Hi,
Seems I cannot change the schedule type.
I click on a schedule, currently fixed days and I want to switch to interval.
It does not allow me. The Schedule Type submenu has no options.
Thanks
This is marked solved, but it is not solved. All you’re doing is telling him what he already knows. He’s telling you he can’t change the schedule type. He knows that. He wants you to enable him to change the schedule tape. Please consider a firmware upgrade. For those of us with 13 zones, it’s a pain in the butt to create a completely new schedule from scratch because you want to change how the system runs. For example, we had a watering restriction in the summer and I had to switch to even odd days. I had to create a whole new schedule! There’s no excuse for that. This is supposed to be sophisticated enough to allow us to make these types of changes. I do not want to have to create a whole new schedule to change watering types, or to change to even odd wondering versus every day watering. It’s a very nice controller but the programming needs a lot of improvement. A simple cheap non-smart controller will at least allow me to run The same program twice a day. I can’t even do that with this. I have to create two programs. So there’s three software improvements for you. Allow us to change schedule types. Allow us to change watering days such as even hard or every day without creating a new schedule, allow us to add multiple start times for a given schedule (program). Consider calling them programs by the way. Not schedules. For much more than schedules. If you can’t get any of these things done, then add a minimum allow us to duplicate a schedule so we do not have to re-create it from scratch. Simply closing this as solved is not an acceptable solution. Because it is not solved. You simply told him what he already knew and that’s disappointing. I think you guys can do better
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YES! I would love to have the functionality to duplicate a schedule! Then I could tweak the settings on the new one without having to start from scratch every time I want to make a minor adjustment, but keep the original.
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Agree why can’t I go to a manual schedule. All I wanted was a controller that I can program but this product seems to be controlling me rather than allowing me to control it. Way too complicated.
If I recall correctly, they are working on some simplifications. I am not sure what you mean by it controlling you though. Once it is set up, most find that they do not have to do much with it after that, the smart part of the controller goes from there. I do understand that some find it difficult to dial in, such as setting the soul type, grass type, root depth, sprinkler type & coverage, etc., but most of that it would not know otherwise.
When I mentioned “it controlling me” what I’m thinking is, we are facing a serious drought here in California and the west. I’m trying to do my best as an individual to save water, but I can’t control the amount of water I’m giving my yard. I basically want my yard to be on minimal life support. My old sprinkler controller had a % adjustment and I was able to dial back the % with one simple control. I have a Flume to tell me the amount of water I’m consuming, but I feel I can’t easily control that amount while keeping my yard alive.
I’ve been studying the controls on Rachio, (and it’s taking me a long time to figure it out), and I’m now thinking I need to put it on manual control, but the type field would not let me change to manual. Now I’m reading that I have to reprogram to get to manual and it just frustrated me.
-Charles
If I recall correctly, you can adjust the watering up or down within the app for each zone. Maybe this would help. I do not think there is a way to adjust all zones within a schedule.
I do not think one can change the schedule type once it has been created. You might have to have your current schedule expire, then create a new manual schedule.
thanks, I’ll give that a try.
I bought the Rachio primarily for ease of schedule change. I knew that the Flex or watering based on transpiration would not work for me for several reasons. I have lawn sprinklers and drip and in both cases there is way too much variation in sun exposure and mixed plantings. No computer can be programmed to deal with this and in any case there is no need.
I believe that the transpiration based watering can work for a largely homogeneous crop in one exposure but even then I know that farmers with millions of dollars in the ground will not rely solely on this, they actually check the soil moisture manually - heavens forbid. The company where I work has elaborate gardens and they have an army of gardeners and extensive drip on every plant and tree and I see them constantly sampling for moisture.
I live in CA also and the solution is simple for me. I simply check soil moisture by observing plants or actual sampling. For lawns, when you see some blades turn brown you know you are at the limit of low water and if you want a better look increase water time slightly. If your lawn has mixed shade and sun, hopefully your zones service each exposure separately and then can have more water for the sunny zone. Otherwise you have to water for the sunny area and of course will over water the shaded areas. If you are not lucky on the zones then water for shade with the controller and haul out the hose to hit the sunny spots manually. I was lucky in this regard with my front lawn, not so lucky in the back. When installing irrigation pipes in the future I will definitely take this into account.
For drip, there are usually shallow rooted plants and deeper ones. For shallow plants with drip tubing, simply stick your finger in the soil. For deep rooted plants with emitters I use a soil probe.
As far as watering frequency, I water as infrequently as possible given average evaporation. As an example, in summer watering a lawn for even 1 hr would still result in the upper few inches of soil drying out in a few days (and thus waste enormous amounts of water) so less time but higher frequency is necessary. The length of time primarily determines how deep the water goes but most lawn grasses only go 6-8" deep at most.
The results of all of this is that I only have to change the schedule frequency and time a few times a year. I pause the system first major rain and resume in spring (unfortunately resume in mid winter last few years). I will increase frequency for summer and will usually have to increase again for the hottest weeks when temps are consistently above 90 and reverse the changes for fall.
It may take you a year or 2 to become familiar with lower water limit of your lawn and plants but observation and sampling is the key.
What irritated me is that I asked that they add a watering pause period after rain (which is the law now), with a separate rain threshold (should be higher than the rain skip) and X days pause after the rain Seems logical because if I get an inch of rain its like I ran all zones at once. However, they would not add it, Perhaps someone else can ask, it seems like a trivial change to me.
Again, the main reason I bought rachio is so I can change the schedule on a computer with a few clicks and of course the rain skip is useful. Doing what I described above with a dial type controller is maddening.