Netamo Rainfall

Newbie here so bear with me on this question. I have my Rachio using my PWS through our Netamo along with a rain gauge. All things are working just fine but my question pertains to rainfall. Does the Rachio see the amount of rainfall that my Netamo rain gauge collected (PWS_JOECOOLWX )? If so, where do I see that data and will it also adjust the moisture levels within each zone? I am running a fixed schedule because I am new here and just don’t feel comfortable setting up the flex schedule since my town has water restrictions and we are allowed to water only on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I need to learn this Flex schedule thing so as to take full advantage of my setup. Any and all help is appreciated.
Rich in Midland

If you have chosen the PWS as your station (http://support.rachio.com/article/405-choosing-weather-station) then precipitation data will be used in fixed schedules if you have enabled on your schedule (enabled by default).

On the fixed schedule, you can set the threshold amount of precipitation to skip your schedule. About 15 minutes before your schedule is going to run, you will get a notification if the schedule will be skipped due to rain. Irregardless if it skips or not, if you look at the activity tab (lower left hand corner, second tab over), under schedule updates you will see a notification that tells you how much rain was recorded and if the schedule was skipped or not.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or feedback.

Thanks and have a great day.

:cheers:

@rric31, you might have already done this, but remember to connect your Netatmo to the same weather service Rachio uses (PWSweather.com). For details, please refer to this support article.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you run into any issues.

Best, Emil

Thanks for the info Franz. I guess I just didn’t understand the “forecasted” and the “moisture levels”. I see that the precipitation I had yesterday changed from forecasted to precipitation amount. Just so I understand, the Moisture Levels—Field Capacity and Allowed Depletion graph in the more detailed tab: I now have it set to a Flex Schedule but on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (Town restrictions). Will the Iro forecast this moisture level (rainfall forecasted and current levels) and determine whether if the zone will fall under the allowed depletion and then decide if it should water or not?

I know this seems basic to you, but I am just trying to grasp the Flex Scheduling. I believe this Flex Scheduling is the IRO’s bread and butter in saving water and money so I am trying to get it down pat.

If you have a good thread or link that really explains the Field Capacity and Allowed Depletion I would really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for the awesome Customer Support.

Rich in NC

Emil,
I have connected all through PWS. All is working but this is just operator (me) trying to understand what all of this data means. Irrigation is something I have never had before so I am not only learning how the Iro works, but I am learning about sprinkler heads, nozzles, zones, etc…lol.

So far, so fun.

Rich in NC

Correct, one hour before the flex schedule would run, we check the current moisture level along with predicted precipitation for the day (and predicted moisture depletion), and determine if the moisture level is depleted enough to run the flex schedule.

If you navigate to a zone and tap on ‘moisture level’ you will see a graph that shows predicted days when it will run. (the webapp app.rach.io is easier to visualize this data)

It is a very complex problem which we are trying to make simple. These questions are great. Early next Spring (before watering season) we will do a major release that hopefully simplifies a lot of things. Currently flex schedule duration is easy to adjust, but not necessarily the frequency.

This article has some basic tips if you want to make slight adjustments to the flex schedule frequency (or duration) and might help understand some concepts.

http://support.rachio.com/article/385-flex-schedule-tips

My goal for next year is to not have the average user (unless they want to) have to understand field capacity, allowed depletion, etc. :wink:

Love it, I was in the same boat, there is a science behind it, great to see other passionate users.

:cheers:

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A good analogy for field capacity is to think of your soil as a reservoir that holds water; like a glass. The size of the glass is dependent on the zone attributes selected, in particular the soil type & the vegetation which tell us how much space is available within the soil to hold water (like a sponge) and how deep the root zone of the vegetation is.

Allowed depletion is the point at which the Iro will automagically refill the glass. If it’s set to 50%, your glass is always half full and retains a reserve of 50%. However, if allowed depletion is changed to 30% then we’ll keep a 70% reserve and refill at 30% – which will results in a shorter watering time and increased watering frequency.

Compared to old school timers and scheduling, water would be added to your glass on a fixed, regular schedule, regardless of how much water has been lost to ET and percolation. This could result in over-watering, because the glass is already full, or under-watering, because the glass was empty to start.

Hope this helps :blush:

Best, Emil

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