I owned an earlier version at another house, then we moved. The unit at our other house worked perfectly and so, when we moved to a new house I decided to upgrade and purchased the Gen3 in 10/21. I have been trying since then to get the damn thing connected to my wifi. Truth be known, I get frustrated easily and am very busy, I would try to get it to work with out success.
So this weekend, Memorial Weekend 2024, I decided to give as much attention as possible to resolving the connection issues. I read ALL the community posts related to it and tried EVERYTHING. I finally got a response saying that my device may be missing a critical software update…and to have someone from customer support contact me…WTF.
Apparently there is an issue with Eero 6 mesh network. I paid $200 for this unit 2021 and it has been a failure ever since. Rachio in my view has been a complete failure as a company, in that they are telling users to try this, no, try this…oh oh, wait, no try this approach to solving their issues. I certainly will not recommend this company anyone from now on. I’m pissed that I took out a perfectly good Rain Bird system thinking the Rachio would better. What a laugh.
Gen3 controller
iPhone 12 Max
Eero 6 mesh network
Configure your Eero to provide a 2.4 mHz channel for devices that need it. You may be able to have separately named wi-fi channels on an Eero or perhaps it runs 2.4 mHz together with 5 mHz using the same login and goes through connection gymnastics to make the connection. MANY users in this forum have resolved Rachio connection issues by forcing the router (not just Eero) to put Rachio on a 2.4 mHz channel. You may even be able to “train” the router - as some users have indicated that temporarily disabling the 5 mHz channel while you connect the Rachio will make the router smarter when you re-enable the 5 mHz channel and need to reconnect Rachio. I don’t have an Eero, so I don’t know what options your have, but my Orbi has dedicated 2.4, 5.0 or both channels with separate logins that means there’s no “internet of things” device with which it can’t communicate. I’ve installed Rachio 3’s for a number of neighbors, many with their own particularly unique router. Never (other than distance) not been able to connect the controller with minimal configuration. In my experience, you’re blaming the wrong vendor.
Another problem I’ve seen recently is operating your own personally selected router connected to an all-in-one “modem/router” box provided by a cable service. You almost always MUST disable the router in that service’s box.
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I agree with @JBTexas here. I’ve set up dozens of Rachio units for friends and family over the years, with G1, G2, and G3 Rachio units across almost every type of wifi router setup out there. In all that I’ve set up, I only had one that required me to have the owner set up a dedicated 2.4ghz network for the Rachio to reach, as the simultaneous 2.4/5ghz SSID was causing issues. I don’t recall what mesh system that was, but I also helped them set up a couple other IoT devices at that time which had similar connection issues until the dedicated 2.4 SSID was set up.
