Soil moisture fill/empty

[franz]

Yes of course, duration, I’m losing it.

This is a good breakdown of levers.

How do I edit duration and frequency on Flexible Daily Schedules?

[Neko]

I’m having the same issues. Both the Fill and empty buttons give the same result.

[katerri22]

Ack! I wanted my fruit trees to turn on tonight so I hit the “empty” button. It’s now at field capacity! I’ll have to take it out of flex to get it to turn on tonight I guess

[franz]

We will finish up the slider on Monday and hopefully release. iOS and Android are ready to release as well and now incorporate soil moisture graphs per zone (and also display each zone’s current soil moisture level without going to the graph)

It will allow you to set the day before today to any level you want. Spent a lot of time on this part, and adjusting the moisture level for today was very difficult when you factor in events that aren’t really time based (i.e. evapotranspiration + precipitation) that we record for the entire day. I think this will still cover most use cases. Also fixed defects where if you were over saturated it will pull the moisture level down to the percent you choose (well very very close, there are some rounding issues). Before you had to empty a couple of times. Good 'ol recursion

Hope this helps. Just finishing up some Web pieces, but everything else is ready.

[franz]

We pushed out new code that will truly empty/fill start of today. Note this will still be affected by today’s ET and precip values which can offset the moisture balance in either direction.

Decided not to release a slider bar, want to keep this as simple as possible for now and watch how this feature is being used.

[franz]

Oh BTW, iOS and Android released today to support viewing and adjusting moisture graph in mobile.

New iOS (2.1) and Android (2.2.0-115) apps released

Excited to announce new mobile releases today. Main feature is zone moisture level and zone moisture graph data. We also allow you to empty or fill each individual zone moisture balance. [image] [image] [image]

[ETIrrigation]

Nice! Simple and easy to use and understand!

[katerri22]

Nice! Thanks - This really helps. I’ve been putting some of my zones on flex and some on fixed to see how they both do. It really helps to be able to adjust the moisture balance when moving the zones from fixed schedules to flex. Very nice addition!

[JNotar]

@katerri22

It really helps to be able to adjust the moisture balance when moving the zones from fixed schedules to flex.

That solved my problems. Thank you.

[JCE]

Since there is no slider, then button pushers like me get into trouble by trying it out without any way of going back to where we were. Can you add an “undo” button?

[franz]

I’ll put this in the backlog and we will prioritize accordingly.

Thanks!

[NickT]

@bhochenedel

Also, I have a moisture sensor that tells me the exact %. Some sort of a slider to set the value may also be nice for “advanced” users. Eventually I hope to have everything dialed in so the Rachio % matches the soil sensor

I have moisture sensors too, and I don’t understand why my only two options for adjustment of soil moisture are 0 and 100% (i.e. empty and fill). Seems to me that you could walk around with a sensor and set the actual percentages and give the controller a much better idea of what to do. Having a portable sensor could also help the controller “learn” the drain rate. Anyway, the feature seems really hobbled by only being able to adjust to either endpoint, and nowhere in between.

[franz]

Agreed. This is definitely in our backlog, will get to this as soon as we can.

[ETIrrigation]

I am having a hard time understanding why this particular tool needs to be complicated by adding a slide for %. What is this tools particular purpose? Is it to make a quick correction to input variables either from zone parameters or weather data being off from actual condition in the ground, YES. Is it to fine tune parameter settings NO. IF you want to add choices to the slide OK. Keep them simple and relevant to what is being accomplished. Depleted, Water at next available time or Saturated Delay water 1 day, or 2 days. If these options do not correct the issue, chances are it is improper setting or weather data that needs to be address.

@NickT

I have moisture sensors too, and I don’t understand why my only two options for adjustment of soil moisture are 0 and 100% (i.e. empty and fill). Seems to me that you could walk around with a sensor and set the actual percentages and give the controller a much better idea of what to do. Having a portable sensor could also help the controller “learn” the drain rate. Anyway, the feature seems really hobbled by only being able to adjust to either endpoint, and nowhere in between.

If you want to be able to do this, maybe it should be an option within the zone setup menu but probable not in a quick correction tool.

[emil]

@ETIrrigation

I am having a hard time understanding why this particular tool needs to be complicated by adding a slide for %.

@ETIrrigation, are you referring to the slider @bhochenedel mentioned for a moisture sensor?

@bhochenedel

I have a moisture sensor that tells me the exact %. Some sort of a slider to set the value may also be nice for “advanced” users.

[ETIrrigation]

@emil

are you referring to the slider @bhochenedel mentioned for a moisture sensor?

I am referring to the zone Moisture Fill/Empty tool under iro’s zone moisture balance graph.

[emil]

@ETIrrigation

I am referring to the zone Moisture Fill/Empty tool under iro’s zone moisture balance graph.

@ETIrrigation, okay thanks for clarifying.

@ETIrrigation

Is it to make a quick correction to input variables either from zone parameters or weather data being off from actual condition in the ground, YES. Is it to fine tune parameter settings NO. IF you want to add choices to the slide OK. Keep them simple and relevant to what is being accomplished. Depleted, Water at next available time or Saturated Delay water 1 day, or 2 days. If these options do not correct the issue, chances are it is improper setting or weather data that needs to be address.

Are you recommending we add more options to the Fill/Empty tool?

@ETIrrigation

If you want to be able to do this, maybe it should be an option within the zone setup menu but probable not in a quick correction tool.

Assuming this is for soil/moisture sensor data. If so, then we’d probably want to separate user quick edits from sensor calibration edits. Let me know if we’re on the same page.

[ETIrrigation]

@emil

Are you recommending we add more options to the Fill/Empty tool?

I would prefer it stayed just as it is. Empty/Fill no need for a slider here.

[rwabel]

I have a few question in regards of moisture level

1. Looking at the graph, I can see it shows it will go up from almost empty to full. However I do not see if that will happen due to rainfall or the system that calculates it will need to run the sprinkler for that zone
2. I have different nozzle types and even different plants in my zone. Is it wise to keep flexible schedule and try to find a balance between the plants and the nozzle types?
3. I have a the famous moisture meter you can put into the ground to read the moisture level. Would it make sense to do that for each zone and then adjust the moisture level to have a good starting point? Is it now possible to set it to a specific level or still only empty or full?
4. The default area size is set to 1000 sq ft. That is very big. Not easy to calculate, but mine are way lower like 100 or even less. How much impact does the area have in the calc?
5. If the level is empty how much does the system look into the forecast in order to not run the sprinkler? I mean if the system knows in 3 days in will rain, however moisture level is empty, will it still run the sprinkler?
6. Is there some kind of a list of plants that shows in what category they are going and their typical root depth?

Thanks

[franz]

@rwabel

However I do not see if that will happen due to rainfall or the system that calculates it will need to run the sprinkler for that zone

The moisture level is filled by precipitation, or irrigation.

@rwabel

2. I have different nozzle types and even different plants in my zone. Is it wise to keep flexible schedule and try to find a balance between the plants and the nozzle types?

A flex schedule will run each zone independently, so its not that big of an issue. If you want to take advantage of smart cycling, I would group like zones together.

@rwabel

3. I have a the famous moisture meter you can put into the ground to read the moisture level. Would it make sense to do that for each zone and then adjust the moisture level to have a good starting point? Is it now possible to set it to a specific level or still only empty or full?

I don’t think that would help much since we are tracking with different data. If you go into the moisture level graph itself, you can empty/fill each zone.

@rwabel

4. The default area size is set to 1000 sq ft. That is very big. Not easy to calculate, but mine are way lower like 100 or even less. How much impact does the area have in the calc?

Sq. ft is only used in calculating estimated gallon usage. Nozzle type (in/hr), crop type, and soil are probably the most important data points.

@rwabel

5. If the level is empty how much does the system look into the forecast in order to not run the sprinkler? I mean if the system knows in 3 days in will rain, however moisture level is empty, will it still run the sprinkler?

If the zone is depleted, we will run that day, unless enough precipitation is predicted for that day, to offset the current day’s evapotranspiration.

@rwabel

6. Is there some kind of a list of plants that shows in what category they are going and their typical root depth?

Here are the current crop types with root zone depth in inches:

XERISCAPE 5.0
TREES 25.0
ANNUAL 4
COOL_SEASON_GRASS 6
WARM_SEASON_GRASS 9
PERENNIAL 10
SHRUBS 15

Coming this Spring we will be consolidating fixed and flex into a more simple, understandable, efficient schedule.