Several of us in my community have installed rachio controllers. I really like the product.
I’m having an issue with the smart rain skips. Three times in the last couple of weeks I was thrilled to get a notification that a skip would be applied. It was pouring outside and I thought, “Wow, this is awesome.”
So when I woke up in the morning I was so disappointed to see that my lawn/garden were watered. I checked notifications and saw that the controller reneged and said the weather changed.
I then modified settings to use a neighbor’s Tempest. But the same thing happened again.
What should I do?
Thanks!
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The product team is looking at ways to guarantee that this will not change unexpectedly.
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Awesome! If you want to bounce ideas off of this fan, feel free.
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What kind of schedules are you running?
How much rain did you actually get? Did the weather station record that amount? What do you have your rain threshold set at?
I think many times people assume that just because it is raining that it is raining enough to offset the need for watering, but that really isn’t the case.
I get what you are saying, @tmcgahey and of course you are right. I have the rain threshold set to minimum (an eighth inch?) but I guess my real problem is with the notification that a skip will be applied - and then it isn’t. To the customer, the notification is either a welcomed sight, or it’s premature and should not have been sent.
If I was just given the chance after the initial notification to confirm that that’s what I want (or not), that would be good. Note that once I get the initial notification, my only option is “undo” the skip. I can’t say, “yes, please.”
I just want to follow up on your question, @tmcgahey about the actual weather. Yes, the first time that I was notified of a rain skip, the rain at my house was much more than enough to warrant a skip based on my threshold. In addition to a pouring rain, rain continued throughout the night. At that point I was using the weather monitoring that is part of the rachio software.
So I thought that things might improve if I chose my neighbor’s tempest as my weather monitor. I got the same result (skip, followed by weather changed) but on this occasion the tempest did not register enough rain for a skip, which made me wonder why it said it would skip.
I also want to mention that, while I am new to this forum, I have read enough posts to see that you are very knowledgeable and I appreciate your presence.
Thanks!
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Hi Gary, I have had the same issue when I applied a manual skip. I woke up in the morning to a override and my garden in the back, which didn’t need water, was being watered. I’ve changed the time from 3:00A to 8:00A in my backyard so I can monitor it. I also had a Rachio skip applied and then overrriden in the front, but this isn’t as big a deal as I have a 120 year old maple which sucks up a lot of moisture. My system is entirely dripline - gardens only. What lawn there is fends for itself… or my husband waters it.
Interesting. I have never had a manual skip overridden. That would be a clear bug.
There must be something in the forecast or observed weather causing this issue. If the weather station isn’t reporting correctly, or isn’t being updated timely, that could cause the issue. The unit will check just prior to watering to see if the forecast is still expecting to see rain in excess of the threshold.
Agreed! And thanks for coming back to this. IMHO, this is a user interface issue.
- Why tell me a skip will be applied until you are sure a skip will be applied?
- If you tell me a skip will be applied, then why are you (controller) taking the control away from me? You are taking control since, at the time you tell me a skip will be applied, I am helpless to apply a manual skip that I can count on. I have to just hope the forecast doesn’t change. And hope isn’t a plan.
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Weather changes all the time. I’m personally glad it does a final check just prior to the schedule to decide if the run should be skipped or not.
During our Monsoon season, we basically sit in a daily limbo of rain possibilities, but this year, I’ve had VERY little actually show up at my house. Because of the last minute checks, it isn’t skipping.
That’s great! But it’s different.
If it tells me it’s going to skip, I expect a skip. Am I wrong to expect that?
Since I’m on Flex Daily Schedules, I don’t really get much in the way of rain skip notifications (dynamic, always changing on the fly kind of schedule), but I do get wind and freeze skips a fair bit. Like I mentioned, I usually get a notification hours prior that Rachio will not run due to wind/freezing temps. Sometime within the hour leading up to the scheduled run, I will get another notification that weather has changed and no longer needs to skip. Most often, I get those notifications in the middle of the night and wake up to them on my phone. When it is doing that final check, it is still looking at forecasted data, which still isn’t guaranteed to be accurate, but it is what Rachio has to work with. Obviously, forecast could be for minimal amounts, and you end up with a downpour. If skipping/not skipping is a major issue for you, you could add a rain sensory which would shut the system down in the event of traceable amounts of rain…
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Okay, so now that I changed my settings to use my neighbor’s tempest, that should serve as my rain gauge, correct?
I think so as well.
It will be more accurate of a PWS, but unless it has registered over your threshold at time of run, it will still be using forecast data. The PWA’s don’t act like an actual rain gauge that will shut the system down until it dries up.
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Okay, can you recommend a wireless rain gauge compatible with rachio?
Here are some known supported ones by Rachio. I think others will work too, but would be best to pick one from this list.
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