I live in SoCal (Sherman Oaks/Van Nuys) and I know its been hot and we haven’t had rain in forever, but when I turn SmartCycle on its increasing my watering times to 2plus hours in the morning. Interesting…
@vintagec Smart Cycle actually doesn’t increase the time your lawn gets watered. It breaks your schedule up so that the water can soak and not runoff. This helps explain the feature:
http://www.support.rach.io/article/98-smart-cycle-faq
That article is in regards to our new 1.7 release (not out yet) but it is close enough to what we currently have. Let us know if you have any more questions or feedback. Thanks!
The Smart Cycle FAQ is very good, but can be a complex read. The quick and easy answer is that the Iro will stretch out your watering times if you have dense soil and /or slopes, in order to help promote and maximize the absorption of water where you need it.
With the water problems in SoCal, this is a very good thing. However, if you’re trying to water multiple zones overnight (prior to sunrise), you’ll may need to start your watering cycle a bit earlier than you thought. I ultimately split my watering up over multiple days to handle this issue.
Like you vintagec, we’re in a drought area with watering limits, including day and time restrictions, etc. But check your water district’s website. Ours makes exceptions to support more efficient watering methods of the type the Rachio Iro supports. Bottom line, if you use a smart controller, paired with efficient sprinkler heads, and don’t water during the heat of the day, you should be good.
@eganders Sorry about the complexity of the FAQ, obviously it was written by a techie 
Will try to figure out how to have two different flavors. Let us know if you have any questions or feedback.
Thanks!
@franz I’m super techie but thanks for the info! I’ll dig into the FAQ and let you guys know if I have any questions… other than I wonder if I can setup controlling my sprinklers via Salesforce.com haha