I’d love to see Rachio come out with remote soil moisture sensors, much like the temperature sensors that ecobee uses. This would really personalize the watering needs to the user. For instance, in a place like Los Angeles, with its many, many micro-zones and different types of soil and hills, we can’t easily rely on weather reports to accurately reflect our location (there can be a 10 to 20 degree temperature difference in just a few miles, and it can be raining over the crest of my hill, but be dry as a bone at my house).
Anyway, I think that would be the best way to accurately show the water needs of each area of the garden.
P.S. Yes, I realize that there may be a difficulty with connecting these remote sensors in a large garden, as the wifi signal may not be able to reach long distances. Not sure how one would go about working around that.
True enough. I suppose each sensor itself could also be a wifi extender. Not sure about how well that would work in an outdoor environment, nor how cost effective it would be. But the holy grail is really to get moisture sensors in the ground, reporting back to the Rachio controller.
Mobile wireless soil sensors do exist (cellular with long battery life). See http://www.getgroundworx.com/. This brand does not have Rachio integration but maybe they could team up.
