I need 24 zones to get rid of my 1982 style Hunter iCore… please!
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I just purchased a Gen 2. In case you guys get apple to work with you with HomeKit, will I need a new version or would the hardware of Gen 2 work well with it?
Until Apple has an irrigation profile for Siri I can’t comment on HomeKit support.
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I just want rachio to be simpler.
I don’t want to tell it all about my soil, size of the zones, etc.
I know how much runtime each of my zones needs to run to deliver 1" of rainfall.
I want to tell rachio exactly that, and I want it to run the zone for less time accounting for recent rainfall amounts.
If zone 1 needs 3.5 hours of runtime to reach 1" of precipitation, I know that the zone delivers roughly .285" of water per hour. If it rained .35" yesterday, I know I need 2.28 hours of runtime instead of 3.5.
My goal is always to apply the 1" of rainfall as close to one duration as possible.
When I build the schedule, I’ll tell it “the ground is dry”. rachio knows I need 1" of rain in a single duration per zone, per week. Look at the forecast - if rain is forecasted for Thursday, don’t wanter on Monday. Wait until Thursday, if no rain, then go ahead and irrigate.
Maybe some of the current schedules are capable in some regards, but it just is too much work to setup, and never seems to do what I am looking for.
There needs to be simpler integration with a rain gauge or personal weather station, and or soil moisture sensors. My closest weather station even at 10 miles away receives completely different and irrelevant precipitation amounts compared to my house.
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I installed my Gen2 unit today. Some things I’d like to see are…
- Well pump delay between zones
- Manual buttons exposed without removing the cover. I’m tempted to cut my cover to expose the buttons so the family can easily kill the sprinklers if the need arises without fumbling with the latch on the bottom or having to go grab a phone.
- Hinged cover, not the flimsy current one that you can easily drop when it pops off.
- Move the latch placement for the cover. Right now it is up against the wire entry area and with larger wire bundles behind the latch it can be tricky to sneak your finger onto the back of the latch.
- Easier to read zone #s around the LED indicators
- A way to plug in a non-smartphone remote, like the Hunter remote control for irrigation companies to plug into quickly when opening/closing the system in spring and fall. No, limited access is not what I want here. I want something quick, dirty, and simple they can use.
- Z-Wave+ integration
- Wi-Fi signal indicator (maybe re-use your 1st-4th LEDs for a special mode that shows signal strength.
- Accessible via Smartphone without Rachio cloud systems for control if Internet is down for a bit.
- Same as mwahlert, an easy way to say “I’d like # inches of water per week”
- Weather Underground integration
- No use for me, but the ability to daisy chain two or more of these units together and treat them as one logical unit for customers with >16 zones seems like a logical thing to do.
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- Ability to define a fallback/secondary weather station in the event a WS is offline for an extended period of time.
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I just want it to be simpler. I should never be directed to read an article on a university website before watering my lawn. (eg, crop co-efficient)
@scorp508 Have you considered putting Rachio on the standard power switch? You could get outdoor housing for those and allow the sprinklers to be killed by killing power to Rachio.
Edit: Even better idea is to install a standard light switch as a rain sensor, anyone can flip it and turn off sprinklers without turning off the unit itself + you get a notification that the rain sensor is active so you know to turn off the switch.
Nope, personally I would not consider it an option. In addition to not wanting to re-route all of my irrigation wiring outside (it’s in the garage now) I don’t really have a strong desire to place a switch outside. It’s just one more thing to deteriorate over time in the elements and possibly cause other problems.
I suppose I could put a Z-Wave+ panic button outside, tie it into HomeSeer, and have it shutdown the unit if need be. Even with the ++ GeekCred (and – wife cred, she doesn’t need more reasons to roll her eyes at me 
) that’s hitting a thumbtack with a sledgehammer when a simple window on the current cover to expose the buttons would suit just fine.
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Been asking for a well delay for over a year. You would think it would be high on the list.
Sounds like you are describing Rain Bird and Hunter wifi product, except with Rain Bird link wifi you do not know the origin of their ET. With Hunter your only choice is to pick an airport station or pay a fee to have access other stations. Rachio meets the definition of a real smart controller. Read the Irrigation Association’s Irrigation Best Management Practices document and perhaps you will have an academic understanding of irrigation management.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.irrigation.org/IA/Advocacy/Standards-Best-Practices/Landscape-Irrigation-BMPs/IA/Advocacy/Landscape-Irrigation-BMPs.aspx%3Fhkey%3D93b546ad-c87a-41b8-bf70-8c4fd2cff931&ved=0ahUKEwiy_r-AwdDUAhVfImMKHeMKDn4QFggmMAI&usg=AFQjCNGXqVEzJM64Tv2Rvz8oa2SwnmGZEQ
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