 80
The support folks told me the web app will only work if I can get the unit onto my new wifi. That requires a discovery procedure that requires an ios or android app. I have an ipad with 10.3.3 which it claims is the newest available from Apple, but as I said the Rachio app installs and then exits immediately when I try to open it. The app’s detailed description claims support for ios 10.3 on ipad, so why do think the environment is down rev?
No I don’t have an Android or IOS phone – isn’t the ipad supported (that has what it claims is up-to-date IOS version)? I’m not comfortable borrowing a phone for covid reasons. I do have a Windows 10 PC on the same wifi as the controller needs to connect to, and have programmed with C and python for many years on Linux and Windows (work for HPE) – so I’m not afraid of “very technical” workarounds while Rachio and Apple fix their bugs. Can I disconnect the Rachio and just use a 24V power supply to energize one solenoid at a time to get the lawn watered?
Assuming that it works, it should take just a few minutes to ‘provision’ your controller from your Win 10 machine. Then, as desired, you can use either the iPad or Win 10 to control Rachio.
I don’t understand your question. The workarounds were posted and should work now. If you tried one and it failed, please post in detail what went wrong.
I finally figured out that without doing a factory reset, the unit wouldn’t try to solicit a connection on its private wifi, and so you could go no further. I did the factory reset, the rachio appeared as a wifi on my windows 10 box and tried Stewart’s suggestion about browsing to it, but that doesn’t work as it doesn’t do the get/post exchange as he’d suggested. But the original curl get and then post did work, the unit reset and then appeared with an IP address on my router. At this point I was hoping I could browse to that address and get a meaningful dialog going, but it has no support (no such page errors). Then I installed telnet support and tried to connect that way, but that’s refused by the rachio. Then I went back to the rachio web site, login’d in, and it puts you on the locations page. You can change your profile in the settings, you can get API key (not sure what to do with it once it’s in your clip board), but have no idea how to do so-called remote watering. Tried to get to any page other than “locations”, like remote, locations/remote (makes you log in again, puts you back to locations), or the ever-popular “home”, to no avail. Is there a programmer’s guide or API of curl commands some endeavoring Windows or Linux geek could use to make this more user friendly?
I’m not certain that adding a controller only affects the back end (the app does not talk directly to the controller), but suspect that is the case because there are credible posts where the user had done a factory reset and didn’t need to re-add it in the app.
Assuming that this is true, just ask a friend or neighbor to add it for you. Worst case, he’ll get an error indicating no communication with the device. If it works, it should then be possible to do the rest of the setup from your web browser.
I’m reluctant to ask people that I don’t know yet in my new neighborhood (just moved here a few days ago) to take covid risks. It seems like the plan to get the controller online to my wifi was successful, and the next step of doing remote watering from any web browser as the documentation promises should work. This doesn’t need the broken ipad app, just the website. But I can’t get as far as the website attempting to connect to my controller, so I must be doing something wrong (it just keeps insisting an install on a smart phone was necessary to add a device).
If my understanding is correct, they should not have to be near the controller and can do it from their home. Once the controller is set up, they could delete the app. You could even ask a friend halfway around the world, as long as they have a compatible phone and internet access.
Sure. PM me the email address for your Rachio account, the password and the serial number of your device. I’ll attempt to set it up; if it fails I’ll report what went wrong.
If your password is also used on other sites, please change it to something unique before sending it. And after I’m done, change it to something I don’t know.
Is it over 5 years old? Apple typically supports a HW model for 5 years then stops providing iOS updates. As far as I know iPad 4th Generation (not iPad Pro 4th Gen, that’s newer) or older cannot upgrade beyond 10.3.3. This may be entirely orthogonal to why the app isn’t running, just providing some detail on why 10.3.3 may be the latest available for you.
