Contact EveryDrop support (you may have to start from their sales@ address) describing your issue. I had calibration flow values on my 1004-EX proportionally on each zone about 50-80% higher than direct comparisons to my at-the-curb water supplier’s flow meter, which I provided in a spreadsheet (8 zones) to EveryDrop.
They replaced my meter, and it now calibrates extremely well (within ±2% of supplier’s metered flow). The EveryDrop is on the metered irrigation leg of my water supply, so Rachio now reports usage that matches my bill. You won’t regret installing the shielded signal cable - it’ll last forever. That armored version is a bear to bend and strip though!
My problem isn’t different values than other meters, it’s just consistency. If I calibrate zone 1 now at 10GPM, I don’t want it saying 18GPM in 12 hours and shutting the zone off! I also have a Flume v2 whole-house meter and was comparing the 2 meters when calibrating all zones. They were shockingly close, pretty much exactly the same the entire time!
The armored version cable is a beast as you said. Overkill but will outlast me by a long shot!
I have a problem like that in a neighborhood with wildly fluctuating water pressure. My solution (since sprinkler failure is WAY less likely than flow variations) is to widen the low-flow and high-flow limits (to 50% for low, 120% and up for high) for each zone until the alerts or shut-offs go away. Keep Flow Monitoring ON, and Auto Shut Off ON. With your flow meter, you’ll always put down the right amount of water. Try to calibrate your “baseline” flow (you can do the whole device in the Accessory setup screen) as close as you can to the time you’re usually watering.
I’m having this same issue. Inconsistent alarms. What is fascinating is that the LCD display on the flow meter give a different reading then the app itself. And in my case it seems to vary by zone - I know, it sounds weird.
@though thank you for testing replacing the wire - that was on my list as well, but it didn’t seem to make sense since it worked, and varied by zone.
It’s not simple to try to compare the meter’s LCD reading with what Rachio sees - it gets pulses at varying rates that the controller has to turn into GPM. The meter is doing the same thing for its display, but you’d have to watch Rachio calibrate a zone while you simultaneously watch the meter AND, for best accuracy, the source water meter to your house or irrigation system. I suspected that one of my EveryDrop meters (discussed in this thread) was failing when repeated comparisons of the official water meter and the calibration values of each of my valves had consistent, sizable differences. That meter was replaced.
This doesn’t mean you have a problem if you’re close, or you haven’t yet finely calibrated (no house interference, no water pressure spikes or time-of-day differences, no testing during pressurize/settle times, etc.) your actual flow. It took me a while to learn how to even measure from the meter at the curb while a zone was running. Your alarms may be telling you something, which has set you off to find an answer, or maybe not.
Yes, this is exactly what I was doing – watching the “realtime in app” water usage during calibration while also looking at the LCD display on the meter. And while there are sometimes small variations (.5 maybe 1 GPM), I have one zone that is 8.5 GPM on the meter, and 13-15 GPM in the app - when viewing at the exact same time. I’ll have to get a video to post it.
Even after 1-2 minutes from starting the zone? It seems that the app is getting a delayed reading from what the meter is showing, maybe 10+ seconds but after the dust settles, they are usually about dead on!
Yes. The first minute or so it jumps around as you would expect with air purging out of the system. LCD definitely refreshes faster than the app.
What is crazy with this zone is that if I calibrate it on different days - the meter shows the same reading each time - about 8.5 - but the app will vary sometimes 10 sometimes 13, sometimes 15-16. And even more oddly - while all zones are a little out of wack, this one zone is consistently the most out of wack.
Seems like the meter is working fine, but communication to Rachio might be bad. I might try testing running new wire to see if that helps.
Nope - installer just used normal valve wire and worse yet the -24v is shared. And yeah, I get it… sub optimal.
The guide does says ‘recommended’ and the run is about 50-60ft actually wire distance vs 1000ft max.
That all being said - the frequency sent is really low - 24Hz at 8GPM. Not saying it isn’t the wire, but given the distances I’d expect communication to be pretty robust.
I would bet $$$, changing out the wire to 180096TH fixes your issue. Did for me, the run was about 65’. Unshielded valve wire is NOT gonna cut it, guaranteed!
When you say the -24v is shared, do you mean 2 devices share the same terminal?
My issue is the wired every drop meter shows a momentary 25gpm with a “plus sign” while running at a constant 7 gpm or so . Happens 3/4 times a minute, sometimes more. The plus sign is not mentioned in the literature of course in order to make it more challenging. I recently replaced the wire to the controller/everydrop with 75’ of shielded two wire with a drain wire. I left the meter end shield/drain unterminated. I connected controller end to S1 and 24vdc neg . I connected the drain wire to the 24vdc neg as well. No change. I then tried connecting the drain wire to the house ground. No difference. You know what? The every drop is a defective product.
If it needs wire from NASA then it should come with it.
JMO . HH
Day 1. Original wire was multi conductor. New is shielded two wire with drain but not twisted. I have since rerouted entirety by itself. Still no difference.
My EveryDrop wired meter (using Paige P7162D-A communication cable, SiteOne’s part no. 180096TH, 16AWG 2-conductor plus drain, shielded, armored) exhibits the “plus sign” while reporting a high (usually over your 25 GPM) flow, but only when a valve is first opened - the “pressurization” delay - before the zone should begin flow monitoring or calibration. I wondered about the “+” as well. The EveryDrop 1004EX User Manual seems to imply it’s because the immediate flow estimate exceeds the meter’s measurement range, which is 0.5 to 30 GPM (0.1 GPM resolution). It’s a normal circumstance with an empty pipe.
However, the EveryDrop is sensitive to cavitation (flow induced bubbles) if there is insufficient back-pressure from the zone, which can significantly distort GPM readings during operation. This can happen if your meter is horizontal or down-pointing, your zone valve is lower than the meter, or the zone itself doesn’t produce enough back-pressure via its heads or emitters. Imagine the zone, below the meter, releasing water faster than water passes the meter. The fix is to put a gate valve downstream from the meter (our valve is a 1" inline heavy duty PVC gate valve about 18" downstream). Install it fully open, then do some testing, very slightly closing the valve until high or low “dropouts” or “spikes” go away, indicating that the pipe at the meter contains no air.
The EveryDrop is quite economical and capable, but it must be installed correctly, use the right signal cable, and NEVER be allowed to freeze. I’ve learned all of these first-hand. Hope this helps.
As for the drain wire, I observed what you observed, and it didn’t seem to make a difference. Some EE types, including on this forum, seemed to indicate that the BEST drain is probably a true earth ground, but the Rachio doesn’t contain an earth ground, nor do I have easy access to one, so I remain with a floating drain.
