Our Rachio applied a seasonal shift in watering times to our existing schedule, decreasing some times by a bit. We are experiencing a spout of warmer than normal weather, and with little humidity and no rain in sight, would like to understand how or if I can reverse the seasonal shift and go back to where we were for a couple of weeks. What are my options, and are the automatic changes via the seasonal shift detailed anywhere so if need be we can go back in manually and adjust the watering schedule?
Great question. A simple solution would be to make a global time adjustment to your watering schedule(s) using the +/- toggle in the Total Watering Time header as shown in #3 in this support article.
We don’t currently have a revision log or restore feature, but it could be useful in situations like yours.
This question brings up an issue I have been wondering about. Aside from seasonal adjustments, does Rachio make any adjustments for temperature variations?
I live in Sacramento,CA. Here, we can have 10 days of 102-105, then it can cool to 90 and overcast for a few days.
I would imagine that watering requirements vary dramatically with such wide shifts in temp, providing a significant opportunity for water savings.
If I make a global time adjustment, say to add 20 minutes total watering time to existing schedule, how does the Rachio allocate that added time to the existing zone times? Does it divide up the extra time by the number of zones and add that much time to each zone proportionally, or does it use some other calculation method?
Hey Dr. Ted, you just described the flex daily scheduling feature. It adjusts automatically based on Temp, Solar Radiation, Wind, and Precip. It is sensitive to the quality of weather data so choose your weather station wisely.
Thanks; that’s what how I thought the Rachio was supposed to work, but I wasn’t seeing changes in watering times. I’m watching more closely now, but what I’m seeing is puzzling.
For example, I have a few emitter zones. Two of them weren’t adequately watering their plants, so I increase both zones to 150% on the “Duration” screen. Since I made that adjustment, it has gotten cooler. I just checked durations again, and one of the zones is still showing 150%, but the other had reduced to 120%.
Is this the mechanism through which weather based adjustments are made? If so, then why did one zone remain unchanged, and the other decreased to 120%?
