Rain delay with onsite weather station

Hello,

I encountered decent results using the standard internet based weather settings for my Rachio and decided to localize a bit and use some PWS data from nearby weather stations. The closest PWS to me was 4.5 miles. Because south Florida weather is so unpredictable and spotty, I realized soon that this was not a viable option and purchased my own PWS. I now have an Ambient Weather WS-2902A Smart WiFi which seems to yield very accurate data right from my home. My question is this: With the real time data being fed directly to the Rachio from my location, does the Rachio now ‘know’ it is raining and will shut off or do its rain skip thing? Thanks

If you’ve selected your PWS as the Rachio controller’s weather station, then the controller should skip watering if rain meets the threshold you set. If you’re using Flex Daily, then the controller should use your rain gage data to help determine soil moisture and when to water. If it rained every day in amounts that kept the soil moisture above 50% (the usual threshold), then the controller will know to delay irrigation. If it rains while irrigating, my suspicion is the controller would finish its scheduled irrigation – but that ought to be rare with Flex since it uses forecast rain to help determine when to water.

1 Like